Christmas ideas

Well, tomorrow is December 1st (can you believe it?!) Last year I did the advent activity calendar with my kids. I'm going to do it again this year because it was so much fun for me and the kids! So in case anyone else wants to jump on the bandwagon here are some of the ideas I am narrowing down to put on this year's calendar:

Make a Christmas chain

decorate the Christmas tree

pick an angel from the angel tree

see the Elves at Gardner Village

Dutch Christmas

make snowflakes

Service snowflakes activity/lesson

Temple Square lights

make Christmas sugar cookies

Deliver Christmas cookies to others

visit the reindeer at Thanksgiving Point

Wheeler Farm's Lights

Open and read a new Christmas book

Drive around and look at Christmas lights

Live nativity at Gardner Village

Watch "Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer"

make a snowman

go sledding

read the Christmas story from the Bible and Book of Mormon

donate canned goods

make and put up a wreath

make Christmas cards and mail them

Hot Chocolate and s'mores night

p.j. party sleepover

Movie night with Grandma and Grandpa

Deliver kids friend gifts

Draw family names for gift exchange

make fondant

Christmas Eve party at Grandpa and Grandma's

Christmas!

That's 30 ideas. What else is simple and fun?

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was at my parent's house this year. My assignment this year was cranberry sauce and a little treat to share. I made some turkey cards with each kid's name on it, then hid them around the yard (what nice weather we had!). When each child found their four turkeys they got to come and get these little turkey treats. They are cake pops decorated like turkeys. Aren't they fun? And they're actually tasty!

The Mayflower

by McKinley

The new and improved Mayflower includes:

• a mermaid carving at the front of the ship
  
• pirate flags (she says "they are happy pirates")


• and man #3 at the back of the boat had a rough crossing...he's losing his lunch, again!

Left to tell

Summary: the retelling of this woman's life in Rwanda and the 1994 genocide that wiped out a million people (the Tutsis) in 91 days, as she and 6 others hid in a secret bathroom. Mostly it is how she found God amidst it all and her great ability to forgive!

My thoughts: It is an incredible story! There are so many amazing parts to this book. The fact that this hateful thing happened (aren't we over this crazy ignorance yet?), that she survives, but not only survives, she lives! She was definitely watched over, then blessed with the power to forgive. What a great example to everyone to forgive. If she can then I can forgive anything!

It was a good book for the Thanksgiving month because I have felt so blessed and overwelmingly grateful after reading this book.

My other Grandma

I don't journal well, but I blog much better.

Hopefully I'll print my blog out this year and it will count.

Grandma Betty is sick.

So technically she's Kent's Grandma. But I've taken her over and she's mine now...he can still visit her though.

She came home from the hospital last Thursday to be more comfortable. I took the kids over to see Grandma Betty on Friday. Sawyer keeps saying in his prayers to please bless Grandma Betty will get better. So I wanted them to be able to visit. They love her so much!

She's had an amazing life. She had 11 kids and says she would have had more if they'd only slept well at night! Her husband died decades ago and she's been on her own (with the love and support of 11 kids, lots of grandkids, and bunches of great-grandkids). She tries to make it to every event she can in the lives of her family (blessings, soccer games, birthday parties, baptisms, and on and on). She sends out a b-day card with a rhyme and a dollar to each grandchild and great-grandchild. She makes these sweet baby booties for each new baby in the family. She makes sure to bake little bread loaves and homemade jam for everyone for Christmas. She's the best!

We love you Grandma Betty!

Sassafras Shoppe

is now officially open...

I am trying to hurry like crazy to get things done for the OhSweetSadie show coming up NEXT WEEK!

Playgroup

We have such a fun little playgroup in our neighborhood every Monday.

This week we headed over to Gardner village to run around,

take pictures, and have a little treat.

With D-track off track still, we had three girls to add to the mix. Apparently we had a few years of boy babies because most of the time it is all boys.

O' Christmas tree

This weekend we went on our annual Christmas tree hunt in the mountains. It is a tradition we used to do when I was little, and my parents started it up again when McKinley was a baby and we've been going ever since. I think we missed a year when Sawyer was a new baby, but I missed my kids having that experience so we haven't missed since. We all meet up in Nephi for breakfast and follow each other up to the mountains to find and cut down our trees. Then we eat a little lunch up there complete with cookies and hot chocolate.

Don't worry, I don't believe in putting it up until after Thanksgiving.