Santa

We are home in Washington for a week. It's so good to be home and with all of the family. I haven't been home for a year and my husband hasn't been home for a little over 2 years! We have been so busy while we have been here, one of the best things we did was taking Landon to go see Santa. We went to a really great place and the pictures turned out amazing! Here are a few that I liked.

They had him sit on a horse and he was so funny. The Santa really interacted with him and they took a ton of pictures,

I don't remember what they were looking at, but I LOVE this picture!

Classic Santa picture. This is the first year we have done Santa pictures, every other year Landon was too afraid. lol.

We have been so busy around here. Since I'm trying to do something extra fun with the boys every day this month I haven't had the time to blog. We've been trying really hard to teach Landon the true meaning of Christmas. I don't know if he really understands it yet, but we are trying. The advent calendar is going great. It's so fun to do something special each night. I think this will be something we will do for years to come.
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So please don't hate me for not blogging to much in the weeks to come. I do have a few craft things to put up and I will as soon as I get time! I hope everyone is having a great month!

Christmas Teacher Gifts

I wanted to do something special for Landon's teachers & Bus drivers. Soooo I made jars & cups.

Goodies Cups
Cup & saucer set with matching stir spoon
snowflake sugar cubes
2 packs hot cocoa
2 packs hot apple cider
2 gingersnap tea bags
2 egg nog tea bags

I put them all together then wrapped them all up nice and cute! I put the stir spoons on the ribbon and tied them around the outside.

These I gave to his main teacher and the bus driver helper that he adores.


Snowmen Jars
Snowman Jar
1 pack of hot cocoa
1 pack of hot apple cider
1 gingersnap tea bag
1 egg nog tea bag
LOADS of candy!

These he gave to his bus driver and the other teacher in his classroom.

They were huge hits! I'm so glad they liked them and I was glad that I was able to make them/put something together for them. Store bought gifts are all good...but I like doing more of the work!

So far....

only 3 days in, but so far we have a few really fun things!

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Day 1. We put up the Christmas tree and pulled out all of the decorations.

Day 2. We went to the movies and saw "Planet 51" super cute movie! But it did have a lot of Adult humor.

Day 3. We watched Polar Express and made Christmas crafts.

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Tomorrow Landon will be opening new Christmas book to be read at bedtime and then have a sleepover with Daddy in his room.

Eagles Game!

For part of Justin's Christmas gifts I bought him tickets to an Eagles Game. Last time we went to one it was about 2 years ago. So this weekend we headed to PA. It was a long 4 hour drive (the drive home turned into a 8 hour drive!) but it was worth it.

The boys walking to the game. November 2009.
The boys walking to the game. November 2007.
Landon cheering for the Eagles! We got lucky with the weather this time. Last time it was cold and raining and Landon and I ended up in the car for the 2nd half.

My boys!
We had really good seats! We got lucky and I picked the right end zone!

They won! For a while I didn't think they were going to be able to turn it around but they did!

Holiday crafts! Advent Calendar!

This didn't turn out quite like I wanted it to, but I love the idea. The month of December is going to be all about family. We are going to do something together as a family every night this month (until Christmas and it will be just Landon and I on duty nights).

What you need.
3 pieces of red card stock (I used orange/red)
3 pieces of green card stock
Old magazines (cut out Windows & doors)
scissors
glue
exacto knife

Directions

1. cut out enough pictures for all 25 days. Try to get different shapes and sizes, but keep them big enough to write under.
2. Glue them to the red paper.
3. Use the knife to cut 3 sides to make a flap on each door or window.
4. Then glue down the red paper onto the green. Make sure you don't glue down the flaps!
   

Tape the backs like so.

Write the numbers next to each door and pick what you want them to say inside.

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Here are a few ideas:

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Craft Night

Movie Night

Game Night

Make Santa cookies

Make a fort

Go for ice cream

Decorate the house

You pick dinner!

Open a gift early

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Idea from family fun magazine

Tuesday Tips! Christmas!

I love Christmas! I love everything about it. I love the smells and the decorations and even the snow. I love having my family together and I love giving to others. Here are a few things I do to.

Decorating

• Ribbon. I buy 2 in thick ribbon and string it across the top of the windows then pin it up in the middle. I add some snow men ornaments and it looks amazing! I also tie bows with it and put it on all of the door knobs.
• Ornaments make the best decorations. I hang them in my bay window and in door ways. I use coordinating Christmas ribbon to hang them with. My living room is gold & red and my dining room is really bright colors like green, pink & blue.
• Kid friendly decorations. Landon has his own Nativity Scene that I let him put up. We talk about what it means while we do it. I love that he can have a part in this without me worrying if he's going to break something. Mine has been in Justin's family for 4 generations and I would cry if it broke.
• Scents. I love the smell of live trees....but due to a nasty allergy to some unwanted bugs having one would make my life a little harder then it needs to be. So fake it is. But I miss the smell. Now I get Pine air fresheners for my living room! It's not quite the same but it makes it a lot better!
• Make a wreath! or buy one. Lol. Hang it on your door. It will make you smile every time you walk in the door.

This & That

• I love giving gifts. But I hated trying to find the perfect one. Now I've starting putting together baskets! For a family make a game/movie night basket (have a game or movie, add snacks and home made treats). You can do anything!
• Shop online! Not only can you fine amazing deals but right now almost everywhere has free shipping and you can ship it where ever you need it to go (perfect when you don't live right by your family).
• If you have a bunch of people and you want to exchange gifts but don't want everyone to have to buy that many gifts. Have everyone buy 1 gift (we do $10) and wrap it. They need to be unisex if you are doing male & female. Put them all in the middle of the room and draw numbers. 1 goes first. They unwrap a gift. It goes down the line. You can pick anew gift of steal from someone else. Each gift can only be stolen 3 times before it freezes. It's a lot of fun!
• Home-made treats are great to give to neighbors or school teachers!
• Head to the craft stores after the holidays to get tins and decorations for cheap for next year! I have some great stuff to put out this year!