Thursday, June 28, 2018

Rest of December 2017 (Before Christmas)

I covered most of our December in my advent post, but here are a few other random things I wanted to include.

I had volunteered/been assigned to set up a picture area for Santa at our ward Christmas party. It was supposed to be an easy job. I borrowed an artificial tree and planned to go Friday morning with a few ladies in the ward. The night before/morning of they all bailed on me, so Rog agreed to go with me and work from the stake center while I set up because he didn't want me to be there alone with just Logan. 

When we got there it immediately became clear this wasn't going to be an easy job. The stage was full of random stuff from all throughout the building. The curtains were in terrible condition and barely covered the back of the stage. Then when I got the tree out of its box, it looked terrible and smelled even worse. The lights didn't work and it had decorations on it that clashed with everything I had planned to use.

Rog came to the rescue and helped me clear off the stage. It was clear that we couldn't use the tree I'd borrowed, so we took a break for the afternoon to brainstorm a solution. Ultimately we decided to buy our real tree that night, decorate it at the church, and then take it home to decorate it there after the party. We went back to the church that night and I decorated the stage while Rog helped the young men and young women decorate the rest of the gym. 

I was pretty pleased with how it turned out (especially considering how bad it was to start).


And then the guy taking the pictures totally zoomed in and you couldn't see anything I had set up anyway. Our picture belongs in one of those awkward family pictures calendars. 😂 This is why we had to visit Santa as one of our advent activities.


I didn't take many pictures during the party, but I happened to peek over at the boys during the closing prayer and had to capture this sweet moment. (Yes, I recognize their eyes should be closed.)


I got our Christmas cards sent out.


I went on a field trip with Corbyn and got to watch him at recess before we left. He's always talking about this game he loves to play at recess - GaGa Ball.


We went to see Charlotte's Web put on by a local high school.


The Relief Society President put my Activities Coordinator in charge of the RS Christmas party (since I had done Super Saturday by myself and was gone the first half of November on my cruise), so I hardly had to do anything. I did make 60 ornaments to give out as their gift from the RS presidency.


Logan and I went to Deseret Book one day to pick out our Christmas book and nativity for the year. I ended up getting this mini-porcelain set.


Cheesecake Factory opened in our mall (10 minutes away), so we went on a date there on our turn for date night swap.


Someone did the 12 Days of Christmas for us. I was really hoping they would reveal who they were on the last gift, but they didn't. I don't know if they knew about our recent miscarriage, but it was so sweet and perfect timing (especially if they didn't know). We looked forward to it each night.

1st day - loaf of bread from Great Harvest
2nd day - 2 rolls of tape
3rd day - 3 packs of Jello
4th day - 4 rolls of toilet paper
5th day - 5 rice krispy treats
6th day - 6 cans of Sprite
7th day - 7 Blow Pops
8th day - 8 cookies
9th day - 9 packs of gum
10th day - 10 eggs
11th day - 11 bags of microwave popcorn
12th day - 12 fruits 


And then it was time for Christmas!

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Advent December 2017

Our advent is one of my favorite December traditions. Most of the activities are easy and I love how it forces me to take a break from the hustle and bustle of December and spend some quality time with my family.

December 1st: Matching Christmas Pajamas.


December 2nd: Decorate our Tree. We had purchased a tree the day before and decorated it at the stake center for our ward Christmas party that morning. We brought it home and decorated it at our house that afternoon.


December 3rd: First Presidency Christmas Devotional with Cinnamon Bun Popcorn.



December 4th: Christmas Bingo.



December 5th: Christmas Spot-It. 

Time-lapse video here.

December 6th: Christmas Play-doh.





December 7th: Donuts at Joe's Donuts and Wippersnappers. Corbyn and Peyton had a day off of school, so we did a bigger activity. It was our first time trying Joe's Donuts and it was just as good as everyone had told us. Logan and I had been to Wippersnappers in November with our playgroup and we wanted to do it with Corbyn and Peyton. It was a fun day!



December 8th: Make Neighbor Gifts. I reused an idea that I did a few years ago in Utah. The kids helped a little, but it was easier when they didn't help. I had an assembly line going and cranked out 16 dozen muffins.



December 9th: Deliver Neighbor Gifts and Pick out Ornaments. Corbyn picked Yoshi, Peyton picked the Little Mermaid, and we decided to wait to get Logan's when they were half off after Christmas. We ended up getting him a fun Santa ice cream truck ornament that plays music. I got the 3 penguins for myself to represent my 3 kids.




December 10th: Nativity Sticker Activity Book. I found these at Walmart. They were fun and a good Sunday activity to do while Logan napped.




December 11th: Peyton's Dance Open House. 



December 12th: Christmas Perler Beads. Peyton made a wreath and Corbyn made an ornament.


December 13th: Don't Eat the Reindeer.



December 14th: Oregon Trail Elementary Nutcracker. Corbyn was a toy soldier. It was so fun to see him perform! Cutest video of him singing here.



 I had decorated the display case and earned us reserved seats up front.




December 15th: Roll a Snowman.



December 16th: Cookie Party. Always fun to continue this tradition from Rog's childhood with our friends.






December 17th: Open and Read a New Christmas Book. This year's book was Christmas Day in the Morning.



December 18th: Movie and Puzzle Night with Friends. The kids watched Elf while me and Erin worked on my Nativity puzzle.


December 19th: See Coco in the Theater. We all loved it and Logan was the cutest little big kid sitting in his own seat the whole time.


December 20th: Christmas Donuts at Krispy Kreme. 



December 21st: Visit Santa.


Bonus Activity: Decorate Graham Cracker Houses. This is an activity I could totally skip, but it's Corbyn's favorite, so every few years I give in and do it for him.





December 22nd: Winter Wonderland Lights.




December 23rd: Zoo Lights. It was freezing and so very crowded, but still fun.





December 24th: Christmas Eve. We enjoyed a beautiful Christmas program at church...


A sprinkling of snow...



Our traditional egg rolls...


Reading the story of Christ's birth in Luke, Christ's birthday cake...


And a surprise visit from the caroling Cribbs family. (I stole this picture from a friend's Instagram, but I could have taken a similar picture when they visited us.)


It was a fun month of advent activities!