Advent Activities

I decided (because we don't need a reason to eat sweets in this house) to go with an all activities advent calendar, so just in case you're curious, or want some ideas for what to do, here's what we're up to this month:

1. Watch "Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown" with Dad.
2. Read Christmas books
3. Make a Handprint Christmas Tree
4. Rae's birthday
5. Attend a Nativity/Music event at Church
6. Phineas & Ferb Holiday Special.
7. Choir concert at the high school where WBH teaches
8. Make Ornaments
9. Make Soap Snowmen
10. Decorate for Church Party
11. Church Party
12. Imagination Movers Concert
13. Set up our Nativity while reading the Christmas Story - have Stinky unwrap each piece as we go
14. Make Treats
15. Caroling with the youth at church
16. Deliver Treats to Daddy's Work for secretaries and principals.
17. To Be Determined - probably something hands-on.
18. Preschool Christmas Party
19. Take Treats to the Firestation and Library (they share a building around here).
20. Drive around and look at lights
21. Watch Polar Express
22. Stinky's Birthday! - Special Breakfast in the works for him that day.
23. Make bird feeders and read The Animal's Christmas Carol. Try not to cry (whoops, that's just for Rae!)
24. Christmas Eve Dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

I Made it Monday: Advent Garland

A friend posted a link to a really cute Garnet Hill advent garland with crocheted mittens and hats. It's really adorable, but a little out of my budget this Christmas. I decided to make my own, and I think it's really cute. Would you like a tutorial? I wish the pictures were better, but we're not getting a lot of good natural light right now.

Okay, here's the part I forgot to take pictures for: Choose 4-5 fat quarters of Christmas fabric. Or one, or 24, whatever you like. I used 5. Cut a 6 by 22 inch strip off the top of each and iron on some interfacing. Find a mitten template on Google images (I used this one) and trace it onto the interfacing. Cut out all 24 mittens.

Run a stay stitch along the top of each mitten- because it will get some wear and tear from pulling things out of the mitten, this will help protect it. Chain stitching is fun, and saves time and thread. If you don't want to use it as an advent calendar, you can skip this step and sew around the top of the mittens when you machine sew it.

Pin each mitten to a coordinating felt.

Machine sew around the edges. I reccomend starting at the thumbs. A straight stitch will give you a raw edge, which I like, but if you zigzag around it, that would work, too.

Cut them out, hang a ribbon and use clothespins to hang them. I love how it turned out. Tomorrow, I'll share what's going in each of those mittens.

Sunday Inspiration: A bonus, since this one knocked me in the head today.

"God expects you to have enough faith and determination and enough trust in Him to keep moving, keep living, keep rejoicing. In fact, He expects you not simply to face the future (that sounds pretty grim and stoic); He expects you to embrace and shape the future - to love it and rejoice in it and delight in your opportunities. God is anxiously waiting for the chance to answer your prayers, and fulfill your dreams, just as He always has. But He can't if you don't pray, and He can't if you don't dream. In short, He can't if you don't believe."

Jeffrey R. Holland

Sunday Inspiration

"This is a glorious time of the year, simple in origin, deep in meaning, beautiful in tradition and custom, rich in memories, and charitable in spirit. It has an attraction to which our hearts are readily drawn. This joyful season brings to each of us a measure of happiness that corresponds to the degree in which we have turned our mind, feelings, and actions to the spirit of Christmas."

Thomas S. Monson

Week of Thanksgiving

There are so many things I'm grateful for that this blog could consist of just them. To name just a few more:

Family far and near, but especially I'm grateful to have all of Stinky's grandparents near. Thanksgiving where all we have to bring is Tupperware. My mother's dinner rolls. My Mother in Law's cheese and spinach dish. Company coming- both having the friends, and the motivation to clean their visits lead to. WBH doing much of that cleaning while I got to sleep in (Thanks, honey!). Working with the Young Women at church. Modern medicine. The icicle lights that WBH hung on our home. Stinky's Preschool. Craft stores. A beautiful sunny day in which to get a Christmas Tree. That the day after Thanksgiving means it's okay to play Christmas music in our home. My first Black Friday morning spent sleeping in a long time.

I hope you're surviving Black Friday, however you spend it!

Week of Thanksgiving

I'm so grateful for our home. It makes a difference knowing it's ours, that each month we are one-third of one percent closer to really owning it (here's to one percent!). We tried 3 times to begin the home-buying process before this, and each time we were that much closer, but still not there. It wasn't a smooth process, and there's a lot of work still to be done, but we love it. We love calling it home.

Week of Thanksgiving

Please forgive the picture quality- camera batteries are dead, and these are all from my cell.

How could I not be grateful for Stinky? He brings so much joy to our home. Lately, he loves dinosaurs, preschool, kisses, and singing "Suddenly Seymour" from Little Shop of Horrors.* We almost have Jingle Bells down and are working very hard on Silent Night.

And doing little things to make me laugh. Almost all day.

Hey, did you know it's National Tie One On Day? And by 'one,' they mean apron. I made this one for Carrie, my friend that I work with at church. I guess this is the apron of the month! It's based (very loosely) on the Mango Tango pattern from A is for Aprons. Hey, do you like my messy kitchen?

*We visited the drama classroom today with WBH, where the incredibly lifelike Audrey 2 puppet from both productions we've seen lives. He listens to the music, sings songs from the show, and has cast himself, the dog, and me in roles when we play. Yet seeing the plant that close to him, he literally trembled with fear. We felt a little bad.