Advent Calendar Activity Day 1

I've been looking online to find something to make this Christmas a little more exciting and meaningful for my kids (mostly Baily since she's older and understands more), and also to help her count down to Christmas so she doesn't ask me every day if it's Christmas yet.  So I got some ideas from the good ol' world wide web and decided to make an Advent calendar.  I didn't know what this means but thanks to wikipedia I found out that: "Advent (from the Latin word adventus, meaning "coming") is a season of the Western Christian churches, the period of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus; in other words, the period immediately before Christmas."  So for our Day 1 of our Advent Calendar Activity we actually made the Advent calendar and a Santa Beard Christmas countdown.  Joaquin just tried to eat the crayons and make a mess so after he went to bed Baily and I finished up making our crafts and she was so excited which made me so excited and feel like a good mom for the first time in a long time.  We've got lots of fun activities planned out for the next 24 days before Christmas and I'm looking forward to having this special time to spend with my kids and help to make this Christmas season more meaningful for all of us!

Our little menace.

How can such an ADORABLE boy (yes he's in his Knight costume)...

Be SUCH a menace?!!

Changes.

So I've come to realize that my posts have been too long and detailed and that no one is really interested in reading my day to day life.  So I decided to make my own personal blog/daily journal for myself and my posterity and use this blog as a condensed version of my life.  I'm not sure how exactly to do that quite yet but I'm sure I'll get a groove on how I want this blog to be.  So there ya' go;)

Blessings For 11.23

11.29- facing my fears and trying to have faith, going to church, how adorable my cute B looked, The Proclamation on the family, my ward family, an awesome lesson by our Bishop and getting to sit and hold hands with my husband I love so much, an awesome Bishop, first Sunday family dinner of many to come with dad & fam at our house, great food (home-made breadsticks, spaghetti and chocolate & banana cream pies), great conversation & a full happy home, new Christmas decorations, watching The Santa Clause with my kiddos, glow of the Christmas tree

11.28- hubby home from work and spending time together all day as a family, having fun watching Christmas youtube vids with kids and with elfyourself vids, HOT shower;);), Joaquin's adorable toes and cheekies, putting up Christmas lights with hubby and our awesome teamwork, a beautiful sunny day, decorating Christmas tree, BK for family dinner, BK onion rings, decorating house, Christmas nativities, house feels very Christmasey, aroz con chocolate (first time making it and it was dee-licious!), my hubby and his love!

11.27- first time and very successful black Friday shopping- kids are all done-whew!, amazing deals, our sweet lil' Christmas tree, brother Jensen watchin' my kids in the morning for me, leftover turkey sandwich for lunch!, naps and snuggles with my kiddos, Jensen comin' and playing with my kids and being such a great Uncle, kids were great today, cute new pj's for kiddies, picked up home and now nice & tidy, Biggest Loser, watching Grinch with kiddos, adorable cards from momma and lovin' her so much

11.26- Thanksgiving!, thinking of and being grateful for the countless blessings in my life from on High, deviled eggs & turkey, good times with Aunt Misty, lovin' on my nephew, making Christmas plans and shopping ideas with hubby, working heater

11.25- feelin' better, clean house, Patty baby-sittin' for me & living right around the corner, SYTYCD, phone call with friend Britney, great job interview with Olive Garden, inspiration & Divine guidance, yummy dinner (stuffed shells with cheese & fave breadsticks!) & great conversation with the missionaries, feeling very inspired by the Biggest Loser special, first snow- so peaceful and beautiful!

11.24- grapefruit (sorry but I just love 'em!), the sound of rain, my awesome step-mom Patty for taking Baily for a while so I could rest during Joaquin's nap and bringing over yummy chicken noodle casserole for dinner, Broadway music, new Ensign and Friend are here, reading most of Friend with Baily, Pres. Eyring's First Pres. message in Dec. Ensign, Donny won DWTS!!, hubby home from work earlier than usual, Baily cracking us up, rocky road ice cream, hubby's buff arms

11.23- hubby's big fluffy pancakes he made just for me, realizing how grateful I am for being taught integrity and values during my background interview, fridge is not broken!, looking for Christmas ideas at Target with my kids and their excitement for the day!, good advice from Patty, kids behaving so I could get my walking workout in, having access to my dad's treadmill whenever I want, being showered with kisses from my kids, baked potatoe soup and breadsticks for dinner!!, that the markers ate while I was cleaning the kitchen were non-toxic, dancing the Paso Doble with my kids during DWTS

New Sunday Traditions

Sunday November 29, 2009
Yesterday was a good, good day. After taking too long to get going and working hard to let faith overcome fear on my part we got to church an hour late. I'm going to make it a point to not be late to church anymore. It's really a weakness I have and need to overcome. I'm so glad we made it to church because Robert and I got to sit together in Sunday School and since it was the 5th Sunday we got to sit together for the combined RS/Priesthood meeting taught by the Bishop. Both were so awesome. We have such an awesome Bishop and I'm so grateful for him and his family. After we got home I got dinner ready and then my Dad & Patty & Eyan came over and we started our new tradition of having Sunday family dinners together. We are going to rotate it between each other's houses. I'm so excited to start this tradition. Even though we live so close together, the days get away from us and we don't get to see each other very often. So yeah, I'm excited for this new tradition. I made spaghetti and homemade breadsticks (can you tell these are our new favorite as we've had them 3 times in the past week?!) and salad and then we had chocolate & banana cream pies. After dinner me, Eyan and the kids played Uno Attack and it was so much fun. Baily had a blast and was so excited that she actually got to play with us and Joaquin cracked up every time the machine shot out cards. It was so funny to see him cracking up. After they left Joaquin found his sisters pie and you can bet that that was the end of that. He thought he was so sneaky. So funny! The rest of the night we watched movies and ended up all going to bed pretty early. I guess all the weekend festivities caught up with us. It was an awesome day and awesome week as you can tell from my sweet girl's face in this pic!

Discussion Question:
What do you love about Sundays?

'Tis the Season!

Saturday November 28, 2009
Saturday was pretty much awesome. We spent the whole day as a family which is my favorite. I got the house picked up, we had lunch and then we went to Wal-Mart to get our first outdoor Christmas lights. It wasn't much but we were excited to get started on our Christmas light collection. When we got home we were blessed to have an absolutely beautiful sunny day where it wasn't cold to put up the lights. Robert did a great job even though it was so high and scary putting them up. He and I worked together and I must say we have great teamwork. Like I said, it's not a lot of lights but we think the house looks great! After we finished with the outside we decorated our tree and it ended up looking lovely. Baily had fun helping and Joaquin wasn't really sure what to think. When we finished with the tree we went and ate at Burger King and made a quick stop at Wal-Mart then headed home to finish decorating the house and watching Christmas movies. It was really a wonderful day and now that our house is all Christmasey we are all feeling the Spirit and looking forward to this Christmas season. 'Tis the season to be jolly!!

Discussion Question:

What's your favorite Christmas decoration?

Baily & Joaquin Updates

Baily 3 1/2 years old:
~ Always says the food prayers
~ Loves swimming
~ Loves riding as fast as she can on her bike
~ Loves Primary
~ Loves her family
~ Can throw a pretty mean tantrum!
~ Loves strawberries
~ Loves to help mom in the kitchen
~ Can't wait to start school
~ Wears 3T-4T
~ Loves living in her own house and having her own room
~ Loves Dora and Max and Ruby and Kailan and Spongebob and icarly
~ Still ends up in mom and dad's bed by the morning
~ LOVES her daddy and hates when he has to go to work
~ Loves her baby brother and loves to share with him (most of the time)
~ Love animals- especially her dogs
~ Loves to be outside
~ Loves to play all sports
~ Loves popcorn with salt on it (garlic parmesan flavor)
~ Loves to watch movies- Spiderman, Enchanted, Signs, ET, Matilda, Titanic, Monster House, Home Alone

Joaquin 18 months:
~ LOVES his daddy
~ Adores his sister
~ Can run freaky fast
~ Loves to eat paper, mud and dog food
~ Is happy and smiling and laughing 90% of the time
~ Takes a nap right after lunch for an 1-2 hours
~ Goes to bed by 8 pm on the dot and is usually up by 7 or 8 am
~ Doesn't like milk or pasta
~ Wears 18 Months - 2T
~ Does not like to share
~ Loves popcorn
~ Loves Dora
~ Is so tough
~ Drinks a lot of liquids!
~ Loves baths and water
~ Loves playing outside
~ Loves balls
~ Never cries when he gets hurt
~ Loves meat and cheese
~ Hates when his meals aren't on time

According to Baily & Joaquin

Baily-
*Joseph Smith = Taylor Swift
*Tinkerbells = Fireflys
*Mee-Tenzie = Mackenzie
*Squishy Hug = Bear Hug
*Horm = Warm
*Scrippers = Scriptures
*Hanna Montanic = Hanna Montana
*Corn Aliens = The movie Signs
*Stinky Beans = Flatulence
*Stirsty = Thirsty
*Yellow Circle in a White Circle = Fried Eggs
*Roundies = Roundabouts
*Deener = Dinner

Joaquin-
*Ah Meen = Aw Man!
*Pah-yee = Potty
*Jus = Any kind of drink
*Cookie = Any kind of finger food
*Nigh nigh = Sleep time (Night night)
*Thuuh = Pizza or any other Food
*Chet-ter = Dog (my dad's dog's name is Chester and he thinks that's what all dogs are called)
*B = Baily
*Ba ba ball = Basketball
*Ba- ball = Football

Reflections of Christ Slideshow

Happy Sabbath! I love this so much. I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ. I know He lives!!