Madison's Christmas Eve Video Email to Santa

Madison had the idea to email Santa a video with a personal message from her. Here it is...

Christmas Eve at Our House

Skirts

One of Gabe's teachers asked if I could make some skirts for her daughters. She provided the fabric. There were three sets of two total, but I only took pictures of two of the three different styles. The other set of skirts were made with Christmas fabric.

Advent Calendar: Day 12

A visit to see Santa Claus. Maddie was all excited and told Santa she wanted Zhu Zhu Pets and the Jumbo Chixo's set. Gabe, on the other hand, hid behind a chair. I had to force him to sit for the picture. After that, he was out of there as fast as can be. The picture turned out pretty good, but Santa looks a little wonky.

Blizzardville

That is where we are right now.

Yesterday at 3:15 Gabe started screaming that his right ear hurt. I called the doctors office fast because it had been snowing for about an hour and a half already and it was just supposed to get worse. Their last appointment of the day was at 3:45. It takes us 20 minutes to get there on a good day. I told them we'd be there.

I bundled both kids up and got them in the car in record time. It was a scary drive, and Gabe screamed the whole way there, through the appointment and then finally settled down after I put some drops in his ear to numb the pain. The doctors said he has the beginning of an ear infection. It must have been pretty painful for him though. It even pulled him away from the computer.

The picture below is out the dining room window looking towards our front door. This was earlier today and it is higher now.
The next picture is out our doorwall to our screened in porch. The wind is wildly blowing. It is so fine you can barely see it.
The next picture is out our back windows.
We were a little surprised to see that there aren't snow plows here, like in Michigan. A tractor plowed our cul-de-sac. Gabe had a ball watching it out the front window.
Dave is out plowing our driveway right now. He's been out there quite a while. At one point when I looked out the snow was higher than the top of our snow blower.

Advent Calendar: Day 6

Today's Advent Calendar Activity was to make a gingerbread house. The kids had lots of fun decorating it and even more fun eating the left over candy.

Letters To Santa

Our Advent activity for today was to write letters to Santa (Yesterday it was to read a Christmas book together. We really enjoyed Olive, The Other Reindeer.) Did you know Santa's address is #1 Rudolph Lane, The North Pole. We're going to put it in the mailbox tomorrow.


Maddie's reads: Dear Santa, I've been a good girl. Please bring me Zhu Zhu pets. "Heart" Madison

Gabe wrote his own name. I only helped him with the e. He did the rest on his own.

Our New Advent Calendar

Today is December 1st. The first day we get to use our new advent calendar. I scoured the stores looking for a nativity advent calendar, but couldn't find anything that was in our budget. So I made one that fits our family perfectly, for now.

Every day we open a box and there is a small treat (think 2 very small gum balls or chocolate coins) and an activity to do as a family. Today's activity was setting up and decorating the mini trees in their bedrooms. When they were itty bitty babies my friend Pam gave them each a mini Christmas trees with lights and each year she has added an ornament or a tree skirt. They are very cute.

Some of our other advent activities include taking a drive to see Christmas lights, reading Christmas books, making a gingerbread house, baking Christmas cookies, drinking hot cocoa and watching a Christmas movie, etc. We are definitely getting into the Christmas spirit over here in Iowa.

The kids are loving it. They begged to open the first box today, but they had to wait until Dave got home from work. Then as soon as they were done chewing their gum and decorating their trees they were ready to open another box. I think they were a little disappointed that they couldn't open another one until tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Maddie is thankful for her family, friends, the whole world, rainbows and God.

Gabe is thankful for dinner.

Dave is thankful for a healthy and loving family, and for having the opportunity to remain employed in this bad economy.

I am thankful for having an awesome husband and smart, beautiful kids, a wonderful and loving family and great friends.Here's a copy of my usual Thanksgiving post.

Veteran's Day Assembly

On 11/11/09 we attended a Veteran's Day Assembly at the Vinton/Shellsburg Middle School. Madison's class sang a couple of songs. It was a very nice assembly and at the end Madison remembered that her Grandpa and Papa are veterans and wanted to make sure they were thanked for serving our country. Here is some video of her class (and the rest of the Kindergarten classes) singing.

In the first movie, Maddie is behind the kid in the black coat. You can actually see her a little bit later on in the video.

I Skipped Right Over Dave's Birthday

He turned the big 4-0 this year and we celebrated a lot.
Gabe sang...

Maddie sang...

We all sang, several times. We had a great time celebrating with everyone!

Sleep Over Update

Maddie and Kinzley had a great time! They made forts and watched movies and stayed up until midnight.

This is what I've been up to lately...

A very good friend of mine had a baby girl recently, so I thought it would be fun to make her a gift. Christina, if you're reading this, stop now. I've been working on this for a long time. I had most of it done before Baby Elizabeth was here, but I had a few things to finish up. Her parents wouldn't tell us what her name was going to be, so I had to wait to make her a t-shirt.

Our First Sleep Over

Maddie is having her first slumber party tonight and I don't think I've ever seen anyone as excited as her. I'll post more about it tomorrow, but right now we're off to girl scouts.

Halloween's Past

As I was going through some old pictures I came across these. Look how little they were when they were Tinkerbell and Peter Pan. They get so big so fast.

Halloween 2007

Maddie, 3 & Gabe, 2

Halloween 2008
Maddie, 4Halloween 2008
Gabe, 3
Halloween 2009
Maddie, 5 & Gabe, 4

Halloween Treats

I signed up to bring Halloween treats for Gabe and Maddie's Halloween party at school. Gabe's is today, so yesterday I made these:

EyeballsWitches Hats

Unfortunately, Dave and I were woken up at 3:00 this morning by a sick child. Yup, Gabe has what Maddie had. Maddie only had her fever for 8 hours, so cross your fingers that Gabe's doesn't last too long either.

It's Almost Halloween

Only 5 more days...

Gabe is definitely ready.

New Coats

The kids' new winter coats came in the mail today. They love them and couldn't wait to try them on. Now I just have to find hats, gloves and boots to match.
ETA: I didn't notice the reflective band around the bottom of their coats until I looked at the picture. It's so thin you don't even notice it until you flash a camera (or lights) at it. I guess they'll be safe if they're ever out at night.

A Reason To Celebrate!!!

Gabe no longer qualifies for speech therapy!!! That is the coolest thing ever!!! Go Gabe!!!

Bloomsbury Farm

Most of you know yesterday was my birthday. Usually we go to the cider mill for my birthday. Iowa doesn't have the apple orchards like Michigan does, so we ended up going to Bloomsbury Farm and we had a blast!

There was a jumping pillow,

photo opportunities,

a petting farm,
more photo opportunities,bikes for the kids to ride,a tractor train,a giant slide,a corn box
(something I've never seen before, but it was both Maddie and Gabe's favorite)more photo opportunities,lots of tire swings,pumpkins,more photo opportunities,and pig races.