advent. {activities and readings}

The word advent means arrival.

The advent season for us, is remembering the arrival of Jesus and the hope we have in His return one day. So this Advent season, as we count down the days till Jesus' birthday, our goal in our family is to prepare our hearts for this amazing gift, our Savior, and to be purposeful with our time by spreading the life-giving aroma of Christ by serving and doing thoughtful things for others…and enjoying each other.

In the past, our Advent activities have been very full and very crafty. But now that my kids are getting a bit older, I feel like I can add in opportunity to bless others and lessen the amount of stuff we do that just fills time because that is what we are suppose to do. And let me tell you, we are only three days into Advent, and as much as we have enjoyed blessing others, we have been truly blessed ourselves.

Yesterday our activity was to create "kindness cards" to leave around our town that a stranger could pick up and find a little joy from it for their day. The girls created the cards, I wrote inside of them, and they each signed their own name. Lincoln's name was added as well, although this year he didn't have much say in it-ha. We prayed over each card for the person that would receive it. Then we put a small gift in it of $5, wrote on the outside "Please Take :)" and the girls chose where they would like to leave them around town. The kids anxiously wanted to wait around to see who would take the cards, but I told them that who ever did, they would just smile so big, I guarantee it, and then we walked away.

But you know what? God works in ways we can't foresee and imagine. Last night on Facebook someone wrote on my wall about their friend finding one of our cards at the grocery store! I would never have thought that we would find out who found even one of our cards. It was amazing to read how that little "kindness card" encouraged their day. And that stranger that received the card shared how they have been praying for our little Naomi since her diagnosis! And of course, since I'm a total sap, I cried heavy tears of joy knowing that strangers were praying for each other! Then it made me think about how our Heavenly Father thinks about us--when He does things for us to bring us joy and we show Him gratitude in return, I bet He cries tears of joy as well.

Today we made an assortment of cookies and packaged them up to deliver tomorrow to service people around town, we plan to hit up the fire station, the police station, our local Red Cross, and a local ministry.

Lincoln was napping, next year he will be able to take in more of the action. 

Not pictured: matching aprons and Christmas music blaring. 

I don't have plans to do an activity every single day, but I do plan on reading scripture every day. The kids are already used to the routine--right after lunch Audrey gets matches and lights our Advent candle that we lit on Sunday {and yes, she knows how to use a match, what the what} then they take turns getting the card out of our Advent calendar and I read or Andrew if he is on lunch break, while the candle burns, then we learn about our activity for the day. There isn't Elf on the Shelf  or a piece of candy every day or a crazy craft that we are doing. I'm keeping it simple because that's what I need. I know myself and I know that I love the holidays, but I also get overwhelmed easily and put this pressure on myself to do every single Christmas craft pinned to mankind on Pinterest. But this year, I'm giving myself a free pass. A pass to be. To enjoy. And do things, only, only if my heart is in it. Not because I see it plastered over social media. [And give yourself a free pass, not to use anything that I'm posting, don't feel obligated to do all these things, do what aligns yourself with Christ.] 

learning to say no. {finding contentment}

[Oh hey, you probably thought I was done with blogging. I kind of thought I was too. But look, I'm back {again}. I was reminded tonight that this space is for capturing my family's life moments. It's my life journal.]

The weekend after Thanksgiving we did our traditional tree hunt. To the same tree farm I've been going to since I was a wee one. Audrey wasn't feeling the best, but we still ventured out for a quick trip. We picked out a Frasier Fir (my absolute favorite) and headed to the little cabin for hot chocolate and popcorn. This year was extra special because it was Lincoln's first trip.

As much as I love these traditions we're creating with our little family, this holiday season I've made it a point to be okay with not doing everything. And it feels so good. In past years, I've put this pressure on myself that for our Advent activities something needs to happen every day. So far this year, many of our days are just spent reading a verse from scripture. We are focusing on the warmth of our home and the contentment in just being together. I'm learning to say no to fun and free our schedule up so we can make spur of the moment magic Christmas tents at home and drink hot chocolate in front of the fire when we wish. [We have a fireplace! Eek! First Christmas in our new home-but that's a whole other post!]

Don't get me wrong, we have already done some fun things for Advent--like a Polar Express train ride that I'll be sharing. But my favorite moments have been the quiet ones at home. 

Audrey working hard on gingerbread boy and girl cookies. She was quite nervous that they would try to escape the oven, but fortunately, not one got away! They turned out quite nicely...

oh, the holidays.

I splurged on a Little People's Nativity Set the other day. [My thought was, I spend enough on cute little decorations and smelly candles, this should be in our house.] I'm so glad I bought it, because the girls have been playing with it almost non-stop. Audrey favors Mary and Naomi favors baby Jesus, it works out great. And we are pretty sure Naomi says See-sus.

Yesterday for our Advent activity, Audrey picked out some special toys from the store to give to a little girl. Then we took the toys to Stuff-A-Bus. I was thoroughly amazed at how well Audrey did while picking out the toys for someone else, then we got to the bus and she walked right in and placed the toys down next to the other ones. She picked out a Hello Kitty microphone and Hello Kitty lipgloss, somethings she would definitely want herself. This activity that we did isn't much at all, there is so, so much more to give and not just material things, but I'm thankful that we are able to give when and where we can. It's funny how you do something to teach your child something, like the value of giving to others, when really it's a lesson for yourself {me}.

We do make it a point to keep the holiday season focused on the celebration of Jesus' birth, but that doesn't mean we don't enjoy going to other fun festive events, that even includes Santa Claus. I love imagination, so we do the Santa thing. Today, Andrew took the girls to a Santa Train, while I was at a Christmas breakfast. [Have I mentioned how awesome of a dad he is? He works really hard at his business, but also being a rockin' dad.] Despite the crazy amount of people there, the girls had a blast. What's not to love about seeing Buzz Light Year, Snow White, Cinderella, Cindy Lou-who, Thing 1 & Thing 2, Shrek, Rudolph, and of course, Santa on the train? [It's all free too.] I got word that Naomi thought Buzz Light Year and Shrek were the coolest things ever and she kept giving them high fives every time they walked by, and they walked by a lot, because they saw how thrilled she got by them.

 We often call Audrey Thing 1 and Naomi Thing 2, so this picture is so appropriate.

You can see last year's pictures of the Santa Train here (when it was much colder out).

happy december.

I'm so excited it's December. We started our Advent activities today. We were going to paint some little people for our Nativity Scene, but the craft store didn't have the ones I wanted, so we improvised and Audrey picked out a Nutcracker ornament to paint. She loves the Nutcracker, I can't wait till she is old enough to take her to it.

I have been slowly getting the house decorated for the holidays. I did most of it last Friday, but I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with the front porch and our "mantle." I think decorating is a process, and can take time to make it just right. So far, I'm liking what our front porch is looking like, not quite finished, but almost. I like simplicity.

Nothing like using sticks from the yard to decorate with, right? I popped some large sticks in a container, filled it with some decor stuff, and added lights. The only thing I bought were the lights. [Psst. The idea came from Pinterest. And now I admit I may be slightly addicted. So many great ideas. And inspiring.]

For the other part of the porch, I just used some greenery that was cut from our tree. And I bought the wooden tree from TJ Maxx.

It's kind of bitter-sweet to think this may be our last Christmas in this house. I do love the coziness of it.

countdown to christmas {week 3}.

Here we are, just one week away from Christmas. And I tell you what, this whole activity a day thing really makes it seem to come so fast. I'm lovin' doing something fun each day, in fact, I'm just going to admit it, I'm pretty sure I'm more into the Advent activities than Audrey. And I think it's safe to say one of the best things about becoming a parent is you get to experience life through the eyes of a child. In other words, you get to become a kid again.

Last Thursday we made Christmas bells. Simple and fun.

The weekend, was sort of a diaster for me. So Advent activities didn't really happen. We traveled to a wedding in Illinois and basically paid $90 to stay in a hotel and have zero sleep. Mmmkay. Moving on.

Monday was fun though. Our activities included making super easy and delicious Oreo truffles to bring to a Christmas party we went to that night. And Audrey ate a Christmas tree for an afternoon snack. Well, not an actual tree, but a pretty cute one made from cucumbers, tomatoes, cheese, and ranch dressing.

 [Want the recipe? Crush Oreos in a ziplock bag, then blend with cream cheese till super creamy. Roll into balls. Dip in chocolate and top with whatever you want- like a candy cane. Place on wax paper and refrigerate for at least an hour. Eat and say delish.]

On Tuesday (my favorite day so far) we did a lot of baking. We made sugar cookies, decorated them, and bagged them up to pass out to loved ones around town. One of the best parts? My little (almost 15 year old) sister helped out and she cleaned the ENTIRE kitchen for me when we were done. And boy, was it messy.

 [Ignore our windows that need replaced. Remember our kitchen used to look like this. Also? these days, Audrey doesn't do much without wearing some type of tutu outfit.]



On Wednesday we went to Santa Story Hour Extravaganza at our local library in the morning and in the evening we went to a Pajama Party with Santa, a free event our city put on. [Do you know how cute it is to see a room FULL of little kids in their pj's, writing letters to Santa, eating cookies, watching the classic Rudolph movie, and visiting with Santa? Oh my. ADORABLE.]

 [Yes, that is a tutu pajama outfit. Audrey's Papaw got her and Naomi a pair at the Carter's Outlet. Stinkin' cute, I must say.]

So, a week left. Do you have any fun activities you will be doing? Want some other ideas? Go check out Liz at Sugarplum Creations for the link up to the Countdown to Christmas.

countdown to christmas {week 2}.

So, I thought this whole doing an activity/craft every day for Countdown for Christmas was going to be easy-peasy. But you know, it's a little tougher than I thought. Things don't go as plan and your child gets sick and you end up wiping a nose 724 times a day and a craft is the last thing on your mind. But, we did manage to get some fun things in this past week. And I am really enjoying doing it and I'm not going to be too hard on myself for not sticking exactly to my original plan. Because we all know life doesn't work that way, right?

So let me share what we did do for our Advent activities this past week...

Day 2- Lacing a Stocking (This is super easy- I just cut out a stocking from heavy card stock and used string that had wire in it so it was easier to lace. I wasn't sure if Audrey would be able to do this activity since she just turned two, but she totally rocked it.)

Day 3- Make Shepherds out of Clothespins (We read some verses from the Bible first about the shepherds traveling to see baby Jesus and then going to share the news with others. It was a super easy craft too. You can see the example shepherd I made in the picture below.)

Day 4- Visit Santa on a Train (Andrew took Audrey to do this fun activity. You can see pictures here from it.)

Day 5- And this where things don't go exactly as planned. So for this day, I'm counting going to church and listening to the story of Jesus' birth as the Advent activity for the day.

Day 6- Another day of "didn't go as planned." We drove an hour and half to go to the Children's Museum only to find out it is CLOSED on Mondays. So, not to waste the drive, we ended up at a place called Monkey Joe's (basically an indoor bouncy house). Hey, they played Christmas music while we were there, does that count? We drove the hour and a half home and by then we were all exhausted and the day was spent.

Day 7- Round 2- Drove back up to Indianapolis to hit up the Children's Museum. They have a special Winter Wonderland area set up with a pretend pond to skate on, ice fishing, a visit to Santa, a gigantic "ice" slide to go down, an ice castle to play in, and pretend reindeer to groom. It was a good day, that's for sure.

Day 8- Stamped Wrapping Paper (I bought some plain wrapping paper from the Dollar Tree and already had a lot of Christmas stamps that I bought on clearance in the previous years. Once I run out of the wrapping paper I'm just going to use paper bags, it's basically the same thing.)

Today we plan on making a Christmas bell. This weekend we are traveling out of the state to a wedding, so getting in some activities might be a little tough, but we'll see.

Want some other Advent ideas or want to link up and share what you have been doing? Go visit Liz at Sugarplum Creations!

advent season.

It's here. Advent season. A time of giving and to remember Jesus' birth. I spent last weekend making an Advent calendar to fill each day up with a piece of paper that says what activity we would do. [Which by the way, you think sewing on felt would be easy, but clearly straight lines are not my friend.] The calendar didn't turn out exactly how I wanted. But you know, what? It's handmade and I just know it's going to bring many years of fun and memories for my little family.

 I can just picture down the road in fifteen years, the girls asking me if we really have to get out that old calendar that doesn't even go with any of our decor. And I'll tell them about the time I sewed it together when they were babies (the same story they will hear every year) and yes, we will continue to hang up that old dingy Advent calendar.

Okay, so on to the activities. For the first day, Audrey painted angels that we will pass out to grandparents. And we listened to Hark the Herald Angels Sing while painting. It made me really happy.

I bought the angels at Michael's on sale for about a dollar for the whole set. The paint I already had. A good place to buy inexpensive art supplies? The Dollar Tree.

Today we are going to decorate and lace a paper stocking. And this weekend one of the activities include Audrey and Andrew going to visit Santa on a train. So fun!

So are any of you doing Advent activities? If so, please share-- that way I can steal the ideas too. :) Also, I'm linking up with Liz over at Sugarplum Creations, there you can check out other fun things to do.