A homemade gift

Oh, it has been so long since my hands did a little sewing project! It felt so good to haul out the sewing machine and work on a little project for Gray. Though, it did take me a good month to motivate myself. I have to be in the right kinda mood to haul that heavy dead weight of a machine out.

Grayson, like any boy, loves cars. And you know what that means for Christmas, TONS of cars and trucks! I think Gray is experiencing a little slice of heaven right now with all the wonderful gifts he received.

Also, we are somewhat of a busy family. Jason is head coach of a basketball team, so that means games twice a week. I try to take our kids to every game I can, not only to support their daddy, but to get them use to that kind of atmosphere. Jason takes them to practice sometimes, on top of me taking them to practice to visit daddy. Weeks get loooong and gruesome if we don't get to see the most special man in their lives.

That being said, we have an on-the-go backpack full of activities to keep them occupied. Nick-nacks from stickers, to clothes pins and even the IPAD (that thing is wonderful at basketball games!).

So I made this adorable little car caddy for Grayson. Now he can enjoy his cars anywhere!

This is the simplest version of a car caddy you can find. I didn't want to do all kinds of frills, mainly because Grayson is kinda destructive with things. Not meaning to be of course, but I think it's a boy thing. 

So, anywho's, I took some felt and made this bad boy. I put pockets below for the cars and the felt pieces. The roads and homes can also be packed away and are not sewed straight on. I like my kids to have an imagination and make their own road ways. 

 a pocket for the car.

 Felt fun!!

 There they are, all nice and snug, ready to be played with. 

Just fold in half, roll up, and there's your car caddy!

 How fun!!! 

CHRISTMAS!

Having some fun at Uncle Shawn and Aunt Angie's for Christmas!

 Our annual horrible looking christmas morning pic... 

 My grandma makes scrap-books every year for us. I love them!!

A random pic of Calli thrown in! I would say she is part of the kids' Christmas presents. 

Truth

Last year I started Truth in the Tinsel  (click the name to go to the website) with Nevaeh. It's like an advent calendar in that you look at a clue everyday, read a scripture, then do a craft/make an ornament to represent what you just read.

It is wonderful!

It goes through John and Jesus' (obviously) birth to Jesus' death on the cross. After all, that's why he was born, to save us all!

We love Christmas and Nevaeh loves to listen to the story and truly loves to make the craft. It's such a wonderful tool to dig deeply into the truth and story of Christmas.

We rearranged a couple days to make this our last day of this advent calendar and originally you make a beaded cross. But I wanted to something bigger. We had some left over base boards in our garage, so I nailed them together.

And the kids painted away!

Here are some other things we have made this last month. 

Giving

Going into the nursing home and seeing some of the faces that shone after getting a hand made christmas card was just priceless.

A month ago my husband and I really wanted to start a Christmas tradition of choosing something to do for others on a larger scale. Whether it's serving, giving, or even caroling (that's not highest on the list though), we wanted to start making Christmas more than just ourselves and our circle of family and friends. Although we did this with the help of such wonderful friends! 

This year was taking Christmas cards to a nursing home, and it was such a blessing for us to do this. The kids loved handing out the cards and saying Merry Christmas and I loved seeing their eyes light up when some of the residents said thank you. 

On top of that, we made cookies to hand out to neighbors and the basketball team! Yes, the entire freshman, JV, varsity team. It has been such an enjoyable month of giving and learning. 

Making the cards!!

 Our Christmas baggies for the basketball players.

 Sorry these are so bad, phone pics aren't great. Passing out the treats! 

Christmas Program

This year was Nevaeh's first ever Christmas program! She and her other Bible Buddy friends sang a few songs on stage and I about cried.

She is getting so big. 

Although Nevaeh sang really loud (for part of it) and did stay on her feet very nicely (during the cow part, she would act like a cow on her hands and knees), the funniest part was when the more "experienced" parents (those who have teens, *gasp*, I can't imagine doing that many Christmas programs) came up to me and asked, "So, how was your first Christmas program?" It's like they new it was stressful and were relishing in the fact they were done with it! HA! 

Although it was stressful wrangling the buddies (3-4 year olds), Nevaeh had a blast. She was excited to be on that stage and sing with her friends. 

 I loved this moment when a couple of the older girls invested a little time with the younger ones. I don't know what was going on, but it was so precious!

 Getting ready to eat some pizza!

In a week or so, I will be posting 2 home made products that I use everyday. They have saved me so much money and actually work! 

Date night

I love dates with my husband. We usually go on day dates instead of date nights. Who knows why, but that's just how it happens. I think it may be one of my favorite things to do... dates with Jason.

But I think I know someone who may just love it more than me. Yes, I let Jason take one other person out on dates, and she gets ecstatic every single time daddy asks her to go on a date. She giggles sheepishly, and dawns a huge smile before saying yes, but she always says yes. 

It doesn't happen very often, these dates, but this time Jason was able to take this very special lady to Disney On Ice so it was extra exciting. 

At the same time, the Science was having FREE admission for one night only to kick off their holiday fun. I was able to take a dashing boy to this festive night, and boy, did we have fun!!

Nevaeh and Gray had a blast that night, going on dates with us. It's such a special time when we get to do something like this. 

And to my brother, thank you so much for the tickets. Nevaeh had so much fun!

I am so glad they got to go together! 

 had some free treats

 made some free ornaments

 All Gray wanted to do was spend time in the animal exhibit. 

Thanks for the tickets uncle Zach!!

A day of Christmas FUN!

Oh goodness, the second most favorite day, next to Christmas Eve/Day, is the day getting the house decorated for it!

I LOVE Christmas and celebrating Jesus' birth with my kids. It truly brings my heart great joy and a smile plastered on my face.

I like to do an entire day event, with little activities through out the day. Have I said this before... I love Christmas!!!

Here are some pics of our wonderful day!

Making some Christmas art

 Then making some cookies!

 And frosting them...

 and of course, eating them!

 Then comes listening to Trans Siberian Orchestra's Christmas album.... above all, my favorite.... and decorating the Christmas trees!

 This was my favorite part... last year I bought a mini tree for our table decor and this year they decorated their own little tree! We didn't have to be on top of them in fear of dropping and breaking (the mini ornaments were plastic) so they had fun doing it themselves. This will be a fun activity when we get bored, redecorating the tree! 

 And look at that master piece! 

 Today we did puff paint and made snow man art/decorations. The puff paint recipe is here: puff paint

 And of course, some snow man decorations!!

 Last but not least, our trees!! We tried them in a line this year because we had more room, and they are more out of the way for running in circles. I love them!