Holiday Activity | Advent Action Cards

Around here we are so excited, the holiday season is finally upon us.  One of the things my kiddos enjoy each Christmas is the Advent calendar I made them a few years back.  Each day they look forward to opening that box and discovering what yummy, tiny treat they get to eat!  Here's a picture of it...can't wait to fill it with treats for December:

Mama's Holiday Wish List

Josiah Benjamin, Christmas 2008

It's the day after Thanksgiving today, and a huge pastime for a lot of people today will be, of course, shopping.  Also popular: creating a meal with Thanksgiving day leftovers, watching football, and decorating.  While I typically don't brave the crowds on Black Friday, I do enjoy the rest of this list, and hope to do a little of each today.  While checking out what's up online I happened upon this great giveaway by Today's Mama and GameStop.  They're giving away some great prizes bundles, and a grand prize: a $1,000 GameStop gift card.  All you have to do is participate in Mama's Holiday Wishlist Meme.  So here's my take: 

Halloween Minibook | Part 2

One of the things I'm loving most about this time of year is the chance to quiet down and just stay in, and with school conferences and the Thanksgiving holiday break from school, this week I am getting to do just that.   Having a bit more time and a few evenings free has giving me the chance to finally finish up the Halloween minibook I started earlier in October.  The foundation was already laid out (you can view that earlier post here), the photos I ordered finally arrived, and I was finally able to put the finishing touches on this project. 

December Daily 2010 | An Introduction

One of the things I have looked forward to most about this fall is the anticipation of all the holidays that come at the end of the year, and what they bring with them. Excitement. Joy. Spending time with family. Trying new recipes, enjoying old ones, and gathering around the table to say thank you with our families.  Enjoying the magic on my children's faces on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  These are just a few of the special things about this time of year that I just love.This year I'm excited to participate in a project that is all about capturing the moments and memories of the holidays: December Daily.  This project, made popular by Ali Edwards, is something that has become pretty popular in the past few years, and this year I'll be joining the fun!    You can learn more about this project by checking out Ali's December Daily compilation page, as well as take a look at how others are approaching this project by checking out the December Daily 2010 Flickr gallery.

Getting Ready to Remember

I love fall.  It is most definitely my favorite part of the year.  Cooler weather, warmer meals, time spent with family, having fun with make believe and giving thanks.  Getting ready for the excitement of Christmas, Santa Clause, hot cocoa, and remembering and celebrating the Christmas story, and why we really celebrate.  These are just a few reasons why. 
I know this year with the baby girl on the way I will be busier than I have been in recent years, so I'm trying now to be as organized and prepared as I can be.  I've been trying to get some of the projects I want to do ready and prepared so that when I'm ready all I need to do is write about the moment and capture it with photos.  I remember so many things this way!  If it wasn't for my hobby of 'scrapbooking' there are a lot of memories and special moments that would simply be lost, but it's amazing how much even a single photograph can remind you of.

Halloween Minibook

With these next few weeks fixing to be probably the busiest of the entire season for us, I've been making sure I have what I need ready so that when I get the chance to document a special memory everything I need is prepped and ready to go, whether it be our baby girl's first moments, Autumn celebrations...I want to be ready.  I thought it would be fun this year to make a minibook of some of the fun activities we like to enjoy around here when October hits, so I took some time to put together the base for a small album.  All that's left is to add my photos and journaling as they happen...I won't have to worry about those fun memories being forgotten or left behind, I can just record as I go. 

Here's a few photos of the base of my project.  Getting this project ready just makes me so excited to enjoy the events as they happen!

Welcome Autumn And All of Your Fun

One of our favorite activities each fall is taking a trip out to Brosi Sugar Tree Farms to visit their pumpkin patch.  The kids always have so much fun there, even though the routine seems to stay the same: hayride, picking just the right pumpkin, navigating the corn maze, then back to the market stand for snacks and silly photo taking.  Here's a few of my favorite shots of the kids from the day.  Oh Autumn, how we love you! ♥

Love Day

One of my favorite things about any holiday is the opportunity that comes to show those around you what they mean to you. And of course Valentine's Day is the ultimate holiday to show love. I'm not sure why, but this week I simply felt overflowing with love and affection....it could have been that Valentine's Day was coming, it could have been hormones. :) But whatever it was, it was great. At the the beginning of the week I sent love notes to all those special to me but far away. I would have posted a picture of one here but ended up mailing them all. Hopefully they brought happiness throughout the week.

Thursday evening I stayed up much later than I should have putting together treat bags for Katie and Josiah's school parties. This was one of those things that just kept getting put off until the last minute. Usually for school parties we do treat bags and I recruit the kids to help me in an assembly line fashion. They always enjoy this activity, but this year I had to put them together myself since the time did not just fall into my lap. Darn.

I also try to do something special for their teachers during the holidays as well, even the little ones (not the little teachers...the little holidays! lol). This year, as well as last, we have been really blessed with just great teachers. Last year it was Mrs. Fazio for Katie (love her!) and this year it's Mrs. Johnson for Katie, and Mrs. Lomica for Josiah. They are wonderful, and I love that my kids enjoy their time in class each day. So one way I try to show our appreciation is doing a little something special during these times. Below are some photos of Love Day treats:

Friday was a lot of fun. I surprised the kids as they woke with a special treat for each of them. The sweet look on my daughter's face was so worth it. It was obvious she was very surprised and just felt so special. It was great! That afternoon I went to the school to join Josiah's Valentine's Day party. It consisted of eating pizza, playing musical chairs, opening treats from their friends, and listening to Mrs. Lomica read a few books about love. It was a lot of fun. Here are a few photos from the day at school:

Later that day after school Katie sat down and used one of the empty candy boxes from her gift to enclose a poem she'd written for me. It went like this: "roses are red. vilits are blue. I love you so much, doan't you think so to my speshle purson in blue. Whith love and care I will go eneaware on a speshle day with you. xxxx oooo. my true frend in blue." Below the poem she'd drawn a picture of a rose and a violet beneath a smiling happy sun. Hands down that was the most precious Valentine's gift I've received, maybe ever! It brought tears to my eyes. Josiah also had to share in the giving, choosing his most special piece of candy from his gift and giving it to me. I truly have two of the sweetest kids. I am so blessed.

Saturday Matt and I went skiing with our friends Sara and Landy at Willamette Pass Ski Resort. It'd been years since any of us had gone skiing, and we all really enjoyed ourselves. Of course, I was the slowest skier in the group, but the rest were all patient and we just took our time taking in the day. It was great fun. For lunch we ate this delicious pizza in the lodge that could quite possible be the best pizza I've ever eaten! It was half pesto chicken and half pepperoni & tomato. So good, and even better with a large pitcher of Hefeweizen. Yum yum. After lunch we went a few more times down the slopes, then headed home. Hopefully we will be able to go again before the season ends. Here are some of my favorite photos from the day:

A few more Easter pics...

In looking back on some of the photos I took during Easter weekend, I figured I'd share a few more of my favorite shots.

I caught Josiah off gaurd in this picture, otherwise he'd flash his "camera" smile. Notice how almost every vehicle behind him is a pickup truck. Kinda wierd.

Here's my lovely daughter in her Easter dress before she took off duing the egg hunt.

So beautiful!

I love this shot of Katie and me...I think Katie's expression is hilarious. :)

Nothing says happy like pink marshmallow bunnies!

Josiah's infamous "camera" smile...when he smiles like this I think he looks just like his uncle Jessie did as a kid. Too funny!

Easter Weekend 2008

I am so blessed to have two of the most adorable kids in the whole world! Of course, I think that every mom with a heart full of love says that about her kids. This week I have just been spending time at home with Katie and Josiah, enjoying Spring Break. Sleeping in...watching cartoons...scrapbooking...reading...taking walks with the kids. It might not seem very productive, but to me it has been priceless. Usually we are all so busy with the day to day activities that make up our weeks...I am loving the simpleness of just being at home.

Easter weekend was very mellow. On Saturday I colored easter eggs with the kids...so much fun! Of course since the weather was so great it was all I could do to keep the kids inside to finish...Josiah colored one and then he was done. We all can't wait until summer is here. Then on Sunday we all went to church, which was nice. They had a special thing for the kids with special guest "Anna Montana" aka Hanna Montana's cousin. hehe. The kids absolutely loved it. Afterwards we all had lunch there, and the kids were fortunate enough to finish their easter egg hunt before the rain came. Well, it was more like an Easter egg dash! When we got home we gave the kids their easter baskets (2 each due to an oversight on my part, to their benefit). What a great weekend. :)