December Advent Activties

We started December off with decorating the house and putting up the Christmas tree. Our fake Christmas tree looks a lot smaller in this house. We were also worried it might smell like gas because Chelsea had tipped over a gas can in the garage this summer and the Christmas tree box soaked a lot of it up. Luckily, we pulled the tree out and it smelled fine. This year the advent calendar was more tiring to do. Some things were fun, but others were a fight or the kids complained. I told them they are lucky to do something different each day and I may have threatened to stop doing it a few times throughout the month. 

My Mom made the grandkids dresses for Christmas. She mailed them to us just in time. They fit perfect and I loved them. The girls are still okay with matching...for now.

We acted out the nativity one night and oh boy was it crazy. Chelsea is playing the iphone while the other kids are somewhat acting it out while Kyle is reading. It seriously is laughable. But I loved seeing Lindsey in a white t-shirt holding a star. Kate got all the costumes for the kids. She even rode on the toy horse. haha. 

Playing the game of Life one night. There might have been some tears from one of the kids. Games just aren't fair all the time. Hard lessons to learn. 

We went swimming for one our advent activities. We tried out a new water park that opened up a year or so ago in Snohomish. We practically had the place to ourselves. It was nice. The kids were really good and loved it. We still like the Lynnwood pool a teeny bit better.

Chelsea and Lindsey were playing upstairs and came to the top of the stairs and Lindsey said, "look Mom!" I turned and saw this. I about died. I hurried and grabbed my phone to take a picture. It makes me laugh every time I see it. They dressed up very interestingly! Those hats and glasses!

I found a stool at Goodwill and repainted the legs, covered the seat with foam and fabric from Hobby Lobby. I put it in our master bedroom closet so I can sit somewhere to put nylons on. When I showed Sara this she said she would wear nylons every day so she could use it all the time. She makes me laugh. I made the reindeer glitter canvas thing because I saw it on Pinterest and needed a new Christmas decoration for my shelf. I like when crafts/projects turn out. 

Decorating the gingerbread house for one of our activities. Costco's kit is the best. 

Chelsea and Anna were matching with their sippy cups and Minnie mouse dolls. Reagan and Lindsey were taking turns playing the iPad then playing dress up and barbies. Anna and Reagan are good friends and came to play one day. We live a little further away from them (15 mins away) than we used to (around the corner) so they get excited when they have play dates. 

Kate's Christmas concert was held at the school districts big auditorium/performing arts theater. It's the same place where her ballet recital was at last year. Anyway, she had a part in one of the songs playing a reindeer. She was so excited and loves performing. The concert was good. They had some fun songs and it wasn't too long. 

I met up with Marci one night to go Christmas shopping for my parents. All of us siblings usually go in together on getting them gifts so we had to spend the rest of the money on them. We found some amazing deals and got what we needed. But funny story...I met up with her in Belleuve at the mall and we ate dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Then we were walking to JC Penney's to do our shopping because we had free money to spend there (from Black Friday shopping deals we got) and it wasn't there!!! They had gotten rid of Penney's and we had no idea!!! We even looked on the board telling you where stores were and it was blacked out. I guess rich people don't shop at JC Penney's. We ended up driving to Southcenter mall about 15-20 miles away and met up with Marci's friend, Vicki, there to go shopping. We were being silly and tried on these furry vests. It was a fun girl's night. 

The Singles ward in our Stake had an activity for families where you donated a toy and they had some games, treats and Santa Clause. We had never been, but heard from others in our ward that it's fun. We hadn't seen Santa yet so we planned on going. They had Santa Clause and Ms Clause which was fun. The kids loved it and after seeing Santa, Preston said, "Now I know what I'm getting because I just told Santa." He is pretty confident. They made bead candy canes, played some games and did another craft. It was a simple but fun night. 

I had the kids make lollipop cookies for their craft at preschool for the letter "L". Who knew rolling dough into a snake was so hard!

 We went to the Family Fun Center one Saturday for our advent activity. I had gotten a groupon deal. They got to play in a play area, do bumper cars, ride a frog ride and play a bunch of arcade type games then pick out their prizes with all the tickets they won. 

Chelsea followed me outside when I went to get the mail. She had no shirt and put on Lindsey's cowgirl boots. I was like 4 years old and went walking down the lane when there was snow and I was naked in snow boots so I guess she's similar to me. haha. One of our neighbors has this hideous pink car and Chelsea of course gravitates towards it and has to touch it. Ugh. One time she opened the door! 

One night, Kyle and I were watching TV when we heard this awful scratching noise. It was coming from the vent behind the couch, but Kyle jumped up trying to figure out what it was. I video taped the sound because it sounded creepy. Kyle opened the crawl space lid in the closet and shined a flashlight down there. We didn't hear the sound again that night. But I had a cough and would end up sleeping on the couch through the night so I didn't keep Kyle up from all my coughing. Well after hearing this I was nervous to go downstairs and sleep on the couch in case I heard it again. Luckily, I didn't hear it, but we are still wondering what it was. Kyle put down rat traps down in the crawlspace a couple days later and ended up catching two mice. At least they were just mice. We haven't heard the noise since...knock on wood.