Holiday Extravaganza

The past few weeks have been BUSY!  We had Missy's "Holiday Extravaganza" at gymnastics... kinda of like a recital, I guess... the parents got to come down to the gym floor with them and see what they could do.  It was so cute and she was so proud of herself!  As she was jumping and flying down the trampoline, she would look at me and shout, "WOOK MOM!! I DOING IT!! I DOING IT!!"  She even learned a new skill that the next level up does!

This is the beloved Ms. Jennifer.

At the end of the Extravaganza, Santa came out and Missy had her first encounter of the season with him. :) 

She was so sweet and asked only for a pencil.  And when she got one (it just happened to be included in the gift bags) she was SO excited and ran back over to him and said, "Tank you VEWY MUCH for my pencil!!  It my FAVORITE pencil in da whole world!!"  This reaction caught the "Santa" off guard and he let out a normal laugh and broke from character a little! :)

Later that night for advent, we went and saw Santa after church.  Poor Bub.  He was not having it.  He didn't actually cry... but he held back those tears with all his might!  He did manage to ask for an iPad though.  Ha ha!!  Priorities!

They also had the chance to meet Mrs. Claus and she and Missy danced and twirled while waiting for Santa to finish his time with the children in front of them.

Missy, again, was thrilled!  I think we have a believer!  Bub... not so much.  :)


I'd love to hear your Santa stories!!


Until next time!

~Monica

24 Days of Christmas: Day 2

We have a lot of birthdays in the month of December.  Not only are there quite a few family birthdays, but also there are quite a few of Bub's little friends that have birthdays around this time.  Since I knew there was going to be a birthday party on this day, I planned for something that I knew wasn't going to be as time consuming for the kiddos to do for Day 2 of the Advent Tree: popsicle stick snowflake ornaments for their tree.

Again, I used things I had on hand: craft sticks, pom poms, pipe cleaners, stickers, etc.  I just emptied the contents of this awesome craft bucket that was given to Missy for a birthday present onto the table, collected other little things in our craft arsenal, and let them pick and choose what they wanted to use to decorate their snowflakes!

I tend to keep little trinkets that I think can be used for art projects.  So when the Children's Librarian included little trinkets for an art project and my kids didn't use all of them, I held onto the rest.  When jewels fall off of tiaras (or tiaras get stepped on and crushed into a million pieces) I collect them and put them into the craft drawers.  Empty toilet paper rolls? Yup! I have a bag of those too!! You never know what a child might see them as and even just pretending they are pirates with a telescope can lead to loads of entertainment!

I did purchase some glitter the night before.  What is a homemade snowflake without glitter?!

In the end, they only used a few of the different things and glitter was the biggest hit!  The hubs and I each helped a child glue and stick and glitter-ize their snowflakes.

I apologize for the quality of the photos.  My camera was not cooperating and I ended up using just my phone... in a not-well-lit room.  Oh well... live and learn.  :)  

Missy, at first, took too long sprinkling the glitter on the first spoke and the glue began drying.  

She then tried pinching it and sprinkling it on, but she hated the mess that it made.  So... she dictated where each and every dot of glue went and which color went on which spoke.  She is such a detail oriented person. :)

Bub pointed out where things went and intently watched the glittering part.  He has never seen glitter in action from what I can recall... so this was new to him!

After they were done decorating and before the glue was completely dry, I hot-glued a ribbon loop to the back to hang them from.  I recommend waiting until the glue dries.  There is no other way around making a mess and/or getting hot glue all over your fingers.  I think that they turned out fabulous!

Each kiddo got to hang their own ornament on their tree. 

Bub simply shoved his onto the top of the craft cart... glitter side down. :/ And then exclaimed, "I did it!!" while throwing hands up in the air!  It was so cute how proud of himself he was!  Even if that meant I had to clean smeared glitter and glue off of my beloved table runner.  

Their tree now has their first ornaments on it!! They are so excited!

Here is a close-up of each:

I love how cheery they are! And they totally work with their garland!  


Until next time!

~Monica

It's Fall Y'all

I'm not technically "southern"... I was born and raised in California, and have only lived in the "deep south" for a year and a half.  The Hubs and I were married in August 2007, and since then we have moved more times than years we have been married.  For 8 months, I jokingly referred to Donner and myself as "nomads!"  Anyway, a year and a half means that Savannah has been our longest home since we've been married!! :-D

So in honor of the south, it's fall y'all!!  Fall in the south means that cotton fields are blooming!  If you have never seen a cotton field in bloom... You should!  It is GORGEOUS!!  I have yet to capture a picture... one that isn't blurry or so far away that it doesn't look like much.  The colors are amazing.  Milk chocolate browns and golds of the stems, dark greens of the leaves, and crisp whites of the cotton.  Almost always with a backdrop of trees with their leaves of reds and golds and oranges.  Breathtaking, I tell you!  My words are not doing the sight justice! 

As friends of mine and I were chatting on Facebook about the beauty that are cotton fields in bloom, the Hubs kept laughing at me.  Over the past year, I have become... as he says, "southernized!"  Yes... That is a word... at least in our house.  :)  Southern hospitality is alive and well in Savannah and I love it!  I don't know what it is, exactly, but I feel at home here!  The way of life is perfect to me!  I feel like I should have been born and raised here!  If you have never been to Savannah, visit!  It's awesome and you won't regret it!

Fall is in full swing here at our house!  The kids love pumpkins.  "Love" may be an understatement.  Budboy stops in his tracks for pumpkins.  Any kind of pumpkin.  Plastic, hollow, trick-or-treat buckets, real... you name it, and he wants to stare at it.  This causes mini meltdowns as we drag him away, but there is always another pumpkin not too far away.  Last fall, we did a different pumpkin art project seemingly everyday when Missy was in her pumpkin obsession.

This year, her obsession is more specific: pink pumpkins.  :)  We haven't seen too many, but she painted one!  One with three faces and hair that rotates so that she can display whichever face she wants on a given day.  Pumpkin painting is a yearly tradition for us.  I'm not a fan of carving them.  Looking at carved pumpkins fascinates me!  All the little details are great!  However, the inside of a pumpkin kind of really grosses me out!  So we paint them.  Plus!  I never have to worry about one going bad quickly on my doorstep!  Budboy hasn't painted his yet this year... he likes to have behavior issues on the nights we have it planned and it keeps being postponed... but it WILL happen!! 

We upgraded Missy this time.  Instead of finger painting, she was given a sponge brush!  And she also got acrylics!  She was super excited to get creative and decorate her little pumpkin!  She begged us for days!  When the special night came, she took her time and made sure it was perfect! 

We let the pumpkin dry overnight, and the next day, she excitedly grabbed some markers and drew faces.  Three different personalities!  She got a little carried away with freckles on the pink one, but her detail-oriented nature made sure to include laugh lines on the white one and eyelashes on the yellow!  Her drawings amaze me!  She pays so much attention to the fine details. 

I have a few more fall activities planned for this season.  Unfortunately, I just realized today that Thanksgiving is next week!!  I need to get on those projects!! (And the menu for the big day!!)

What are some of your favorite things about the fall?