Merry Christmas!!!

Wow, what a day!! More gifts than we deserve...we are truly blessed. We had a wonderful day at home with family celebrating our Saviour's birth! Only one thing was missing, but hopefully he or she will be her very soon! Opening some gifts...

Em got a snazzy new coat, hat & gloves from Grandpa & Grandma Carol.Some cute and funny slipper socks...

Em is excited about her Holiday Barbie from Mimi & PawPaw!

Nathan loves his new rollerblades!!

A set of Lincoln Logs was one of the gifts on Nathan's wishlist...don't ask me why he is 11 and we have never owned a set???

Princess opening her gifts...in her Christmas pajamas!!

My Dad made me this beautiful bench to match my kitchen table and accommodate our growing family.

He also made Em this hutch for her American Girl doll...she showed him the picture in the catalog (they only wanted $98 for one) and made a great replica!

Mom made me these items from my baby "wishlist", a warm cozy car seat blanket and beautiful burp cloths. I can't wait to use them!! Em's stuffed pig is modeling the blanket for us...

We always end each Christmas Day with a birthday cake for Jesus, this was Em's red/green masterpiece!

Hope your Christmas was wonderful!!

Day 24...Birthday Cake for Jesus!

Baking a birthday cake for Jesus has been one of our family traditions since the kids were toddlers, so it was no big surprise that it was our Day 24 advent activity. Since they have gotten older they enjoy doing most of the work themselves. Nathan does most of the "baking."

and Em is in charge of the frosting...and next year we'll have a new "beater-licker!!"

They decided to make a red/green 4 layer cake...I can't wait to see how it looks when they cut it tomorrow.

Merry CHRISTmas Everyone!!!

Day 21 and 22

It's a 2 for 1 post today... Our Day 22 activity was to go bowling!! The kids love to bowl and it usually something special we reserve for birthdays, but some free game coupons made it a little more budget friendly. Nathan won with a high score of 101!! Obviously we have fun, but are not very good bowlers!!

Our Day 21 activity was to have roast hot dogs for dinner at the fireplace in our PJ's while we watched a Christmas movie.

With a big mug of Hot Cocoa for dessert...

Today's activity is a trip to see a Gingerbread House Competition and to see a HUGE Christmas light display!! Fun Stuff!! The kids told me yesterday that this will be a Christmas they will always remember for two reasons... #1 it is the year they are waiting for their baby brother/sister to arrive any day and #2 they will always remember the fun stuff we did in this advent calendar!!

Is this why they call it "the most wonderful time of the year??"

Because the UPS man brings me this... Filled with these!! We're having some yummy breakfasts around here for the next few days...

Thanks Grandpa & Grandma Carol!!

Day 17..."another ornament"

Another homemade ornament today...because Mom's can never have too many of those for their tree! I love this one...it's EASY and FREE!! Just go out in your yard and grab some sticks and some raffia, string, ribbon, whatever... Cut the sticks into equal lengths.

Then just tie them together at 5 different points.

Done!! Cute and easy...this one literally took 10 minutes!!

something for baby...

I was looking through our baby stash last week and noticed we were a little low on onesies...it's hard to believe we may be using these in just a few weeks!!! I got a sweet little $10 coupon from Kohl's in the mail last week and picked up these long sleeve solid onesies for FREE and found these adorable iron-on's at AC Moore...aren't they cute?? The sweet pea one is my favorite...

Day 11..."Krispy Kreme"

Our Day 11 activity was a trip downtown for a Christmas Krispy Kreme doughnut!! While we were there we made time for a few quick other holiday freebies. The Governor's Mansion was having a Holiday Open House this weekend and you could stop in for a quick tour and to see the beautiful decorations.

After the mansion, we made a quick stop into the History Museum for this little girl to see the Barbie exhibit that just opened last week!

Fun times!!

Day 10..."At the Dollar Tree"

The Day 10 activity on our advent calendar was to go to the Dollar Store and each child buy a gift for every person in our family. We gave them each $4 and they were to buy a gift for mom, dad, brother/sister, and baby. They had such fun picking out their gifts, brought them home, wrapped them and we sat around and opened them together! Daddy's gifts...a musical Christmas tie from Em and a Wii baseball bat from Nathan (doesn't the Dollar Tree have great stuff!!)

My gifts were a scented candle from Em and a vegetable peeler from Nathan, this was very sweet and thoughtful, he was watching me peel sweet potatoes the other night and wanted to know why my 13 yr old peeler was so old and rusted?!?! This one has a built in veggie scrubber, too!!

Emily's gift for Nathan was a 6 in 1 screwdriver set...he is working on putting together his own toolbox.

Nathan got Emily a bag of pom-poms...again he really pays attention, he saw her asking for a bag in the craft store the other day.

They each picked out a cute bib for the baby...

While I was there wandering around waiting for the kids, I came across these things to make a new Christmas decoration. All you need is a little imagination and you can make great things from the Dollar Tree!! A glass vase, candleholder, and pack of styrofoam snowflake ornaments...

I superglued the vase to the candlestick...

Dropped in the snowflakes, tied on a ribbon and made this for the bathroom sink...cute!!

Day 7..."Make a Christmas Craft"

We chose making snow globes for our today's activity... Start by gluing ornaments onto the inside of a jar lid.

Add distilled water, glycerin, dish soap, and glitter.

We also discovered you can make "snow" for your snow globe by grating bits of a PVC pipe...

Fun project!! Still have a table full of glitter...

Day 6..."Make an ornament"

The Day 6 activity on the advent calendar was to make a Christmas ornament together. I found this super easy idea and it will definitely become one of our yearly traditions. We gathered up the supplies of paper, pens, ribbon, and a clear glass ball ornament. We ripped the paper into small strips and took turns writing our favorite memories of 2009. Some were silly, others more serious, but they all happened this year. Next, you roll the strips up around a pencil into tiny curls.

Drop them down into the ornament and finish it off with a date and some ribbon. Won't it be neat to open these up in a few years and re-read all of our memories?!?!?