The Trailblazer Express

I have no idea where this past week has gone.  I mean, is Christmas already over?!?  I was going through pictures that we downloaded from our camera and came across these and I wanted to capture this memory on the blog.  So, while this happened nearly 3 weeks ago, I hope you enjoy anyhow.

We finished our Advent Christmas Banner and we all loved it!!  Jase just loved turning over a new triangle on the banner everyday to see what activity we would be doing that day.  And with the exception of a few busy days, we performed every activity I had planned.  One of them was the Trailblazer Express.  On December 10th we watched The Polar Express together and the very next day, our activity was to ride The Trailblazer Express.  Let me explain.

After dinner, the kiddos got dressed for bed and I made popcorn and hot chocolate. Then I gave them a golden ticket to board The Trailblazer Express.  Can I tell you how giddy the kids were?!? I loved it!!  I even punched holes in the ticket before we boarded.  We rode around in my . . . you guess it . . . Trailblazer and looked at Christmas lights, all the while eating popcorn and drinking hot chocolate.  We really had a great time doing this.  It was very relaxed, no rush, no where to be, just driving around enjoying our time together.

Once we arrived back at the house, I finished punching holes in their ticket to spell a word (like in the movie).  Allyson's said BRAVE.  If you know her, this should be no shocker . . . Miss Allyson needs to work on being brave.  She gets scared of new situations, places, dogs, movies she has not seen, etc.  We have really been trying to help her on this.  As for Jase, his ticket said HUMBLE.  Not that he goes around bragging all the time, but we are trying to teach him to be humble.  We usually come across plenty of teaching moments thoughout the day.

The kids really enjoyed and I hope to do The Trailblazer Express with them again next year.

Happy Birthday PawPaw

Today is PawPaw's birthday! With the holiday season upon us, we ended up celebrating it Wednesday after church at our house. It was a nice evening with family, dinner and dessert!

During the day on Wednesday I told Jase that we would be having a birthday party at our house for PawPaw and immediately his mind went to work. He told me that he was going to make him a present and I said that was great. Jase then disappeared upstairs, in the craft room! He made a drum out of the bottom of a Christmas card box he had found. He came downstairs and asked me to poke 2 holes in the lid, big enough for ribbon to fit in them. He took it back upstairs and ran ribbon through the holes and taped it underneath. Later he came back downstairs with the drum {in a gift bag he found} along with a card he had made. So thoughtful!

Jase was beyond giddy when PawPaw was opening his present. Daddy pointed out the excitement he was feeling and that you feel so much better giving than receiving. It was a neat moment.

Happy birthday PawPaw! We love you!

 

Tiny Dancer

This morning Allyson had a mini Christmas dance recital for her tap and ballet classes. While she is not the most advanced one in her class, she says she enjoys it and thats all that matters. She said that the shuffle step was her favorite part about her performance. I'm proud of my little tiny dancer!

 

Jase Decorates

Earlier today Jase came downstairs and got a couple of old pictures of him with Santa and headed back upstairs. A little while later I called upstairs to see if he was ok and he said he was working on a top secret project. Ha!

I could hear him running back and forth from his room to the homeschool/craft room, there was no telling what all he was doing. A few minutes later he calls me upstairs and tells me that he decorated his room for Christmas! He took chenille sticks (pipe cleaners) and scotch tape and went to town! I told him that it looked great and he was sooo proud! Love my little boy!

Adult Christmas Program

Yesterday morning our adult choir performed their Christmas Program. This year the children's choir joined them, which is different than years past. Jase and Shawn enjoyed going to choir practice every week together and learning the same songs. Jase was also a sheep in his program, so I got off a little easy and he wore Ally's sheepskin (along with his black long-sleeved shirt, baseball pants and dad's long black socks)!

It was a very simple, but powerful message of Christmas: Jesus coming into this world in a lowly manager, to seek and save those that are lost. (Luke 19:10)

A Family Tradition

For as long as I can remember my mom's side of the family has made candy during the Christmas season.  And for most of the years it is a joint venture between sisters and mothers and daughters.  This year me, my sister and mom got together with my Aunt Susan and her daughter (my cousin), Amy at my house to make candy.  We got started early, around 8:30 am, and began making divinity.  We knocked out 3 batches before you knew it.

It was a great day and we shared many laughs together.  We reminisced on memories with my Nana and how she would always sit back and watch and tell you what you were doing wrong! My mom seemed to fill those shoes just fine!  ;-)

 

Here are are a couple of video clips of us making candy.  And the first video is of us spooning out divinity with Jase trying to make it into a race and Shawn giving Alisha and I a hard time . . . go figure!

 

 

 

 

Thankful for my family and the new memories that were made this year and the tradition that we are keeping alive.

O Christmas Tree

On Friday we made edible Christmas trees out of sugar cones, icing, M&M's and sprinkles.  The kids had a great time decorating the trees, but I think their favorite part was eating the icing!!  Don't worry, we did not give away any of the trees that they made as gifts.  ;-)

They turned out cute and it was an activity that we could all do together.

This happened yesterday!

Well, I did it!! I've never used one of these monster carts at Walmart, but I finally did it yesterday! It wasn't too bad and it was actually easier to steer than the ones at HEB. The ones at HEB look "cooler", but turning a corner in that thing makes you feel like you have never pushed a cart in your life.

The trip wasn't that bad and it helped that Finn slept most of the time, which made me a little more at ease. And I actually let the kids "help" by getting out of the basket and getting items for me. The only wrong item I ended up with were some pretzels Jase put in the basket for me. I asked for some regular pretzels and he picked up Rold Gold cheddar flavor. They are pretty tasty, but probably wouldn't taste that great dipped in almond bark! ;-)

Sheep and Dedication of Finn

Allyson performed in her first program at church yesterday! She was a cute little sheep! Nearly 400 cotton balls glued on that shirt (100th day of school shirts have nothing on me!).  Saturday evening we went up to the church for her dress rehearsal and I'm pretty sure I left there with a little bit of anxiety!!

Her performance was Sunday morning and it was really cute.  Major kudos to the kids and all those who helped organize it.  Below are some pictures from the performance, but they are not that great. We got a new camera and we are still trying to figure out the ins and outs of it.  :(

Sunday morning we also dedicated Finn to the Lord at church.  The Lord has blessed our family beyond measure, and we want to live for Him.  So by publicly dedicating Finn to the Lord we acknowledge and agree that Finn (and other children) are on loan from God and we are doing our best to raise them in the ways of the Lord.

 

And what morning wouldn't be complete without showing up at church wearing the same dress as your Mom?!?!?  Geesh!  What are the odds? And I even changed into this dress at the last minute.  It was funny and I couldn't believe this happened!

Christmas Crafts

This afternoon our Advent Banner had us work on Christmas crafts. I decided we would make an old school Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer candy cane. {I remember my mom making those and the ones made out of clothes pins all the time for my brother and sister's classes.}

Next, we moved onto the big project: painting! About 2 minutes into I thought "why did I do this?" We used so many different colors, I was cleaning their brushes left and right, while trying to keep Ally from opening the paint bottles while I was at the sink! She can be a sneaky little girl!!

We finished painting all of our craft sticks and took a break and let them dry for the evening. We read our Truth in the Tinsel and it was in regards to Mary singing a song when she found out that Elisabeth was pregnant; she was amazed by God's miracle. I read the scripture portion twice and asked Jase to pick out reasons in her song why Mary would worship God. It was a good conversation starter for us. The last two days we have had great biblical conversations; I couldn't have planned it better.

We finished putting the manger scene together with our craft sticks and I think they turned out great. We found homes for them in our Christmas tree. :-)

Coke Floats All Around

Last night we enjoyed coke floats, an activity planned on our Advent banner. Good old fashioned Homemade Vanilla Blue Bell ice cream and Classic Coke! So good! And I am not a big Classic Coke fan, but there is something about it with the ice cream. {I do not like root beer at all.} Plus it brought back memories of when I was a kid; we would have these often when I was younger. The kids liked them too, but I don't think as much as Shawn or I did!!

Art Day

Today we had a full blown art day. Our Advent calendar had us make snowflakes and decorate them. After the kids colored them, I got out the glue and glitter and gave them a little shimmer. I think I will be wearing glitter for a week!

Next, we needed a Christmas tree to put our daily ornaments on from our Truth in the Tinsel lessons. I drew a Christmas tree on some white paper and gave the kids free reign to paint it. Can you tell who painted which side? Lol!

After we finished our tree they enjoyed free paint time. Jase did a great job painting a Lego man and Allyson tested just about every color. ;) All in all the mess was kept to a minimum. Both of the kids really do not like their hands to be dirty, and especially Jase. I was in the bathroom rinsing out a brush and the kids were in the next room beginning to paint and here comes Jase, wanting to wash his hands already! I ended up bringing two wash cloths in the room, which were covered with paint by the time we finished.

It was a great day!

Advent Activities

Last year we celebrated the anticipation of Jesus' birth by unwrapping a Christmas-themed book or movie everyday for December 1st-24th.  Along with each book, I included a bible verse we would read everyday.  It was really a great activity.  This year I decided to do something a little bit different.  I found a super cute Advent ornament banner HERE at Confessions of a Homeschooler.  Whether you homeschool or not, she really has great ideas and I enjoy reading her blog when I have a chance.  It is pretty straight forward and I really like how family-centered the activities are.  I used a lot of her ideas {I don't have time to reinvent the wheel over here!} and added some of our own to make it personable for our family.

First, I got out my handy dandy spiral . . . I use it for EVERYTHING, although this is a new one, I used up the last one.  I looked at our schedule, then Shawn and I went through the activities and decided what all we were going to do.

Then, I printed out the Advent banner pieces and cut them out.  Then, I wrote all of my activities for each day on the back.  Next, I punched a small hole in each triangle and threaded them through on some twine. {Ah hem . . . this is the same twine I untangled the day before yesterday, I knew I would need it! ;-)} I wasn't going to use the clothes pins, but after putting all of them on the twine, it needed something else to help keep them in place.  In the tutorial she used mini clothes pins, but I opted for normal sized ones since that was all I had and I actually had to had to borrow those from my sister! The mini ones probably work a little better since they are light weight, but these worked out just fine.  I hung them up below the mantle and voila!

Here are the activities we are doing:

1. Candle lit bubble bath {I think Allyson will love this}
2. Read 3 Christmas books
3. Make paper snowflakes
4. Make glass ornaments with glitter
5. Pray for Star of Hope donations and have kids pick out some of their toys to donate
6. Coke floats tonight!
7. Make a Christmas craft
8. Deliver Star of Hope donations
9. Explain The Giving Tree we signed up for and pray for the family
10. Have a Polar Express night! {PJs, popcorn and movie}
11. "The Trailblazer Express" click HERE for details
12. Pipe Cleaner Christmas crafts
13. Dress up for dinner
14. Make edible Christmas trees
15. Family game night & deliver Giving Tree family gifts
16. Make Nativity Scene out of shapes
17. Dance and Sing to Christmas music
18. Watch "Veggie Tales Little Drummer Boy" with popcorn, of course!
19. Pray for Giving Tree Family
20. Read How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
21. Make Christmas Cookies
22. Have hot chocolate and marshmallows
23. Watch a Christmas movie with popcorn
24. Make Jesus a birthday cake and read Luke chapters 1-2
25. Merry Christmas!

I am really excited about this!! I think we will all enjoy it.

And while all the above is super fun and exciting things to do together as a family, I did not want to lose sight of the truth meaning of Christmas: Jesus' birth.  I found Truth in the Tinsel on Confessions of a Homeschooler's blog and became intrigued.  I went to the Truth in the Tinsel website and began reading and really liked the daily bible reading and the ornament craft each day to back up the bible passage.  Long story short, I ended up purchasing the eBook and a supplemental ornament document (in lieu of making the ornaments in the book since it might be too much for me to take on with everything else going on, i.e. homeschool, moving to Africa, you know the normal things!).  I used a 20% off discount code from Confessions of a Homeschooler and got both items for less than $10 total.

I was telling Shawn all about it this afternoon and I think what I like about this and the Advent banner is that it gives me a plan, it is already laid out for me.  I am more apt to follow through with something if I have a schedule, otherwise it will end up being one of those "I should do that" or "man I wish I would have done that."

Here are the two little ones during their candle lit bath tonight.  When I first included this in the list I didn't think it would be have been a hit, but I have to admit it was pretty cool.  It made bath time so calming and it was something new for our bath time routine.  We will be doing this one again!