Countdown with Us!

 

We have been busy with advent activities and what not. I can’t believe it is already the 10th of December. We are having fun and even relaxing a bit! We’ve been baking and making and going and doing.

Tuesday, December 1

To start out the month we had another Girl Scout meeting. Tuesdays are busy days for us! I think I am getting a better hang of our meeting time. It helps tremendously that other moms did most of the work! I’m learning how to let go of things and it is wonderful.

That day’s advent activity was to tell “What gift would you give Jesus”. They all said love…loving others. I think that works! That night they got an unexpected gift from Michael. They each got a Christmas nightlight for their rooms.

Wednesday, December 2

That day we were supposed to do some baking (according to the Advent Activity Calendar), but we just didn’t have time for it. We did find some recipes together that we wanted to try…like these Nutter Butter Snowmen.

With the girls getting home an hour later from school this year, we really hardly have any time to do anything after homework is done.

Thursday, December 3rd

I went into Anika’s class to volunteer that day. I enjoy watching the teacher teach the kindergarteners. It is not an easy job to keep all those kids focused.

I already told you about the Christmas Tea Party the girls and me had that day. It was wonderful.

Friday, December 4th

Happy Birthday to my mom. My present even made it there on time! Our activity for Friday was to watch a Christmas movie and have popcorn. It’s hard to get picture so of that! We watched Santa Clause 2. I’m itching to see Elf and The Grinch, my two favorites. I also have to see “While You Were Sleeping” during this season. These are the times that I just love Christmas time…when I sit back and relax and enjoy. Love it!

Saturday, December 5th

Happy birthday to my one-year old niece Makayla! I was so impressed with our Saturday. Mike had heard about a Tuba Christmas Concert at the Bellis Fair Mall, so we drove up to Bellingham. And yes, look at that sunshine streaming through the windows! It is COLD here, but we are loving the sun!

 

 

I LOVE tuba music. You would be surprised at how a great a bunch of tubas sound together playing Christmas carols. Very festive! After the concert we visited Build-a-bear where Kelby’s dog had a minor surgery and got a little extra stuffing put in.

That night we went to the Sedro-Woolley Christmas tree lighting and parade. It was cold out there, but it was a really nice parade this year with lots of great floats. The girls even got to ride the ponies for free before the parade started.

  

 

  

Sunday, December 6th

Church was the children’s program. My girls weren’t in the main performance, but Anika sang with the preschool and kindergarteners. Anika is right in the center of the circle. The play was cute and made me cry. Very precious.

That night we put together our gingerbread house. It was just a kit from Costco. I’m not brave enough to try making one from scratch…and why bother when it is so cheap and easy? I don’t have Mike’s pictures yet, but here’s one of him taking those pictures at least.

Monday, December 7th

You’ve got to do puzzles in December! It is a rule I think. I got the coolest box of twelve puzzles. They are pretty easy, so they are lots of fun to put together in a night or so. It is fun to have something to do together.

 

Here’s Anika sitting in front of the “fire” (it’s just a video on our TV). She just loves for me to turn on the music and the fire. When we are out shopping she’ll ask me if I’ll turn it on when we get home.

Our activity for the day was “read Christmas stories and drink hot cocoa”. This too is another easy favorite activity. There is always time to add it in.

Tuesday, December 8th

This Tuesday I had the Junior Girl Scouts over to my house to do a project. One had to miss, so it was only Kelby and Taylor. They are painting a sheet to use as a wall hanging for decoration at the large local event where they give presents to those in need. I was SO proud of this project. The girls had drawn a sketch the week before. I scanned it and put it on the projector so they could trace it onto this sheet. Then they had lots of fun painting it. We also finished up our “Prints and Graphics” badge by screen printing the holly on the border.

Super amazing, right!? Kelby drew this reindeer from memory. She’s a great little artist!

Wednesday, December 9th

The weather has been staying below 32 here. It doesn’t usually do that. We had a project to do for the advent activity, but skipped it in order to go a couple blocks away from home to play on some frozen water. The girls just wanted to “skate”. It was great fun until Anika fell and hit her head. I was feeling pretty dumb because the girls had even suggested they should bring their helmets!

Thursday, December 10th

We made our Nutter Butter Snowmen tonight. They aren’t as cute as the picture, but they were fun to make and yummy too.

Another pastime that we’ve taken up this season is playing the Wii Christmas game we got. It is a silly little game, but it has an advent calendar too. The girls get a new part to the game each day. Sweet and simple. They even get to decorate a Christmas tree and roast marshmallows on the fire!

Love to all you family and friends! Hope your December is going well too.