Advent #3

Be prepared – it has been a long time since my last post and this a busy season. Day 8 – Make ornaments. This one may end up taking up a lot of space on a tree if I continue to do it every year. I am contemplating whether I want to save all these homemade ornaments every year. We did not get to this one on this day, but we did get it started yesterday, which is just in time for Christmas. Day 9 – Letter to Ashel. Ashel is our Compassion child. He is the same age as Madison, and so the girls have connected (at least a little) with him. This year they made him Christmas cards – complete with glitter! – and wrote a personal message in it. We also sent him our Christmas photo, some stickers, Band-Aids, and a few other miscellaneous things that I hope he has fun with. It is hard to know, since they usually use a form-like letter to help him write back. We don’t hear many things that signify he has read our last letter. I get it because he is only six, but this is one thing as they get older I wish would change more. Day 10 – Make paper snowflakes. We didn’t. I have no idea why. It saved me from cleaning up a whole lot of little scraps of paper. Day 11 – Make cookies. We did do this, but the next day. We had my nephew, Landen, over on this day, and it was a beautiful day! So, instead of working on cookies, we headed outside. We biked, walked, and scootered up to MCC Connections to see Grandpa, stopped by Lehman’s to watch the train, and had fun on the playset. The morning passed quickly. By afternoon, I was needing to head to Madison’s school to do kindergarten café, and we just ran out of time. Kindergarten Café…. Wow! I pre-made rice krispie treats in the shape of Christmas trees. The kindergarteners job was to decorate it with frosting and sprinkles. I am sure there are ways to make this less messy; I did not use any of them. The kids had frosting all over them! They piled the treat high with frosting and even higher with the amount of sprinkles. I have no idea what to even say about it. My kids show much more restraint when frosting cookies (even Ellie when she wasn’t even 3!), so it just surprised me a bit. I am sure not all of their parents let them loose with the frosting at home though either, so it is definitely a learning experience.

Day 12 – Decorate cookies. So this was the day we actually cut out and baked the cookies. The girls had a lot of fun. They are actually pretty good at arranging the cookies cutter to not waste space and need to re-roll the dough repeatedly. I had doubled the batch this year. Last year, I must have at least tripled it. While this is enough that they were tired by the end, it doesn’t make a lot of cookies to give away. I think we made about 36-48.

         

Day 13 – Winter walk. Well, the day was not wintery. No day has been wintery recently. Sometimes, I think I put this in as a catch-up day. We did not do this. We ended up going out to eat for lunch and then picking up some groceries we needed for the youth group party that evening. It was a good time as a family regardless, which is the point of the advent activities. The youth group party was a lot of fun. The girls really enjoy going and watching what the big kids like to do, and they get a little extra hang out time with their cousins, Sam and Lilli, which is always fun. Day 14 – Stuff and stamp cards. Today we frosted the cookies. (Are you keeping up with this mess? I have a master list where I check off what we did and did not do and then work to fit it in if we missed a day.) They did a great job frosting cookies. As always, I am amazed at the restraint they show in not licking their fingers when they get frosting on them. It is pretty impressive.

    

        

Day 15 – Eat snowmen pancakes. We did it! On this day! The girls love this one, and ask for it all year round. It requires very little effort on my part, but I can see the appeal – BIG pancake, candies and special toppings to cover it. They actually eat the whole thing – surprising considering it is almost three regular size pancakes. This time, they started decorating the house with signs and pictures. They also put a sign on the window inviting anyone driving by to join us. I had very little to fear because the sign was so small no one could actually see it from the road. I did call my parents to invite them over to make it special. Dad was able to come; Mom was working on getting everything in order for our family Christmas later in the week. The girls had a great time teaching Grandpa the ropes of the snowman pancake!

      

Day 16 – Make a gift for your teacher. This one could not be put off, but it was. We put Ellie’s reindeer and Santa cups together on Thursday morning before preschool and Madison did hers that evening. It was a little on the last minute side of things! They turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself. I don’t have pictures of it, but you can see what we did here.

    

Day 17 – Attend a Christmas concert. Madison had her kindergarten choir concert tonight. Her class did a really good job. She did a great job standing in the front row and having her hands to her side. (I assume this was talked about because it looked like she was putting some effort into that.)  I got a good picture of her with her teacher too!

         

Day 18 – Christmas movie and popcorn.  We started Christmas with my side of the family this night, so this did not happen until Sunday night.  We watched Eloise at Christmastime.  It was a cute movie.  What we actually did was stuff and stamp Christmas cards.  My nephew was with us again, and he was an excellent helper.  He put on stamps, and Ellie put on the return address label.  I finished the job with the address label and sealing the card.  Jeremy and I had stuffed them earlier in the week. 

Day 19 – Make Christmas craft.  We didn’t do this yet,but I think we will get to it.  We had Christmas with my family and the kids were too busy to do a craft. Day 20 – Look at lights.  I would like to do this before their Christmas break is over, but we did not take time to do it today. (We did the movie instead.) Day 21 – Deliver treats to neighbors and friends.  While we were ready to do this, I didn’t feel like going out in the rain.  So, we will do this another night.  (We made the ornaments instead.) We have a few more days of advent left.  I imagine we will catch up on some activities and get behind on others.  I will post again about how it ends, Christmas times, and another fun event that happened in the past 10 days – a lost tooth!  My goal is to get at least two more posts in this week; we’ll see.  I also need to clean, get a few more gifts, wrap gifts, prep for the next Christmas worth of food, and other stuff.  Until then.

Advent Season #2

I should post these on a set day, but I figure if I have a minute, I better take advantage of it!  So, here are some of the happenings since last week. 

Day 3 – Attend the Polar Express at the library.  This is a fun thing we did for the first time last year.  They were excited because the “train” is fun, and they get to see Santa.  Madison, however, was home sick from school this day; when I took her to the doctor, we discovered she had strep throat.  She was very bummed because she was set on asking Santa if he was real this year; there is a “rumor” going around school that he isn’t.  I told her we would ask for her.

    

Day 4 – Family Game Night.  The girls both picked Hullabaloo.  They love the victory dance, the bow, and standing on the pads together.  There is no competition, but I think that is part of what they like. 

    

Day 5 – Make your own bird feeder ornament.  I forgot to leave directions for Jeremy to work on this one while I was gone.  (I had my annual mom and the girls shopping trip.  We shopped from 9am – 10:30pm; it might be a record for us!)  So, we need to do this sometime this season. 

Day 6 – Go to Oak Grove’s annual Search for the Christ Child.  It is always a good time… with the exception of scary King Herod.  (see post from last year and the year before.)  This year, the king was very quiet and mellow.  The girls loved it – just as they had in the past.  And they asked when we would return.

Day 7 – Go to the library to check out Christmas books and movies.  This was more of a treat for Madison who 1) was picked up after school and 2) rarely gets to go to the library since she is in school.  They picked out a large number of books for us to read through.  We came back from the library and snatched up the last rays of sunshine playing on the swing set, chasing each other in tag, and getting acquainted with the horses.  The horses were really friendly – snatching long pieces of grass out of the girls’ hands and allowing small hands to pet them.  The girls were also surprisingly brave as the horses mouths got so close to them.

               

There is lots more fun to come.  This year, they are enjoying reading the Bible verses in the advent calendar as well.  It is neat to hear what new things they pick up on as they get older. 

Other things I somehow missed.  A few weeks ago, my mom took the girls and me shopping to get an idea of what things they would want for Christmas.  We went to Target and the girls posed (all on their own!) in the classic circle outside the store.  The picture was actually really cute!  Ellie crashed on the way home.  Car seats just don’t keep them upright when they sleep!

   

We have had some amazing days this late fall.  I don’t remember which day it was, but they decided to go out and play in the lemonade stand “one last time.”  Madison found some sandstone she was learning to turn into sand.  I was relaxing and enjoying the sky.

    

Ellie and I have passed some time with play-doh lately.  Since there is no snow out, we made our own snow men inside.

Until the next time I have a free moment… I hope you are able to make some memories in the rush to get to Christmas. 

Advent Season

Last year we started a tradition with the girls.  We made an advent calendar.  Each day, there was not only a piece of candy, but a special activity they would do that day.  Most of these are coordinated with things we would do during this time anyways and places we will go.  There are a few things that are extra – making an ornament, family game night, and such.  I did the toilet paper calendar again.  I layered it with newspaper first this year, and it is much sturdier.  However, I found an advent calendar at Everything Surplus for a steal of a deal yesterday; it has drawers and is super cute.  I will use this next year and the following years.  I am very excited about it. 

Sunday, we went to Grandma and Papa Yoh’s for lunch and to hang out.  The girls helped Grandma hang ornaments on her tree.  They loved it.  Her tree may not be a proportional a normal, but it is put together with love.

                  

Yesterday (day 1): We hung the ornaments up at our house.  I have no pictures of this for some reason.  (Oh, yeah, I didn’t get the camera out!)  They each now have a bag of their own special ornaments they have received or collected over their little lives.  So they hung those first.  Let’s just say they like to put ornaments on the very bottom branches… a lot!  Our tree looks good and complete now.

Today (day 2): Gift wrapping at Christian Children’s Home of Ohio (with the youth group).  We have to go anyway, and there would be no time in the day to do anything else.  Plus, they loved doing this last year.  They were super helpers handing tape to the youth.  I think it is good for them to serve and to see kids older than them giving their time and energy to be Christ’s hands and feet. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

I really enjoy Thanksgiving day.  I like that I start it with friends at Salem Mennonite”s auction, and I end it with family.  Each year, Salem holds an auction and service on Thanksgiving day.  It seems strange that this would have the gumption to continue for over 100 years being that it occurs ON the day of a holiday.  But the allure is so great once you start going. 

There is a service that starts at 8:45am; this is the first year since having kids that we have managed to make it to that.  (I think that might mean that we are on our way to conquering the parenting battle of “getting ready”!)  I love this time.  It is so different that a church service – there is no agenda/bulletin/structure.  It is simply a time for people to share what they are thankful for.  Oh, the outpouring of gratitude is so good for us to hear.  To hear how God has answered prayers – not always through healing, but through strength, the right person at the right time, support, encouragement, comfort, and so many other ways.  To hear how we have been given so much, when it is so easy to always think about all that we want, is what we all need.  I appreciate people’s vulnerability to be open, even about battles they are fighting.  I think it could last a lot longer than an hour, but that is all we are given.  It is a day that should probably happen more than once a year.

Then there is the auction which starts after the service.  People from the church have donated items.  Some nice carpentry projects were there this year (garden bench, bookcase, redwood table, and more).  There was also artwork, sewing projects, blankets, services (handyman, babysitting, etc), and food … lots of food.  Most of the items are made by members of the church; sometimes, they are purchased at a store to be donated.  When the bidding starts, you need to be prepared to open your wallet.  It is not like the auctions you go to to snag a deal.  This one challenges you to be more generous.  (All the money is divided up between three people, family, or organizations pre-selected; there is one international, one national, and one local project selected.)  The past three years, for example, I have battled for an elderberry pie.  Every year, I give up when the price reaches $100; I don’t actually know how high my sparring partner (yep, it has been the same person every year!) would go, but that seems to be my stopping point.  It is fun to be free to bid like this.  The other thing I enjoy is that I do it seated with friends.  Sandy is always there with me, and then our group shifts every year – who comes home for the auction, who can find space from their kids to sit and bid, and who we need to catch up with.  It is what makes the sale, the sale.  In the background of all this, the SYF is selling donuts and fruit and coffee; the kids are being engrossed in crafts and buying things at the “Harvest Store” – a place of inexpensive, but fun things just for them.  I say in the background… Jeremy would say this is mostly what he sees of the sale.  I ask him what he wants, and he sets me free.  In return, he is on daddy watch.  I greatly appreciate this yearly gift from him. 

From there, we head to my family’s thanksgiving lunch.  This is always a good time – food is excellent, conversation happens, kids let loose (thank you, God, for a beautiful day this year to get outside!), and bonds are strengthened.  Big fun this year was the zip line – who could pull it up, standing in line to ride it, and racing it to the end.  Other big fun – Ben and Steph’s new puppy, Niah.  So supper cute and cuddly!

              

Then, late afternoon, we head to Jeremy’s extended family gathering.  This is good, too, but different – the girls are the only kids there.  All the other “kids” have grown up.  Here the food has been eaten (we scrounge for leftovers or just eat a round of desserts), but we play group games around the table or hanging out on the floor.  The girls get spoiled by attention from the cousins at some point in the night.  We then return home, loaded down with bellies full, memories made, and a cloak of sleepiness. 

It is a good day.