Countdown to Christmas ~ Day 25

We made it!!!!

One final night of activities...

We will be bundling up the crew and going to see the Interlochen lights down in Arlington.

Over 150 big homes all decked out in Christmas lights.

There is a local business man who finances all the city fees to keep the lights going... meaning he pays for all the police who do the traffic controlling for this piece of heaven!

Our crew will most likely fall asleep but that is just fine with me.

Have the Christmas music playing while looking at gorgeous light displays... my Christmas present to me!

You've made it... you read through all our countdowns for this Christmas season.

I'm glad I got to share them all with you...

Merry Christmas Y'all...

Countdown to Christmas ~ Day 24

We spread out Reindeer Dust all over our yard.

We pile up a bunch of carrots onto a plate for Santa's team.

We leave out Santa's treats.

This year he is having brownie bites topped with strawberries and white chocolate trim:

(YUMMMMMMMM)

AND snowman donuts ~ fresh.

(we made them earlier in the countdown)
Then when the yard is done and the treats laid out for Santa and his team...
We read:

Check back one more time...
we still do a countdown activity on the 25th as well.
Merry Christmas Y'all....

Countdown to Christmas ~ Day 23

We are taking the crew to see:

They don't get to go to the theater very often.

This will be a treat for them indeed.

Daddyduck isn't working, so we'll take them to the early showing.

(Hopefully, before all the crowds <---- this is why I'm done with shopping by October 31st. I can't deal with all the crowds.)

Merry Christmas Y'all...

Countdown to Christmas ~ Day 22

We will be playing my crew's FAVORITE board game:

They LOVE this game. The Tank asks if he can play this almost everyday but because it takes several people to play we don't play it that often. So we thought we'd surprise the crew and add a game night to our Christmas countdown this year.

Merry Christmas Y'all...

Countdown to Christmas ~ Day 21

~ Singing around the Christmas tree ~

OLD picture from Springfield...

Merry Christmas Y'all...

Countdown to Christmas ~ Day 20

Assemble cookie/treat plates and go caroling!!!!!

This is from last year's caroling night.

They willingly wear the Santa hats...

We are a small but mighty choir, going from house to house spreading Christmas cheer.

Merry Christmas y'all...

Countdown to Christmas ~ Day 19

We are doing our annual FHE night at Grandma and Grandpa Stanley's to eat pizza and make graham cracker houses with all the local cousins...

Lots of hyper children eating tons of pizza and TONS of candy.

A great way to kick off the final week of Christmas.

Merry Christmas Y'all...

Countdown to Christmas ~ Day 18

The crew dresses up and act out the nativity while Lance reads Luke 2.

I know traditionally this is done in many families on Christmas Eve, but out Christmas Eve schedule is CRAZY so we do this the Sunday before Christmas

(or Monday at FHE ~ but our Monday is crazy too).

Usually we end up with a Mary, an angel and whatever Tank decides to be. Some years it is Joseph but there have been a couple years where we have Mary, an angel and a cow/dog/horse.

Merry Christmas Y'all...

Countdown to Christmas ~ Day 17

The crew will be telling us the Christmas story with our Nativity activity folder.

When my crew were wee babes, we had the most AMAZING home teachers, Carl and Christine Davis. The kids were 3,2,1 and newborn and Chris made a series of activity folders that the kiddos could play with during sacrament. This was to HOPEFULLY keep that masses quiet. They were sent from heaven! My crew still likes to look through the folders and do them. (not a church)

So this is an example of the folder... same artist... just imagine cows, stars, shepherd, Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus....

Merry Christmas Y'all...

Countdown to Christmas ~ Day 16

We will be watching:

and assembling and snacking on these:

Elf is one of our favorites!

Our donut snowmen will have candy corn noses (bought and stashed at bag at Halloween but Brach's sells them year round), chocolate chip eyes and mini chocolate chip smiles. So excited to have the kiddos make these.

I will be making these again for one of the Santa treats we will be leaving out for him on Christmas Eve.

Merry Christmas Y'all...

Countdown to Christmas ~ Day 15

Reading this book with my crew...

Merry Christmas Y'all...

Countdown to Christmas ~ Day 14

We will be having a picnic dinner by our Christmas tree with only the tree lights lit.

(Not our tree ... stock photo)

I have wanted to do this for years but the ages of my crew will finally allow this to be possible. I love the tree lights....

Merry Christmas Y'all...

Countdown to Christmas ~ Day 13

The crew will be creating their own Christmas cards to send to their family and friends.

I am HUGE into cards. I get our family cards done and sent the day before Thanksgiving. Then, with any luck from the postal service, cards should start arriving on Black Friday. Kick off the Christmas season with some holiday cheer from Texas.

Merry Christmas Y'all....

Countdown to Christmas ~ Day 12

Touring Christmas lights...

We LOVE to drive around and look at the light displays in different neighborhoods.

We dress the crew warm (usually in jammies) and drive around and listen to Christmas music... my two FAVORITE parts of Christmas ~ music and lights!!!!

Merry Christmas Y'all...

Countdown to Christmas ~ Day 11

We will be reading:

This book brings me to tears every time.

I can not believe how fast this month is going!!!

Seriously, two weeks until Christmas!

Merry Christmas Y'all...

Countdown to Christmas ~ Day 10

We will be making Christmas cookies!!!

The kids are so excited to frost them and decorate them.

I have mini m&m's, tons of sprinkles, frosting and my cookie cutters ready.

I remember doing these back in Oregon and having my niece, Tiana, with us.

I babysat her all week, so she was a part of a lot of our traditions.

Miss her...

Merry Christmas Y'all...

Countdown to Christmas ~ Day 9

Lance and I have a business meeting and then his company Christmas party... since we are triple booked for the night we had to swap out our activity for another night's fun....

The crew will be watching:

This is such a cute movie. We bought it years ago when the Tank was tiny... he was obsessed with dogs and would actually sit through this entire movie because of it.
Merry Christmas Y'all....

Countdown to Christmas ~ Day 8

We are going to watch one of our favorites:

and have triple chocolate brownies... yummmmm!

We named our only female calf, Annabelle. She was so little and cute.

I hope that you all are seeing that we don't do really elaborate activities, just something to remind everyone about this time of year.

Merry Christmas Y'all...

Countdown to Christmas ~ Day 7

We will be reading:

While we snack on oranges.

Side Note: Last night (12/5) we did a Family Home Evening lesson similar to the following link and it turned out so awesome. My crew reacted just like her wee ones. If you are needing an amazing FHE plan for this month... here ya go.

http://www.latter-dayhomeschooling.com/2010/12/symbols-of-christmas.html

Merry Christmas Y'all...

Countdown to Christmas ~ Day 6

We are making Reindeer Dust!

This is a fun tradition that we started in Oregon.

We use:

1 cup oatmeal

red glitter

gold glitter

Mix it in any container that you are going to store your dust in.

Then on Christmas Eve our crew sprinkles this in our yard so that the reindeer will be guided to our home.

This can be adjusted to whatever you have on hand.

~ Oatmeal is bird friendly ~

There have been a couple years where our really wee ones have basically dumped the whole baggy in one pile at the edge of our lawn.

Lance just went out later that evening and spread it around so that when the crew looked outside in the morning it looked like the reindeer enjoyed their sparkly treat.

Merry Christmas Y'all...

Countdown to Christmas ~ Day 5

For our Family Home Evening, we will be having a short lesson on focusing on Jesus Christ during this special season.

Then we'll pop some yummy popcorn and watch one of our family's favorites...

"Charlie Brown's Christmas".

This movie's message fits with our lesson perfectly.

Good 'ole Linus reminds them of the true meaning of Christmas.

Merry Christmas Y'all...

Countdown to Christmas ~ Day 4

Sundays are home activities and focus on the birth of our Savior.

On our fourth day we will be reading:

This is such a sweet sweet book... I love it and so does the crew.

We will also enjoy cups of this:

Hot Chocolate with candy canes and marshmallows...

Some of the crew will just eat marshmallows.

Merry Christmas Y'all!

Countdown to Christmas ~ Day 3

Each crew member will pick out a toy for the Toys for Tots campaign.

My ducklings LOVE to do this. I want them to remember how blessed we are to have a home, heat, food and the few gifts we do give each other.

Christmas is about giving ~

Toys for Tots was chosen due to the availability of their donation boxes in our area.

Your family may choose to choose a tag off a giving tree.

This will give your kiddos the same experience.

Merry Christmas Y'all

Countdown to Christmas ~ Day 2

We will be attending our town's tree lighting ceremony and light parade!

I LOVE parades. This weekend, in our hometown, is the "Oldest and Coldest" Springfield Christmas parade... we miss this event so much. Then the Sunday following Springfield's parade is the light parade in Coburg.

This picture is of our crew waiting for the Springfield parade to start a couple years ago...

So before we go to this event (our first time) we will be cutting out snowflakes to hang on our family room windows while we blast the Christmas music.

Merry Christmas Y'all!

Countdown to Christmas ~ Day 1

Many have asked me what we do to countdown to Christmas. I have organized a 25 day activity schedule every year, since Fan-C was three years old. When they were wee ones the plans included a lot of reading books and watching short movies. Now that my crew are 9, 7 and 6 the countdown included more activities.

I decided to post our activities on the blog (a day in advance) to give y'all ideas and just keep our family in the loop of our holiday activities....

Day 1: Make s'mores and read....
I have a pile of Christmas books that only come out for the holiday season. This way they are a treat for the crew and still exciting to read. This book pictured above has a snow globe in the front "window"... sparkly snow.
Merry Christmas Y'all

A D O P T I O N

A ~ an adventure that we embarked on over seven years ago.
D ~ definitely one of the BEST decisions we ever made.
O ~ we are still OPEN to doing it again and after our adventures... that says something.
P ~ positive that Heavenly Father designed our family to adopt
T ~ so thankful for a sister-in-law who told us about the foster/adoption program
I ~ I'm grateful for all the people who have come into our lives through this adventure.
O~ our ducklings were sent to us. They are definitely our children.
N ~ November ends up being my favorite time of the year... helps me to truly reflect.

Adoption is a blessing...

I don't remember anyone being 'adopted' when I was a little kid. I'm positive they were there but adoption didn't have the openness and positive attachment that goes with it now. My children KNOW they are adopted. They KNOW why they are with us (as much as little ones can understand ~ full disclosure comes later). They also know that their father is adopted and that some of their cousins (on both sides) are adopted. We love adoption in our families. We are grateful to be carrying on a legacy that embraces the blessing of adoption.

Adoption made me a mother...

Writing these posts has stirred up some emotions and 'demons'... the "I" word. Infertility is an ugly monster in my life. But I want to keep these focused on Adoption and keep them positive. I just don't want you to imagine that my life is super blissful and I am dancing through meadows of tulips either. The blessings are fabulous but the crud still creeps in and wields it's ugly head every once in a while. It used to be daily... but adoption and time have healed some of the gaping wounds.

Adoption is amazing... it has blessed us beyond measure.

National Adoption Month... day two

"I want to be an international corporate lawyer!"

This is what I declared while growing up...

Then one day it changed.

I wanted to be a Mom more than anything else.

Education plans changed and I began working in the accounting field.

Lance finally found me and together we started on our eternal journey together.

Naturally kiddos would be next...

That is where my dream plans came to a screeching halt and that door shut hard into my face.

We couldn't go down that road without outside help...

We aren't financially set up to pay thousands and thousands of dollars to adopt either domestically or internationally.

We found the state foster/adoption system and jumped in with both feet.

Wow, THAT was the best and worse swim EVER!

Adoption is a fabulous path to be on...

you are NOT alone on that path either.

Lance and I have been on it and are trying to go down it again...

Need support, need to vent, need a hand????

We're here...

November : National Adoption Month

I am grateful that our family grew out of the blessing that is adoption.

This month helps me to reflect on my crew and that they were worth every effort we made, every paper we filled out and signed, every tear we shed, every sleepless night we experienced... now they are forever ours and we are eternally grateful.

Our crew came from the foster care system.

Not a conventional adoption route but one that fit our family.

Although their birth parents didn't get to 'choose' us, I'm still grateful that two young women who were facing the prospect of another pregnancy, made the choice to deliver their babies and let them have the chance to be matched with us.

We thank you T&K and M&K!

You blessed us with three gorgeous ducklings...

Trunk o' Treat!!!!

We had our annual ward Trunk or Treat tonight!

This year we decided to do our trunk up right...

We made it into a "Monster Truck"!

This pic shows my handsome husband AND it shows that I had details on the eyes that are washed out in the above photo... those are RED bloodshot eyes... my cell phone pics aren't the best.

Have a Spooktacular Halloween!!!!
(I'll post kid's costumes later...)

Presenting the new Mayor!

The Tank came home from school earlier this week all excited about running for "mayor".

He then went on to explain that in his second grade classroom there are four 'tables'... groups of desks that are clustered together. Each table would be voting for a mayor. He wanted to be the mayor.

So he wanted to write a speech... here it is...

"I, (TANK), want to run for mayor because I know I will be nice to my town.

I will encourage clean and tidy desks.

I will help my town be safe respectful learners.

If you want a great town, vote for (TANK) as your Mayor."

*'safe respectful learners' is a school wide theme they have at his elementary school

Not too shabby eh? He practised on all of us and went to school and WON!

Now he and the three other mayors in his class are running against each other to be the governor of their class. The winner will then go up against the other second grade classroom governors. The second grade will vote for which governor they want to serve as their president.

When he was preparing his mayoral speech, I asked if he would be happy being a mayor.

His reply, "NO! I want to be the President!"

Rock on Mr. Tank!

Good luck in your race for the governor position.

He has to give that speech next week.

We are very proud of the Tank wanting to take on leadership roles...

Election 2048 ~ Tank for President?!?

Maybe....

SCHOOL'S IN AGAIN!!!!!!

Here are pics of my (demon eyed) children on

the morning of my #1 holiday of the year,

First Day of School!!!!

Tiny-T is in 1st grade!
The Tank is in 2nd grade!

And rounding out the crew is Fan-C, our 3rd grader!

YAY!!! They all had a great first day and so far they all LOVE their teachers.

Here's to another great year and shopping in peace once again, for me!!!!

We are back!

We are back!

Wedding ~ beautiful and done!

Sunriver ~ beautiful, races, bowling awards and done!

Springfield ~ family , friends, parade, bbqs, river, big fish and sadly... done!

Update on gum... crew hated it! Used suckers to pop ears on plane rides.

Update on furniture... piece of gum found my couch ~ ummmm, end of gum in my house.

We enjoyed amazing weather, family and friends in Oregon and were 'welcomed' home to super hot and sweaty temps. Ugh. Only six more weeks until we are blessed with school once again. Yes, I'm counting down and yes, I'm super excited.

It will give me so much more time to plot my move back to Oregon ~ for good.

Gum....

I had to teach my crew how to chew gum today.

Yes, they are 8, 7 & 5 and they have never had gum before.

I'm a mother that does not promote teaching children how to use scissors or allow access to them.

I'm a mother that does not promote pets... I clean up after three (animals), that's enough.

(They can play with cows and chickens at the farm)

I'm a mother that does not like gum. I don't want to find it in hair, on clothes, on furniture, in my carpet... you get the picture.

Are my children deprived because they don't get gum? Maybe.

But my gum free furniture, car seats, carpets and clothes beg to differ.

The verdict:

The Tank did NOT like it. He will be using dum-dums to suck on and hopefully that will help his ears while flying.

Fan-C & Tiny-T thought chewing gum made them look "cool".

They only chewed it for about 20 minutes and then one by one they each came to me and asked if they could spit it out.

Hmmmmm.... see they weren't really missing anything.

Farmin' ... again.

So here are some of the "ladies", as I like to call them.

In the middle are the first two babies, "Lil Mister" & "Annabelle"

(her momma's name is Clarabelle).

Those would be our pumpkin vines, as far as the eye can see.... there is visibly approx 150 pumpkins or so going right now...
They say to have a successful corn crop... it needs to be 'knee high by the 4th of July'.... ummmm, since this is the beginning of June... I think we're gonna make it. Just sayin'....

Corn is taller than Tiny-T ~ which is taller than my 'knee'. :o)

Off to go farmin' again tomorrow...

Zippin' into First Grade....

My 3rd and final Kindergarten graduation and I finally remembered to bring my camera... went to take her picture with her teacher accepting her diploma... and NOTHING. My batteries went dead at that moment. So, here is a blurry pic from the cell phone at home.

The Kinders did a countdown from A to Z for the last 26 days of school. Each day was a new activity A-art day, B-bubbles (blew bubbles outside), C-crazy sock day... all the way to Z-Zippin' into First Grade.

Tiny-T walked up to me after her graduation and said, "Momma, I zipped right into first grade." She is so excited to be a first grader this next year.

Great job Tiny-T!!!!!

On the farm...

We stopped by the farm tonight and the Tank took off out into the pasture for a while and then went exploring through the mass gardens... yes, that is garden with an 's'. We were counting all the pumpkins growing on our mass vines... more than 150 for sure. :o)

The Tank went over by the tomatoes and pepper plants and found a baby pepper on the ground. He brought it to grandpa and asked what you do with it. Grandpa told him you eat it. Next thing I know I see this....

The Tank is sportin' one of grandpa's farmin' hats...

He was chomping on the pepper like an apple!

This is my picky eater boy and he was going to town on this pepper... he totally liked it.

Miracles happen on the farm.

Mickey Cheese!

Our sweet Tiny-T gets things turned around in her head and no amount of correcting it will straighten it out...

CASE IN POINT:

Fan-C refers to this place as "Mickey D's", which is a step up from "Old McRonalds" as she referred to it in the days of yore....

We told the kids that if they can be HUMAN and keep the fighting and bickering to a minimum that they can have an evening at this place....

(the date is the middle of July ~ post Oregon trip)

Little Tiny-T gets so excited and every morning says,
"Are we going to Mickey Cheese this day?"
Yep, MICKEY CHEESE.... gotta love it.

P.S. the wee Fan-C used to refer to Carl's Jr. as "Old McCarl's" ~~~ :o)

P.S.S. Tiny-T doesn't get the word: today ... she always says "this day"

Posting pics of the other members of the zoo crew!

Posts have been a little Fan-C 'heavy'... so I wanted to get some pics of the other two up.

Tiny-T is graduating from Kindergarten tomorrow... she has finished this school year really strong. We were worried that she was struggling too much and would possibly have to repeat her kindergarten year... but she is doing great now!!! She LOVES her teacher and will sometimes run into the kitchen to ask me to help her with something and will say, "Miss Cirinna... oops! I mean Mommy...."

The Tank did fabulous in first grade. He loves all things Star Wars ~ still. He loves his DS (gaming system - for the few who would be like me and saying, "What's a DS?"). His new thing is Batman... so we have went from hearing which Star War's character he will be for Halloween (yes, he's been telling me for months what his next costume will be...) to now wanting to be Batman this year. My response is always, "Okay..." and then under my breath I finish with, "Until next week." The Tank has become an avid reader and his book of choice, The Book of Mormon. During our last tornadoes, I had to get the little sleeping man out of his bed to get into our 'safe room' (aka the bathroom) and right after getting him settled he jumps out of the tub and runs to his room and grabs his Book of Mormon. He wanted to make sure he saved his special book... we had just been discussing how Lehi had sent his sons back to Jerusalem to go and get the "plates". Their family records and scriptures. We had explained how valuable they were to Nephi's family and the Tank wanted to make sure his most valuable thing was safe. That warmed my heart... those chaotic FHEs are 'sticking'. Yeah!!!!