Merry Christmas {Eve}

Merry Christmas y'all!

Amidst the chaos of the next couple of days, let us remember our greatest gift.

For there is born to you this day in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord.

Luke 2:11

♥ Countdown to Christmas 2010 ~ Week 4 ♥

Welcome to Week 4 of Countdown to Christmas! I hope this month has been a special one full of memories for all of you.

If your family is anything like ours, you are frantically wrapping the rest of the gifts, running to and fro to find that last forgotten gift {oops!}, trying to calm a few overly excited children who can't WAIIIIIIIIIIIT for Christmas, baking a few hundred dozen cookies, and trying to plan and organize for a very busy Christmas day.

Whew!

So, because we're ALL busy, I'm going to try to be concise here. {If you know me well, you know that's not usually a possibility for me}.

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Week 4 Recap:

Last Thursday we made cute little snowman candy cane holders.

Friday was Sierra's dance recital. I was SO proud of her. She is the youngest in her Jazz class, and she keeps up with the other dancers and choreography just beautifully. I got teary during the recital realizing that she isn't one of the "tiny little dancers" anymore. She is a a real "big girl" dancer now. Sigh.

Saturday the girls baked cookies at Nana's house. Aunt Nat and cousin Kuaile came over to help!

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Sunday was the Christmas program at church. We haven't been involved for the last couple of years {still in prayer about a church home}, but it is such fun to watch the other little ones onstage.

And afterward was a donut fry. Enough said.

Monday we went into town to finish up the last of the Christmas shopping. We had thought we were pretty well done, but it seems we always have at least one surprise.

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Tuesday we went out to look at Christmas lights. Each year we visit a local Christmas display, and it is always amazing. The girls were in awe, as you can imagine.

Wednesday was our "spa day". I try to do one for the girls every so often. We painted fingers, had a foot soak, and then painted toes.

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And today we will watch a couple of Christmas specials that we haven't gotten to see yet this year {Charlie Brown is at the top of the list}, and wrap the last {fingers crossed} of the presents. Christmas Eve day is always jam packed for us. I hope to bake Santa's cookies in the morning, then we usually head to Grandma and Grandpa's {Jeremy's parents} in the afternoon to watch previous years' Christmas home videos. After that we'll stop by Nana and Grandpa's {my parents} to have a quick visit. Then it's home {hopefully early in the evening}, and the girls get to open one present on Christmas eve {new jammies}.

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So much for being concise ;) Link up your activities, crafts, outings, etc. below!

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Wishing you all a Christmas filled with memories, and most importantly, the Holy Spirit.

Updates

This is such a busy time of year for us {this year it's especially chaotic with the house building}, I feel like I don't have time to sit down for a minute, let alone gather my thoughts together for a blog post. I think, after this week's Countdown to Christmas recap, I might be due for a little break.

But not before a few updates . . .

On the Home Front:

We are getting closer to completion of the house-building project! We still have at least another month or two, but the end is in sight. All of the outside doors are on, the inside is sheetrocked, painted, the electrical pretty much complete {just have to buy and install some of the lighting fixtures}. And cabinets are to be installed this week! Jeremy has been so super busy. He stained hundreds of trim boards all by himself! Well, not completely by himself. My dad was here to help almost the entire time. We are so incredibly thankful for all of his help. Not just the last few days, but really through this whole process. And while I'm being grateful, I just have to say how proud I am of Jeremy. He took on the staining project whole heartedly, and didn't complain once. Not even after three days straight {and I do mean full 12-14 hour days} of lacquering and sanding. And the trim looks A-MAZING. Seriously, if we'd have hired it out professionally it wouldn't have turned out half as beautiful.

On the Baby-Front:

All is well. I'm still having days where I feel pretty miserable. But I think it's getting better. At least I have a day here and there that I'm not sick all day, so that's good. And I've hit the 12 {and a half, lol} week mark. At least. Of course, I had calculated that I was a little farther along {more like 14 weeks}, but who knows, the ultrasound tech wasn't budging on her date ;) I am a tiny bit nervous about the weight gain, however. I am thinking it's not appropriate to have gained this much weight this early on. Ay yi yi.

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And that's about all there is to report. We've been enjoying our daily Christmas activities, and are looking forward to Christmas day and all of the magic it brings. I still cannot believe how quickly this time of year passes us by! Hope you all are enjoying your own special moments.

Countdown to Christmas 2010 ~ Week 3

Welcome to Week 3 of Countdown to Christmas! Not quite sure how a whole week passed before my very eyes, but ohhhkay.

Here's a brief recap of our week:

Last Thursday we made hair clips for gifting. That was the idea, anyway. Kenners was pretty happy with the one she made, and she decided she wanted to keep it for herself. The one below Sierra made for her cousin.

Friday we made snowflake decorations.

Saturday we were supposed to attend a Follow the Star event, but the weather was HORRIBLE. Flooding, cold, and pouring down rain, we decided we didn't want to hang out in it for any length of time, no matter how cool the live nativity was. Sooooo, instead we invited Nana and Grandma over to bake cookies. We made a LOT of them! Oatmeal, Gingersnap, Jam Thumbprint, and Sugar . . . just to name a few.

Sunday we helped Grandma and Grandpa decorate their tree, and afterward Jeremy took Sierra and Makenna to see The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. The following photos crack me up. Jeremy was Sierra's "lifter" and Grandpa was Makenna's.

A little friendly competition ensued.

Look how high I can hang my ornament!

Woohoo! Mine's the highest!

Oh yeah? Top this!

Alright, how about tree topper?!

All the while Daddy and Grandpa were commanded to "lift higher!"

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Monday we visited Geri {Grandma} at work for donuts and hot cocoa

And a few photos by the tree

Tuesday we met up again with Grandma and Nana, and we went to see Tangled.

But not before a bite to eat . . .

Mostly just slurpin' on Flurries

And Yesterday was the start of our Danish Christmas {the girls find a small gift in their stocking each day from December 15th through the 24th}. They each found beads in which to use during our activity: making Christmas bracelets.

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There you have it! We had quite a busy week. Now if I can just get through the rest of this week, I might be able to breathe a sigh of relief.

So . . . . what have you all been up to? Any crafts, recipes, or activities you'd like to share? Link up below. And don't forget to visit others! It's more fun that way ;)

Wordless Wednesday ~ Mmmmm, Whipped Cream!

The best part of Hot Cocoa! :)

Countdown to Christmas ~ 2010, ♥ Week 2 ♥

Welcome to Week ♥ 2 ♥ of Countdown to Christmas! Am I the only one who has a hard time believing that we're in our second week of December already? The clock is ticking, isn't it?

We had a great week. It was kind of quiet and relaxed, but that's good sometimes.

So, recap:

Last Friday we went Christmas shopping and out to lunch. We ate at one of the girls' favorite restaurants {no, not McDonalds, thankyouverymuch!}, Lil' Cooperstown. And we finished up almost all of our Christmas shopping. Just a couple more things to pick up.

Saturday we got our tree! We were so happy to have it picked out and put up! We even got a shot of the whole family. That doesn't happen very often ;)

Sunday we had planned to craft, but at the last minute our plans changed and the girls decided to go up to Jeremy's parents' house to help them sell trees. They had such fun as the official tree picker outers ;) We also spent some time in Luke 2. I think the more I read it, the more in awe I am.

Monday we made wreath decorations. I had little foam wreaths left over from last year, and the girls decorated them with rhinestones and sequins.

Tuesday was spent reading some of our favorite Christmas stories. The girls love the Little House books. Makenna received "A Little House Christmas" a couple of years ago. It is a fabulous book filled with special Christmas stories. We read the first one on Tuesday.

And Tuesday evening we were invited to my parents' house to decorate their tree. I don't think the girls could ever get tired of decorating.

And today we made our Rudolph Candy Canes. So much fun!

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So . . . . what have you all been up to? Any crafts, recipes, or activities you'd like to share? Link up below. And don't forget to visit others! It's more fun that way ;)

Craft ideas for the little ones

Hey y'all! I'm not sure if anyone is interested, but I thought I'd post some ideas for crafts and activities to involve the littles this holiday season. I know I'm always looking for ideas for my girls.

Today we made Rudolph Candy Canes. These are sooooo easy, fairly mess-free, and don't take long at all to make. A big craft score, in my book!

You need:

Candy Canes

Wiggly eyes

Red puff ball for the nose

Brown {or any color, really} pipe cleaner for the antlers

You simply glue they eyes and nose to the candy cane, attach some "antlers", and hang on the tree. They are super adorable . . .

See?

. . . and super easy!

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Do you have craft foam {in green} on hand?

You could cut out some circles, punch out the middle, decorate with rhinestones, sequins, or other embellishments, and end up with some very sweet Christmas wreathes.

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Try making gift tags!

All you need is scrapbooking paper {or even construction paper would work}, stickers, a hole punch and ribbon. Actually, you wouldn't even need to punch a hole and use ribbon, if you didn't want to. Super easy!

We'll be making gift tags at our house soon!

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And finally, anyone remember these from last year?

Okay, they are a bit more on the messy side. Think glue and glitter and little hands. Yeah. But they are such fun, and they make gorgeous decorations. You just need white craft foam, cut into the shape of a snowflake. We glued, then sprinkled glitter, and embellished with rhinestones. Then we hung them, by ribbon, from the girls' ceiling.

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Hope this helps get those creative juices flowin'! ;) Try one, and then let me know how it goes!

Holiday Happenings

Since many of you asked, here are a few pics of the girls' tree. They love having their very own tree in their room, and they decorate it all by themselves. Well, I string the lights, but they do the rest ;) Sierra's especially great about checking each day to make sure it has enough water.

We're off to the grocery store in a minute, but I'm hoping to have some craft ideas to post later today ~ if any of you are looking for things to do with the littles.

Oh, and don't forget to link up your holiday activities. Come back here tomorrow for our Countdown to Christmas! We've had a busy week, how 'bout you?