Advent Countdown

Sarah requested my list of Advent daily To-Do's

(ask and you shall receive)

(I'm not always that easy)

Not necessarily all in this order:

1. Read in the Bible, Luke Chapter 1 &2, the birth of Jesus, first day of Advent, light first candle!
2.  Write 20 things that you are thankful for!
3. Donate toys and books to charity (hospital?)
4. Light a candle and say a prayer for someone
5. Make Christmas Crafts with Mom (set out shoes for St Nicholas!)
6. Celebrate the Feast of St Nicholas!
7. Make a mini stocking and fill with goodies for a friend or neighbor
8. Today is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin--make Mary Muffins and go to Mass!
9. Set up play tent with Christmas lights!
10. Open new ornament!  Gotta find it first!
11. Bake Christmas cookies and treats!
12. Today is the feast of Our Lady of Guadaulupe!  Let's do Mexican food!
13. Feast of St Lucy!  Celebrate!
14. Unwrap new book! Have a family movie night-watch Elf with popcorn!
15. Have a hot cocoa tea party with cookies!
16. Wrap presents!
17. Sing and dance to Christmas music!
18. Simeon's surgery Pray pray pray!
19. Look at Christmas lights
20. Mom and Dad's Anniversary--make them love cards!
21. Open new Christmas book! Bring food to the food shelf!
22. Simeon's b-day Let's party He's 1!!
23. Bake a cake for Jesus's birthday!
24. It's Christmas Eve!!  Celebrate and go to Mass! 

I had a few extra ones, 

I ran out of days and had to combine some

I could think of a ton more and some of these, mean more, 

like on the feast of St Nicholas, we will do some crafts and 

probably bake a special treat, but I didn't put that on the paper!

I have no real system for who gets to open, except to take turns

(that won't cause any arguments, right? --haha)

I also picked up some of those chocolate calenders today--Yay!

 

Thankful Thursday

 This post will be way longer than I planned,

 if you'd prefer multiple posts

instead of loooooong posts, 

please let me know

Thankful for my sweet Simeon!

He's gotten 4 teeth since his surgery 3 weeks ago, 

and is working on more, I was not able to  lay him down til 5:30am

Thankful for my rocker recliner, we were able to nap on and off throughout the night!

Thankful we had an appointment with his plastic surgeon

and he gave me a kind of plan for how things will go in the next few years.

Our prayer now is first for his kidney surgery, Dec 18th

but also, 

that his premaxilla, (that front piece) moves down and into place in his mouth,

so he can have his palate done February, or early Spring

After that

no more surgeries til he's about 7 when his permanent teeth start coming in

He might need a revision of the palate...hoping, praying not though

(did you know the palate in our mouths, moves? --It's involuntary!)

 Thankful Advent is almost here!

That time of preparation

not only seasonal preparation,

but spiritual preparation

that time that needs silence, watchfulness and keeping vigil

for our souls, to prepare our hearts for the gift of every Christmas

the gift of the Christ Child, Jesus.

I usually do a paper Jesse Tree (see here)

but

saw Jessica's tutorial on how to make a felt Jesse tree set

(See here)

I've gotten all the supplies, but am going to make mine a little different, 

more on the lines of the Paper Dali ones we've used up til now.

(only felt)

Hoping to make these while I"m pumping

 I decided to do a different Advent countdown so I made this one  up

I thought of 24 different things to do each day
giving food to the food shelf,
 giving those stockings filled with homemade goodies to neighbors,
make Christmas crafts today,
set up the tent and fill with Christmas lights, etc..
I can list what we put in another post if you'd like.
2 cost money:
Open new Christmas book (which I still need to buy)
Open ornaments  (I also need to buy)
everything else is easy and fun!

 got some pretty card paper

 folded, numbered, stapled

 and hung in the window...

 Next year, I'm  planning on getting some clothes pins

 and hanging them forward facing

OK, I'm back to update...it bugged me too much....
forward facing looks better!

Except I ran out of clothes pins...Oh, we'll just move them as we open them!

 Thankful for Tom's mom.  She's the greatest!

She has made each child a Christmas stocking

and last year, I requested some for us, Mom and Dad!

Aren't they beautiful?

 On Dad's, the Wise men are coming towards the stable in mine

(she also hand quilted the bottom part)

 Thankful for these messes all over...this one actually makes me 

feel really anxious, there's a lot of work needed to be done here

 But, it's also full of ideas and busy times and learning!

Thankful for the fact that the messes won't always be there, 

but thankful (trying to be anyway) that they are there now.

 Thankful the Christmas songs have started!

 Thankful for creativity

even if it does not make sense to my type A personality

 I mean, who would think of making a doll house out of books

instead of using a real doll house?

and even putting that book doll house on top of a real doll house?

We don't really even need toys do we?

 Shelves make great rooms!

Thankful that pictures actually make it not look as messy as it really is.

And they help me to not get that anxious feeling this type A person gets

just seeing it. 

 Thankful this little girl is so full of love and kisses

She could brighten anyone's day!

I couldn't get Simeon to sleep last night, and she was being rocked with him, 

so I brought her into bed with her sister, 

she told her sister, "I miss Mama"  

Awwwwwwwwwww......

 Thankful for babies, especially this kissable little red head!

 Thankful for brothers

 Thankful for sisters.....

 and babies too tired to eat....

 Thankful as much as I hate the mess, I'm thankful for them

Thankful

 I found this great tree, I'd love to make for the feast of St Nicholas

 Thankful I found this great tutorial, even a straight line sewer, like myself

could actually sew!!

Look at that yummy material!

Going to have to try to make some pajama pants!!

(and teach my girls how to do it too!)

Thankful 

I found and watched a pretty good movie, via Netflix

Way to go Rob Lowe!

Great Christmas movie

Kind of had a different ending than I thought, but overall pretty good.

Thankful 

I found this great blog, her idea for Advent

using daily Bible reading notecards, very cool, 

(as my 12 year old said this morning when I showed him)

Thankful 

for your prayers.

I'm asking for prayers for sweet Dominic Pio

He and his family are leaving Dec 1, to head to Boston

(they live in WI)

for his surgery on Dec 4th.

He's beautiful and a blessing to all

Please pray for him and his family

Thank you

(if you are still here after this long post)

Christ the King and Randomness

 Today we celebrated Christ the King

Todays feast day gives me hope

and peace

God is in charge

Christ is King

of all

(Even Obama)

 A good friend made us a gift basket full of feast day activities

and this was one of them

We've celebrated it in the past, but, to be honest,

I probably would not have done it this year

 so, Thank  you Lisa, you are the greatest!

 Onto randomness...

This is what 3 loads of laundry,

 laid flat, 

waiting for me to fold

looks like

It sat there a long time

but

I got it done!

 This is my 6 year old's mess in her "shared" room.

It may be a shared room, but it's her mess.

There's more under the bed.

and under the dresser.
(click on the picture, you can see it in detail)

My goal this past week was to somehow try to organize her.

This is the kid who plays with a little of everything 

and mixes it all together, like

a puzzle piece, a zebra and a barbie, oh, and maybe a pot

and a plate.

 We got bins and bins from the basement and brought them up

 and I'm reminding her every night and day 

to remember to stay organized.

(am I hurting her creativity? Or saving my sanity?)

 No one talks about those Thanksgiving dishes!

How long did it take you to do them?

I tried to wash as I went along, but there were still a ton

It took me (with help loading the dishwasher)

only 25 minutes.  

I always feel guilty making my kids do this many, so I  help

Plus, I actually like washing dishes.

(not every night though, the kids have jobs)

 We are wearing blue and green

 til we get that darn Christmas picture done right!

 This is how the mama plays on game night.

otherwise the baby cries!

 He's a big help, "pick that card"

 See?  Even the mama is wearing blue

Daddy? 

He was wearing green

but, 

he is not a fan of Christmas picture taking 

or posing.

Any other husbands like that?

 Yes, that would be chocolate chips in her mouth,

I bribe during pictures

I shake the bag above the camera to get them to look!

"Say Chocolate Chips"  (shake shake)

This baby loves his big sister so much,

she has that magic touch and special bond with him!

Enough of Randomness...I"m done pumping (breastmilk, not iron)

11 Months Old!!

 Simeon is 11 months old!

(on his first Thanksgiving)

 He loves sitting on this car, but still needs help

He's not walking or even standing by things yet, 

his surgeries have slowed that down,
 he very much wants to be held 

all the time,
 which in my book,
 is hard sometimes,
 but also such a blessing,

it will make these "baby months" stay a little longer.  

Santa might need to bring him a BLUE truck to ride on!

Big sister is not quite ready to give hers up

She's 3, she's not ready to give anything up that he touches!

Staying home on Black Friday

I always find better deals as it gets closer to Christmas!

Thankful Thanksgiving

 Thankful for these beautiful kiddos!

Thankful Wednesday has become our "game night"

 Thankful this sweet boy lets me take his picture once in a while...

 Thankful for painted rocks to adorn our front porch

 Thankful my sweet little 3 year old loves chocolate breastmilk

(I know  you cringed when you read this, but, it's good for her and 

it's not going to waste!)

(hey--she was the least sick, this last round of whatever everyone got)

 Thankful I finally got the kids summer clothes into bins

(now to get them downstairs)

 Thankful my 3 year old finally gave up her nukies!

It's been a week, she's doing great!

She has asked 3 times now, at bedtime, but I just say

"No, honey, you are 3 now, you don't need your nukies."

to which she says,

"I dooooooo need my nukies"

Awwwwww.....breaks my heart too, 

but gotta do it sometime!

 Thankful when I hit a deer on the way home from gymnastics,
he didn't die or hurt any of us!
(OK, I kind of wanted him to be dead)
At first,
 I thought it was a dog,
 I was going slow, he had almost gotten past me,
then, had that "deer in the headlight" look
 and turned back and swiped the side of our van!!!
Stupid deer.
(someone put that sticker on in a parking lot)

 Thankful for lite brite!

(a great thing now that it's dark so early)

 Thankful I caught her right before she opened all my spices

(you can see if you click on the picture, she was playing with the food coloring lids)

 Thankful this sweet little boy is healing nicely.  

Surgery is so hard on little babies, he's still not totally himself

 He doesn't let us put him down much

Thankful when he does!

 Thankful the weather here in Minnesota has been beautiful!

Thankful I was able to plant my tulips this week

with the help of a couple littles....

(like no-coat-or light-sweater beautiful)

 Thankful I have helpers to help with the pre Thanksgiving meal prep

cutting breadcrumbs, making the pumpkin cheesecake, cutting veggies...

 Thankful my breadcrumbs are ready to be made into deliciousness 

for Thanksgiving!

 Thankful Neen's family brought back St Kateri Medals 

blessed by the Holy Father for Simeon and his family!

 Thankful my kids are thankful and have no problem thinking of things they are thankful for

 Thankful a friend put together a liturgical craft package to get us through Advent,
complete with snacks to go with each event
(like St Nicholas day and St Lucy Day!)

 Thankful Mary Hannah took an Oil Pastel Art class 

and created this beautiful piece of Art!

 Thankful my baby got in 3 teeth in the week after his surgery

Poor baby!

He now has 4 teeth, working on more, I can feel them...

No wonder he's fussy and not himself!

(click on the picture for a close up, you can see where his teeth are coming in

on this front  piece, he has 4 teeth in that piece, so 2 more will appear soon)

 And now we pray:

Thank you Lord

for my faith, my marriage, my family and friends

for sweet babies, and crazy kiddos

for having the blessing of not needing anything

Happy Thanksgiving to you, 

God bless you!