Countdown to Christmas 2013 ~ Days 11&12

Day 11 was a nice, quiet day spent at home.
The girls were surprised with a couple of new books. 

 

And Day 12, we continued our annual tradition of visiting Grandma at work.

 

She surprised each of the girls with a new ornament,
and they drank cocoa, and ate cupcakes.

 

 

 

But I think their most favorite part was playing at the desk.
Grandma's 10-key was a HUGE hit, lol!
I'm pretty much done with their shopping, but I'm tempted to buy a 10-key
simply because it kept them so entertained ;)

 

 

 

 

 Today we are headed to the theater to see Frozen.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Taylor makes it through at least a portion of it! :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Countdown to Christmas 2013 ~ Days 9 & 10

We're counting on down to Christmas!

Day 9 was spent shopping.
My girls could shop all day, every day.
They love it.

I needed to pick up a little surprise at the Disney store,
and then it was off to Walmart for wrapping supplies.
No photos for day 9 because 4 children + 1 disorganized Mama = mess.


Day 10 was Wrapping Day.
I specifically bought a couple extra rolls of .97 wrap at Walmart so the little girls could wrap
{and tape!} to their heart's content. 

 

 

Holly let her hair down yesterday.

 

And in the afternoon, we got a call from my dad
asking if the big girls and I would like to go to a movie.

I'm going to be honest, at first I wasn't sure.
It was a greasy-hair, pony-tail and leggings kind of day,
and the thought of leaving the house didn't appeal.

But I'm so happy we went.
It was nice to get out with just the two big girls.
It was a beautiful drive to an old movie theater in Silverton.
 

 

 

 

And I was pleasantly surprised to find I LOVED the movie
{we saw Catching Fire. I didn't love the first movie, but the second totally made up for it!}
*And ya know, my hair was nothing a little baby powder couldn't fix ;)

 

Once we got home, we had a little dinner, did some snuggling, and put the littles to bed.

And just enjoyed the beautiful sights of Christmas.

 

 

 

 

 Today is a laid back day at home.
Christmas story-reading is on our to-do list.
I'm going to enjoy these quiet moments . . .
the rest of the week is going to be BUSY!

 

 

 

Countdown to Christmas 2013 ~ Days 6,7, & 8

Why does this time of year FLY by??

We're just over two weeks away from Christmas!!

We're having so much fun with our countdown
{a few meltdowns, a couple bad attitudes . . . but that just seems par for the course this time of year.
Too much excitement, maybe?}

 

Friday was spent making Gingerbread men.
 

 

And when I say we spent that day making them, I pretty much mean that it turned into an all day event ;)

 

 

Turns out Kam and Tay LOVE decorating the little guys.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the end, we had a bunch of cute little Gingerbread men, and the mess?  It was nothing that a broom, mop, and shower couldn't clean up :)

We also got a tiny little dusting of snow.
And the temps have been in the teens and below . . . BRRRR!
 

On Saturday we went down to the church for the Hanging of the Greens.
We couldn't set to work without Chili in our bellies ;)
 

And yesterday, after church, we decorated at Grandma and Grandpa's





We've got a busy week ahead of us!
What's on your calendar?

 

 

 

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!