Countdown to Christmas 2013 ~ Days 4 & 5

Snow has been forecast for days, and yet . . . not a trace in our neck of the woods :(
So, on the 4th we decided to make our own snowflakes.

Later that evening we were invited to Nana and Grandpa's to decorate their tree.

Kam LOVES to decorate.
In 20 or so years, if you're looking for an interior decorator . . .

The girls have been begging to dress up their American Girl dolls, and pose them for photos.
I found an adorable baking set for dolls on Amazon that didn't cost eleventy million dollars.
 Sierra and Kenners dressed their dolls in aprons, and had an AG baking photo shoot ;)
That was our activity for December 5th.

While the big girls were snappin' away, the little girls were cuddled in the living room . . .

 

. . . watching some Christmas classics.

 

Whew! Life seems rather chaotic right now.
I have a list of about three thousand things to do, and every time I check one item off, five more pop up.
Every year my goal is to make the month of December stress-free. 
Looks like I need to work a little harder at that :)


 

Countdown to Christmas 2013 ~ Days 2&3

Our second day of Countdown to Christmas found us making
stockings and gifts for our American Girl dolls.

Wrapping the present was Kam's favorite :)
{P.S., we made our dollies some pretty hair ties}

Though she liked sparkling up her stocking quite a bit.

~~~ ♥ ~~~ ♥ ~~~ ♥ ~~~ ♥ ~~~

Day 3 . . . We got our TREE!
You can't really imagine the excitement.
Us girls LOVE getting our tree.

Even Daddy gets a kick out of finding the "perfect" tree. 

Oh look at this short, chubby one. We'll call it a Mama tree. 

Real cute.

Finally, finally.
We decided on the perfect one.

And Miss Kam found the perfect shavings to make a wish on ;)

This tree . . . is huge.

And then we hauled it home!

 

Don't worry, the girls were tucked safely in the van ;)

The tree rode in the truck.

Then came the decorating. 
Poor Miss Kam waited, and waited, and waited while we strung the lights.
But in the end, it was worth the wait!
She decorated like it was going out of style!

So.
Today we are making snowflake decorations
{pretty appropriate as we woke up to 17* weather this morning.  BRR!}


What are you all up to?

Countdown to Christmas 2013 ~ Day 1

We've made it to December!!!
 Our Countdown to Christmas is underway, and the girls couldn't be more excited!

December 1st started with a welcome back to our elf, Holly.
She had planned an entire North Pole Breakfast for the girls.

Turns out snowflake pancakes are yummier than regular ol' pancakes :)

Our December 1st activity was to make a candy countdown chain.
To make your own you'll need:
 saran wrap {I like red},
24 candies,
26 pieces of ribbon,
and numbered tags.

Line up your candies, fold over the saran wrap, tie ribbon and tags between each piece,
and voila ~ advent calendar!

Today we are making Christmas accessories for our American Girl dolls ~ stockings, presents, and the like!

We're also counting down with Bible verses for each day.

December 1st : John 1: 1-5
December 2nd: Isaiah 9: 2-7

Do you have great countdown ideas?
Please share!

Countdown to Christmas 2013!

This is our favorite time of year!!
 I can't believe Thanksgiving is now behind us, and we are staring straight into December!
 My goodness this year has passed by in a flash.

If you've been around here awhile, you know that I organize a Countdown to Christmas each year
 for my four girly girls.

Many years ago I made a Countdown Tree:



We love ours, but I've seen some super cute ones on Pinterest as well :)

And each day they pull a special card from a numbered pocket to find out what our fun holiday activity will be for the day.

 
Some days we actually make it out of the house {if you know Taylor you realize what a feat that is}.
But mostly we plan crafts, baking, and other activities at home.
Most everything is little to no cost; pretty much a necessity for us the last couple of years.

Over the next few days I'll try to post fun activities you may enjoy with your littles.
Sierra and Makenna are getting older now, but I think they have at least as much, if not more fun than my two little ones. 


 What fun holiday traditions do you all have?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Count your many blessings, name them one by one . . .

Oh how thankful I am for my sweet blessings whom I get to share this precious life with!

Many wishes for a happy Thanksgiving for y'all!!

Wordless Wednesday ~ Frosty Mornings

Christmas Bazaar

It's that time of year . . .
Christmas Bazaar time!!

Oh how I love this season!!!

From the first of November until the 1st of January,
I just love the sights and activities of the season!

Our church held their second annual bazaar last weekend,
and the girls and I excitedly set up our table, and kept watch for two days!

Christmas gift tags

It always amazes me how much stuff it seems like we have made up,

when we're busily crafting at home, vs. what it looks like when we get down to the bazaar

and set it all up on the gigantic table, lol!

Crayon Keeper


The first day was terribly slow, but it gave us an opportunity to visit, craft, relax.
All of which we never get to do, so it was nice!

Handmade necklaces 


And come Saturday, things picked up, and Sierra and Makenna made friends
with other girls who were sentenced to manning their own table ;) 

 

Tissue holder 

 At the end of the weekend, we had made friends, a little extra Christmas spending money, and
had a wonderful time!

Sock Snowmen

Can't wait to do it all again next year!!

Wordless Wednesday ~ Little Helper

Crazy Busy

Whew!
I'm trying to catch my breath in between photo shoots,
and apple cider making,
and crafting for the Christmas Bazaar,
and actually attending the Bazaar,
and homeschool,
and Christmas shopping,
and consults for ortho,
and planning for Countdown to Christmas,
and
and
and

But I had to pop in and share a session from last weekend.
My poor photography blog gets even less attention than this blog,
so it's probably time to just consolidate, and post here.

Alrighty, less chatty . . .
Check out this GORGEOUS family
{who just happen to BE my family}

Seriously beautiful family inside and out!

And with that, I am off to sew a Christmas gift,
put the littles to bed, and prepare to start another busy day!

 

Cider Time!

It's Cider-making day, hooray!
Our 2nd annual Cider press!

Chili is made, and in the crockpot.
Cornbread muffins are baked, and cooling.
Dip is ready to meet chip.
I have four loaves of bread to bake,
and one more pot of soup to put together . . .
and then we are READY!

I ♥ FALL!

November, already?

Well, hello there :)

Days are flying by at the speed of light, as usual.
We had a fabulous Halloween weekend, and are moving right along toward Thanksgiving.
How this is possible, I'm not sure. But my calendar doesn't lie.

Halloween night we Trick or Treated
{which is code for: we stopped by grandparents houses,
 and then stuffed ourselves on candy while watching The Great Pumpkin}

I think Kam was the only one of the girls who stuck with her original dress up idea :)

We came up with Sissy's costume idea, literally, an hour before heading out.
May I present: The White Witch from Narnia

 

Saturday evening was spent down at the church for the Harvest festival, which was SO much fun.
It was kind of quiet, but I won't lie, that's how we love it.
It was comfortable, and casual, and the girls belted out worship songs onstage.
Ahhhhh. Makes my heart happy.

So, what else?
Life has been busy with photo shoots, schooling, and the like.
But we managed to fit in a few photos for ourselves:

I call this, Christmas Card Photo, Take One . . .
 

My silly girls.

Next up?
Family is coming for a visit this weekend, and
cider-making is on the calendar for Saturday.
We can't wait!
I'm making chili, soup, bread . . . and of course, the main course will be cider ;)