Oh December! The month that I love so much but can also be a bit stressful and so so so busy! This year I really wanted to enjoy the girls and the fun things they like. We always do a few different advent books, and truth in the tinsel which has a an ornament craft associated with each topic we learned about. The girls love it but it can become a bunch of work for me. We did manage to do the majority of the crafts and read almost all of the advent. I really like that all the advent books keep us focused on the true meaning of the season.
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| Little Angels...Practicing for the Christmas Play at church. |
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| Buddies hanging out while the big kids practiced. |
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| The beginning of the advent ornament tree |
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| Long legged sleeping baby |
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| Loving the tree and the ornaments! |
Gingerbread houses were made while Grandma Janice was in town. The girls as always had fun decorating them.
Salt dough reindeer hands! Except Livy who didn't want to do it this year.
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| Aubrey's |
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| Claire's |
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| Raelyn's |
The morning after the Snow Queen we were up early and off to church for the girls' Christmas program there. It was really well done with lots of singing and the girls did great. Claire and Olivia each had a line and then they both sang and signed 2 songs. Aubrey had one song she sang in. It was super cute!
My parents were in town all week of Snow Queen and got to watch the Christmas program as well. That afternoon we did our Christmas exchange. The girls got dogs (with houses from American Girl) and some spending money for San Diego.
After my parents took off it was time to do my traditional candy and cookie making. The girls love all the treats (so do I) and we love sharing them with the guys from Hans' work, friends, and neighbors. Plus it is kind of fun to bake up a storm once a year!! The girls helped some this year but next year I hope to get them more involved.
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| Raelyn enjoyed the cookie making and eating!! |
Samson loved sleeping under our tree! He is going to miss it I am sure!
This girl is just growing up so FAST! I can't resist taking pictures of her sleeping...
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| The little girls at small group! The love playing together. |
Jamberry nails for the girls! They are so cute but my do they take forever to get on. And the little girls' seem to fall off easily.
When Hans' family arrived it was time to get our puzzle making on...This was the first one we did.
Getting ready for Christmas eve...
Playing with their scooters from Grandma and Grandpa.
The night before we left for our ski trip (so Christmas night) our closet broke. Ugh! The builders installed it incorrectly twice!!
Second puzzle accomplished!
The day after we got back from skiing we were invited to go ice skating with the AWANA clubs. The girls really enjoyed it. Unfortunately the skates were tough on my weak ankles and by the time I got out on the ice Raelyn was done so her and I watched. Aubrey and Raelyn's skates on their feet were just so little and too cute! Made me want to sign them up for skating lessons...lol!
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| My feet hurt, Mama...don't take a picture of me! |
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| These girls have lots of fun together! |
The tree got really full with all our ornaments. And Olivia stopped making her own and just helped Raelyn the whole second half. WE may need a bigger tree next year ;-) The girls really love crafting so this is a super fun tradition for them.
And the last two puzzles we made over the break. The lighthouse one was hard! So many dark pieces!!!
The little girls wanted in on the puzzle fun though so they made this one!
