Day Twenty-Four

Christmas Eve has arrived. And it's arrival brings Joy's departure. We got up to see that she was packed and ready to head back to the North Pole until next year.

She even left a note.



Our advent activity for today was to make cookies for Santa. The only thing that made it even more fun was our new aprons that we got from Aunt Sara and Uncle Eric yesterday. Seriously... How cute are we???



We made one giant cookie and decorated it with a Christmas tree. This is before...



And after...



I knew it wouldn't still look the same after baking,but it ended up being worse than I thought. Oh well, I'm sure it's delicious. ;)
After the cookie, we sat down to play a board game from yesterday's activity while we waited until it was time to open our gifts. The boys chose Monopoly. That lasted about 20 minutes before Hudson was driving me and Reed crazy. Then the boys decided to play War, then Go Fish... eventually it evolved to sword fighting with a lightsaber and an axe.



We ate dinner and it was finally time to open presents. The boys thought the biggest winner of the night was the Skylanders Giants Wii game. I think they'll be playing it for a while. :)
My favorite present from my hubby...


Yep, I'm a Texas girl for sure!
Looking forward to Santa coming tonight- I love the look on the boys' faces in Christmas morning!

Day Twenty-Three

I think Joy is really ready for Christmas... she tried to open a present a little too early!

We had our Christmas with Gammy and DadDad today. Our advent activity was to play a board or card game - whatever the boys chose- when we got home. We had a very full day and were all quite tired, so we decided to add it on to our activity for tomorrow.

Day Twenty-Two

Since we spent the night at Mimi's house last night, I wasn't sure how much energy Joy would have... but she shocked us all!

Our activity for today is to go look at Christmas lights. Reed said 'I was looking forward to doing this one!" We love to get in our pajamas, go through Starbucks for some hot chocolate and drive around town to look at the neighborhood light displays.


We had a great time- the Christmas lights are one of mine and Reed's favorites and we look forward to it every year!

Day Twenty-One

I think Joy is getting ready for Christmas too...

Our activity today was to have an overnight trip to Mimi's. We've eaten (a lot) and played games. It's been a fun night. :)

Day Twenty

Joy decided to snack on some peppermint marshmallows last night...

Our activity for today was to deliver gifts to some special people today. These gifts included the snacks that we made last night.



I made 31 goody bags in all- many of them are for Brian's subs he uses for his business (electrician, roofer, painter, etc.). He has to deliver all of those. :) Reed, Hudson and I delivered goodies to the school. They really enjoyed passing them out.

Day Nineteen

I think Joy is missing the North Pole - we found her lounging in our gingerbread village.



I lit the boys lanterns we made a couple of days ago and I'm so pleased with how they came out!  They almost have an icy look to them-



Today our activity was for the boys to help me make some Christmas treats. I only got one picture...

And they quit on me pretty quick after that. :).

Day Eighteen

Joy decided to e-mail Santa to give him the low down on what was happening around our house...

Luckily, the boys got a good report!


Today we had yet ANOTHER busy day.  Our activity today was to shop for our Christmas angel.  I never feel as blessed as I do when I do something for someone else.

Day Seventeen

Joy was a little harder to find this morning...

She's such a daredevil. :)


We started our activity from yesterday and made tissue paper lanterns. We just used Modge Podge to put tissue paper on a jar.


Here are the finished products- from left to right, mine, Reed's and Hudson's.


We ran out of time to do out activity for today, so we will have to push it back until tomorrow... I'm beginning to think that one day may have to get cut, but I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. :)

Day Sixteen

On this sixteenth day of December, I'm realizing that having Joy in our house is quite the commitment. She really is a lot of fun though and I know the boys have enjoyed her immensely. Last night she got a hold of the dry erase market and decided to do a little bathroom mirror graffiti.

Our activity for today was to make lantern crafts. We had another very busy day, so it looks like we may be making the lanterns tomorrow. I know you're all on the edge of your seat to see out craft... Stay tuned! :)

Day Fifteen

The boys had a surprise as they left their rooms this morning...

Joy was obviously the culprit.


She even decorated the bathroom door... I mean, why not? She had the paper, right?



Today we had our first Christmas get-together for the year and since that means we were pressed for time, the 'activity' was to open new pajamas. The boys love this and although they don't sleep in pajamas the rest of the year, they do a lot in December. :)



I fell asleep earlier than planned last night, so I had to get up early this morning (and fiddle with some crepe paper). As I was cutting and taping on their bedroom doors, all I could think about was my precious kiddos tucked safely in their beds on the other side of that door. The heartbreak and pain that so many families in CT woke up to today is completely overwhelming to me. I'm praying for God's presence to be unmistakable to those who are grieving and for His peace to surround them. I am so blessed to have my sweet boys. Each moment is precious.

Family Photos

Now that our Christmas cards are out, here are some photos from our family session.  Yes, I am the girl that wants our Christmas card photo to be a surprise.  I'm totally okay with how goofy that sounds. :) Anyway, here are my favorites.

We wish you all a season filled with blessings and peace.  Merry Christmas!

Day Fourteen

I think Joy was jealous that we got to watch TV and snack on popcorn because this is how we found her this morning...

Today's activity was to go see Rise of the Guardians at the theater. We almost went to the drive-in, but more rain is coming our way and I would've been sad if we had to leave early. So we ended up at the theater. We love us some movies... and evidently some food too. :)

Day Thirteen

Joy was busy putting together a puzzle last night...

Our activity for today was to watch Elf and eat popcorn. I looked and looked for our DVD and could not find it. We ended up watching a couple of Christmas cartoons on Netflix. The boys seemed just fine with that, but I was very sad. Elf is rediculously hilarious and my favorite Christmas movie. I will find that DVD. :)

Day Twelve

Every morning the first thing Reed does is crawl out of bed all bleary eyed and head out of his room to look for Joy. Hudson wakes up a little later, so I get to see their reactions separately which is kind of neat. This morning she was hard to miss... she decided to do some extreme ziplining right across our living room...

Both Hudson and Reed got a pretty big kick out of it.
Today's activity was to do a RACK (Random Act of Christmas Kindness). We have things that we do for others every year at Christmastime, but I wanted to have some simple acts of kindness that would bring a smile to a strangers face. Anyway, we have a few of these RACK activities on the calendar and I put them a little closer to Christmas... mostly because this is where we start to have our family get togethers and things tend to become all about the boys and their gifts. I don't want them to get bogged down in that. All we did was buy a box of microwave popcorn and tape them to the Redbox machines in town. A cheap and easy way to bring a smile to someone's face.




I didn't get any pictures because I wanted the boys to try to tape the popcorn up without anyone seeing them so it would be anonymous. (I realize by blogging about it that it's not totally anonymous, but I wanted it to be anonymous to the people who found it, not then 5 people who read my blog.) :) After the first one, it became a game to see how sneaky we could be about it. They had a great time! When we did the last one, Reed said 'I'm sad this is the last one- this is fun!' :)

Day Eleven

Joy is quite the party girl! Last night she decided to do a little marshmallow roastin'...

Today out activity was to have a snowman pizza for dinner. You would think that shaping pizza dough into the shape of a snowman would be easy... It was an epic fail. I finally just threw away the dough and made a rectangle pizza. Oh well... It's the thought, right? :)