Our first week

Joy has entertained us the rest of the week with all her elf shenanigans.  

On the 2nd, she decorated a tiny tree that was naked before...

 On the 3rd she put on her camo, proudly displayed her Grinch hunting license.

On the 4th, she warmed up with some elf stew (marshmallows, peppermints and chocolate kisses).

On the 5th, she dressed up like Chewbacca and hung out by the AT-AT.

Day 6 she camped out and sang songs with her guitar before turning in. 

We finally got the Christmas lights up on the outside of the house and since the tank is full, they reflect in the water. :)

 Our activities this week have been going to get hot chocolate after school, watching Elf, writing letters to Santa, shrinky dinks and on Friday we went to ICE at the Gaylord in Grapevine.

In the "North Pole"  section, they had toys set up and then an exact replica right beside it made from ice.

Reed and I as elves.  We're very cute. :)

In Santa's sleigh...

The exhibit ended with a beautiful clear nativity scene.

The craftsmanship is amazing.  We really enjoyed it.

After the exhibit, we got some hot chocolate and then the boys went snow tubing.  They had an absolute blast and there were tons of smiles. 

It has been a great start to December!

Happy December!

Joy arrived this morning with much fanfare!!  She hung a banner over the kitchen island...

and announced her arrival in style!

She even brought some reindeer milk. :)

She made cinnamon rolls in the shape of a Christmas tree...

And brought pajamas for everyone...

even Mom (who needed some more Christmas pajamas)! 

 We took the first advent activity from the calendar...

Side note:  Look at those boys above compared to below - this was the first year we did the advent tree.  Reed was in second grade (as old as Hudson is now). Ugh.  

ANYWAY... today's activity was to open one of the presents...

Melty Beads!  Yay! 

(One excited kid and one who tolerates his Christmas loving mother.) :)

We're off to a great start!

...and now it's almost December!

My last post was about how I hadn't blogged in a while and it was already the first of November... hence the title of this post!  Time is flying by.  It seems to rev up in mid-November and then December goes in the blink of an eye because of all the busyness.  But I love December - it's probably my favorite. :)  

Anyhoo - here's what been happening lately.  Hudson was chosen as the Shining Star for his class in the last 6 weeks.  His teacher had some very sweet things to say about him. They also gave all the kids these neat little signs to put in their yards.  Hudson was pleased. :)

This is probably one of my favorite things this month.  I was looking at Pinterest or Instagram or something at Christmas decor, and I came across a picture of a vignette with a vintage ceramic Christmas tree.  It took me back to when we were at my grandmother's house on Christmas because she had one very similar.  I thought she might still have it and she did... and she brought it to me on Thanksgiving!  It brings back the feeling of being a kid at Christmas and all the fun and excitement that goes with that.  I'm so excited to have it!

As far as Christmas decor went, I wanted to have something besides a wreath hanging over the fireplace, so I decided to make something.  I was scouring Pinterest a few months back, saw this and fell in love:

So I decided to make my own.  We have a few pallets laying around out here, so Brian cut off the back of one and just a few slats off the top.  I printed out the wise men and words and traced them onto the pallet with graphite paper and painted it.  Then he drilled the holes for the lights and I hot glued them in.  I love, love, love it!!

 I ended up putting the tree up in mid-November this year.  I have been very staunch about not putting it up until after Thanksgiving and my friend Jami told me "I'm putting mine up.  I'm not hosting Thanksgiving at my house and the Christmas season is SO short that I want to enjoy the decorations for how much work goes into it."  Hmmmm.... very logical.  So I put it up and I'm pretty sure I will do it every year.   This is my 9' tree I bought at Hobby Lobby at 40% off in August. I love me a sale!

Through the front window.... Sigh. 

THIS is why I wanted a big front window.  

This has been the wettest year on record for DFW.  We got a ton of rain over the last few days.  I took this picture on Saturday from the front porch.  The tank was full to overflowing...

But then I took this one on Sunday.  The water was not very far from the sidewalk or the road.  It has already receded quite a bit, we've had rain like this twice in the 6 months we've lived here and it's just a little too close for comfort. Yikes.

Tomorrow is the first day of December and we all know what that means.... we start our daily advent/activity calendar and Joy the elf comes back!  Hudson has been talking about her for about 3 weeks now - he is SO excited. Yay for Christmastime!