Christmas Traditions - December 2011

I love all the traditions (new & old) of Christmastime. They create so many wonderful memories for our family, I look forward to them every year!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I wrap all our Christmas books and the kids open 1-2 each evening. Every year I buy 2 more so our stash is getting pretty big!

This year we started a new tradition. I first heard of this tradition last year but decided this year that we'd take the plunge. One day after Thanksgiving we were all just hanging out when we heard the doorbell ring. We went to see who it was and to our shock and amazement it was a small elf and a book. (We had told the kids that there was such an elf that comes to houses a short while ago so they knew the back story.) The kids were really excited and decided to name him Tom. The idea is that Tom would be in our house during the day & observe whether they were being naughty or nice. And then every night he flies off to the North Pole and reports to Santa. Isabella was totally into it and really made an effort. Jackson, on the other hand, didn't really hesitate when it came to being naughty. ;o) Ah well... maybe next year. Anyway, it was a fun bit of excitement for us every day as the kids ran out to find out where Tom was hiding. He left a really nice letter when he left (will share in another post) and we look forward to having him back again next year! Here are some of the pictures I took of him: 

As you saw in the previous post, we do the activity advent calendar and this will be the second year that we've done it this way (the first year when I made the calendar we did small toys for Isabella. But that was very difficult to find small toys to fit in the small tins w/o being redundant!) and it's a lot of fun.  Pictured below are some of the things that were in the calendar.

*One day the activity was a "special bath" which was them taking a bubble bath with glow sticks. This was really cool to see in the dark! Unfortunately Jackson kept saying, "I can't see! I can't see!" so the lights didn't stay off for too long. ;o)

*One day was a winter craft and we decided to make a bird feeder out of an old milk carton to feed the birds for winter. (Unfortunately we don't get too many birds in our neighborhood so I don't think it's been used much. Our highlight was 3-4 crows in the yard one day.)

*Another day the activity was to make a gingerbread house. The kids love doing this even though I swear I do most of the work. I am certain they love it only for the fact that they can eat some of the candy.

*And on a related activity, we made sugar cookies together and then decorated them with my MOMS Club group. The kids love both the making of the sugar cookies (picking out which cutters to use & making all the shapes) & the decorating where the philosophy is- the more sprinkles, the better! Jackson wasn't quite up to speed on the whole cookie decorating procedure. After he told me what cookie he wanted (I'm pretty sure I asked him what cookie he wanted "to decorate") I placed it on his tray & then went looking around the table for the frosting color he wanted. I turn around and he is eating a big mouthful and his cookie has vanished. Turns out, he thought it was put there for him to eat. So we do this whole bit again... and once again as I turn, he shoves the whole cookie in his mouth. I thought we'd had an understanding... but apparently not!! So finally, I got him everything at once & made sure the cookie was decorated... and then eaten... and that he did not have any more cookies for a week. Or for that day. ;o)

Christmas traditions to be continued...

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas! December 2011

December is my favorite month of the year! Reason one- my birthday is in December. Reason two- Christmas!! I just love everything about the whole month... the decorations, the festivities, the traditions, and of course the meaning of Christmas. I think I'm doing a pretty good job of passing along my excitement for the season to my kids... they both seem to love it equally as well. :)

After getting back from Arkansas, Mike had to work a shift for his 2nd job & so we decided it was a good time to get the Christmas decorations up. I am proud to say that I got everything down from the attic all by myself. :-) 

I don't think Jackson remembers too much from last year so it was neat to see his excitement at all the decorations. Both Jackson & Isabella helped put the ornaments on the tree & did a wonderful job... with the exception of only decorating the bottom half. So I covertly moved ornaments up as they turned away & I think overall it didn't look too bottom heavy. ;o)

And here is my pinterest inspired halloween wall turn Christmas wall.

Six Christmas' worth of pictures with Santa. And behind the pictures is our activity Advent calendar. Each day we open one container to see what activity we'll do for that day (more on that to come later). And next to the sofa, in the basket is all of our Christmas books. Every year we buy two new Christmas books (one secular & one about Jesus' birth) to add to our collection. I wrap them all at the beginning of the month & then the kids get to open them as a countdown to Christmas (we do one a day for most days & then as we get closer to Christmas we do two). We all read the book(s) together each night before bed which is really nice. And of course the kids get excited to open the present & see what book they will find.

And here are our stockings... I still just love them so much! I wish I'd had the funds to have the lady who made them make me a tree skirt to match... oh & stockings for the dogs to match too. Ah well. I'll just admire my four stockings, I guess!

Thanksgiving Wall

I forgot to post my Thanksgiving wall with my last November post. I decided to take my pinterest inspired Halloween wall & change it with the seasons... so here it is for fall/Thanksgiving. I wanted to put some leaves up for a 3D effect but alas I ran out of time. Ah well... there is always next year.

Isabella's Ballet Class

I found out about a little home school ballet class that was being organized in Norman by a home school mom and I asked Isabella if she wanted to give it a try. Of course she said yes... she loves ballet and her most favorite ballet is the Nutcracker. So we give it a try one Monday morning. It was a bit tough to get out to Norman for the class but with it being at 1030am, it shouldn't be all that difficult... right?

Jackson & I were able to sit along the wall in the studio & watch the entire dance lesson. The instructor is a mom of 2 small children and she was formerly involved with a ballet company in the area but now stays at home with her children. I really liked how she taught the children the positions and their names and that they practiced them all each time. I also appreciated the little bit of free dance time that they got in each class and knew that Isabella would like that part well.

So as it turns out, Isabella did enjoy the classes and wanted to continue. We made a deal with her that she would have to pay for 1/2 of the classes with her earnings (she earns tickets for chores she does & 1 ticket = $0.25). We arranged it this way with her because we were already paying for her to attend weekly gymnastics and wanted her to have some responsibility for her extra curricular activities. So this ended up meaning that she pay $2.50 per week (10 tickets) to go to dance class. Her chores consist of feeding the dogs their lunch (1 ticket) every day & putting the silverware away when it comes out of the dishwasher (2 tickets) which is roughly every other day. So she makes, on average, about 14 tickets a week if she does her required chores. She could also ask to earn extra tickets for doing extra chores. It would work out that the majority of her tickets would go towards dance except that we were only able to attend about 3x per month due to other obligations. So she did have some wiggle room to keep her tickets for other things during these weeks.

Isabella ended up attending dance for a few months before she decided that she no longer wanted to go. While we enforce a year long commitment to the extra curricular activities we pay for, we did allow her to decide each month whether she wanted to continue going. I'm not really sure her exact reason for wanting to stop dance class but my suspicion is either that she wanted to keep her money for other things or that she was just doing too much (gymnastics was also on Mondays, but in the evenings). So for now, we are sticking to dancing around the house. ;o)

Here are some cute shots I got of her time in dance:

Random Pictures Oct/Nov 2011

Here are some random pictures from Oct-Nov that really don't need a post of their own. 

These are 3 of the bigger sweet potatoes that came from our garden this fall. The one on the far left is a purple sweet potato... very pretty but when we ate it, it really wasn't as good as a regular potato! 

Here is Isabella squinting because of the flash. She is enjoying camping out in her tent on her floor in her room. She slept in the tent for nearly a week but had to get back to her regular bed the night before co-op. She enjoyed it but I'm not sure now she sleeps on such a hard floor!

Here is Jackson. He came and put on Mike's cowboy boots (in his diaper, no less) & found one of Mike's belts (what he has in his right hand) and then started saying he was Puss in Boots. Super cute.

And believe it or not, this is the only photo I got for Thanksgiving when we visited Granny & Grandpa Abla as well as Uncle Joe who was visiting from AK while we were there. It's pretty sad that this was the only photo I got & it's blurry! Ugh. Better try harder next time!

Jackson @ 2.5 years

Jackson turned two and a 1/2 in October! It was hard to believe that he was already half way to three. He has grown so much developmentally since he turned one, it is really quite amazing. He is talking so much and loves to sing. He is now a big fan of Star Wars & lots of the super heroes. 

Here is a video of me trying to get him to sing Lullaby. And yes, I did bribe him with jelly beans... but I will say that he was going to get it anyway (Daddy was snacking on them) & they are real sugar jelly beans rather than hfcs. ;o) 

October 2011

One of my New Years resolutions is to stay more on top of putting pictures up on the blog. Hopefully I can stick to it! For awhile, it's going to be catch up time. ;o)

We had fun carving pumpkins... this is Jackson's Yoda pumpkin (no carving involved) & Isabella's scary pumpkin that isn't quite finished. We had to go out & buy a little baby pumpkin for this vampire pumpkin to eat. Nice, huh? She picked it after looking at many many designs online. I really cannot wait for the day to come when the kids can wield their own knives & I can sit back and watch. Carving pumpkins isn't easy! (Thanks to Mike for partly rescuing my design for Isabella's pumpkin.)

Here are my additions to Halloween... my pinterest inspired Halloween table/wall & my pinterest inspired wreath done with my MOMS club. They both were lots of fun & added a fun halloween feel to the house. (LOVE pinterest.com for loads of great ideas on ANYTHING!)

We took our annual trip to the Parkhurst pumpkin patch up in Edmond. Always lots of fun! The kids always enjoy the petting zoo (farm animals), tire swings, hay ride, & I personally enjoy the hammocks. If only the kids would relax in them with me long enough to catch a nap. ;o)

Jennifer invited us over to paint pumpkins. The kids had a lot of fun! (My niece Caitlin did too!)

Mike did a rappel group for my nephew Brendan & his homeschool/church friends. We came out for the day to hang out & enjoy Red Rock Canyon. Isabella & my nephew Cameron took Jackson & I on a wild goose chase... I mean a treasure hunt through the canyon but unfortunately I didn't end up with any treasure for my efforts. Carrying Jackson up & down those steep rocks can really wear you out! But the kids enjoyed it & I guess I got a good work out in. :)

The kids enjoyed dressing up for Halloween and actually got to do it twice... once to go over to grandma & papa's & once to pass out candy at the house. I'm still not a big fan of them going around to neighborhood houses & getting lots of crazy horrible candy that I'd just end up throwing out... seems like such a waste! So we stick with the semi-bad-for-you candy (because after all it is sugar-laden stuff!) and keep it to a minimum. The fun for the kids really is getting dressed up and seeing everyone else in their costumes. Candy is just a little bonus to the celebrations. 

So Isabella chose to be a Zombie this year after browsing a Halloween catalog & deciding a child zombie looked the most scary. I did try to point out all the super cute princess costumes at Target but she wasn't having any of it. So we made her costume ourselves out of some thrift store PJs, tattoos (which were really cool & actually looked pretty realistic), & make-up. She made a pretty good Zombie.

Jackson wanted to be Yoda and so my nephew, Cameron, loaned us his costume. He makes a pretty cute Yoda, I will say so myself. :) And also pictured in the collage below is my niece, Taelyn, in her mermaid costume. 

I think that about wraps it up for October! The kids (mostly Jackson) were sad to see it go but thankfully we got to hang on to our non-carved pumpkins for another month.