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!