Advent Candles

We've had a wonderful time this Christmas lighting the Advent candles together as a family each Sunday night. Right before Christmas Daddy made a fire and we all sat in our "special room" (aka: formal living room). We hope that by emphasizing Advent our children will understand the real meaning of Christmas, the birth of Jesus.

Sugar Cookies

I feel like baking and decorating sugar cookies is a must during the Christmas season. Even though the kids have decorated cookies a few times I felt like I was robbing them of a little of the Christmas spirit by not baking them together. Bailey has asked about sugar cookies a few times so when I saw a mix at Trader Joe's I threw it in the cart. The next afternoon we added butter and an egg and started stirring. I know that my mother is going to be horrified at reading this blog post as she is a purist when it comes to baking (no generic ingredients much less a mix!) but at the same time I think she understands that some cookies are better than no cookies ;)

All the cookie cutter practice with play dough paid off as the kids did an awesome job cutting out the dough. I'm still trying to get the flour out of my table pad as it took more effort to clean up the sugar cookies than it did to make them.

It was very messy but with Christmas carols in the background and smiles on the faces of my children it was worth it, cookie mix and all!

Candy Cane Delivery

Every Christmas we visit an elderly facility to spread some holiday cheer. This year we choose Sherwood Manor which is fairly close to our home. Most of the residents were pretty incapacitated and their bulletin boards and room gave signs of few visitors so we knew we had picked the right spot.

We were so proud of Fletcher, Bailey & Parker, they love unconditionally. As children they don't yet register what drool, food stains and wayward chin hairs mean.


Each child took on a different role according to their personalities - Bailey carried the basket, Fletcher distributed the candy canes and Parker checked out all the wheelchairs and accessories. It was very sweet to watch the three of them in motion. Even if the person was catatonic Fletcher still walked up and quietly put a candy cane on their tray or in their lap. We sang "Joy to the World" to as many people as we could and it's a good thing most of them were deaf!



After our visit we took the kids to Starbucks for a special hot chocolate. They ended up wearing a lot of it but boy was it yummy!


We look forward to carrying on this tradition each year. Not only does it give us an opportunity to serve and represent Christ to others but it's also valuable for our children to interact with all generations. We're going to work on some new songs and next year hopefully I'll be able to hit the notes!

Closet Disaster

As I previously mentioned there are a few mountain goats living in our house. Two of these goats climbed up the back of the rocking chair and stacked boxes inside the closet in order to pull down EVERYTHING from inside. Needless to say, I was impressed with their creativity but furious! Everyone had to sit on their beds in silence while I sorted through the disaster. When the kids spoke they said things like, "Mommy sad" to which I replied, "You got that right!" Kids know when they're really in trouble because our trio managed to sit in their cribs with only a few peeps and no squirming for 45minutes while I worked. I required them to assist with the clean up once the big stuff was back in place then we had a little pow wow about the closet (once I calmed down a bit).


The only redeeming thing about this disaster was that it forced me to re-organize. However, I think next time I'd rather do it on my own terms!

Staples

Boppa and Grandma Lindy have new dining room chairs. The great part for us is that with the chairs came six HUGE boxes that the kids have loved playing in (see Thanksgiving post). Boppa brought a box to our house and Fletcher just happened to topple out and hit his head on the knob of our TV consol. He seemed fine but when taking a closer look we decided that we should probably take him into the ER.

Fletcher was such a trooper about sitting in the ER for four hours and happily played. At one point he saw Shrek on TV and exclaimed loudly for everyone to hear, "look, there's a big green man... ohhhh... he has small ears!" I love the things that he observes. Even though we were in the ER at midnight I think both of us loved our time together playing, reading, drawing, etc... It's rare that I am able to spend such quality time with just one of my children. Sad but true. So, we made it a "date" and had a great time. When it came time for the staples Fletcher was SO brave. They put him in a straight jacket which we called the "Fletcher burrito" and he didn't even cry. He did request several times to be able to have his arms out but didn't fuss when the answer was no. The staples pinched a bit even with anesthetic but a minute later he was distracted by something else and off we went. If you ask him about his staples the two things he'll tell you is that "the water was cold" (used to wash the wound) and "I wanted to put my arms out" but what I'll tell you is that we had so much fun and that Fletcher was very brave!

Hour 1


Hour 3.5

Finished product

Mountain Goats

Fletcher, Bailey and Parker can do amazing things with their toes. Their ability to stand using knobs and cracks is amazing.

The other day the boys were doing dishes without a stool and I thought their skill was impressive. Check out these mountain goats!

Keller Christmas

Ms. LaDona, our Children's Director at church, graciously watched the kids so Danny and I could have a fun night out at the Keller's Christmas party. She arrived with art supplies and Advent projects in hand. The kids had so much fun and so did we!

Cookies at Kaylin's

Jen Irish was brave to host us at her house for cookie decorating! It was a little challenging get out the door that morning as sometimes things spiral downhill quickly in our house. I had a bag of sprinkles sitting on the counter when curious Fletcher pulled the bag down spilling the sprinkles ever where. When I walked into the kitchen he was standing over the mess saying, "Parker did it" (while Parker was seated on the other end of the counter). I told him that it was okay that he spilt the sprinkles because it was an accident but that there are consequences for lying. So, I vacuumed up the sprinkles and while I was with Fletcher in the bedroom Bailey got out her vacuum (she wants to do everything Mommy is doing these days) and Parker decided that she needed something to vacuum so he scooped out the leftover oatmeal and plopped it on the floor. When I came in Bailey, bless her heart, was trying to vacuum up the oatmeal blobs with her toy vacuum. So, Fletcher returned to the group and Parker I went to have a little pow-wow. Oatmeal and sprinkles all cleaned up and three kids with happy hearts in the car and we were off to Jen's, although about 45 min late! You never know how the morning is going to go!


The kids love decorating cookies mainly because they like to eat the frosting - can't blame them, that's my favorite part too!

Moo Moo

We have a new friend! Auntie Stella recieved a homemade cow at a white elephant gift exchange and she gave it to Bailey, whom she knew would appreciate the craftmanship. Needless to say, Bailey is thrilled to have another animal for her barnyard collection. She decided to name the cow Catherine (Catherine - don't take it personally :)!)

Advent Pageant

We hosted our annual Advent party once again this year. After looking at all my pictures I realized that I should have decorated our garage for Christmas! With sixteen toddlers it became guys in the house and moms and kids in the garage (with the exception of the babies who entertained themselves in the hall).

The kids are only three and already we have the "girls table"...Bailey, Mia, Kaylin & Claire

And the "boys table"...Fletcher, Parker, Jack & Sam

This year we did our first Christmas Advent Pageant and managed to pull it off! It was a little crazy but all sixteen kids wore costumes and somewhat played their roles. It will be fun to watch the pageant improve over the years.

Here is the cast of characters:

Sam George - the Star of Bethlehem and Danny the Narrator

Mary (Mia), Joseph (Liam), Camel (Zack), Cow (Bailey)

The Three Wise Men - Jack, Kaylin & Claire

The angels and shepherds - Emily, Sam, Collin, Fletcher & Parker

It was a little crazy but darling!

Whew! Here's the cast...

After Danny lit the Advent candle of JOY!

Wishing you a JOY-filled Christmas!