Advent Calendar

I spent most of the day today putting this thing together. As much as I love felt, I am not the greatest at sewing with it. As you can see. No matter what I did, I just could not get them to sew on straight. Oh well. I guess it gives it character. :)

I didn't put as much effort into it as the person I got my inspiration from. She did the tree with all the different ornaments. I new I wouldn't have the time or the patience for all those little details. She also embroidered all the #'s on her squares and used coordinating thread colors to sew her squares on. I embroidered 1 number and could tell it would take me months to finish doing it that way. So, in the end I stuck with my good ol' sharpie. And I think it would be a pain in the tush to thread my sewing machine with a different color for each square. So, I just used white for the entire thing. Lazy I know. But what can I say. *shrug*

I got my inspiration for the top from my friend Marisa. This is the advent calendar she made for her family. The very last one opens up to a picture of the nativity. I thought that was brilliant. So I stole the idea.

Inside each pocket there is a piece of paper that has an activity to do for each day. They are all very toddler friendly. If you would like my list of activities let me know.

So there ya have it folks. I'm surprised I finished so soon. I was expecting it to take me a couple days at least. But the kids were very cooperative and I finished it just before dinner time. So now it is hanging in my living room for all to see.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

This has been the centerpiece on my table for the last month. Isn't he cute? We actually had him sitting at the head of the table for a while during Thanksgiving dinner. But then he had to be moved to make way for the real turkey. :)

This is one of many Thanksgivings we've spent away from our families. But I think this is the first time we have just had our own little family Thanksgiving dinner. I was a little worried it would be depressing since I usually get pretty homesick during the holidays. But, since I just spent a few weeks at home not long ago, it lessened the homesickness. And while I missed being in UT for our big, crazy family celebration, we really enjoyed having our own dinner here. And I must say, I was rather impressed with my sweet culinary skills. All my food turned out great. :) (That's sparkling cider people!)
This is the first year I have had to roast my own turkey. Boy was I nervous. But thanks to all sorts of helpful advice from various people, my first turkey turned out great. So did all the other food I made. The whole meal turned out really good and I was pleasantly surprised when my kids did more than just pick at their food and then beg to get down and play after 5 minutes. They actually sat at the table for the whole meal and ATE! Yes, they ate. And they liked trying all the different foods I dished out for them. They didn't like it all, but they at least tried all of it. They didn't ask to get out of their chairs until Mike and I had both finished eating. I was so amazed. It was great.

We spent the rest of the day watching cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies, scoping out black Friday deals and just relaxing. (No football, thank goodness.) It was a wonderful day and we have so much to be grateful for. Now on to Christmas. :)

Almost Count Down Time

That's right. December first is right around the corner. Then advent calendars all around the world will start making their appearances in homes everywhere. When I was little someone gave us a really cute advent calendar. I wish I had a picture of it, but I don't. I just have the memories. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I've always thought advent calendars are fun, but I've never really had one in my own house. But then I saw this one and I just have to have it. I found it here. This one is perfect because it's made out of felt and I LOVE felt. ( Remember last years Christmas project?) It's so easy and fun to work with (and cheap). So this will be the perfect project for me. And seriously, how cute is this???

I plan to start on this as soon as I finish my tree skirt. :) Should be fun. I only hope it turns out as cute.

Is there really any question??

As soon as we saw this image Mike and I both responded at the same time "oh wow...look at that." Really, there was no missing it. Funny though, he was more shy about showing us his face than his nether regions.

What We've Been Up To

I know it's been a while since I've posted any dancing videos. Jacob still has some pretty sweet moves, but he has become a little camera shy when it comes to dancing. However, Lizzie is not yet camera shy and is more than happy to shake it for the camera. She's got her own little bootie shake.


We decided to do some Thanksgiving crafts since it's coming up here. I originally planned to help Jacob make one of these as well as make my own. So I went outside and gathered to beautiful, perfect, big pine cones. Then we started to glue on the feathers and found that the glue we were using wasn't going to work. I decided we were going to have to use a glue gun. And since Jacob is not yet old enough to use one of those I decided to do a different kind of turkey with him. But this is mine. This is Jacob's. I found this print out here. Which is one of my favorite websites. But I didn't use the feathers they had there because Jacob decided he wanted to cut them up. So I just used the same ones I used. He had fun using that glue stick. After I helped him glue everything together, he added his own little touch to it by gluing on the pom poms and pasta. He was very proud of his turkey.

I got out my ice cream a couple nights ago and was sharing it with Lizzie. I wasn't spooning it in her mouth fast enough, so I gave her her own spoon and let her have at it. Jacob doesn't usually like ice cream, but since Lizzie was eating it, he felt he should to. :)

She decided she wanted to share with me.

Mike is post call today. (Meaning he went in yesterday morning and got home this afternoon.) Since he was able to get a few hours of sleep last night, he was able to go play with Jacob instead of sleep the rest of the day away. We like when dad gets home early and gets to play. :) Jacob had lots of fun kicking the ball around the back yard with him.

Now for a fun filled 3 day weekend. Wahoo!! Having a full weekend off in general is rare for Mike. So we are SUPER excited for a 3 day weekend. Yay.

"Wanna see the guys." "Wanna see puppies."

Two statements I hear from Jacob on a regular basis since we've been home. That and "Where Gramma go? where Gampa go?" It's very sad. "The guys" = his cousins. Usually referring to my sister Jolynn's kids. I think he learned one name while we were there and that was Max. An easy name to remember. That and "Lyn". He was always asking to go to "Lyn's house" to see the puppies. Anytime he referred to another cousin it was "da nudder guy". Translation, "the other guy". Life is so boring to him now. He had lots of fun with all his cousins and especially those puppies at Jolynn's house. They have 5 new little puppies that just opened their eyes (cutest little rolly polly puppies you've ever seen!) and a bigger puppy named Lizzy. Jacob especially loved the bigger puppy because he could run around and torture...I mean play with her. That poor dog was constantly getting pushed or her tail pulled or a ball thrown at her head. I felt bad for her. Anyhoo...life will never be the same for him now and I am sure he will be asking about his cousins and puppies for a long time.

Oh and another cute/sad story, depending on how you look at it. While we were there my sister Steph came down as well. Steph and Kacey look a lot alike and it was quite confusing to Jacob. When he saw her he says, "anudder Kacey!!" And that is what he called her most of the time we were there. By the time we left I think he finally started calling her "Aunt Stephy". I say cute/sad story because I think it is both. It's sad because we are never there so he has no idea who anyone is. It's like he is meeting everyone for the first time all over again. Poor kid. I am sure it will be the same story next spring when we go to Texas to visit Grandma Arnold. Oh to live closer to everyone...or at least be able to find a direct flight home. :)

FINALLY!

I found my usb cable and was finally able to upload pictures. I put them in a few different posts since there are so many of them. So keep scrolling down. :)