Advent - Week 1

Here we are one week into December and I haven't posted one single thing that we are doing to celebrate the Christmas season! I set a goal for myself this year to have all of my Christmas shopping done before December 1st so that I could spend the entire month doing special things with the girls and avoid the Christmas crazy frenzy that can so easily sneak up on me during this time of year.

By the last week of November, I had made my list and checked it twice and all of my holiday shopping was DONE. I highly recommend that everyone try this at least once. No crowded malls or crazy traffic to endure. And I am loving the slow pace I've been able to take with the girls just enjoying the Christmas spirit and focusing on the real reason we celebrate.

This year we started a new tradition by celebrating advent with a Jesse Tree.

Each night we have a family devotion about a different part of God's plan for His people leading up to the birth of Christ. The concept of the Jesse Tree is based on Isaiah 11:1, and the prophecy that the Savior would come from "the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit."

We gave Anna Cate and Caroline a new Bible on December 1st and have been using it to read our stories from each night.

(I love love love this children's Bible. If anybody is looking for a good one, this it it. It paraphrases scripture for little minds better than any others out there that I have found and the illustrations are beautiful and very engaging without looking too cartoonish. )

After Will reads us the story for the evening, Anna Cate gets to hang an ornament on the Jesse Tree. I found the tree at Goodwill for 50 cents and we are making up the ornaments as we go along. Maybe next year I'll be better prepared!

It is by far my most favorite part of each day. After the girls have been bathed and are all warm and sweet smelling in their little footy pajamas, we all curl up together on the sofa and listen to Will read. Anna Cate is a hoot because each night she asks us if we can read Jonah. She has seen the whale ornament and really really wants to hang it on the tree. I don't think we get to Jonah until Dec. 21!

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Instead of the traditional advent calendar, we are using some garland I made several years ago with scrap booking paper. Each morning Anna Cate gets to open a new envelope and inside is a little note with something special we get to do for the day.

My goal was to blog everyday in December to share each day's activity. Ha! Instead, maybe we'll just hit the highlights each week.

We had a fireside picnic in the den, while playing our first board game as a family. All I can say is maybe we need to give "Chutes and Ladders" another year before attempting that again. ;)

Caroline getting to eat her first "snack." A baby rice cake. Must be good, just look at that face!

Anna Cate and I made special shirts for the girls to wear when we went to pick out our Christmas tree.

While I sewed two of these...

She sewed this. A reindeer face, an acorn, a bottle nipple, and some fuzz. Nice.

One afternoon, we made gifts for the birds in our yard using pinecones, peanut butter, and birdseed. We hung them outside of our kitchen window so we could watch them while we eat our meals, but so far we have seen no birds enjoying their Christmas goodies.

Caroline taking a little snooze while Anna Cate worked on her bird feeder.

My sweet Aunt brought these pancake molds to the girls and we were going to make them Saturday morning for breakfast before heading out to get our tree.

Unfortunately, they didn't turn out as cute as the ones on the package. Lesson learned: Never tell a two year old she is getting reindeer pancakes until AFTER you have tested it first to make sure it works!

I tried preparing her before she sat down at the table that they didn't work very well, but that we would try to make them again soon. Of course there was no reasoning with her.

"I want the reindeer pancake Mama" she cried over and over and over again when I put this down at her place.

Will finally blurted out, "That IS a reindeer, he just got hit by Santa's sleigh."

Nice Will, really nice.

That explanation hushed her up though and she happily ate her breakfast.

On Sunday afternoon we decorated our tree.

along with the rest of the house.

Anna Cate's most favorite holiday decoration this year has been the nativity scene.

Each morning she gets baby Jesus out of his manger and proceeds to wrap him up in her doll blankets. Apparently he is crying because he is cold and her job ALL DAY LONG is to rock him and keep him warm. The first thing she asks Will when he comes home from work is if he will build us a fire so she can warm the baby Jesus. Oh my oh my oh my. I'm trying to keep a vigil eye on his whereabouts because I really don't want to be having to buy a new baby Jesus when she looses this one.

We'll continue to document our little adventures maybe I'll find time before another week goes by to share all we've been doing!

The Sneakup

This happens about 20 times a day around our house right now. Both girls will be happily playing together and Anna Cate will get a sudden urge to smother Caroline in a big bear hug. She will run over to her, gritting her teeth saying, "I love you lil pluffy pluffy pluffy" (translation: I love you little Fluffy Fluffy Fluffy) and crash into her like a big wave.

We never know what to expect. Sometimes Caroline squeals with delight, but other times she has a very different reaction.

I just happened to capture this phenomenon the other day as it occurred while I was trying to get a picture of Caroline.

Look out Caroline!!

Here she comes - gritting her teeth with hands ready for attack.

A startled look of shock and dismay.

As soon as the attack occurred, it is over and she is left in tears and mad as a hornet. Oh if only pictures came with sound and you could hear how loudly this child can wail. Or maybe she is crying because it looks like a little rat ran through the back of her hair!!!

Caroline - 6 months

This post will have to be short, sweet, and to the point. I have too much on my list that I need to accomplish today, but I wanted to take a brief moment to document this for my 75-year old self.

Saturday afternoon we pulled out some ribbon, paper, and mod podge and set out to create some cute paper hats.

I found these oh so charming birthday hats on clearance at Wal-Mart (really? there are dolls named Bratz and they are popular? just lovely.)

Anna Cate and I opened one up and laid it flat on some scrapbooking paper. We then traced it, adding about 1/2 inch around the edges as we went.

This little munchkin just watched attentively in her seat, patiently waiting until she is old enough to join in at craft time.

I then applied Mod Podge to a hat that was still in the shape of a cone and smoothed the paper onto the hat.

For the ruffle, I measured around the circumference of the hat and cut a piece of ribbon that was twice that measurement. You can refer to the Ruffle Apron Tutorial for instructions on how to make a ruffle with ribbon.

I used hot glue to attach the ribbon to the bottom of the hat and ta da!

They turned out so cute.

I have also seen little candle holders on etsy that I wanted to try and recreate for Caroline's cupcake.

I found these little wooden people at Hobby Lobby and my dad drilled a hole in the top of each, just slightly bigger than the width of a birthday candle.

Isn't she pretty?

We had our little party on Sunday after our lunch. Caroline is giving the "I'm not sure what to think about this face" while Anna Cate is loving that we get to sing Happy Birthday to her.

Anna Cate helps her blow out the candle and she gets reeeeally upset.

But then she discovers icing and the tears immediately dry up.

More cake falls on the floor than in her mouth, but the four of us had a good time celebrating our little stinker.

Would you believe I took almost 900 pictures this past week? Yikes! My new camera lens came in just in time for Thanksgiving so I've had fun learning how to use it. These are just a few of my favorites from the holiday weekend.

Anna Cate showing Caroline how to sit "lady like" for the pictures.

Anna Cate enjoyed picking camellias in Grandaddy's yard.

My sisters and I took the girls outside before lunch on Thursday to try to get a Christmas card picture. Needless to say, we didn't get one. It is next to impossible to snap a picture of both of them looking at the camera and smiling at the same time. We did happen to get some cute candid shots with everybody.

Caroline's famous "hairy eyeball" stare ;)

Cousins

Bath time

"It's my party and I'll cry if I want to"

We celebrated Caroline turning six months old on Sunday. The girls and I made some cute things for her "party" that I plan on sharing (hopefully tomorrow)!

Turkey in the Straw Wreath

My sewing room has been transformed into Santa's workshop and is a complete and total disaster area right now! I've been busy busy busy getting ready for Christmas. And because so many of you who read this blog are on my Christmas list and I can't share any of those projects right now, I thought I'd pop in to share this quick project I finished earlier in the week.

We were at an oyster roast this weekend with our family friends, the Talberts. Mr. Jim, who is one of the most dedicated sportsman I know, asked my sister if she needed any turkey feathers for a Thanksgiving project for her class. I piped up and said I'd like a few. I figured I could kill two birds with one stone (pun intended): decorate for Thanksgiving and pay homage to the hunter who lives in our house. ( I still feel a little guilty about not letting him hang the stuffed Turkey he killed in our house. I said a little. )

So in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I'd like to present to you our Turkey in the Straw wreath.

Straw wreath from Goodwill, 50 turkey feathers, and about an hour of spare time is all you'll need.

Start stuffing the feathers into the wreath, making sure that they are all curving the same way.

Tie a ribbon around the top and find a spot to hang your new wreath!

With the left over feathers, Anna Cate enjoyed a little history lesson on how people used to write before the invention of the ball point pen. ;)

Hope you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Fun Friday Finds

Say that three times fast! Fun Friday Finds. Fun Friday Finds. Fun Friday Finds.

Rebecca left a comment earlier this week asking if I knew of any tutorials on making fabric party hats. Although I never have seen one, her question got my wheels turning on how you could make them.

You know, Caroline will be turning 6 months old next week and we celebrated Anna Cate's 6 month milestone with a birthday cake, so I'm sure we will do the same thing this time around. I thought I'd try my hand at making one for her to wear while she digs into her half birthday cake, but stuff kept coming up during the week and I haven't had a chance to make one yet.

**Rebecca, I did find this tutorial for making a party hat from felt. It is really cute, but I like the fabric ruffled ones the best. **

While browsing crafty blogs looking for a party hat tutorial, I also stumbled across this lovely lady at The Polka Dot Chair, who so graciously shares her skirt tutorials for free! Ideas for the girls spring wardrobes are already swirling through my head!

Patchwork Skirt Tutorial

Layered Skirt Tutorial

And check out this colorful advent calendar. The tutorial for it is here and if I have time, I'd love to make one before December gets here.

My goal is to be done with my Christmas shopping by Thanksgivig so that I can enjoy the entire month doing fun things with the girls. I would love to have a little activity or outing planned for each day and have it tucked inside the corresponding envelope for Anna Cate to open each morning. Ambitious, I know...we'll see if it happens. ;)