Our Daily December Fun!

I know it's February but while I'm trying to keep up I'm also working
backwards, so here is our December from start to finish...in posts! :)

Every December there are so many things I really want to do with the kids

or with our family and the season gets so crazy busy with parties

and celebrating and traveling that stuff that I really want to do doesn't happen.

This year I decided to be intentional.

One date night before the holiday craziness hit Trav and I 

made a list of all the things we'd love to do during December.

Then on the night of December 1 (and the early morning of December 2!)

I was determined to get this finished!

Ellie's party was on the first and I knew once we had finished with that

I could focus on the coming crazy month of December.

So that night I created this!

(of course something copied and modified off Pinterest)

Not the best pic but this is the idea.

Behind each circle was a different activity.

This is right above our kitchen table so the kids would get so excited to open it 

at breakfast then we would plan our day around making sure that event/activity happened!

I had looked ahead at the calendar some to make sure we could do what was

written on the circle on that particular day...and we still had to switch around a few but for the most

part it worked out great.

Kept me more sane, organized, and intentional with my kids throughout the season.

I highly recommend it and think we'll for sure 

be doing it again next year!

Some of the ideas were really simple--like, have a picnic in the living
room while watching a Christmas movie but the kids loved
it and loved having something to look forward and plan for all day!

I don't have pics from every day but here's a sampling!

This day was "Go to play in the snow!"

A church in Scottsdale has what they call "Winterfest" every year.
They bring in a bunch of snow and let the kids play and sled in it!
Fun times for these Bostonians turned Arizonans!

Love her little outfit here!
All the winter accessories with no coat! :)

Gracie headed down the slide with Daddy.

There were bouncy houses galore which they of course loved.

Trying to capture this sweet older sister watching out for her baby sis...
as she always does when we are out and about at places like this.
She is awesome at parks and the Chick-fil-a playground!
I can always totally trust her to watch out for everyone...she's the best!

Another day was "make an ornament to give away
as presents to our team"
We were making picture ornaments...here was our photo shoot.
Hilarious.

Emmy got attacked with kisses!

 

This was the winner!

This was "set up the nativity" day.

They wanted to get as close to baby Jesus as possible! :)

"Make fudge for Daddy" day...his favorite Christmas treat!

A VERY common scene in my kitchen when I'm cooking/baking.
Love my little helpers.

"Make paper snowflakes"
This must have been a roll out of bed and start a project day!

Make a ginerbread house with Carol and Jim Moyer.
She made all the gingerbread and icing from scratch!
Fun to make, yummy to eat!

So thankful for these two...they continue to bless us
over and over again!

"String popcorn"
Whoa--this was a little more tedious than I thought...but still fun!

"A walk to Starbucks for hot chocolate"
(and a Christmas book!)

Then of course we had some "unscheduled" Christmas fun!
I can't remember what treat we were making at this point...
my guess is something for a party (since we had 3 at our house in December...college,
lifegroup leaders, staff...fun times--despite the pregnancy headaches!)
Love this!

Scraping that bowl clean!

Ok so this was one of my favorite things we did all season.
One night we got everyone bathed and in bed.
We proceeded with our normal bedtime routine of songs and prayers.
Then just as we were about to walk out we told the girls to look under their pillow.
And what did they find??  A ticket!!
On the Suburban Express!
Our kids have never seen the Polar Express but that didn't matter.
While Trav did the bulk of getting them ready for bed I was popping
popcorn and making hot chocolate and putting it in the cup holders in the car.
Then while I finished up with bedtime Trav went out and decorated the car.
Wrapping paper on the outside, Christmas lights on the inside.

We took their tickets, loaded them up, and headed out to look at Christmas lights!
We spent the next 45 min or so singing Christmas carols and driving around looking
at lights!  It was so fun!
They were ecstatic and loved every minute of it!

Can't you just see the sheer joy on their faces!
A huge winner!
(thank you Pinterest for the idea...it will be repeated!)

 Two of my Christmas babies.
Love how they love each other...
and are working (with our help!) to always show it!

And here's one pic from when they performed at church...
we flew out later this night (the 23rd) to head to Texas!

 And just because I want to remember this for next year...
this was our advent board.
The bags contained different parts of the nativity--
and told the Christmas story.
Want to work on perfecting this more for next year
(what a put in the bags, scripture we use for each day, etc).

d