Day 5 Advent

"I am the Lord's servant." Mary answered, "May it be to me as you have said." Luke 1:38

Today we wrapped the grandparent's ornaments that we made earlier and worked on a present for daddy.:) I didn't take pictures of those activities, but here they are enjoying the snow! Aria got cold during the first snow day and headed in early.  She went back out for the sledding day, though.

Day 6 Advent

Today is Sinterklaas in the Netherlands.  Even though we aren't Dutch, I had a friend whose husband is and it sounded like a fun little tradition.  So, we started celebrating it a couple years ago, just for fun!
Once again, I forgot to take pictures, but the kids each got a stuffed animal and we watched a Buck Denver movie, "What is Christmas?".  It's a good one and there is a segment about St. Nicholas in there.

On one of the following days, we did start making Christmas cookies.  C and F helped put the hershey kisses on (don't worry, they washed their hands first!).

Day 4 Advent

"He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High." Luke 1:32

Paper Snowflakes!   

We also attempted to make snowflake clings to put on the window, but I couldn't get them off...so that was a bust.  Maybe we'll try again next year.:)

Day 3 Advent

"And, behold, thou shalt...bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus." Luke 1:31

Today, we made those ornaments where you put the crystals in the mold and then bake them until they melt together.  Fun!

Day 2 Advent

"The angel said unto her, 'Fear not, Mary:for you have found favor with God.'" Luke 1:30.

Today we got to make Christmas ornaments for the grandparents!  We made some extras for ourselves as well.  Here's where I got the idea for these fun ornaments.

Day 1 Advent

It's time to start our Christmas countdown!  Each day, the kids read the scripture for that day and do an activity.  Today's scripture was, "The angel Gabriel was sent from God unto...Nazareth, to a virgin." Luke 1:26-27

 The activity for today was to make a nativity scene.  I bought the manger from the dollar store last year.  Cb's and medium A gathered rocks for us to paint.  Medium A painted a plethora of "chickens", to the untrained eye they just look like yellow rocks.:)  F painted several animals, including a some chickens, a cow, a donkey, and sheep.  Cb's and I worked on the people together.

To close our evening, B led us in a family devotional for the first day of advent...hope.  We sang some Christmas carols, drank hot chocolate, ate cookies and listened to His word.  A beautiful day.  Romans 12:12, "Let your hope keep you joyful, be patient in your trials, pray at all time."  Our hope is found in Jesus, who came as a humble baby, died on the cross for our sins, and has promised to come for us again!

Christmas Wrap-up

So, we wrapped up Christmas and are already moving on to 2013!  Soon, tiny A will be 1 year old.  Crazy!

The Christmas countdown ended with a successful "Minivan Express" trip after our Christmas Even service.  As the kids boarded the "Minivan Express" they handed me their ticket and I punched it with my hole punch.  I printed the tickets on the back of a shiny gold gift bag to create golden tickets.  Then, they each got an individual bag of popcorn and hot chocolate for the trip.  It was  the perfect night because it started snowing while we were inside for our Christmas Eve service.  It was cold, dark and snowy...just as it should be on Christmas Eve.

Not only did Santa visit our house on Christmas Eve night, but the Tooth Fairy made a visit as well because Cb's lost her second tooth!  What a lucky duck!

The kids enjoyed opening their Christmas presents in the morning and it was filled with tons of excitement and chaos.

Each kid got a kangaroo jumper ball, so they've been bouncing all over the house.  F and Cb's got little MP3 players and we had no idea that they would be such a hit.  They've been wearing them everywhere listening to their music.  I ended up buying F regular headphones that go over his head, but prior to that he could not keep the ear buds in.  So, B tied a bandanna on his head to keep them from falling out.

I finally finished little A's doll.  I absolutely love her curly hair!  It is so fun, and it was fun to make.  

All you do is wrap the yarn around wooden dowels (I used wooden pencils), soak them in water overnight, and then bake them on a cookie sheet at 200 degrees for about an hour.  When you pull them off the pencils, you get beautiful ringlets!  Here's the original tutorial.

Our Christmas feast consisted of a delicious ham, rolls, asparagus, brussel sprouts and MomPom's potato casserole.  I didn't think I liked brussel sprouts, but my friend sent me a recipe that sounded good, so I gave them another try.  I loved them!  All I did was coat them in olive oil, seasonings, Parmesan cheese and crumbled cooked bacon.  Then, I roasted them for 30 minutes and they were fantastic!  I'm making them again for New Year's Eve.  For dessert, sweet potato pie, which is my favorite pie.  I use this recipe for the crust, but increase the sugar to 1 Tbsp. and decrease the salt to a pinch.

Other than our blessed Christmas celebration, tiny A started pulling himself up to standing with consistent frequency, this week.  This is creating havoc for little A, because now tiny A can reach more of her toys.  Needless to say, she doesn't usually handle it with much patience.  Some might even say that she over-reacts...quite a bit.

B got his Christmas wish of bagpipes!  They sound much nicer than his practice pipes.  I'm looking forward to seeing him in a kilt and playing his bagpipes, someday soon!  Since B got his bagpipes, I'm going to go out with a friend tomorrow and get mine...cowboy boots!  I'm so excited!