Advent & Christmas Season

It's been a super busy Christmas season in this house.  I posted a while back that we had made a countdown calendar with a different activity each day, we have been doing that nightly.  Although some nights due to hectic schedules, late dinners and unplanned meetings we did have to postpone a couple but we are doing well getting each activity done....eventually.  We have been decking our halls and making things cheery around here. 

We have also been lighting our "Advent Wreath" I put that in quotations because I found this really different wrought iron bowl candle holder and I think it has a bit of character, which fits right in at our house.   Each one of the kids reads a prayer before we eat dinner, I made it easy to get them to read the prayers aloud, whoever wants to light the candles has to read.




On December 6th, St. Nicholas delivered clementines, chocolate coins, and candy canes to the kids.  I really wish we had nice wooden clogs to put out, because somehow these shoes look toxic. 

Here are a couple of our other countdown activities, we read the Polar Express, made marshmallows, drank hot chocolate, then watched the movie.  We also read The Wild Christmas Reindeer by Jan Brett and made reindeer brownies. 







We then decorated the Christmas Tree, read The Legend of the Christmas Tree.  This Advent/Christmas season has been very productive and we are looking forward to the rest of it.

Well I can tell the holidays are coming.  Every year I seem to get slapped in the face with extreme fatigue.  It usually happens right before I need energy to get something done (this week is our extended family's Christmas party).  Here's to hoping energy comes back, I did manage to complete a craft project today that I started a month ago..LOL

Going back to work is going well, or at least I think so. The extra income is helping alleviate some of the financial strain in the household. We are all of course trying to adjust to routines and keeping things somewhat calm, well as calm as things can be with 4 kids. We started preparing for the Christmas season, Holley and I worked on a Christmas Garland. We started with a string of 100 white lights and 3 rolls of tulle (25 yds. per roll). It was a lot of knot tying, but it was well worth the effort. Now it has been transformed from garland into our family countdown activity calendar. Inside each number(representing the days), there is an activity for us to do together. Anything from decorating a room, watching a movie, reading a story or to donating to Toys for Tots. It was a lot of fun using scrapbook paper to make the cute little tags with the embellishments. Here are a few pictures of the final project :)

Happy Halloween, yea I know a little late!! Here's the pic (in case you're wondering, she is COTTON CANDY not "fat unicorn")

:) I know this may seem really bizarre, but I really am anxious to skip Thanksgiving and head to the Christmas season. Don't get me wrong I have tons to be thankful for, but I have planned some really neat things to do with the family this year at Christmas and I am excited about it.

Heading back to work today!! I am excited for a couple reasons: One, obviously the extra money will help out. Two, I enjoy getting out of the house and working with kids. Now for the downside (Newton's 3rd Law: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction)I am petrified that things around the house will fall apart, housework, nutritious meals and of course missing my kids when they come through the door after school and talking about their day. I guess we will obviously have longer talks at dinner time to compensate, and have a mandatory family game night. Here's hoping things go as planned.

Handmade Holidays

As everyone already knows money is tight and the economy is well, in the crapper. With that being said I have decided that this year, our family will be working on "Handmade Holidays" which means decorations, gifts, and Christmas cards will be handmade by our family!! I am super excited about this, not sure how receptive others will be about it, but I think we need to get back to the true meaning of giving and celebrating what is important. Here is a sample of things to come, I made these Jack O' Lanterns out of some Mason jars my Dad had picked up from a yard sale. I painted a layer of homemade decoupage (50/50 mix of Elmer's and water)and then laid tissue paper (white cause that's all I had on hand) over it, added some orange food color to some more decoupage and put a coating over the adhered tissue paper (and allowed to dry over night) and VOILA!!!

Back to School

Well, that's what I get for not blogging like I had planned (everything has a new look). Here's to hoping that I blog more than I have in the past. My kiddos started school today, inside of me there is an extreme sadness. One.... my oldest daughter is a Senior in high school this year :( Two... my youngest daughter started middle school :( Three.. that means Summer has come to an end :( However Summer coming to an end also means that Fall will be here soon... which means fair season, apple season, Halloween and crusty leaves (I love that sound). I am really trying a stricter routine with scheduling everyday tasks like housework, mealtime and bedtime. Here's to hoping that it works the way I want it to this year. If not I will make the best of it, making adjustments along the way.