The Countdown continues.

Lets see, where were we?  Day 12?

DAY 12

Oh Day 12 was so fun! Our friend Brett came into town to hang out with us for a few hrs.  We escorted him to a concert at Barnes and Noble (our activity for the day) where Luke performed. This was my view, can you spot him?

Luke was so cute he sang 2 songs.  Jack was supposed to sing too, but the set up was ridiculous and the performance was optional so we decided to skip out on his class and go to dinner instead.  Jack didn't really want to sing so he was totally fine with it. I also let them pick out a new Christmas book for the night.

After dinner we came back to our house where Doug and Brett jammed out in our sound studio/bedroom.  And then had dance party in the living room. Good times!

"spin the disc"

Day 13

Go Caroling to a Nursing Home

No pictures of Day 13. We made cookies and delivered them with our Manger ornaments to a local assisted living home. We met another family there and sang a bunch of Christmas Carols to the 5 residents who lived there. We had a really nice experience visiting with them afterward.  We did this as part of our Ward Christmas Service activity and then met up with the rest of our ward afterward at the church for donuts and hot chocolate.

Day 14

Finish Shopping for family members and wrap all presents.  The kids had a holiday gift shop at school where they did most of their shopping. We all split up that night to check a few more gifts off the list and made sure they were all wrapped up.

That was fun but really the highlight of the day for Luke was when we got out the EZ bake oven. He'd seen one on TV and told me he wanted one for Christmas.  They come in more boy friendly colors these days I guess.

I told him we had one already from when Mer was little. Just waiting in her closet to be used.

He baked and baked and then kept baking the next morning. One batch of muffin batter goes a long way in an EZ Bake. We found that muffins taste just like cake when you add a little frosting and sprinkles.

Day 15
Bake Christmas Cookies The baking continued  on Sunday and we made Christmas cut out cookies.  My kids love cutting them out.

This recipe called for coconut oil which made them taste delish.

We also tried making our own "oreos" Unfortunately we didn't have powdered sugar in the house so we had to wait until Monday to frost them all.  They were tasty.

More to come tomorrow!

Halfway to Christmas!

My how time does fly! Chrismas is coming and it's coming quick, we are already halfway there. Meredith spied Liz's Instagram post about their Christmas Countdown and we decided to copy them.

Mer came home an whipped up a tree and we filled it with activities. I've not been so good about posting but the kids are having fun seeing what's in the envelope each day.  Ready for a recap of the week's events?

Day 1

Go on a walk and count the Christmas lights in our neighborhood!  We counted 11. Luke loves to run and run and run.  It has been fun to watch as day by day more lights get hung.  

Day 2

FHE- Decorate for Christmas

We just sat back and let the kids do it all. I love the twinkling light and the cozy feel of our home at Christmas time. 

 Way to go Team Markos!

Day 3

Write Letters to Santa

This was funny. Jack got up that morning and wrote his letter and put it in the mail box before he even saw the activity for the day. He pulled out the activity card and got a big smile on his face, "I just did that" he said. I wonder if he sneaked a peek

Day 4

Make a Christmas Picture 

The big kids typically choose not to participate in craft time but this one was mandatory. And what do you know? they had fun.

 We made these fun trees. I love how each one is different. :)  A big thanks to Liz for posting all her countdown last year for me to copy

Day 5 

Read Christmas Stories. 

No picture for today but we had fun heading to the library for some new Christmas books that day. 

Day 6

Volunteer at the Holiday Light Fest

Jack's Cub Scout troop needed volunteers to help out with the hay rides at the local Light Festival. Jack Mer and I went.  We wore official reflector jackets and at the end we went on a hayride through the park in the dark.

Day 7

Decorate Evey and Dick's house.  

Our neighbor is very sick and on hospice right now. We offered to help his wife hang up Christmas lights this year so she wouldn't have to worry about it (Initiated by Max for one of his Faith in God requirements).  Doug went over with the boys and put everything up while I was at a soccer tournament with Mer.

Day 8

 Make Ornaments to take to the nursing home and watch the Christmas Fireside. 

We ended up doing two days in one on Sunday.  We invited our neigbors to help us make ornaments to take to a nursing home this week. 

We made 12 Popsicle stick Nativities together. Then we watched the Christmas Fireside.  

Day 9

On this day we were supposed to make the Nativity ornaments so instead we opened up a Christmas present from Ben and Brea and made up a big gingerbread house together. 

Thank you Ben and Breanne!

Day 10

Make a Christmas Craft

We some Letter ornaments inspire by some that I saw in the Anthropologie magazine. 

The little boys' wrapped them all by themselves. The big kids were excused since they were busy with other things. 

A finished picture to come

Day 11

I don't remember what we did this day, My life is a blur. The schedule said mail the Christmas cards but this didn't happen :) I think we ended up putting up some more lights outside. 

I'm pausing here and will catch up the rest tomorrow :) Good night!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Today I'm thankful for the wonderful life I have. We had a lovely day today.  We are so blessed and enjoy so many comforts here. Here are the things I will remember from today. The weather was beautiful.  It started off to be a chilly morning at 45 degrees for our Turkey Trot. Everyone ran the 5k and I ran the 10k. Max hung out at my friend Kristin's to stay warm.

 

We listened to the Weird Al Pandora radio channel every time we got in the car. Funny stuff. 

Here are the pie pictures as promised. I snapped a quick pick before taking some pieces over to the neighbors and then heading over to Thanksgiving dinner with the Missionaries and the Gibsons.

We feasted on delicious food and too much pie.

We did make a Thankful tree this season.  It has been taped to the wall all month.

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All in all it was a lovely relaxing day.  

This week at school Luke was in a Thanksgiving play.

Of course it was super cute. He was an indian and had to say "big and brave" over and over. 

We sure do love this silly little guy.

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving day!

Happy Pie Making Day!!

Yep that's right. Today was pie making day.  I'm thankful for pie making day!! I loved today.  I love the day before thanksgiving. This is the day we make pies!  I give directions and we crank out some pies with music cranking in the background.  Something magical happens when we all work together. We made 4 pies. Mer made the Cherry.  Max made the pumpkin. Jack made the apple and Luke helped me with the crust. Doug came home in the midst of it all and was our photographer.

Mer photo bombed as many as she could.

Each pie had it's own little tragedy so to speak. I bought the wrong canned cherries for Mer's (I bought Bing in heavy syrup instead of tart) Max forgot to add the canned milk to the pumpkin.  We tasted a sliver tonight...it was still good and he was satisfied that we didn't have to trash it after all. Jack pinched the skin on his finger so hard it got cut while taking the apple off the corer/peeler/slicer. I'm happy to report he recovered and finished his pie. All pies are edible thankfully.  Ill get pictures tomorrow.

Mer and I made new aprons especially for today.

 Here is our Aproned crew. Max elected not to participate in the photo shoot.

 butter hands!

Now to sleep we are all running the turkey trot tomorrow. (except Max who still has his boot on)
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I'm Thankful for Bedtime

Okay I missed a day, we all knew that was going to happen.  Last night's gratitude theme was going to be Bedtime and I'm sticking with it.  I'm grateful for bedtime for a few reasons. First of course, I love putting my kids to bed so I get a little quiet time.  When kids keep getting out of bed I'll remind them that I'm done being a mom and I can't help them anymore. But the other thing I like about bedtime is that my kids beg me to tuck them in. Well the little ones do.  And though sometimes it's a hassle and I just don't want to get up cause my legs hurt or I'm in a bad mood, I know that there aren't too many years left when my sweet little boys will want me to come tuck them in. Here is a glimpse of our bedtime last night.

Luke always has something in his bed to play with instead of sleeping.

Jack has been waiting all week to sleep on the floor in the closet.  Kind of like camping, I guess :)

Mer was out watching a movie with her YW friends so I let Max stay up to play video games. He does not like to smile for the camera.

Now for some more news from today...
Mer bought new some new shoes.  High heels of course. She love shoes.  She said tonight that new shoes make her happy. She was in a heated yelling match with Max yesterday and after yelling at them to stop a few times. I walked up behind her and "pantsed" her (you know, pulled her pants down.) she was wearing her super baggy gym shorts. It was risky. I thought she would start screaming at me, but instead she died laughing which was pretty hilarious. Hey the fighting stopped. I'm calling it an inspired move.

 Mer also said tonight that she is so excited for tomorrow! because, #1 she gets to wear her new shoes, #2 It's Sunday and she gets to go to church, #3 Dad comes home. She misses her dad. We miss you Doug!

Max's foot has been hurting a lot today. He's a bit bummed about how limited he is with the walking boot.  He spent most of his free time reading today.

The little boys went to Ryan's Cowboy birthday party today. Kristin asked me to bring my camera and take some pictures for her so I got a few good ones of the boys too.

 I love this one! It captures Jack perfectly.

And that was our day.  Now it's my bedtime!  Well, I have a lot of fabric to clear off the bed first.