Merry Christmas

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas, surrounded by family & rembering our Savior.
We had our traditional "journey meal" Christmas Eve & opened a present. Then off to bed so Santa could come.
Christmas Day was wonderful & lovely. We were blessed & spoiled more than we should have been & it was a wonderful day. My favorite part was how grateful my 8 year old was for everything he got. Everything, & not just once but multiple times throughtout the day. He said it was better than he hoped for.

Today now it is time to attack the house. Put things away & get this house clean. I am already thinking of New Years resolutions .& setting some new goals for myself.
But now I am off to restore order & take back my house in rooms like this:

Sweet countdown

I wanted to make a countdown for Christmas. We made one like it years ago & the boys asked to do it again. All it requires is Saran Wrap, string & candy. Once it's all laid out the boys can do it with minimal effort. It makes each day a little sweeter.

Blessed

I had a wonderful thanksgiving & hope you did as well. We ate way too much yummy food & pie. We played, took naps & visited & I didn't take a single picture!

I am so frustrated with myself for not taking pictures. I am going to have to beg some off everyone else. :0)

I was especially grateful for the safe return of my hubby & our amazing neighbors who braved the blizzard to get him & his hunting buddies. He finally got home about 2:30 am on Thursday.

So I have started to think of Christmas gifts. I have a tradition of a handmade present to my kids. I am really hoping to get those started later today. It always takes me awhile to make something.

I hope you are able to continue to enjoy your weekend. Before I go here is a hint to what I will be making this year.

Giving Thanks

I have an amazing mom. She does so much I really have no idea how she accomplishes all she does.
She gave us a present to open & boy were my boys excited!

She gave us the present a few weeks early. So I had to intially hide it for while so my kids wouldn't open it sooner. Finally the big day arrived. 

Thanks Grandma! 

It is an awesome Thanksgiving Countdown. So every day we open a present & thought, with something to be grateful for & an activity to go with it. It has reminded us we have a lot to be grateful for & my boys have loved it.

Yep, my mom is amazing. Thanks again. 

Graham Crackers Houses

     The boys have been asking to make gingerbread houses for a while. I promised them we would do them & that it no matter if any one else could do it with us by Monday we would do them. So Monday afternoon we started working on them.  We had to have school first, & then we started working on them. First we have been talking about classification of animals in Science, so I made them review what it means to classify something & then told them to classify the candy.  

The mixed up candy. 

The boys trying to classify it. 

The candy all classified & ready to go. 

I read that somewhere that you should use chocolate (white in our case) instead of frosting. The dipping chocolate hardens faster so it doesn't take as long to build the houses & attach the candy. I luckily had some on hand & I admit once I got the right temperature they went together really well & held nicely. I will be using white chocolate from now on. 

My little dude working on his. 

The cowboy trying to get his candy to stay.  About half way into it, this little boys looks at me as says " I thought this was going to be dumb, but it is actually cool." I laughed. Glad you think so cowboy.  

My monkey focusing on decorating his. 

My little dude showing off his almost complete house. 

My monkey's completed house, with sled in the back. 

My cowboys's finished house & sled. He built a shed somewhere, but I don't know where it ended up for the picture.

So it made a nice mess (big surprise) but it was really a lot of fun. I think we will have to make it an annual Christmas tradition. The boys loved it & I am glad we took time out of our crazy days to do something fun. For the last 13 days left until Christmas I am trying to do something "Christmas/Snow" Related.   On Monday we made these & yesterday we spent the afternoon at the Quilt Club I attend Christmas party.  Not quite sure what we will do this afternoon, maybe paper snowflakes or something simple. Since it is a crazy day, and the rest of the week just gets worse.  

   We will see. . . what are your fun plans for this week? 

A Lifetime of Memories.

Grandma's 84 Birthday!!

  So last Thursday we were lucky enough to be able to spend time with my Grandma & help her celebrate her 84th. Birthday.  My grandma is amazing. One thing I love about where we live, is we live close enough to see her frequently & she is apart of my boys lives. She has celebrated Easter & Christmas & other holidays with us. We have spent hours visiting with her in her kitchen & my boys love her so much. As do I.   I have so many wonderful memories of her house, from the time I was little to now. She is my mom's mom & well their personalities are a lot a like. Grandma is easy going, sweet, loving & very active.  Still at 84 she is canning, planting her own garden & still on the go. I feel so lucky we have gotten to have her around so long & hope she sticks around a lot longer. 

  So for her birthday we made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting. (She is where my sweet tooth originates.) And headed over to her home. She had just had lunch with my mother, so ice cream & cupcakes were perfect.   

Eating Cake & Ice Cream with Great-Grandma  

The boys with Grandma on her 84th birthday. 

  This year I wanted to give Grandma something special for her birthday.  I saw this a while ago on Pinterest, & then a week before her birthday as I contemplated what we could give her. I remembered it. 

           So I wrote this letter:

Hello everyone!

If you're receiving this email, you probably know that my grandma, Marilyn , is turning 84 December 8th (much as she would hate us to be reminding everyone, I'm sure.) To celebrate her birthday, I'd like to put together a little surprise for her to let her know that her nearest and dearest are thinking of her. I'm going to try and create "84 Years of Memories" by filling 84 envelopes with a memory her friends and family have of her.

And this is where you come in! 

If you have a spare moment in the next few days (as soon as possible, there isn't much time), we would be so grateful if you'd jot down a favorite memory you have of our favorite woman and put it in the post. It doesn't have to be anything fancy -- you can just write it down on a piece of paper and sign your name. You can mention anything you like -- although the more nostalgic the better! Please absolutely feel free to send more than one memory (in fact, we welcome it -- we've got 84 envelopes to fill!), but make sure you write them on different pieces of paper (and sign your name to each) so we can split them up. You can mail them to me at my address . Or if it is easier for you, you can e-mail them to me at myaddress@someaccount.com

Thank you so, so, so much for participating -- I know everyone is busy with their own lives, and I do appreciate you taking a few minutes to do this; it will be so worth it when she reads all the memories people have of her! And she knows how much she is loved from near & far. (Please don't forget to keep it a surprise until then, though!) But please respond quickly as we only have a few days for this miracle birthday present to happen. 

Thank you so much again. 

-- Me 



P.S. Please pass, forward this to anyone who knows my grandma, as I have a limited number of address & e-mail. Or pass it along word of mouth, to anyone who has had the pleasure of meeting my lovely grandma.

  

 So after a few phone calls & some mass e-mails to family & friends of my dear Grandmother, we started collecting memories of her. Not just some, 84, to be exact. A memory for every year of her life.   This is has to me one of my favorite gifts of all time to have every given someone. 

 I was nervous that we wouldn't be able to pull it off, with such little time. But everyone came through for me & in fact I am still receiving memories of her & have more than 84. 

   It turned out to be quite a few. Here is the stack of  "A lifetime of Memories." 84 envelopes each filled with a memory of my Grandma.   

My monkey was so excited to give it to her & he wanted to make sure that his was read 1st. So he kept it out, I made my 84 envelopes & then when we got there he gave his to her 1st.

It was such a wonderful day to spend with my Grandma & to all those that helped. Thank you, it was greatly appreciated. To grandma who will check this as well. We love you so much & thanks for all the wonderful memories!


And to anyone who is a looking for an amazing gift to give to someone, though I would start this a month or 2 prior. That way you can get some from all places they lived. (One weeks was a little too short). But i would recommend it. It was a amazing.

Home made Gifts

  Christmas is just around the corner.  It seemed so far away & now it is coming so fast! Which brings me to one of my favorite questions. Do you make home made gifts.  The answer at this house, is yes.  Not everything, but when I was growing up & I think to this day my mom has always made me at least one thing. Home made. She is amazing. It is a tradition that I am trying to keep alive today.


In the past I  have made some things, like pajamas, blankets, one year I made this car mat:

This year,   I have ideas & haven't even started. . .  I am starting to push it I  realize. Only 18 days left.   So my goal for everyday until Christmas, is to give at least 15 minutes a day on working on them. I will let you know how it goes & maybe even give you sneak peek if I can.  But for now if you are want to make something, but not sure what. Here are a few cute gift ideas I have found on the web.

Click on the picture or this text & it should take you there. 

Click on Picture or these words & it should take you there.

  Or The Crafting Chicks has this adorable Family Memory Game

     

or A Family Photo "Go-FISH Game" 

Or you can See 25 Gift Ideas for Little Dudes over here:

So there are a few just to get you started. I know most of them are boy gifts, but that is what runs in this house. I will keep posting more ideas as I find them on here.  For now . ..  happy gift giving, & go make something.  It is really quite nice, & pass a tradition on to your kids. Or if it is already a tradition of yours, please leave a comment & tell me some of the things you have made. I am always on the lookout for more ideas!! Thanks. 

Our Thanksgiving Week

 This is just a glimpse of our Thanksgiving Week.   For the week or two prior to Thanksgiving in home school we have been learning all about Thanksgiving .Why it was started. Why the pilgrims left England. We discussed the Mayflower, how 50% of those that made it died the 1st winter, we talked of Squanto.   I learned that the famous Pocahontas story happened before the "Pilgrims" came to America. That is how Squanto learned English. He was taken back to England as a slave by John Smith's men & later escaped & came back to America. When he arrived he discovered his entire tribe to have been killed by the plague.  I am impressed with Squanto, because after all that,  he still found it in his heart to help the pilgrims & teach them to plant food & help them survive.  


Anyways along with learning all about pilgrims & the first Thanksgiving we had to do a few Thanksgiving games & crafts. 

My Monkey doing a puzzle. 

The Completed Puzzle 

We made a Garland with things we are thankful for. 

We cut out & reviewed our shapes to create Indians. 

Little Dude's 

My Monkey's Indians 

& Cowboys finished Indians. 

We used to Oreo s & Candy Corns to create little Turkeys.  (Just in case you ever do this, use the double stuff Oreo. The Normal ones were quite big enough.  

We usually do an activity the Monday before Thanksgiving & make treats & notes to take around to those we are thankful for. We missed it this year because a few of my boys were sick. 



Then later in the week,  we packed up & made our journey to my hometown to have Thanksgiving with my family. Sad to say we were there for 4 days & I have hardly any pictures to show for it. To make it worse the ones I do have don't really have any people in them. Oops. I guess we will do better next year. 


Because this year we still met with all of my dad's brothers & sisters & their kids this year we did it at a church. So there was room for everyone. 

My boys with their cousins. 

We ended up taking my two youngest home back to Grandma's house because my Monkey started to run a fever, but everyone else stayed late into the day playing games & visiting. 


We had a great time & my hubby realized that it was the first time my sister & her kids have ever been to Thanksgiving with the family in our entire marriage. Which is almost 9 years, but I think it was even longer than that. So we had a great time & visit. We are so blessed & have so many things to be grateful for!