Christmas Catchup #2...

AG's last day of school was the Thursday before Christmas. His class had a party that morning and the week before they had requested that each family send a $5 gift wrapped for their child. We brought the gifts and they placed them under the class Christmas tree. AG loved his party and Avi-Kate loved being included in the festivities. I think she'd go to school tomorrow if they would let her. After they enjoyed their treats each child got to take a turn unwrapping their gift. It was pretty neat and all their friends 'ooohed and ahhhhhed' over their treasures. Afterwards we were free to take our children but AG wanted to stay and play so I left him and returned later for him. 

 That afternoon among the things that AG came home with were this collection of homemade ornaments that he had been working on all month. I absolutely adore them. AG enjoyed finding spots to hang them on our tree in the dining room.

That evening we made our family gingerbread houses and AG was beside himself with excitement. Avi-Kate played with the tool bench while I prepped everything but alas, she did not stay up to join us. She was quite tired and ready for bed. This was probably the last day she felt good till January because over the weekend she got sick and spent the next two and a half weeks sick, sick, sick. 

 AG, Andy, and I had fun making and decorating houses. AG and Andy worked on one and I worked on the other since AKs left me for her bed. :) I am hoping that next year I can make our own gingerbread and we can maybe do some sort of decorating party with our college students. (Thanks for advice, Grace!) Hopefully, I'll get my act together and have things organized enough to be able to do it before they leave for the holidays. We'll see! Regardless, we had a great evening decorating and making memories with AG. He was quite proud of his creation and I have a feeling that next year Avi-Kate will be right in the middle of it all at 2.5 years old.

Christmas Catchup #1...

A bunch of the ladies in our church get together every few weeks to have craft night so that we can work on our current projects together. Anyways, when the Christmas season started we spent one evening prepping our building on Broad Street for the holidays. We decorated trees, hung pinecones in the windows, and some of the ladies created a gorgeous huge wreath for the front window. Then the day of the church Christmas party I came back and added small touches...lanterns, jars filled with candles and natural filler, fresh greens, jumbo pinecones from Berry, etc. I decided to use natural fillers in the jars of things from the farm and went with whole pecans and dried corn. (I have a huge bucket of natural fillers bagged that I keep in the laundry room and I pull it out when I decorate/host parties.) I think it turned out beautiful and quite rustic. The party was wonderful and we enjoyed having a night out with no children. 

Here's a few pictures right before the party started:

Sorry for the wave of posts that I am doing to get caught up. I feel the need to post/document even if it is just small snippets and pictures. One day I'll be glad that I did it, right? That's what I keep telling myself.  

Twelve for 12-12-12...

I'm sure that someone else has already thought of this idea BUT I figured I'd do it anyway to commemorate the day since this is the last one we'll see in our lifetime. Here we go...

1- One White Christmas so far in my lifetime. Actually, when we had snow on Christmas Day two years ago it was the first snow on Christmas Georgia had seen in over a 100 years. I'd love some snow this year at any point since we didn't get a single flake last year! Earlier this week it was 70 degrees as Andy put lights on the house in a t-shirt and shorts. Thankfully, it's feeling more like Christmas now that a cold front is moving it's way across the state. Hopefully, it stays this way we really need a cold winter. We had issues this last year with several things because our winter was so mild. Anyways, hoping for snow at some point and watching White Christmas as I dream of a snowy Christmas.

2- Two weeks from yesterday...Christmas is less than two weeks away! So much to do in these next two weeks and I'm sure they are going to fly by.

3- Every single night this week AG has asked if we can light three candles for Advent. And every night we tell him that on Sunday we'll light the third candle. He says we need to light three candles since he's three. Hmmmm... :)

4- Next month AG will be four!?! I can't believe how grown up he is these days. I've got to start working on his birthday plans. We have a general idea on what we are doing but I need to get all the details worked out and soon!

5- Tonight my ladies group at church is having a $5 gift exchange...shhhhhh! Don't tell anyone but my gift was $6 instead of $5.

6- Yesterday I stashed 6 meals in the freezer...2 Turkey Noodle Soup bases just add noodles, 3 Chicken  and Rice Soups, and 1 bag of cooked, diced chicken breasts.

7-The number of miles I ran last night. Longest distance I've gone to date and over halfway to my goal of running a half marathon! I'm happy to be finding my rhythm because my first 1/2 will be one month from today. Andy and I are both running the Disney World Half in January. My goal is to finish and see what my time looks like then I'll set a timed goal for the Princess Half that I'm running at the end of February.

8- The number of items that I currently need to return between Old Navy and Target. The problem is that neither of these stores are actually in Rome and so in order to do said returns I'm going to have to plan special trips to both places and they both aren't in the same area unless I go south towards ATL...however, I don't see myself headed to Kennesaw before the holidays are over because of how crazy it is down there. We'll see what I end up doing. Target is in Cartersville and Old Navy has an outlet in Calhoun. Decisions, decisions.

9- The number of presents that currently need to be wrapped...this does not include the next wave of boxes that are due to arrive the rest of this week! Thank heavens for online shopping. I think 90% of my shopping this year was done online.

10- The number of toes that need a polish change. Actually, I really just need a good pedicure because it has been awhile. Guess I should put this on my list of things to do. Ha.

11- The number of Jesse Tree ornaments currently on our tree. This evening we'll add number 12. We've been alternating who gets to put the ornament on the tree...AG takes the odd days and Avi-Kate has the even days.

12- The 12 Days of Christmas and 'Piggy Pudding' are currently AG's favorite Christmas songs. He loves the Muppets and we bought him a used Muppet Christmas cd off of Amazon for $3 a few weeks ago. Piggy Pudding is actually We Wish You a Merry Christmas. In the song Gonzo starts singing about figgy pudding and Miss Piggy thinks he is saying 'Piggy Pudding'. Gonzo then explains that it's figgy pudding and it's made with figs...then under his breath he says 'and bacon!'. AG thinks that it's hysterical and he cracks up every single time. We listen to it every morning and afternoon on our way to/from Berry.

Ginger Elves and Jingle Bells.

The last week has been busy as we cut down our Christmas tree and started decorating the house. The kids are eager to help with every task and it's been sweet to watch their enthusiasm for every thing we've done. AG is brimming with questions every single day..."Are there toys in the stockings?" "Is tomorrow Christmas?""Can I put the ornaments on the tree?" "Daddy, we need to put lights on the house!" "Can we make Santa some cookies?" "Can we watch a Christmas movie all together?" Etc. Avi-Kate is quite taken with all the lights and sounds. She's grown so much this last year...last Christmas she was six months old and learning to sit up and this year she is into everything! :)

Bernard the Elf has been making himself at home here at the house. AG loves to talk to him and find him each morning. Avi-Kate loves to find him and squeal/point when she spots him. AG's class at school also has an Elf named Doc and AG has informed us that Bernard and Doc are BFF. I'm glad we've made this part of our Christmas traditions with the kids. 

I'm about done with the Christmas decorations and need to take some pictures so that I can post a tour of the house. Andy worked hard this weekend to haul/move the leaves in the yard to the street. The backyard is finished and the trees in the backyard have all dropped their leaves so he won't have much left to do in the back. The front yard is another story, he'll probably still have to clear the front yard again because our huge oak still has half of it's leaves. With that said he's hoping to get the lights on the house in the next few days. I have lots to do this week around the house and I need to finish my shopping. Thankfully, I've got the bulk of it finished and can start wrapping presents when I'm ready. So we are busy, busy around the house and I'm enjoying every minute of it. I love this time of year and all that it brings. 

And now for a peek of what the elves have been up to...

Christmas Planner 2012

So, I'll just go ahead and admit that I meant for this post to be posted two weeks ago and it didn't happen. The photos were taken and ready to go and then life became wild aka everyone got sick and things were thrown by the wayside. Today I'm attempting to get things up to speed and of course Google/Blogger decided to throw me a curve ball that I am out of space to post pictures. Thankfully, Andy is working from home today and my mini-crisis (to me) has been averted. Here we go...

Planners. Oh, how I love them. I think it's the teacher in me that just has an infinity for planners/organizers. For the last few years I have wanted to make a holiday planner but the time got away from me and I never was able to get my act together. I then would promise myself that I would get one together next year. Anyways, this year the stars aligned and I got one together. I'm actually quite pleased with how it turned out. Originally, I was planning to make a notebook like I have for our vacations but I decided that I really wanted something that I could pull out next year to reference. (And the thought of storing lots of binders over the years seemed silly. When we finish a vacation all of my planning pages are pulled out, clipped together, and placed in a folder in case I need to pull something from them for a future trip...like when planning Disney trips things get pulled/referenced. All this to say that our vacation pages don't stay in the binder.) So, I wanted something that was more like a scrapbook that I could pull out to see what we did this year, I wanted something that was compact and easily stored, and I wanted something that was functional/easily used. I settled on making a brown paper bag notebook like I use to use in my classroom when I was a teacher. These notebooks are great because you can make them for nothing and they are quite versatile. I will say that years ago brown paper bags were bigger and a standard size piece of notebook paper fit inside perfectly. I ended up having to trim my papers to fit the space but that wasn't a huge deal since I used my paper cutter to make quick work of it. Here's a quick tour and if anyone has interest in me doing a post on how to make the actual notebook step by step let me know. :)

For the cover I settled on this piece of scrapbook paper with red birds on it. My grandmother loved red birds and I have collected lots of red bird ornaments over the years. Since I'm using it daily I am using simple rings that open/close to hold everything together. At the end of the holidays I'll change them out for some ribbon or twine. I'll also switch out the binder clip for a bit of velcro.

Due to the way the notebook is constructed you naturally end up with two pockets on either side to store items in. When I was a teacher we would make these for different units and the pockets came in handy for storing flashcards, games, manipulatives, etc. The pocket on the left has different odds and ends. Information from our trip to the Pink Pig. ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas schedule. Etc.

I love that it lays flat when it is open. The space on the left now holds sticky note reminders. And I then took some scrapbook paper and left over brown bag pieces to make some tabbed dividers. My notebook this year has the following sections: Advent and Jesse Tree, Advent Sundays, Christmas Card, Decorating (Inside and Out), Gifts, Shopping (Food), Baking, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Activities and Traditions, To Do List, and a blank one in case I think of something else I need to keep track of at the last minute. :)

I came across this Martha Stewart Checklist on Dawn's Blog and printed it off and then clipped it in to my notebook so that I could reference it as need be. 

The back pocket houses coupons and all of my receipts. As we buy stuff I just stash it back here in case we need it later for whatever reason.  

And here is my brainstorming that I started a few weeks ago for AG's gifts. Avi-Kate's is now listed below it. Our children receive three gifts from us because Jesus received three gifts. One of the kids gifts this year are books. Each child will have a present under the tree and inside it will be three new books. (Running with the whole three theme.) In addition to their three gifts, they also receive Santa presents or as Andy likes to say gifts from 'SC'. In general SC gifts are for them to share, however, this year we are giving them things that are identical or that relate to each other. AG wants a pillow pet and they'll fight over it if we don't give Avi-Kate one too. So, I found a deal on the Disney Store website  a few weeks ago and got them matching ones. AG wants a monorail and Avi-Kate wants a castle so they'll get those. You get the idea. Stockings usually hold little items and a movie or two for the family to enjoy together. Since I've taken this picture we finally settled on what all we are buying and I've mapped it out in the notebook. Complete with check marks next to the items once we've purchased them. 

Last night I did some work in my planner trying to map out different activities to do with AG and Avi-Kate each day between now and Christmas. Each day I post what we are going to do on one of the chalkboards in the kitchen. I'll post my list once I get it finished...if you want some inspiration check out Dawn's past posts on Advent fun here and here. 

What things do you like to use to help you stay organized during this busy time of the year? I'm off to prep lunch, switch out the laundry, and create a grocery list but I'll be back again soon with more posts from the last two weeks. Happy Monday. 

Jesse Tree Take 2...

Well, back in June I posted about participating in a Jesse Tree ornament exchange. Since then I've had our basket of ornaments stashed in my closet waiting for the holiday season. In the mean time I began to brainstorm what type of tree I wanted to use. Ideally, I'd like to have a small 3-4 foot tree for the kids to decorate in their play area. However, I'm not really sure how Avi-Kate will do this year with the tree and since these ornaments are handmade I don't want to tempt fate. I think in a few years I'll probably look to do something like that...back to the drawing board I went. I then began to brain storm what Christmas stuff we have and where it all goes. I could put the ornaments on our big tree but I don't want them to get lost on the tree. (We usually end up with a 8 foot tree that we cut down...I think they get bigger each year.) I then began to mull the possibility of putting it on a table/counter. After much brainstorming I finally decided that I wanted to put it on the kitchen table so that it would be easily seen by the kids and we could talk about it each night at dinner. (This required me to rearrange some of the other small trees we have... particularly my Starbucks tree that usually sits on the kitchen table. I have found a new home for it and I think this will work out quite nicely.) 

Once I settled on the spot I had to find a tree...I've been searching for weeks and didn't find anything that I loved so I decided to repurpose a tree I already had. Now the only downside of putting the tree on the table is that there is no outlet on the wall the table sits on. And I, of course, want this tree to be lit. Thankfully, I was able to find some inexpensive battery powered light sets at Hobby Lobby last week.  We spent yesterday at home in pjs because we've all passed around a lovely cold and a virus. (I had to reschedule our big Thanksgiving meal with our college students that was suppose to be tonight for next week...I figured their parents didn't want me to send them home sick with what we've had.) All that to say, we started pulling out Christmas stuff yesterday. I can get a head start on trying to get the house decorated. This morning I decided to make sure I could fit all the ornaments we have on the tree I want to use. Thankfully, they all fit with a little room to spare. Here's what our table will look like this Christmas season. I need to fill the votives on either side of the tree with coffee beans and tea lights. (We'll use those for our Advent candles.) 

A little sneak peek:

In my research I've found that there are several different types of Jesse Trees. It's the same concept but usually the order is switched around. For our exchange we are doing the following order:

1. The Light in Creation

2. The First Sin

3. Inside the Ark

4. The Call to Abram

5. Isaac and the Lamb

6. Jacob's Ladder
7. Joseph's Coast of Many Colors
8. Moses and the Ten Commandments
9. Canaan, the Promised Land of Blessings
10. Ruth and Boaz
11. King David
12. Josiah Finds the Law
13. Prophesy of Shoot from the Stump of Jesse
14. Prophesy of the Lion and Lamb Resting Together
15. Prophesy of the Prince of Peace
16. Prophesy of a Gentle Shepherd
17. Prophesy of the Suffering Servant
18. Prophesy of the New Covenant
19. Prophesy of Bethlehem
20. The Exile
21. The Return to the Land
22. The Star
23. The Light of the World
24. Angels Proclaiming the Coming of Christ
25. The Birth of Jesus

There you have it. Our Jesse Tree is ready to go for the very first time and I'm very excited. Now to get the rest of the house decorated for the holidays...

Jesse Tree...

I realize we are months away from the holiday season but there is something to be said for planning ahead, right? :) A couple months back my sweet friend, Amy, sent out an email seeing if anyone in our church was interested in doing a Jesse Tree ornament swap. (For those who don't know what a Jesse Tree is...it's a set of daily devotions for the month of December. Each day focuses on a different aspect of the bible and telling the history of Jesus' family tree leading up to his birth.) There is a symbol that represents each day and this is what people turn in to an ornament to hang on their tree. So, each day you do the devotion and then hang a new ornament. 

Well, Amy decided that since the fall is always so chaotic leading in to the holiday season that we should prep our ornaments now. Instead of having to create 25 different ornaments each person created 25 of the same ornaments for a particular day. I had Day 20-The Exile and my symbol was the Fiery Furnace. We had several weeks to work on our ornaments before we all got together to swap them out and build our collection. It was wonderful to sit and hear the stories behind each ornament. One of the ladies in our swap has teenagers and they have been doing the Jesse Tree since her children were little. She has several sets of ornaments and she plans to give a set to each child one day. I loved that idea...maybe one day I'll have multiple sets but for now we are going to look forward to using this set in  a few short months. I plan to post pictures of my collection this Christmas. 

 Some of the ladies from our swap in our new church building...we are having Avi-Kate's birthday party in this space next weekend.

 A sneak peak at some of my ornaments labeled in baggies and ready to go this Christmas. Amy also created a card that had who made what for each day. It fits inside our devotion book perfectly.

If you have questions about how we organized this let me know. It really was a lot of fun and I'm really looking forward to having this already to go starting December 1st. I've also found Jesse Tree activity ideas, printables, etc. that I'm hoping to use with the kids to tie everything together. More to come once we hit the holiday season but I had to go ahead and at least share what I've been working on the last few weeks.