Christmas Newsletter

As Christmas gets closer I am feeling a bit overwhelmed and not quite as organized as I'd like to be. Getting our Christmas Newsletter mailed out is one of those things I will not be getting around to so you can read it here and maybe next year I'll be more on top of things. We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year.

Time Flies

I cannot believe that Christmas is a week away, where has the month gone? We've been super busy needless to say. The girls have been loving their advent calender and their service countdown to Christmas. We've also been trying to read a Christmas book each day and do an activity with it. In addition to all our other everyday activities time is flying by. Something I've really enjoyed about being here in Prescott is they really get into their holidays. We ended up going to 2 out of the 3 Christmas parades that were held and the girls loved them all. Two were held at night so all the floats were lit up in lights and the girls couldn't get enough of it. I ventured out on my own to take the girls to the one day parade while Jacob finished up final projects and wrote a few papers. To this point we were also having amazing weather! It was in the mid 60's till about a week ago and we loved it. Its now starting to feel more like Christmas, we even had snow Saturday and Sunday but usually our temperatures range from the mid 40's-50's. The rest of the month should be just as fun as the beginning. We're doing a Grinch night with the girls and we're doing one of those Polar Express rides with them where you take them to look at Christmas lights. This Christmas season has already been fantastic and I know that it is still going to get even better.

The Adventures of Jess

Jess has been a BIG hit at our house this year and I couldn't be happier. On her first morning she was found eating some of Savannah's cereal that she hadn't finished while watching TV and she had brought us a note from Santa! Could a kids life get any better? The night before Savannah had to say goodnight to Jess and she was then up at 6 ready to find her somewhere in the house.

Day two we found Jess trying to brush her teeth with Savannah's toothbrush, she got such a kick out of this and just thought it was fantastic.

This morning Jess hid in the girls rooms on their play table in their flowers. Once again the girls couldn't have been happier to find Jess in their room.

What I've tried to do with Jess to make her a bit more special is I have her do things the girls have done that day or asked if she'll do. This last night Savannah had specifically asked if Jess would ever hid in their room so I made sure she did. It helps make it even more real for the girls because they really think she's listening to them and watching what they do. The way we are using Jess has been perfect for our little family and the girls really are in love with her. Its been so fun to see how excited they get and every night Savannah's made sure Jess will be visiting Santa and then coming back to the house. She can't wait to find her each morning and it really is making this Christmas season even more magical for us all.

Advent Calender

Christmas is in full swing here in our household and we're all loving it. I wanted to share another fun thing we're doing starting December 1st. I remember when I was little I'd always get an advent calender, you know the ones with a piece of chocolate in it. I loved getting this each year, I would just get more and more excited as the days went by and Christmas grew closer. Like I've mentioned before I want the girls to understand why we really celebrate Christmas so when I saw THIS idea for a scripture advent calender I knew I had to do it (when you click on the link you need to scroll down a little ways to get the full list). Originally I was just going to put in random scriptures about the Savior but this blog has the story of Christs birth from all different books from the Bible and Book of Mormon. It took me just one evening while watching How I Meet Your Mother on Netflix to put it all together. All I did was hang ribbon from our laundry room doors and clip the numbered envelopes to it. I hand wrote all the scripture verses but I'm sure you could just print out the list on this gals blog. With the addition of this to our service countdown to Christmas chain I'd say we're well on our way to better understanding the true meaning of Christmas this year.

Countdown

So poor Savannah is having a hard time grasping when Christmas actually is, I mean she's only 4 so its to be expected. In an attempt to help her out a bit and to throw in something I wanted to do this holiday season anyway we made a paper chain. Now our paper chain isn't your usual run of the mill paper chain, it has service ideas on it. Now not every link has an act of service to do but we have about 16 total to do before Christmas. Savannah is already so excited and as soon as she woke up this morning she asked if she could take a link off the chain and asked what nice thing we were doing today. I got my ideas for service from this BLOG. I'm sure you can think of your own but I liked this list because it had some ideas I'd never thought of or considered before. I obviously didn't use all of her ideas because she has 50 to choose from but I picked ones that would be easy and fun for a 2 and 4 year old and that I knew we could fit into our day. I was really excited for this because I want the girls to learn how fun it is to do things for other people and realize the joys of giving not only receiving. I know that some of my happiest memories are those when I've been serving others and not thinking of my own needs/wants.

UPDATE: So yesterday was a huge success doing our first act of service. We took candy canes to random employees at the mall and Costco. A lot of people thought Savannah was just showing them a candy cane she had gotten but once they realized that she was giving it to them they got an instant smile and happily accepted their treat. One lady was so thankful she gave each of the girls a free stuffed animal from her store. It brought tears to my eyes when she gave them a present back and the girls couldn't have been happier. Savannah loved giving out the candy canes and saying happy holiday's, when we were all done she asked if we could go get more to hand out to people. I'm thinking this really was a great idea and I can't wait to keep doing it threw Christmas and for future years as well.

Thanksgiving 2012

 Thanksgiving felt a bit different this year because it was the first time any of us have ever celebrated this holiday in warm weather. We headed 2 hours south to Jacob's brother's for Thanksgiving (its nice having family here in Arizona too) and enjoyed Thanksgiving in 75 degree weather. The kids got along so well and had a blast playing together the 2 1/2 days we were there. The girls loved playing outside on the swings, my brother and sister-in-laws backyard isn't finished yet but the kids could have cared less. They played in the dirt and built towers and anything else they could think of.

Thanksgiving was nice and low key, just the way I like it. My sister-in-law had everything we needed to eat so I helped here and there to get stuff ready. It was so fun staying with them and getting to know them a bit better. In the almost 7 years Jacob and I have been married we've never lived close to Jeff and Anne so it was fun to finally get to know them and their crazy adorable kids. After stuffing ourselves we all just hung out, some of the kids took naps while others played and it was the same for the adults. On Friday we decided to go on an outing to the Phoenix Zoo, it was so fun! The Phoenix Zoo is ranked one of the top 5 zoos in the country and I could see why. There exhibits were really cool and we ended up staying for 4 hours without seeing everything.

The day we ended up going to the zoo it was 80 degrees in Phoenix and Jacob and I were wishing we were in shorts by the end of the day. After the zoo we decided to be brave and take all 7 kids out to lunch/dinner, it ended up going really well much to our surprise. After we ate we all headed our separate ways and we started making the drive back up to Prescott. It really was a great trip and we all had so much fun, we can't wait to go visit Jeff's family again and the girls keep asking me when we're going back to the zoo. Overall I'd say our Thanksgiving was pretty much perfect.

Elf on the Shelf

So I'm sure you all have different opinions on the whole concept of Elf on the Shelf and I have mine too which is why I decided that this year Santa would be giving us an Elf for the month of December. We picked our Elf up soon after we got back from Maryland (a post of that trip is coming soon.) Savannah was so excited and she picked out or Elf whom she quickly named Jess. What really sold me on the idea of starting this new tradition was that I could make it anything I wanted. I can go as crazy or mild as I want and I can gear it towards the needs of our family. Now I will also say I just think its a fun idea. I remember being a kid and being so excited for Santa to come, to see if he'd eaten the cookies I'd left out. Christmas was always so magical and I want it to be the same for my girls. I don't feel like I'm lying for telling my girls that Santa is real or for having an Elf on the Shelf. I feel like I'm helping to make memories and to get them excited for such a wonderful holiday. Now its not all about Santa, we are after all celebrating the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ and that will also play a big role in how we celebrate this Christmas season. On December 1st we'll be getting a letter from Santa, I got the idea from this BLOG. I changed the letter a bit to work for our family but it mostly talks about how Santa knows the girls aren't perfect and are sometimes naughty. How they need to try and be kind and remember the Savior by serving others. It also explains that Jess was sent to us so we could teach her to be more obedient because she just like them can get in trouble and be naughty. I think as the month goes on Jess will start to do less naughty things and more nice things for us as she learns from the girls how to be obedient and serve. We'll also be doing a scripture advent calender, I got the idea from this SITE and am excited to help the girls understand why we even celebrate Christmas in the first place.

Throwback Tuesday

In commemoration of our recent trip to Maryland here is a little throwback of one of our previous visits. This was back in April of 2010.

Pumpkin Patch 2012

So I'm way behind on my blogging which you'll find out why in later posts but lets start where we stopped off at. Before Halloween we got to take the girls to a pumpkin patch close by, as usual it was a blast and we had so much fun. When you parked your car you walked over to this pen that had a horse and some goats and waited for your ride to the actual pumpkin patch. The girls were so excited to go on the hayride and it really was so fun. We didn't end up actually getting any pumpkins because I had already bought some at the store so we decided to let the girls go on some rides instead.

The train was a huge success, I won't lie I was kind of nervous Olivia would stand up half way threw and decide she was done but she loved it and actually decided to ride twice.

Savannah had to ride a horse, this is her new favorite thing to do and whenever she sees a horse she just thinks she should be able to ride it.

The girls got some balloon flowers and poor Savannah popped hers soon after this picture.

Olivia made Jacob ride the train with her the second time she went on a ride which was hilarious! He was such a good sport and it was pretty cute.

I love the times we get to do things as a family especially now since we don't get to spend as much time with Jacob. It makes those moments that we are together even better and more memorable. I love my little family!

Outdoor Fun

Its a bit odd to be having such nice weather still but I guess that's what's to be expected when you live in Arizona. We will eventually get more fall weather and even snow one of these days but for now we'll enjoy the beautiful weather we've been having. Most days its in the upper 70's and perfect, so what do we do on such a day? Go to the park of course! Silly Olivia took her shoes off and roamed around barefoot, one day she'll learn how wonderful cute shoes are but for now the effort is wasted on her. The girls had a blast running around and climbing and sliding down everything they could get to. We'll totally be repeating this experience for as long as we can.

In Love

Its true I'm in love with ceramic things, it doesn't matter what it is; bowls, animals, any kitchen wear, I love it!!!So when I was perusing a near by thrift store and laid eyes on this beauty I had to snatch it up and make it part of my ceramic collection. It now resides next to my kitchen sink to hold all my accessories when I'm cooking or cleaning dishes. I love it.

Refrigerator Magnets

Oh the wonderful uses of refrigerator magnets, they are totally coming in handy for doing Preschool at home. I made a chart with almost all the letters on it and I have Savannah match up the letters. If I'm with her during the activity I tell her what the letters are and she's doing well at catching on. Today while she was doing this Olivia took it upon herself to hand Savannah each letter. After Savannah would take the letter from her she'd say, "Ok Olivia, we need to find the "E"" or whatever letter she was holding, she didn't know them all but she got quite a few right. It was pretty cute.

BOO!

 Well its that time of year and here at our house we're getting ready for Halloween! I actually have mixed feelings about the holiday itself but I do like decorating for it, its more the candy I could do without. It has become my tradition to mod podge a saying of some sort onto our pumpkins. I think its super cute and this way I don't end up with a nasty rotting pumpkin on my front porch. Savannah and I did decide to put a face on of our pumpkins this year which was perfectly fine with me. The girls love to look at them and touch them whenever we leave or come into the house. The mod podge holds up well too, I've had them rained on in previous years. Overall I'm quite pleased with the final result.

 

The mod podge holds up well and I've had them rained on in previous years. Overall I'm quite pleased with the final result.

Goals

So I've felt like I've been in a bit of a slump lately. It shouldn't surprise me that I have been because I usually get in one after there has been some kind of change to happen in my life. Life here is going good, we're all settled but I'm still trying to figure out where I fit in and what my life will consist of here in Arizona. I'm basically a single mom since Jacob is busy from 6am-9pm Monday thru Friday. I've felt a bit lost and overwhelmed at times as I try to juggle everything that goes along with moving and restarting your life. Setting up all our utilities, changing our address with from all our previous bills, getting insurance set up, finding a new doctor for the girls, making new friends, trying to fill our days with something so we don't all go crazy, and so much more. This past weekend we had General Conference, it was wonderful and this was the first time that I've watched having certain questions I wanted to find answers to. It was amazing to me how I could find something in every talk given that answered my questions. During the Saturday afternoon session I decided I needed to set some goals, I needed something to strive for each day to bring more structure into my life and in turn the girls. So to make my goals even more real and to help me try to achieve them I'm going to share them with you.

Read my scriptures every day and read my lessons for Sunday classes at Church.
Say my prayers morning and night and say them on my knees.
Work out Monday thru Friday even if its something small.
Limit time spent on the internet.
Have school at home with Savannah Monday thru Friday.
Do 1 act of service each week.
Say kind words at all times.
Put an effort into how I look everyday, no pj's till after 6pm.
Have structured meal times for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks.

It was amazing to me to see how quickly I stopped doing these things after we moved, we were just flying by the seat of our pants and really lost all our structure. I hated it and I hated how it made me feel. I don't need to have every minute of my day planned out but just having the basics planned has made all the difference. Not wearing my pj's all the time has been a huge difference for me, I'd get dressed if we were going out but as soon as we got home I'd put my sweats back on. I just felt so lazy and unmotivated to do anything. Today I know we aren't going anywhere, its raining and I had Jacob take the car to work and school so we'll be home all day. I knew I couldn't stay in my pj's so I put this on instead, its still super comfy and something I won't mind wearing all day even though we're just kickin it at home plus its the first time we've had colder temperatures and I was quite excited to bust out some fall clothes.

In addition to my goal setting Savannah and I sat down and made a set list of chores that she is now responsible for. She's always had tasks she needed to do around the house and she is always a good little helper but now she has specific things she has to do everyday. In addition to these chores she also gets an allowance each week, I think Jacob and I decided on .25 cents for her to start with. I know she's going to be bringing in the money, lol. We both felt like this was an excellent way for her to start understanding the importance of saving money and being responsible. So far this week has gone well and she has done all her jobs, I'm working on making her a chore chart which I'll share later with you. Well there you have it I think I'll do well keeping my goals so far things have gone well but its only Thursday. The thing is though that I've already seen the biggest difference in myself and who I am as a mother by doing these things that I really don't think I'll want to stop.

Bookcase

This is my most favorite project I've ever completed I think. Once again I have now before pictures to offer because I'm horrible at remembering to do that but just think of a light wood colored cheap laminate bookcase. That's what this used to look like and now it looks FABULOUS! I once again started by priming the entire bookcase. I took off the back first because I knew I was going to add fabric to it because I was way to lazy to paint a chevron print on the back. Once the bookcase was primed I decided to spray paint the bookcase white. I was sick of painting with a brush so spray paint was a good choice for me. When I went to attach the fabric to the back of the bookcase I used spray adhesive. It worked really well and is still holding strong 2 weeks later. Then I just reassembled it and put it in its place in the kitchen and started filling up the shelves. Our kitchen isn't huge so this is a nice place to put things that we have that I think are too pretty to put in a cupboard minus the blender of course. Although its kind of cute in its own way. Also this project was pretty inexpensive, I used 2 yards of fabric which I got on sale from Hobby Lobby so I think it totaled around $9.00 give or take a little. I still had primer left over from previous projects and I always have spray paint on hand, you never know when you'll get the whim to change something up. We already had most of the things I put on the bookcase, the cake stand is new and was also purchased on sale which makes it even more perfect.

Computer Desk

So you know those boring generic laminate desks you can get at Shopko or Walmart? Well that's what this desk used to look like. It was an imitation dark brown wood armoire that looked fine but honestly I'd been toying with the idea of painting it for quite some time. We just happened to have some yellow paint from when we had painted our kitchen years ago and I knew it would be the perfect color for this project. My first step was to take off all the hardware on the desk and set it aside so I didn't lose any pieces I mean it would pretty much suck if I couldn't put the thing back together after working so hard on it. My next step was to prime the entire thing inside and out. Now I'll be honest, when I first started this project I only did the outside but after I had that all done I realized how much I wished I had taken the extra time to paint the inside as well so I went ahead and did it. If I were smarter I would have done it all at once. After my primer was all dry ( I only waited 1 day but I should have waited 2 just to be on the safe side.) I started applying my color. This part was so satisfying, I loved the results and I was so excited. I once again only waited a day to let it dry and I should have waited longer but I have no self control and couldn't wait to use it and get it back together. On the inside I stuck with white just because it feels really clean to me and also because I didn't have enough yellow to even consider using it. For another fun touch I cut down some cork boards I already had and hot glued them to the inside of one of our doors. This way we can hang up things that usually ended up cluttering our work space which isn't that big to begin with. I also added the small baskets on the top shelf to hid extra cords we have which I also already had around the house. In total I think this project took 3 days and cost me $0.00 because I already had primer, paint, cork boards, and baskets. Oh and you get a small glimpse of some of my Halloween/Thanksgiving decorations that I put up, lucky you.