Christmas day-by-day!

Our Christmas this year lasted for a LONG time and it was great!! We were truly blessed to be able to spend it with both Jeremy and my extended families. We enjoyed out time together and had many laughs. Thanks families for a glorious Christmas.

Christmas Sunday, Dec. 20th:

Addison was the ram in the Christmas play at church: "I am the ram with the curly horns, I guard the stall where the child is born"

Monday, December 21st:

My kindergarteners had their Christmas program and Addison went with me. She looked just like a kindergartener and was actually mistaken for one when one of the teachers tried to get her to come down to sing.

Tuesday, December 22nd:

Christmas with my family. We had spaghetti and fettuchini for dinner and enjoyed opening stockings and gifts. Addison got a barbie fishing pole and a dress-up Belle barbie along with other things. Rhett got a dump truck and a cowboy hat along with other little things. I got a fancy slicer and a pampered chef stone. Jeremy got a fun new game and Glen Beck's new book "Arguing with Idiots". It was a fun night spent with family.

Wednesday, December 23rd:

Went to see Princess and the Frog with Grandma Wilson and some out of town cousins. Addison loved it! It had great music and was a really cute story. That evening we went to look at Christmas lights.

Thursday, December 24th:

Christmas Eve day was spent baking and then we went to the annual Christmas Eve service at the church then went over to my parents with my cousins and their families and spent the evening together. We opened our gifts from Grandma Wilson. Addison got a Little Mermaid bath doll, Rhett got a Mickey Mouse rocking horse and Jeremy and I received a blue-ray DVD player. We were spoiled. Rhett had a good time getting to know his cousin Zach.

Friday, December 25th:

Christmas day began at our house opening stockings and presents. Addison was excited about her fancy pajamas and her baby crib. Rhett was excited about his new toothbrush. We enjoyed spending the morning together as a family. At noon we went over to Grandma and Grandpa Franklin's house and had a nice ham dinner then openend presents. At the end of the day Addison was done with all of the excitement and fell asleep on Grandpa and Grandma's bed.

Saturday, December 26th:

The day after Christmas we spent with my dad's side of the family. We had tacos for lunch and then opened gifts from each other. We spent the rest of the day playing games and having a good time. At around 6:45 pm we all headed up to bogus basin for a sleighride. It was really cold but so much fun. The sleighride began around 8:30 pm and the scenery was beautiful. We were able to look out of the Boise valley and see all of the lights. It was so peaceful up there. We were starved by the time we arrived at the cabin - it was warm and toasty inside and we were greeted with bread bowls of broccoli cheese soup. After the soup came the main course of steak, potatoes, shrimp and honey glazed carrots. Yummm!!! It was so good! For dessert they served warm peach cobbler. The entertainment was great - good ole hometown country music and the singer was actually very, very good. It was a fun evening together.

Sunday, December 27th - Tuesday, December 29th:

Needless to say I don't have many pictures from these days due to Addison being sick and Jeremy taking the camera but not taking any pictures. Yesterday she was feeling a bit better so I ventured out with her to participate in the Franklin family digital camera scavenger hunt. I was paired with Jeremy's aunt Connie, his cousin Jenny, his cousin Mandy's husband Seth and Addison. We had a lot of fun trasping around Nampa taking pictures in random places.

Thus ends our Christmas for the year 2009!! It was a fun and exciting Christmas - we are so blessed with a great family on ALL sides. I'm excited for the year 2010 and all that it will hold for us. Merry Christmas everyone and happy new year!

Addie Turns 5

My how time flies!! Looking back on the past 5 years of my daughter's life it has seemed like so much has happened and so much has changed that it's hard to believe. Addison Grace Franklin was born into this world on December 15th, 2004. She immediately brightened up our lives and has from that day been such an amazing blessing. I admire her deep love for Jesus, family and friends and her willingness to help others. She loves dress up, princesses, playing in the dirt and looking for worms, her brother, her aunt tee-tee, the cabin, and spaghetti with TONS of parmasean cheese. She has found a new love in rollerskating and would love to go every day if she could. She is eagerly awaiting the day when she gets to go to school and LOVES to learn. She is such a mommy's girl and enjoys it when I color with her and watch movies with her. She is all about "family time" and I hope that NEVER goes away. I cherish each moment and I with her because in 5 more years she will be 10 and I know how quickly these first 5 went. I pray daily for her love for Jesus to shine through and that she will never lose her childlike faith. May she always want to give ALL of her money to Jesus and may she never fall too deeply into Satan's traps. Oh how I love that precious little girl! Thank you God for such an amazing gift! I look forward to year 5 with her and all of the joys it will bring.

For her party this year she decided that she wanted to go rollerskating with her friends. It was a fun party and she LOVED every minute of it. She was spoiled with her gifts and I love watching her open them because she is so animated and dramatic about everything that she opens. You could probably give her a painted rock and she would LOVE it! Her gifts included Strawberry Shortcake stuff, Pet Shop stuff, games, books, clothes, art supplies, princess dress-ups shoes, Tinkerbell DVD and many more little things. She made a haul and I only cringe to think that Christmas is only a few days away. What more could she possibly get? Thank you everyone who had a part in her birthday! She wanted to invite soooo many more friends but due to the cost of hosting a party for her we just couldn't afford it and our house could not hold many more. Happy Birthday precious Addie Girl - You are soooooo loved!!

Rollerdrome

Heading out with daddy! By the end she was doing pretty good!

Rhett seemed to enjoy his rollerskating experience in the stroller

Standing without falling was a huge accomplishment!

"Strawberry Shortcake Cafe" - what she always wanted

Celebrating her birthday isn't the same without friends!

Advent Days 6-10

I know I will do a lot better at this next year and after Christmas I'm making an advent file of things that worked, didn't work, new ideas and such. I know that I would be a lot better at this if I was able to stay at home. Sometimes the activities seem rushed and unexciting but I'm glad we are doing it and we are doing our best to stick it though. Here is what we accomplished on days 6-10:

Day 6: Luke 1:19 - make an angel craft and have snowman pancakes
Day 7: Psalm 150 - Bubble bath with Christmas confetti
Day 8: Zachariah 2:10-11 - Make felt ornaments (this hasn't been done yet)
Day 9:Isaiah 52: 7-12 - Make a birthday card for Jesus and put it under the tree
Day 10: Mark 16:15 - FREE hot chocolate stand

Snowman pancakes and angel craft

Christmas confetti for the bathtub. Once this stuff hit the water it became really gross so the pictures of it in the tub are a bit strange. Addison loved it though!

Addison' birthday card to Jesus. We will read it on Christmas morning!

So - the Cheney clan (minus Lance) and us (minus Jeremy) set up a "free" hot cocoa stand outside uncle Jesse's chiropractic office on Thursday afternoon. We expected to get a lot of traffic but most that did come were not interested in "free hot cocoa" - weird I know!  We did have a few that stopped by to support our merry christmasness but after about an hour in the 12 degree weather we decided that some of our fingers and toes were on the verge of meeting Mr. Frostbite so we called it quits. It was fun though and for those that did stop (thanks pastor Kym) we were blessed.

Advent Days 1 - 5

So, we are a little late getting this advent thing going but once it got going Addison has loved it!

Day 1: Isaiah 40 - 1:11 (Make a paper chain to countdown to Christmas)
Day 2: Isaiah 60: 1-2 (Watch a Christmas movie - she watched "Rudolph")
Day 3: Matthew 3:13-17 (Make glitter toothpick ornaments)
Day 4: 2 Corinthians 5:17-18 (Build a fort from blankets and sheets and read a Christmas book) I had gotten some free books from scholastic so I wrapped them up and she was able to open them before we read them. Luckily Rhett was sleeping and so it was a fun time for the two of us.
Day 5: 1 John 1:5 - 2:2 (Go to the Living Nativity - no pictures due to the fact that it was FREEZING and Rhett had a cold - we weren't there for long/ Get a Christmas tree/ Make hot cocoa with lots of marshmellows)

Her two new Christmas books in the Fort

The messy, messy, messy glitter toothpick ornaments

cousins eating hot cocoa with TONS of marshmellows

Jeremy's work party

Every year Nampa Floors and Interiors does a great Christmas party for their employees. I'm so excited to go each year and see what they have in store for their workers (Jeremy)  and their spouses (me).

This year was no different from the rest - it was themed "western" and so we were supposed to dress accordingly. It was located at the "old" store and we were met by my uncle (Jeremy's boss) fully dressed up like a cowboy at the front door. We were ushered in to the sound of country-western music and seated at tables with buckets of chips and salsa. And our beverage of choice was good ole "root beer".

The night consisted of good food - courtesy of my cousin's husband Zane: steak, chicken, potatoes, green beans and rolls. Giveaways that we didn't win - Darn!! Jeremy had put my name and his name in the employee basket and did NOT fold them - what was he thinking? Gifts from the boss and his lovely wife: giftcards to the mall for the employees and giftcards to Starbucks for their spouses (hurray!). A white elephant gift exchange in which we came home with some good ole Christmas oven mits, a jeweled cross and some lavendar lotion. AND line dancing. And YES I got Jeremy out on the dance floor to do some line-dancing - he hated me! It was fun though!

Thanks Roger and Linda for another great Christmas party. You never cease to amaze me with your creativity and your love for your employees. I am so blessed to have you as my family and Jeremy loves working for you. Thanks again for a wonderful evening!

Here we are in our western attire

What we drank - root beer of course!

White elephant gift exchange

White elephant result for us!

Line Dancing - Whoot!

Adventing!!!!

I remember doing advent when I was a kid on those little candy cut-out boxes counting down the days until Christmas. The chocolate in those things were disgusting but it was the anticipation of being one more day closer to Christmas that was so exciting as a child. I have been wanting to buy an advent calendar for many years now but the price tag has always put a speed bump in that plan. And after Christmas they ALL seem to disappear. Well, this year I was flipping through my pottery barn catalog and I spotted a large Christmas tree advent calendar that looked homemade and had little pockets for special prizes each day. Needless to say I wanted it! So, I get on the internet and google homemade advent calendars and found a huge selection of homemade ones that were super cute. Then I began talking with a friend of mine who had decided to make one as well. She lovingly gave me all of her info to start and plan the days. I was just expecting to put a silly chocolate in each pocket and call it good. But her idea was so extremely awesome that I just had to copy and I knew that it would be special for Addison. She LOVES Christmas and it will be exciting to see her pull out the tag each day and discover what our activity will be. I'm looking forward to making this a yearly tradition. I will be posting some of our activities of advent probably a week's worth at a time. As you are probably already aware I am three days behind. We did catch up tonight though and are looking forward to what tomorrow has in store. I hope you all are enjoying this holiday season.

Thanksgiving!

Our Thanksgiving this year was spent with my dad's side of the family. We spent the morning lounging around watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and then headed over to grandma's. We enjoyed our day of laughter, games, food, looking at the Black Friday ads and relaxing together as a family. It was a lot of fun! I am very blessed to have great relatives! Hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving!

Turkey cookie (next year I'll try a little harder - cute but not like the picture I saw)

owl cupcakes (made by my sis - way to go teets!) They were a hoot!!

Dinner with the Fam

Rhett gets a turkey cookie

Rhett enjoys his turkey cookie

Addie Grace with her turkey shirt on

Rhett Douglas sporting his turkey shirt