Jan 2012

 A look back at January.  Coco turned 5.  I must admit that I really struggled with this number as it meant she would be leaving me for school.  She was so excited at the idea of school and so happy to be turning 5 (and I know, next week she will be 6... time has flown)  Dad and the big kids had the Goldeyes baseball camp on her birthday, so she and I had a lunch date at Tim's.  We had Papa and Nana over for cake that night.  We had dinner with Grandma and Grandpa on Sunday.  Then we celebrated with her friends on the Monday that the kids went back to school.  A fun few days of celebrating our Sweet Girl.

Merry Christmas

 Merry Christmas to all our family and friends!  What a
wonderful time of year to celebrate all that we have been
blessed with.  I guess I haven't put up a post in a couple of weeks... sorry!  We've been busy preparing for Christmas and doing our Advent activities. And of course having a newborn around takes up some time too!  But boy is he ever sweet!   We love him so much and enjoy him more and more every day.  As you can see he is not missing many meals... he is getting so big and he really is such a content baby.

 We had a nasty cold run through half of the house.  Mark was sick for a while and his loud coughing scared Carter each time!  Then Brady got it and had a couple days home from school then it hit Colie really hard and she missed 3 days of school and probably should have stayed home longer but I didn't want her to miss all the Christmas activities in Kindergarten that last week before holidays.

This was one of Brady's sick days... still such a happy boy!

 The kids have been enjoying our month of activities, they did a great job on their gingerbread house!  (10 minutes after this picture was taken, the roof slid off... they left it and called it their tornado house!!)







Our first 4 kids in the family Christmas picture!!  I like how symmetrical an even number makes pictures look!  Guess that was good planning on our part... oh wait... planning???... never mind!

We are looking forward to the next few days of festivities with family and fellowship with friends.  As we whip through this time of year, our goal is to remind our kids how blessed we are, and to try to slow down and  focus on Jesus and the real reason we celebrate.  Merry Christmas!!

Advent

  

As we prepare for Christmas and try to keep the focus on the reason for the season, we like to celebrate each day of the month of December.  We have some family devotionals that help us think about how Jesus came to our earth to bring Peace.  And we look forward to celebrating His birth with our family and friends.  This year for our Advent Activities I planned out our month and hung a sock or mitten up for each day, inside the sock is a treat and on the paper with the date is an activity for the day.  Here is a list of what we've got going on this month:

We start our Advent Activities with a TRIP TO THE STATES!!

Start reading our Christmas Book and make a countdown garland

Make cards for your teachers and paper snowflakes

Have crepes for supper

Enjoy a family movie night!!

Decorate Christmas cookies

Deliver fudge to a neighbour

Celebrate Christmas with friends

Have a candlelight supper 

Make our gingerbread house

Make Chocolate Dipped Pretzels!

Tonight is our Christmas Lights Tour!!

Have a special movie night!

Kids make pancakes for Mommy and Daddy

Have a backwards supper

Make hot chocolate and stir with candy canes!

Enjoy your last day of school...

Tonight is IPC’s Kids Klub party

Jade Christmas Party!

Goldeyes Baseball camp!

Call 3 people and sing to them

Draw names and do something special for the person

Christmas Eve… open one present!

The kids are so excited each morning to open the sock and see what the activity is. I even let them eat the treat before school!

 
This little manger scene comes out every year and the kids still play with it (mostly Nicole) so it gets a prominent place on the hearth.

And of course I couldn't resist posting one picture of our little man, all decked out in one of his Christmas shirts.  He brings us such joy!  He's full of smile now and coos away to the kids when they talk to him.  It's going to be a wonderful Christmas.