Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly...

... or was that Deck the Baby with Christmas tattoos?

I came down the stairs yesterday morning to find Christmas tattoo adorned children. Jefferson was so proud of his, he had to show everyone.

Let me translate

Todays activity involved writting a letter to Santa. This is Jefferson's letter- let me translate.

Dear Santa,

I have been a good boy this year- well, mostly anyway.

I really do love my family.

All I want for Christmas this year is Rudolph.

Love, Jefferson

Advent Days 9 & 10!!

I have been looking forward to these two days since we first started the advent calendar, so I
was pretty disappointed when day 9 came and we couldn't decorate our tree. You see, this is the 8th Christmas for me and Jason and this is the first one where we have actually had a tree (unless you count the 3 foot one we have had all the other years). I was so excited and Jefferson kept shouting that he was ready. We drove 30 minutes away to get the tree- decided to go for a fake one due to cost and other issues- got a prelit one-then got home and found that the top half the tree didn't work. Boooo. I was quite sad due to the fact that the nice family evening I had planned went down the drain. Jason spent hours trying to fix it, Jefferson got frustrated and started kicking it, so I took Addison and hid upstairs. Jason, being the trooper that he is, took the tree back today and got a new tree. We had fun making the ornaments and putting them on. Jefferson is soooo into Christmas this year- he is a bit obsessed with Rudolph lately. Addison just happily laid on the floor and watched the goings on.

It looks a bit bare, but we like it's simplicity. The rosettes were fun to make and cute. I'll probably make more smaller ones to fill in some of the holes. Jefferson and I had a blast making the birds. He absolutely loves them. I like them because my great grandma collected cardinals and it brings a more family feel to the tree.

Day 10 we were set to make "ginger bread" houses. I never use actual ginger bread. We had a great time. Of course, Jefferson consumed more candy than got put on the house, but what are you going to do?

He just wanted to eat the house. Typical boy!

The master piece. I think it turned out pretty fun. I wanted to go for a Weasleyesque Christmas house, but we did not have enough graham crackers so I scaled it back.


Jefferson went to look at it one last time before bed and he came up and told me that he couldn't open the door inside and then asked me what was going on in there. So I told him that a bunch of little boys and girls were in there getting fattened up to be eaten by a witch. Was that the wrong thing to say?

Advent Adventures and Christmas Presents

On day 3 of our advent adventures we made candy cane reindeer and mice. It is so easy and Jefferson just had a blast. He loved the reindeer so much that he carried it around with him the rest of the day telling all sorts of stories about what the reindeer was doing. And then the next day he insisted on taking it to church so he could show his teacher. I am surprised that the candy cane hasn't been broken yet. It is just a lot of fun watching him get so excited and involved in what we are doing. Today we are going to cut out snowflakes and hang them from the ceiling, so that should be fun as well.

What do you get a small baby for Christmas? Well, I decided to make Addi some bean bags. They were super easy and I think they turned out really cute.

Jefferson had a blast "helping" me with the beans. By the time I was done there were dry pinto beans all over the kitchen floor. Oh well!!

Only a Mother

Only a mother would wake up at 5 am to feed her 4 month old and not be able to get back to sleep because she is too busy worrying about her 3 1/2 year old who hasn't pooped in 2 days, and said mother has no idea how to "teach" her son to relax his sphincter muscles to do said pooping (thats what the peditrician told me to do) while sitting on the toilet. This is ridiculous and makes me feel like a horrible mother and quite frankly I am so tired of it that I am at the point to tears, but how on earth am I supposed to TEACH THAT!

Ringing in the Holidays

It's that time of year again!! This year I have decided that we need to create more fun and tradition in our household, so I put together a couple advent calendars to go along with the nightly spiritual reading for the season.

I found this first one in a magazine, although, I have seen it in quite a few other places. It is really simple, but adds to the fun and decoration. You need 24 Christmas socks and clothes pins. I wrote the numbers 1-24 on the pins and hung the socks. In each sock is a scroll of paper with an activity written on it to do that day.

Some examples are: Cutting out snowflakes, drive around and see the lights, make treats and take them to friends, color Christmas pictures, making sugar cookies, snow painting (can't wait to do that one), watching "The Polar Express", Decorating the tree, Making thumb print reindeer, or what we did today... Make doughnuts while decorating for Christmas. And being the bad mother that I am I let Jefferson eat as many as he wanted...he is on his fourth!! What can I say, bring on the Holidays!!!!

The second advent is Santa Claus and his missing beard. Click on the picture to read the poem at the bottom. Essentially, we will add a cotton ball to Santa's beard everyday until it's full (24) and that night Santa with come. It's cute and very cheap, so why not. Jefferson already loves it. He asks if he can touch Santa all the time.



Here he is putting the first of Santa's beard on this morning. I have a feeling Santa's beard is going to be of an unusual nature:)

Lastly, be have a book called "A Christmas Treasury for Latter Day Saint Families" It is full of stories and quotes and such to read each night for 24 days, focusing on qualities to develope during the holiday season, such as, hope, gratitude, wonder, generosity, compassion, forgiveness, courage, contentment, etc. I really enjoy it.

I hope everyone is having fun ringing in the beginning of the Holidays!!!!