Dec. 11: Popcorn & Home Alone!!!

Today's Advent bag for day 11 was to watch a Christmas movie and have popcorn! 

The boys were SO excited!  My sister-in-law told me Home Alone was on TV so instantly we knew what our choice was and set the DVR!!!  Last year when we watched this I realized it was really too old for the kids - but this year it was great and Cash was full on giggling at it which was so funny!

It was the perfect ending to a crazy day!!!

A few other random pictures as of this last week included:

Cash on the train at the mall.....sort of a little scandal if you ask me but he was on before I could even say no so we just decided to bit the bullet and do it....and I went and paid the ticket!  haha - he sure is cute and it was a great 4 minute ride....he kept wanting to get on again!

This little cutie all bathed and clean!  Happy girl!

Giggling uncontrollably!

 Hanging out with mom while the boys were in the bath - cuddle time is the best!

Grabbing mommy - I love Ivy Jane!

 This little guy all dressed up ready for Ski School - he is finally big enough that this fits and can't wait for his first ski lesson when daddy takes him skiing in Utah in 2 weeks!

 I just might have 3 left handed children - what?!!!  Feeding herself!

Dec. 10: Handprint Christmas Tree!!!

Day 10 said to do another Christmas craft with mom!  Griffin was once again the most excited, although Cash really liked this one too!  So Cash got to do 3 handprints for the tree, Griffin two, and Ivy's is the top print.  The ornaments are each finger in a different paint and placed wherever the boys chose!  Mom's 3 fingers formed the stump and then fingerprints formed the star!  We love it.  I put ribbon around the outside again and the date and now we have handprints to match the footprints for 2012 in a cute Christmas decoration!  Turned out great!   Since Griffin got to hold the reindeer footprint canvas Cash thought he should hold this one!  I agreed!

Look how cute! (the canvas is cute too)

Griffin wanted to get in and actually got the pic of both looking - hooray!!!

 Close up!!!

Happy December day!!!

Dec. 9: LA Temple Lights

Today's Advent bag said to visit the temple and see the lights!  What a great sabbath activity!  We braved the traffic (yes there was still a lot) to go into LA and see the temple!  It is so beautiful and it was great to be able to just throw on a light jacket and walk around without shivering at this time of year!  We could actually enjoy and hang out for awhile outside!  AWESOME!!!

Thanks to the boys holding their flashlights we could keep track of them pretty easy!

 The boys by a water fountain with the temple spire behind them!

 Beautiful icicle lights and the temple spire!

 Can you see my 3 boys?

 So beautiful!

 Mom with the boys!

 Another water fountain - had to keep Cash from falling in!

 I love to see the temple!

 Mom and the boys!

 Family photo......Ivy lost her boots and was looking at the pretty lights to her side!

 Cash by the nativity!

Although it wasn't a big nativity like at SLC, or AZ for that matter......the feelings I had were still the same!  It is a house of the Lord, a peaceful place, and the spirit of Christmas was in the air!  We ran into friends there and had a great time together as a family thinking about what the true meaning of Christmas is!  Happy Sunday!

Dec. 8: Ward Christmas Party!!!

Since last Sunday I have heard every day: "mom, next Saturday at 4:00 we need to go to the church for our party...and I am going to be a wiseman, and we don't have to bring costumes for it cuz they have them there for us!  I am going to wear a crown!"   Seriously, many times a day we went over this and so to say someone was excited was a bit of an understatement!   Cash even invited a stranger at the mall on Saturday to watch him as he "was a wiseman at our church party" to come!  I think the lady was confused but it was really sweet!  To be honest, though, we were ALL excited to go!  Our ward Christmas party was going to be AWESOME!!! And it didn't disappoint at all! 

It was titled, A Christmas in Nauvoo and it was fabulous!  We got there and started off by going on carriage rides - SOOOOO FUN!!! 

Getting bundled with the blankets!

SO magical!

Had to document pic on the left of the palm tree - and yes we are still having amazing weather here in Cali at this time of year!!! (so different from every place I have ever lived!)

 There were also games of stick-pull (which as you can see Griffin and Chip had a blast doing).....my favorite being Griffin's continuous grin and Chip's gritting his teeth looking like he was having a hard time winning face!  So cute.  

There was also pottery making, cookie decorating, and another craft they could make.  Joseph and Emma were walking around too and talking to them and their costumes were fabulous (didn't get a pic of this unfortunately!)

Then it was inside to a beautifully decorated gym with a catered dinner and a wonderful program of music and the nativity!  Mom played the piano for Katie and Winter to sing and Cash was the wiseman he was so excited to be!  It was a great night!

 Shepherd and wiseman buddies exchanging gifts....or something!

 Serious singing going on here!!!

At the end Santa came, and we also missed pics of that but it was SO much fun and was great for the whole family!  Thanks to those who worked so hard to put it on!  A great way to celebrate and kick off the season!

Today after church wanted to get a few pics of the kids in their outfits..........but Ivy was asleep by the time we got home and Griffin didn't really want to cooperate so not a great idea I guess.....even Chip and I were dressed to match in black and purple but didn't get a photo.....will have to try again later!

 Typical of what Griffin looked like the whole time...when he wasn't looking down and hiding his face or punching Cash :(

 Only one both looking that wasn't blurry or horrible...and still not great!

 Cash let me take a few of just him and he was great.....and so handsome!  My cute little 4 year old!

So needles to say we will be trying again when we are all ready....and fed.....and happy (if that ever happens!)

Dec 7: A Day of Goodie Visits!!!

 On the 7th Day of Christmas our Advent Bags said to us.....Make some goodies and deliver them to friends!  We made delicious peppermint cupcakes and the boys were great at helping me lick the frosting and the bowl in the process.  I even came into the kitchen to see fingerprints through 2 of them and a mess left by little Griffin.  However, when it was time to go they were excited.  Cash was in charge of carrying the plate to the first house just down our street.....and we made it all the way there.....and then when mom opened the gate she turned right into Cash and somehow the cupcakes fell off the plate and smashed into the ground - lucky for us our friends still wanted them and were nice enough to accept our less than pretty offer.  We made some for my visiting teachee and had a great visit with her too.  She has a great table and a racetrack and the boys had so much fun there they already want to go back! (So yeah VT was a hit for both of us).

 not a great pic due to my poor settings....but the only one with both boys!

 Happy to get a picture with the cupcakes!

 Yumminess!!!

Day 6: Go Get Sub-4-Santa Gift!!!

This year our ward had a tree outside the chapel that they asked people to pick ornaments off and buy the gift that was written on the ornament.  They were focusing more on the teenagers in the area as they had a bunch of stuff for little ones.  Teenagers can be hard to shop for because they are picky, and also they want more expensive items.  However, Cash was super excited to pick an ornament, and without knowing picked a great one that I knew would be perfect for us to go get. 

A nerf gun!!! 

My boys LOVE nerf guns and even my hubby loves them so this was great and we had a great time going to get it for our Advent activity.  The greatest part was when we had gotten it and put it in the cart we were walking to get our groceries and Cash was telling Griffin!  "Griffin - (who was holding the box), this nerf gun set is not for you.  It is not for me either!  It is for a teenager whose dad doesn't have any money to buy it.  Our dad has money so we are ok but we need to buy things for him so he has something too......also, mom do you think we could give him some of our cupcakes too?  I think he might like them!"  I explained they might not be good by the time he got the present, but that it was a nice thought and my heart was melted and touched as my little 4 year old got the spirit of Christmas and was so excited about giving this present, especially one he would like for himself, to someone else!  Also, there was a group of people that were near us when the conversation was going on and another elderly gentleman heard and commented on what a good young fellow I had!  I couldn't agree more!  It was a very sweet experience! Happy December 6th!!!!

Day 5.....A Christmas Craft!!!

December 5, 2012 Advent Activity:

A Christmas Craft with Mom

Today we made Footprint Reindeer with Thumbprint Rudolph noses!  

Each child did their own footprint (with mom's help of course) and then their thumbprint was the nose.....the paint is even sparkly and shines so great on the noses!  The eyes are also a sparkly blue and were there 2 finger prints!  The kids had a great time with it - Griffin being the MOST into it and wanting to do both of his feet and we had a great time!  Turned out super cute I think!  We put a ribbon around the canvas and voille - a cute craft that documents the size of them at this point in time!  

A treasure for us!  Since Griffin was so excited about it he got to hold it for the picture....he didn't want to put it down and wanted me to keep shooting more pictures, even getting angry and throwing himself to the ground when I took it and put it on a tree to just shoot a picture of the ribbon and how it looks as a piece of decor on the tree like it was on pinterest where I got the idea!  

So cute!

 Not a great pic of the picture - but isn't this face way TOOO sweet?!!! Love this boy!

 So you can see the ribbon around the canvas - a nice touch that makes it look finished!  What a fun activity!!!