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

Crafts!!!

O.K. - so I've been inspired the past few weeks to do some crafty projects. I stumbled upon a blog that I LOVE called "The Crafty Crow" and it's got some of the cutest projects on there for kids and links to more crafty-type blogs where I got some fun ideas. I have always thought of myself as a crafty person - I LOVE crafts. I always have! However, while I was looking at about a million blogs yesterday I became humbly aware of the talent that is out there and needless to say I have very little of it. I envied quite a few of the things that others have made but was inspired to tap into my creativeness and give it a try. I posted a few pictures of the projects that I have finished. I do not yet have a sewing machine so they are done by hand - and please try not to look too close because you can TELL they are done by hand. They will never make an appearance to anyone besides my kids and husband and I don't have to tell you why - pictures are good enough. I post this simply because I believe I am going through a phase in my life - a crafty phase - inspired by many whom are dear to me and many whom I haven't met. I hope to continue this journey of craftiness whenever time and funds allow.

I copied this from a blog - It's Addison's hand sewn and stuffed to make a turkey.

I liked the one the lady made better but I will cherish this one because it's Addison's hand.

I had gotten some cute fabric squares from Craft Warehouse a while back when they were having a sale and brought it out to do something with it. I made a small pillow for Addison that she can have on her bed during the Christmas season. It's definately far from perfect but she loves it and that's what counts.

Halloween 2009

Trick-or-treating at Grammy JoJos and Papa Pouie's

My Princess

My Pirate

My Prince, Princess and Pirate

Cousins getting ready to trick-or-treat

Trick-or-treating at Connie and John's - our beloved neighbors

Rhett LOVED trick-or-treating - he even decided he was going to go inside a few houses and check things out. We had fun watching him and laughing at his drunken pirate walk (his everyday walk)

Nate and Becky helping Pirate Rhett to the next house!