Christmas Activities - 2nd Week!

I started to not feel good on Saturday, December 7th. I had so much to do that first week in December leading up to the Christmas Dinner I was willing myself not to get sick. Once it was done I was spent. Thankfully I didn't get nearly as sick as the kids. I had the worst headache, my chest felt tight and my body ached and ached! So Sunday and Monday's Christmas Activities were more Christmas movies. 

 By Tuesday everyone was feeling better and back at school! Praise the Lord! After school we went to the Dollar Tree closest to our house to get Christmas wrapping paper. This particular Dollar Tree we had never gone to before because it's in an area that I feel is really run down and doesn't scream safety! Traffic was so bad coming from Des Moines though and I had to get home to make dinner in time to leave again to go to choir practice so I figured it would be okay just this once. The kids noticed right away that the parking lot was a mess....there were even car parts with wires and everything on the ground. We stayed together, went into the store and thankfully the wrapping paper was right by the door. We bought that, some bows and some tape and got out of there. I will say the store clerk was sweet and friendly. When we got back in the van Owen said to me..."That was a one time thing Mom!" 

Each of the kids picked one new design for their presents. Zeke had to get two of the same kind since that particular roll was smaller than the others. I also had them pick another kind of wrapping paper from our stash at home just in case the new rolls weren't enough. 

On Wednesday, December 11th we did not stick to the schedule since all the kids had dentist appointments and Awanas that night. Jack and Zeke also had to go to church for a dress rehearsal for their parts in the Kids Christmas Production. To say it was a busy, crazy night was an understatement. 

To add to the craziness we had to deal with a little situation with our neighbor and his tenants. Since I had to take Jack and Zeke to church in the van, Michael had to take Owen and Ella to Awanas using his little red car.  The easement was blocked though by one of the neighbors tenants cars so this started a good discussion with our neighbor about his tenants and how they cannot park their cars in the easement. Especially if they aren't going to answer the door when Michael knocks on it! Since this time I've only had to text our neighbor once about another one of his tenants parking there so hopefully they have figured it out now. He really is a nice guy and was super apologetic...in the end it was all taken care of! 

On Thursday, December 12th we had the Storer family over for dinner and crafts.

Zeke had been wanting to make gingerbread man cookies, but then I saw these cute houses at Winco. They were only $9 for four house. I bought two packages and thought the kids would enjoy them. Plus since there are only 3 kids in the Storer family if there were any broken parts we would have an extra set. 

Owen did really great getting his house to stay together. I think with him being older he was more patient that the younger kiddos. 

Charlie was not sure what all the fuss was about! 

Jackson my sweet impatient boy kept having his house fall over. 

Andrew did really well! 

Josiah's collapsed so he gave up trying and just started eating! 

Zeke got his house to stay up for a bit. 

I think Micah worked on helping Caitlynn with her house. 

I did the icing work on Owen's house and then he decorated it. After he was done he put it on the mantel to display it. 

I think after a while Jackson gave up. 

I think this might be Andrew's house! 

Of course Ella couldn't decorate with any of the dyed candies so she used chocolate chips instead. 

Caitlin enjoyed eating her house once she was finished. 

In retrospect I think we should have built the houses the day before so the icing could have completely dried and then they would have had better luck staying together. Zeke has already requested actual Gingerbread Man cookies next year so I'll just have to make that happen! 

Friday, December 13th I took all the presents out of there hiding places and organized them by kiddo. Right from the bus stop I took the kids down to Ga-Ga & Pa's house to spend the night. They always go down to stay right around the middle of the month. Pa loves to take the kids to the Spanaway Lights and then the kids go shopping for Michael and I. This year the wait time for the lights was over 2 hours! No thank you! They took the kids out to eat at Red Robin instead. 

When I got back from dropping them off Michael and I went out for a date at Mama Stortini's. Once we got home I put in my typical Christmas Movies and started wrapping. 

The nice thing about the kids sleeping over is I don't have to put everything away if I don't finish. On Friday I got about halfway done and then saved the rest for Saturday. As you can see Amazon was my best friend this year! 

I was able to finish wrapping almost all the gifts. I was still waiting for one gift for Jack and Zeke. Wrapping is one of my favorite things and I got to watch Lifetime Christmas movies that are so cheesy...I loved it!!! 

To top off December 14th we also went to our Youngish Adult Christmas Party at church. We brought all the boys with us...Ella was at a birthday party. It was great fun...we had finger foods, we decorated people up as Christmas Trees, did a flashlight search for candy canes in the Auditorium and we even had prizes for who brought the ugliest coffee mug. Then we played a game to see who got to take home what mug. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard over coffee mugs! It was great fun!!! 

Women's Christmas Dinner!

The week before the Women's Christmas Dinner I had 2 or more kids home sick from school. I had to be at church for quite a lot of time that week. Not only was I trying to dot all my i's and cross all my t's for the dinner, but I was also trying to care for my kids and trying to not get sick myself. It was a crazy crazy week. 

Come Friday night everything went great. All the hard word from everyone on the team both the women's ministry team and the team of men volunteers really paid off. It was a beautiful night! 

Last year Mom and I had a table setting that focused on poinsettias. It was beautiful and we loved it, but we thought it would be fun to do something different. Since my Dad built all those wonderful cabins we decided to use the one he built for Mom and tie our theme around that. 

In order to lift the cabin up to make it more of a centerpiece we just used an Amazon box that had been stuffed with scrap wood. We covered the box with a blanket of fake snow you use for a Christmas Village. I bought some fun twinkle lights to put around the base. Twinkle lights make everything more festive. 

My Dad put Christmas lights on the cabin and even bought a Christmas tree for the inside. Normally the light on the inside has to be plugged in to get power, but Dad ended up mounting a flashlight to the ceiling inside the cabin so we didn't have to worry about cords. 

My friend Ashlee had used these awesome chunky wood chargers last year. I had asked her if she was doing the same theme this year and she said no. At that point we hadn't figured out what we wanted to do. Then mom mentioned that she'd love to get wood chargers. I texted Ashlee and she said we could borrow 6 of them since she was thinking of using 2 for part of her centerpiece. She had found the chargers at Ross so I went to the Ross by our house and found 1 and Dad went to the Ross by their house and found another one so we were all set. 

When I envisioned a cabin in the woods theme I knew we had to get some sort of lumberjack colors and these napkins were perfect. To add a little bit of whimsy we decided instead of plain white salad plates we'd use my mom's reindeer plates and matching glasses. Reindeer live in the woods right! The gift for each of our ladies was their coffee mugs. Each one had either a red or green knitted sweater wrapped around the mug. They were too cute to pass up at Target!! 

We ended up having 13 beautifully decorated tables...these are just a few of them. 

Gingerbread table....I loved it and think that gingerbread men aren't used in Christmas decor as much as they should be! 

This is classic Christmas to me...I love the red glasses! 

Lynette who is our tea party gal decorated her table with her Rose Cottage china which I think of as more for a tea party, but it really looked beautiful for Christmas!!! 

This theme was Away in a Manger. The lady that decorated this table actually built the manger with her Dad. 

This is my friend Ashlee's table. I love how she had 2 chargers...the greenery is so fun! 

I have always loved blue for a Christmas color! 

Each of the ladies made their tables look so beautiful and they were all unique. I love seeing what everyone comes up with. 

Nancy played the harp for us twice during the evening. 

Poor Caitlin had been sick the entire week leading up to the dinner, but thankfully she was feeling better. Brian was one of the men volunteers. He was a table server. My Dad was supposed to serve our table, but unfortunately it was his turn to have the crud. :( 

Rachael invited her friend Denise to come enjoy the evening. 

Love both these ladies! 

Jessica has sang a solo for us for the last few years. It's such a treat! 

Mariah McCleary was the speaker for the evening. She spoke two years ago and everyone loved her. She spoke about how God sent Jesus to be Immanuel God With Us and he really meant it. He wants to be with us....not behind us, not on the side of us, not out in front of us, but right there in the thick of the mess...with us! 

After the dinner we decided to get pictures by the big tree! 

Here's all the ladies that were at my table....back row L - R...Caitlin, Krista, me, Mom, Denise. Front row L - R...Rachael, Terrise and Michelle. It was so fun getting to talk with each of these ladies and enjoy the evening. 

One thing that we did differently this year was we had the event catered. We went with Olive Garden and got salad, breadsticks and then a pasta bar. It was fun for a change! We do need to work out some kinks of course since it was our first year, but overall I think it went very well. As for trying not to get sick...I was able to fend it off until after the dinner and then my body couldn't take it anymore. I ended up getting a horrible headache on Saturday night and I felt awful. I wasn't able to sing in the choir the next day and I spent all day Sunday and Monday either in bed or on the couch resting. Thankfully I wasn't down for nearly the amount of time the kids were. 

Christmas Activities - 1st Week

Like last year I decided to write down all the Christmas Activities we were going to do each week on our Highlights board. The first week got all messed up though since sickness hit our house. I'm super thankful it struck at the beginning of December and not over Christmas break. It seemed like so many people were sick this season. 

We did watch a Christmas movie on Sunday, December 1st and I addressed Christmas Cards while watching the movie. The movie we watched is called The Christmas Project. This is the second year we've watched it. It's so fun...it's based in the 80's and it's a coming of age story all based around Christmas and these 4 brothers and their antics. I really enjoy it and so do the kids! 

On Monday, December 2nd we did cut out snowflakes and drink hot chocolate. 

The next day we were supposed to go shopping for wrapping paper and sibling gifts after I picked up Ella from STEM Club, but while I was getting my hair cut I got a text from her teacher that she wasn't feeling good and she just wanted to go home on the bus with the boys. 

This is what I came home too after my hair appointment. Within 5 minutes of me being home Ella was puking. In all Ella and Owen were home sick for 6 days...4 of them school days. Jack was only home for one day and Zeke for two. It was a horrible drawn out sickness that just wouldn't go away for Owen and Ella. They had low grade fevers the whole time and felt miserable! Thankful I was able to stay healthy until after the Women's Christmas Dinner at church that Friday. 

Thanksmas With Family & Friends!

In years past for Thanksgiving our immediate family does it's own thing....Mom and Dad go to my Dad's brothers house, Ryan and Steph go to her parents house and we drive to Oregon to be with Michael's extended family. This year Steph mentioned getting together for an additional Thanksgiving meal the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I thought that was a great idea. Steph thought it would be best to have it at Mom & Dad's house or our house since we both have bigger houses and the kids have toys at either one. I offered to have it at our house since Mom was doing Christmas and New Years. 

The Sunday before Thanksgiving Dad brought up all the tables and chairs and then he brought Michael and the kids home on Black Friday while Mom and I were shopping and he set up the tables so they looked all pretty. It was nice that I didn't have to worry about that portion of planning for the day. 

Of course we also included the Kuch Family in our celebrate. They are like family to us and it's always great fun to get to hang out with them. 

It was such a fun celebration since we don't normally get to see everyone until Christmas Day! 

Just a few weeks before this we met a new couple Brian and Caitlin at church. We invited them over to watch the Seahawks game with us and they stayed and chatted with us for hours. They are just the sweetest! During our conversations I found out that they were going home to see family in California for Christmas, but they were going to be up here for Thanksgiving all by themselves. I extended the invitation to them and they were able to join us. Such fun! 

I also invited Michael's Dad and Ruth, but they were in California visiting Ruth's family for Thanksgiving. 

Such sweet smiles!!! 

Any chance to get together with family & friends to celebrate is a good thing! 

Since we were using 3 tables to eat at we decided to have all the food in on the dining room table. Ga-Ga is wrangling the kids so they can get through the line first. The best part about the day was all the food wasn't on me. I did cook the turkey, but Ryan and Steph gave it to me. They get a free turkey every year from Costco since they work there. I also made the mashed potatoes and cinnamon sugar carrots. Everyone else brought the rest. Mom brought green bean casserole and gravy, Steph brought pumpkin pie and cookies, Christina brought sausage stuffing and cranberry sauce and Caitlin brought rolls. It was such a team effort it didn't stress me out at all. 

This was only my second time cooking turkey so I did worry about it just a little bit. When I cooked the first turkey I cooked it in the oven in one of those bags, but this time I really wanted to have the oven available for other dishes. Michael brought home one of those Electric Roasters from work for me to use. I read a bunch of different blog posts from people about how to cook a turkey in one. They all said the turkey gets done super fast so check it early. They were absolutely right. The turkey cooked a full hour faster than it was supposed to and it was great. I will say that the skin didn't get as crispy as it would in the oven, but that's alright by me. 

The tables were set up in the garage. Since the trailer was parked in there it was a tight squeeze, but Pa managed to get all 3 tables in. The kids were closest to the door back into the house since we knew they'd eat in a flash and want to run off and play. 

The table in the middle was us ladies and then the guys. The best part was it was warm because of the vent that our neighbor cut in the furnace. We just unscrewed the cover and let the heat pour in. It was so nice! 

The kids just wanted to play, play, play!!! Jack has passed his love of BeyBlades to Caleb so they have the best time playing together. 

These girls were SO excited to see each other. The last time they played was the day we went to Wild Waves in August! 

Since I did the cooking I said I wasn't doing any dishes and then went and sat down to visit. My sweet husband got right to work and did all the clean up. It was a beautiful sight!