Advent Week 2 and 3

The calendar continues….

Day 12 – This was a new activity choice this year… “Open tomorrow’s Advent calendar after school.”  It seems like a cop-out, but I needed them to be able to prepare for Friday’s fun.  So, after school, they came home and were so excited to see…

Day 13 – Look at zoo light at the Columbus Zoo – only made MORE exciting by doing this with Greg and Maggie (Jeremy’s cousin’s family) and their daughters.  Plus, we were staying overnight with them.  On Thursday, they packed their bags for the trip.  On Friday, we loaded up the car with more stuff than I imagined necessary for one night.  Jen (Jeremy’s sister) joined us on the trip as well, which just made it more fun.  We met Greg, Maggie, and the girls at the zoo about 6:30pm. 

It was cold, but not unbearable.  Plus, there were many indoor things to see in addition to the lights.  We started with the stingrays…

Looked at lights…

    

Went into the aquarium…

  

Quick ride on the carousel…

Then, the little ones needed to head to bed, and we kept going back into the polar bear area.  The tunnel of lights was really cool…

    

The polar bear was exhibiting my feelings on a Friday night :)

After that, we also left so we could get settled in at their house. 

The next day we woke up to some delicious quiche, cinnamon rolls and bacon Maggie had cooked up.  We played with the girls for awhile – Nora was pretty shy/reserved, but Elena was all about her visitors.  We shared the gingerbread play dough with Elena, and the girls painted for awhile with her. 

Day 14 – Christmas gift shopping in the big city.  This was a new location with similar stores, but better restaurants.  We shopped til we dropped.  We had a lunch break at Poke Bros/Noodles (went two places for all food desires because why not?).  We had dinner at California Pizza Kitchen where Jeremy and I told the girls about our very first date to that exact restaurant. We got home about 9:30pm.  (Thank you to my parents for watching Pepper so we could go on an adventure!)

Day 15 – Make cut out cookies.  The girls are so good at this now.  When we did this when they were little, it was a whole thing.  Now, it is done quickly and efficiently.  (So much so, I have no pictures!)

Day 16 – Frost cookies (they guessed this after the day before) WITH FRIENDS (I surprised them with this).  I invited Gretta and Jaida for Madison, and Mary for Ellie.  They had time to frost cookies and hang out.  I had time to take the dog on a walk while they did it. 

         

Day 18 – Prepare teacher gifts.  This one got pushed off, but completed.  Ellie made cards for her teachers.  Madison chose not to do anything.  But they did both pick out a gifts for their youth group leaders – Madison chose Necessities in the U.S. (provided by World Vision) and Ellie chose Life-Saving Medical Equipment (provided by Samaritan’s Purse). 

Day 19 – Stuff and Stamp Christmas cards.  I hurried and got it all ready to go, and then things popped up and it just didn’t happen.  Madison auditioned for the chorus in the spring musical, and we had volleyball that night, and I was still buying stamps and printing letters.  We just ran out of time.  So, the elves and I will get this done shortly and in the mail. 

Day 20 – A look back in time…. the goal was to just sit and look back at blog books to see what previous year’s Christmases had been like.  Instead, I was super motivated to get the house clean before break started, we had some last minute shopping, and we wanted to go watch Paxon play basketball.  I think we could still do this one, but maybe on Christmas day. 

Day 21 – Get a breakfast treat.  We went to take a look at the selection at Lieberman’s Bakery and Beyond in Massillon.  It is a small doughnut shop tucked across from the Massillon Museum.  The doughnuts were tasty – 2 Boston crème with chocolate frosting, 1 cream stick (vanilla buttercream with chocolate frosting), 1 lemon filled, and 1 lunchbox (plain with vanilla frosting and a Reese's cup Christmas tree).

    

Only 4 days until Christmas and only today left until we celebrate with my side of the family.  We are thankful that this is the start of a 2 week Christmas break for us school kids.  I have a list of things to do, but I enjoy just settling in and catching up.  I don’t think I ever get bored…. the girls might, but I don’t.  I am very good at piddling around, sitting around, and just taking it slow.  (Pepper is sometimes good at taking it slow, too.)

Merry (early) Christmas!

    

Pepper

The dog has mellowed some as he ages.  Or maybe he is just really cold right now because we cut his hair short!  But seriously, he does often just lay around all day.  And then he hangs around all evening, too.  And in between he has short, annoying bursts of uncontrolled energy.  He still barks incessantly at the delivery vans and vehicles.  He still has trouble properly greeting people.  And he still is pretty demanding.  But when he looks like this, it is hard to hate him.

    

Advent: Week 1 and 2

And I finally made it to the blog I was going to post tonight.  That’s what happens when you are at least a month behind on blogging – one blog, turns into 5 or 6.  But I am persevering and finishing this tonight.  So, buckle up as I walk you through the start of our Advent calendar fun! 

Day 1 – Decorate the house.  We had mostly done this on Saturday, but the girls did help Jeremy put up outdoor lights.  We went and watched Wicked instead of putting off decoration.

Day 2 – Unwrap a gift.  No, they didn’t get register blowers.  They were boxes that held comfy PJ pants.

Day 3 – Attend a band concert (Ellie’s).

Day 4 – Shopping spree for canned food drives.  They each had $30 to spend for cans for their school.  They have fun trying to get as close to $30 as possible.  Ellie was at $29 and some change, and Madison was over by a few cents.  Pretty good!

Day 5 – Write a letter.  Ellie chose to write to Ashel, our Compassion friend; she also wrote notes for me to include in our annual Christmas letter (still needs to be written…).  Madison chose to write her cousins, Theo, Miles, and Zadie. 

Day 6 – Attend a festival.  The plan was to go to the downtown open houses in Dalton.  However, Jennifer had bid on and won tickets to the Steven Curtis Chapman Christmas concert, and she wanted to take us.  So, we went there instead.  It was a fun night of music.  Madison got herself hot chocolate beforehand.  And this image reminds me that she is growing up!

    

Day 7 – Make an aromatic toy – gingerbread play dough.  We didn’t get this done today, but we did do it on Sunday.  It does smell really good, and it has really good texture. 

Day 8 – Snowman Pancakes.  One of the girls most anticipated days.  It has been even better the past two years since inviting others to join us!  Bess, Miles, Luke, Amelia, and Briggs came, and so did Ben, Steph, Cale, and Landen.  We moved couches, linked the tables up, had the grill going, and two griddles.  Most people knew what to expect and contributed toppings and fun.  The kids made good use of the basement for awhile before supper.  And then we got out the play dough to calm down a bit (intentionally made the play dough for this purpose!).  The pictures are many because everyone has to be photographed with their snowman (but somehow, we missed Bess’s snowman!).  So, enjoy!

                                            

Day 9 – Holiday books from the library.  Madison was looking for chapter books that were holiday themed.  I think that is only the chick lit/romance ones.  But we did check out some fun picture books that you can’t help but read when they are laying out. 

Day 10 – Attend a choir/band concert (Madison’s)

Day 11 – Dip ritz bits crackers with Grandma and Grandpa

    

About halfway through with some exciting things to come.  It is fun to hear the girls try and predict what the next day might be.  They have some dates in mind where they know, some activities that they are anticipating to show up, and some they have no idea about.  I try to keep a good mix of things happening.  And as we have gotten older, I have learned to be flexible with the days – sometimes I am swapping things around at the last minute to make it work with other things that pop up.  They still have fun doing it.  And it helps me be intentional with spending time with them.  Otherwise, this season is so crazy, I probably wouldn’t spend as much time creating memories with them if I didn’t have this.  So, we’ll keep going!