Advent

This Christmas season we have tried to be more intentional with our family time leading up to Christmas. We started off the season with a list of family activities in our Advent Calendar that we could all enjoy together during this wonderful season of anticipation. B is still very young, so planning activities has been pretty challenging. Also, Jeff has been traveling, so we missed some days. But overall, we are doing pretty good with taking time to sit down as a family and enjoying our time together during such a busy season. Below are a few activities that we have done recently.


B decorating wrapping paper.


B and I decorating Christmas cookies.

Big Boy...Little Bed

We have started the transition to a toddler bed...pray for strength...

Ladies Craft Night

I hosted a ladies craft night at our home a little while ago and totally forgot to take pictures of everyone and their neat projects. The theme was reusing/repurposing picture frames. I had several samples of different ideas that you could make your own to fit any size or style of frame that you had lying around. One of my favorite ideas was a butterfly display that had caught my eye several months ago. I chose a plain 5x7 wood frame that had no glass and painted the frame white. I then glued black, textured cardstock onto the cardboard backing and used a white chalk pencil to chart out where I was going to put my butterflys. I punched out 19 small butterflys from a variety pack of black/white printed paper and arranged them on the grid. For a little pop of color I used one bright yellow butterfly in the arrangement. This will be lovely little piece of artwork for our gray walls in our bedroom.

Gobble Gobble!

I apologize for the slim pickings in the blog postings of late. Got a lot on the 'ol list that needs checked off. Anyways, we had a quiet Thanksgiving Day here at our house with just the three of us...well actually two of us since B fell asleep before we even got to eat lunch. I made a simple turkey breast in the crock pot, some sweet potatoes, stuffing and gravy and called it a day. After lunch we took our cue from B and took naps. Then we got up and did some Christmas decorating.
On Friday, I had to work. Jeff and B had a "Daddy Day" all planned. They went to a model train store, then to the Holiday Tree Festival, home for nap, and then we did a little Christmas shopping.
The rest of the weekend was spent at home, catching up on cleaning, laundry, and "to dos".









That was one sad lookin' Santa. He just did not have it together. I think B knew it too...he didn't want to have anything to do with sitting by him.


Oh, and I meant to post these numbers a couple of weeks ago but never go to it. Here are B's 18 month stats:

Weight - 32lb 10oz, 97%
Length - 35", 97%
Head - 19.5", 90%

Hangin' With the VIPs

This past weekend we had our second to last game of the season and the weather, as expected, took a turn for the chilly. We are talkin' S-N-O-W. Fortunately we were blessed with a room in the very nice and thankfully soundproof, press box at the stadium. This allowed for a more comfortable viewing experience for the coaches' families and a more confined space for the little ones. B, as usual, watched the first half of the game and some of the band at half-time but also took in a Veggie Tales movie. I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall when the custodian came in to clean that room and saw all of the mouth/lick marks and fingerprints all over the glass window in front of the bottom seats. Those kids really know how to have a good time! :-)
Alas, the game ended in a loss for the Pioneers. But hopefully the story will end differently next Saturday. In our last game of the season, the Pioneers will take on our alma mater, Olivet Nazarene University. Got to root for the Pioneers!!

Happy Halloween

This weekend we had a big trip West, and visited family in the Chicago area. We stayed at Papa and Gramma's house and went to Malone's game vs. TIU (we won 34-0) where we met up with GG, Uncle Justin, Aunt Anna, and our friend Bobby. After the game we went to a little party at GG's house where we had some awesome chili and all of the fixins and got to see Aunt Betty. This morning we did a little early trick-or-treating with Gramma before heading back to OH. It was great to see everyone and great to get a win on the road.
On Saturday morning, I was out running an errand and happened to notice a garage sale that looked like it had kids items on my way back to the house. I had been talking to my MIL earlier about things that would be useful to have at their house when we visit and that we could look for at garage sales or consignment stores. So on a whim, I decided to stop and look around to see if they had anything interesting. Right away, I noticed a big pop-up play tent and knew that B would get a kick out of playing in that. I also found a fold-up booster chair with tray that was actually one of the items that we were going to keep a look-out for. They were both a pretty good deal at $5 a piece (thanks Gramma!). Once I got back to the house, I put the tent up for B and he LOVED it. He kept crawling in and out of it and he would sit in it and have us read him books in it. We currently have it set up in our living room now and he has already been in it a couple of times since we've been home tonight. Some other fun things he got to do this weekend were painting a pumpkin at Papa and Gramma's, pet tons of dogs, get tons of doggie kisses, watch movies in the car, and eat special Halloween cupcakes.

Sunday Serenity

Yesterday, we took a nice long walk in one of the nearby Ohio state parks to recharge and appreciate the Fall colors. B had fun looking at and meeting the variety of dogs we encountered and clutched the big yellow leaf that I gave him to hold for an hour before he decided to tear it slowly into tiny pieces.