Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Love,

David, Sarah, Chris & Naomi

p.s. i haven't forgotten about the rest of the advent activities.  i will post those soon, i promise!  plus, the rest of these fabulous family photos taken by my incredibly talented sister in law.

second week of the Christmas advent

we have had another fun week!  two of the activities i had planned didn't work out.  one was just poor planning on my part, and the other was, well, a consequence for bad behavior.  monday was that day.  we were supposed to have a fun, Christmas family home evening.  the kids were having a really hard time listening, and were fighting, and just doing all those naughty kid things.  moms, you know what i'm talking about!  now, i don't believe family home evening should be taken away because of bad behavior.  we should spend time together as a family - no matter what.  well, i guess that "no matter what" got challenged. :)  hopefully they learned that it's no fun to make bad choices, and will be on better behavior.  we did had a much better time for the rest of the week.

on tuesday night, we read extra Christmas bedtime stories together as a family.  it's so fun to snuggle up together and read.  that's one of my favorite things to do with my kids.  i hope to help them develop a love of reading.  wednesday night we listened to Christmas music while we watched the lights on the tree.  it was nice to just sit and be still for a few minutes during the day.  it didn't last too long, of course, but it was magical while it did. :)

thursday was the other day that didn't work out as planned.  i had planned for us to wrap the gifts the kids had gotten last saturday.  dave ended up working late, so it was just the kids and me.  i realized that they would be super bored, and that it wouldn't be too much fun for them to watch me wrap.  and, i would have to keep at least one of them out of the room the whole time.  i decided not to set myself up for that frustration.  they're not quite old enough to wrap by themselves, so what i've decided is to wrap all the gifts before hand, in brown paper.  then, they can work on decorating the gifts that have been wrapped.  i think that will be a lot more fun, and less frustrating for everyone.  we'll do that sometime next week (after i get everything wrapped first!).  so, instead, the kids helped me work on our homemade Christmas cards.  they're pretty close to being done, and should be coming out sometime this week, too.  here's a sneak peek:

chris did the faces, i did the hat, naomi did the hair and beard (with a little help - i don't really trust her on her own with glue just yet :D)

i think this one with the long nose is my favorite.

friday, we went to downtown frisco to see the lights.  they have a bunch of lights set up that flash in time to music, which was really neat to watch.  they had a fun "train" ride, which took you around to see the lights.  santa was also there.  chris had no fear this year, and hopped right up on his knee.  naomi's only contact was to reach her hand out as far as it would go to snatch the candy cane he was offering her.  i can't blame her for not wanting to sit on some strange man's knee. :)  dave took pictures with his phone.  i'll get them, and post them soon.

saturday was a fun, crazy day!  we got up bright and early (okay, we didn't get up any earlier - my kids are early risers, but we did get dressed and moving a lot quicker than normal), and headed over to the church for breakfast.  we had yummy pancakes, fruit, sausage, and hot chocolate.  after we were full (and a little sticky), we went to go see santa, again.  chris had some questions about how the whole thing worked, so i had to explain how santa has helpers, and that's why not all the santas look the same.  he was also wondering how santa got to the church without his reindeer.  he's pretty smart - we'll have to be quick on our toes if we want him to keep believing! :)  i, of course, did not bring my camera.  are you surprised?  i didn't think so. :)  a friend - much more responsible than i - was in line next to us, and took pictures of the kids with her camera.  when i get those, i'll post them.  it was pretty much the same scenario as the night before.  naomi did manage to stand next to santa this time, though. :)

right after that, chris had a birthday party to go to.  naomi and i ran errands, we picked up chris, then we cleaned the house a bit.  stella came over in the afternoon and watched the kids while dave and i went shopping.  thank you, stella!  it was fabulous!  our shopping is all done, except for a few bits and pieces. yay!  that's a big thing to check off my to-do list.  the kids had a great time with ouma - playing games, watching movies, eating treats.  all the fun grandparent stuff.

today's fun activity was making Christmas cookies.  we used the cookie press, and added sprinkles.  the kids love helping in the kitchen.  fun and yummy!  i think we might have to bake up some more, though.  we need (yes, need!) some variety.  i'm thinking some no bake chocolate cookies, peanut butter kiss ones, and, if i'm feeling ambitious, some sugar cookies for me to decorate.  fun, fun!

check in again next week to hear about the fun things coming up!

snow!

a couple wednesdays ago, we woke up to snow!  the first thing the kids said, of course, was, "can we go out and play?!"  they had a great time out there.  it was really wet and didn't last very long, but they experienced snow in december.  how festive!

first week of the christmas advent

this year, i decided to do something a little different to help us have more meaningful family time, count down the days until christmas, and get in all the fun things i want to do (with as little stress as possible!).  so far, it's going really well, and i'm really happy that i did it.

instead of a traditional advent calendar with treats or little toys or something like that, what i did was number envelopes from 1 to 24.  i hung them each, with a clothespin, on this decoration i had made a few years ago to hold christmas cards.  originally i was just going to string some ribbon up, and clothespin the envelopes to that, but then i remembered i had this already cute and made.  perfect!

each envelope has a piece of paper inside with an activity for the day.  some are things we would have been doing anyway, some are really easy, and some take a little bit of work.  none of them cost any money (except saturday's one, but i think that's the only one), and most only take a few minutes to do.  the weekends will have activities around our area, that we like to attend.  the weekdays are more of the low-key activities.  what's really great about this method, is that if something comes up, and i need to change things around, all i have to do is take out the paper and put in a new one.  i'm all about keeping it simple.  and, speaking of keeping it simple, you might be thinking that this sounds like more work.  it's not!  for me anyway, i love lists and organizing my time, activities, closets, my brain - pretty much anything!  this helps me feel a lot more organized, and less worried about when everything will get done.  for example, one of the activities is to make christmas cookies.  something i would have felt the need to do anyway, but now i have a specific day to do them, and it will (hopefully) be a fun family activity.  so, no worrying in the back of my mind about when to get them done.  i guess what i'm saying is that i love having my month planned out.  the kids love it too.  it's a little surprise every morning when they get to open a new one.

tuesday was the first, and we started by getting the christmas decorations up.  usually this is a stressful, 3 day process.  crazy, i know.  i acted like i'd have to live with it for years, instead of for a few weeks.  i'm a little weird like that. :)  this year, though, i let go a little.  dave and the kids did the tree without me, while i did the other decorations.  that way i could just put everything out, while they got the tree up.  it's nice to just have it out and done.  i can't say that the three day process turns out a better result, either.  i might have to not decorate a tree ever again! :)  chris was so, so excited to get out the decorations, and helped a whole lot with hanging up the ornaments.  he had a great time.  naomi had fun, too, but more in the scope of her two-year-old attention span.  she would go play, then run back to do a few ornaments, then run off to play some more.

(chris took these next two)

wednesday, the second, we talked about how serving others is the same as serving Jesus.  i introduced an activity that we're going to be doing this christmas season.  i bought a little basket that's serving as our manger, and some of the crinkled, shredded, gift-basket paper, which is serving as our hay.  anytime someone does something nice for another person, they get to add some "hay" to the "manger".  it's been fun to see the kids' eyes light up when they realize that they get to add some hay.  on christmas eve, we'll add a baby doll, and see if we've made the bed soft enough for baby Jesus.  hopefully it'll be a good reminder of the real meaning of the season.

thursday, the third, we made sure to do something nice for another person so we could add some hay.  we also attended our stake's nativity exhibit that evening.  it was beautiful, and a really spiritual, nice way to kind of kick-off the month.

friday, the fourth, the kids and i made our new ornaments for the tree.  we get a new ornament every year for the kids, and this year i decided to do salt dough ornaments.  the recipe is on the left sidebar.  katie and lily were over, so we invited them to make some with us.  they were a lot of fun to make, and turned out really cute with cookie cutters.  we did a few of varying thicknesses, and i think the thicker ones turned out nicer.  i was worried they wouldn't bake, and get properly dried out, but they did just fine.  after they had baked and cooled, we painted them.  my favorites are christopher's gingerbread man, and naomi's big pink and red star.  you can tell whose are whose, because naomi loves pink!  hers are all the same color. :)  she loves pink, so that totally reflects her right now.

saturday, the fifth, we took the kids christmas shopping.  we went to the dollar store (we're cheap, and they're kids - it's all good, right? :D), and split up - one kid and one adult.  then, we switched.  the kids shopped for each other and for dave and i.  it was fun to watch them realize that we weren't there to get anything for them.  after they realized that, they really got into getting something really great for each other.  i'm excited to watch them open their gifts for each other on christmas.

today, the sixth, we watched the first presidency christmas devotional together as a family, and had hot chocolate and s'mores.  ok, my indoor version of s'mores.  here's the easiest way i've found to do it (if you care!).  get out your broiling pan, or a cookie sheet.  set your oven to broil.  put parchment paper down on the pan (not totally necessary, but much easier), and put marshmallows down.  group them according to how much you want on each graham cracker.  for example, i was making four s'mores, so i had four groupings of marshmallows.  broil them for a minute to a minute and a half, or until they're as brown and toasty as you'd like them.  on your graham crackers, spread some nuetella on one side of a graham cracker.  use a spatula to transfer the toasted marshmallows to one side of another graham cracker.  squish the two crackers together, and serve.  yum!

while we were having our delicious desserts, we had a great time watching the devotional.  the kids were squirming and noisy, which was expected.  i think they felt the spirit of it, though, and enjoyed the ten minutes they heard. :)  i look forward to this every year, and it feels like the christmas season has officially started, now that we've watched the devotional.  i love the inspiring words from the prophet and his counselors.  the music was amazing, of course.  what a great way to spend a sunday evening!  in case you missed it, or just want to watch it again, here's the link:

http://www.lds.org/move/index.html?type=Christmas&event=2009&lang=english

i'm excited for all the fun things we'll do together as a family this up coming week!

trip to louisiana

two sundays ago, we took a fairly impromptu trip to louisiana.  it was fabulous.  for one thing, i love road trips.  for another, we had a really great reason for going.

dave served his mission (2 year commitment 19 year old guys, and some 21 year old gals make) in louisiana.  ever since we've moved to texas, we've had intentions of making the trip over to visit.  we hadn't made it over, until last sunday (22nd of november).

in dave's first area, he taught a 12 year-old boy.  the mom was inactive, and the other members of the family weren't members.  the boy (cole), agreed to hear the discussions, and decided to be baptized.  later on, during dave's mission, he learned that cole's mom had started coming to church again, and was the relief society president.  cole and dave connected on facebook a while back, which was great, because that meant we received a wedding invitation to cole's marriage.  he got married in idaho, but also had an open house at his home in louisiana.

the open house was on sunday, and we decided that the four hour drive was worth it.  we packed up the car, and the kids :), and started on our way.  the kids are good travelers - made even better with some good audio books, paper and crayons, and a movie or two.  i hadn't ever been to louisiana before, so that was a lot of fun for me.  i even got to see a bayou!

we got there a couple hours before the reception, so dave had a chance to show us around.  we saw some of the places he tracted, where he lived, and spent some time down by the river.  it was beautiful, and really fun to see where he had spent so much time, and served so diligently.

being at the open house completely made the trip worthwhile.  a lot of people remembered him, and cole's mom was so excited to see dave.  she was super surprised, and touched that he would make the effort to be there.  we also learned that cole's stepdad had been baptized, and is serving as the elder's quorum president.  cole's younger sister was baptized, and the family was sealed in the temple in 2006.  dave was more excited than he's been in a long time.  it was a great experience to see how the conversion of a 12 year-old boy affected his whole family for good.  it was a wonderful experience, and i'm so glad we got to be there!

we left the open house at 8:30 for the four hour trek home.  the kids fell asleep before we had even gotten out of town.  dave and i had the whole four hours to just talk with each other.  we don't very often get a chance like that, so we really enjoyed the time together.  it was a great sunday.