Advent 2013 - Day 4

Advent 2013- Day 4

 Today's book - How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

We spent a great day working on school work while the snow fell.  The kids shoveled the cement off again, but by the time their dad got home a few hours later it was completely covered with another couple of inches.  While the big boys were out shoveling, Brech and Gianna watched Jake and the Neverland Pirates. 

Gianna and Brech each took turns feeding the babies.  They were actually good helpers.  I'm not sure the little girls were excited though. 

After the boys came back inside, they watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas for the fun activity today. 

 There were many comments about how the Grinch looked like Mom.  Mostly from Rex who giggled each time.

 The most loved character was Max the dog.

Whenever he was on the screen there was nonstop laughter. 

 I couldn't help but think of Gianna when I saw Cindy Lou.

I used my Grinch cup all day to add to the fun.

The kids were tickled with my mismatched socks.

Advent 2013 - Day 3

Advent 2013 - Day 3

Today's book - Frosty the Snowman.  Who doesn't love Frosty?  This made the kids appreciate yesterday's snow even more.  I wish the sun had come out for even a moment today so that they could have made a snowman.  They will have plenty of snow to play in after the next couple of days.  We are expecting 7-9" of snow in the next 48 hours.  Here's hoping for many, many snowman making days in the future.  We tried to sing the song, but couldn't remember all the words.  Yikes!  Time to break out the Frosty movies.

 Today's activity was to have a Winter Craft Day.  I have a few crafts planned out to do throughout Advent.  Today we made Christmas ornaments.  I had so much fun spending a little time with each child today.  It took a long time to get six ornaments made.  It is amazing how many interruptions there are in a day - like two sweet babies who seem to need something all the time.

 Brech Earl decided to go the easy route - yah for easy ornaments!

 Finished product!

I told each of the kids they could gift their ornament to someone special.  I'm not sure who he is leaning towards giving it to as there was a long list of possibilities.

 Gianna picked out the glitter Christmas light bulbs.  They weren't attached to anything so we used some gold thread I had and made our own little string of lights.  I was impressed that she decided to put one of each in a row and then, without me telling her, started the pattern over again.

 It was a three man job to get the lights into the ornament.  Mom holding the ornament (and camera), Brech holding the top of the string, and Gianna fitting them into the hole.

 The end result was a perfect example of how Christmas lights end up by the next year.

 Stephen started out with grand ideas.  They would have been amazing if it weren't for a trial run to see if the bells would make noise. They sure did - all the way through the ornament and onto the floor.  Our first casualty of the day - one glass ornament.

 He restarted his attempt, but left out the silver bells the second time.

 Rex used a couple of plastic snowflakes in the inside, along with some fake snow.  Then he dotted the outside with Modge Podge and dusted it with glitter (ok, so Mom dusted it with glitter).

 The result was amazing!  I love it!!

Cormac always dreams big.  "Mom, I want to do this," as he pointed to an example with a tree inside the ornament and a layer of fake snow.  Ummm, ok.  We tested every ornament until we found one with a big enough hole to fit a tree in.  Then I put it back in the case and thought about how I was going to accomplish this impossible task. 

 We did manage to get it to work.  A little hot glue on the bottom and a stick to pop the tree upright - TA DA!!  Add some lovely fake snow and a few fake snowballs and you have a cute winter scene.

 "What do you mean I have to have my picture taken?"

 "Mom!!!"

Inside of his ornament are three bells.  You will never find them.  They are surrounded by glitter, another type of glitter, and styrofoam snowball-looking things.

This is what the table looked like when we were finished.  Imagine my surprise when I turn around to find that Gianna had taken out all the puzzles while we were so diligently working on Christmas ornaments.  Sigh... She is a handful and then some.

Advent 2013 - Day 2

Advent 2013 - Day 2

This morning we woke up to falling snow that didn't melt right away.  I felt so energized that I got out my winter Snoopy mug for my cappuccino.  The kids were even more excited about the snow.  They were making deals with me to go outside and play even before they were dressed this morning.  There was talk of shoveling the cement off BEFORE they played.  How much school did they have to complete before they could go play in the snow?  When can they take a break and play in the snow?  What can they do to help me so they can go play in the snow?  (Notice a trend?) 

 Today's Christmas/Advent book is Santa's Toy Shop.  This was one of my favorite Christmas books as a child.  I loved to look at the pictures and imagine I was working at Santa's toy shop.

 This has been my all-time favorite page in the book prior to today.  I am totally tickled by the elf who is painting the checkerboard using only one paint brush with two colors on it.

 When I asked the children which page was their favorite; Stephen piped up right away that he like the page with the blocks that spelled out Santa's toys.

 All of the other children were excited about the page with Santa and his helper elf eating cookies.  I have to admit I had never really stopped to look at this page since I've been a mom.  I will have to say that THIS is my favorite page in the book from now on.  I absolutely LOVE the little diaper hung on the mantle next to the green and white sock.  Too sweet.

 The kids were true to their promise of school work before playing in the snow.

 They also cleared off the cement before playing in the snow.  I have to admit I was quite proud of them.  They then made themselves a "Fox and Goose" track in the back yard and played until they could hardly see each other in the dark.  Our front and back yards look like a herd kids ran though.  They came in red-cheeked and happy.  I am just glad they burned off some of that energy OUTSIDE instead of in the basement.

 Today's activity for Advent was to play a game as a family.  There are few games that all of us can play in a short time period.  This Where is Sock Monkey game was a gift Brech received for his birthday a couple of years ago.  We haven't played it as a family yet, though the kids have played it themselves.  We had a BLAST playing tonight.  The kids wanted to keep playing and keep playing.

 Brigid just hung out and watched from a safe distance.

 Brech was the first one to hide the monkey.

 The object of the game is to find the monkey based on questions that are answered either "yes" or "no".  A question might be is Sock Monkey "In a room with a TV?" or "In a room with a rug?"

 Then if a card that tells them to go look for Sock Monkey is turned over, everyone (but the hider) runs to find the monkey first.  These kids were serious about finding Monkey.

 Normally I'm against climbing on beds...

and jumping off of beds. 

 This was an action shot of them running to find the monkey the last time.  Eventually they ran out of "Go find Monkey" cards so Brech won.  He had hide the monkey inside Stephen's pillowcase.  What a stinker!!  He was tickled to have "outsmarted" his brothers!

 This picture is proof that Stephen is an even bigger stinker than Brech.  He led his parents to believe that he had hid the monkey back in his pillowcase when it was his turn.  Stephen also won because no one could find where he had hid Sock Monkey.

 Stephen even tried to trick his brothers into thinking the monkey was in the pillowcase.

In the end he admitted he had hid him in Rex's treasure box on the shelf.  STINKER!!

We had a great time together.  I think we should do this more often as a family.  We followed game time up with night time prayers and a rosary for my brother Mark and my family.  It was a wonderful way to end a great day.

Five Birthdays in Heaven

I thought for my brother Mark's 22nd birthday (5th in heaven) I'd post a link to prior blog posts I've written about Mark.  Mark's death has become a major part of who I am today.  The things I've learned on this journey have taught me more than I could ever imagine.  Silly things like the sound of rain, a young man who reminds me of Mark, camo, and a bunch of other random things are treasures to me.  They are reminders to me to slow down and smell the rain, to pray for that young man who may be struggling and no one knows, and to remember the things that made Mark special to all of us.  I wonder - would others remember me the way I remember Mark?  Having come close to death this year makes me wonder if I am leaving behind a GOOD lasting impression.  Will there be random things that remind others of me?  I kind of hope so.  I would welcome a memory in another that triggers a prayer for me.  Who wouldn't?

As always - I miss you, Mark.

As always - I love you, Mark.



These posts always make me cry.

R.I.P. Little Brother

BEEP, BEEP

Another Birthday Without You

First First

No Address in the Stars

Beautiful Book

21 Shots Anyone?

The Day in August

Gianna's Tongue

Gianna's tongue has healed amazingly well.  I'm impressed and a bit glad it didn't take long.

 Nov. 25

Nov. 26 

 Nov. 27

Dec. 1

Advent 2013 - Day 1

The First Week of Advent

 THE LORD SHALL COME

One purple candle

This year for Advent we are doing something new to us.  I have seen this idea floating around the internet and heard about it last year from a good friend of mine.  

 We are unwrapping one book a day for all of Advent.  These are books about Christmas or the Christmas season (not all religious) that I had on the bookshelves.  I only had to purchase three books to make the full twenty-five count for Advent and Christmas day.  I am hoping the kids will enjoy this as much as I am looking forward to spending a little time each day reading to them and preparing for Jesus' birthday.

 Today was Gianna's day to unwrap the book.

 Today's book is Christmas ABC.

This is a delightful book published in 1944 by The Guild Associates.  It is very small, but full of wonderful short rhyming verses.  Here's are two examples:

J is for Jesus- 

The best name on earth.

Today we remember

The day of His birth.

Y is for You,

Little girl, little boy,

May your Christmas be merry

And all filled with joy!

What a sweet way to start our Advent.

 You know that I can't just do something simple.  We are also adding one nativity picture magnet to our Advent calendar.  On top of that, I picked an activity for us to do each day.  Today's activity was to start a paper prayer chain with the names of our family and friends to put on the Christmas tree.

No Advent is complete without the chocolate Advent calendars.  Yummy!!

I hope this plan will help us to Keep Christ In Christmas!