Our Christmas Tree 2011

We found a cute little tree behind Rich's grandma's house again this year.

The trunk was so small that Rich had it cut down before I could get a picture of him cutting it-lol!

Blake thought the chain saw was a bit noisy, but he still liked it ;-)

We got it up and decorated within the next several days. The kids posed for a picture once we finished and the picture became our Christmas card this year :-)

Picking out our Christmas tree has become one of my favorite family traditions. Each year is the experience is different, but always good. It's great making the memories with the kiddos ;-)

Halfway through Advent

The kids and I are enjoying advent this year, but it sure is going fast! I added a couple more 'calendars' to our original two this year. The new ones are a little more involved now that the kiddos are older :-)

I've seen this done a few times, but never took the time to do it myself before. I wrapped up all the kids' Christmas and winter-themed books (plus a few mailing envelopes with notes to go to We Give Books to read a book, since I didn't have enough Christmas books.) I did it a couple days before Advent, stuck the books all wrapped on the shelf. The anticipation to see what those 'gifts' were was almost too much for Morgan and Blake ;-)

The other advent calendar we started, Countdown to Christmas, came from Focus on the Family's magazine "Thriving Family". Each day has a scripture reading and an activity to do with the kids (which they've LOVED doing.) The book also provides a link to sites where you can do even more like watch a video, do a craft or listen to a carol.

As part of the Countdown to Christmas advent, we also made a little makeshift advent wreath with a glass star-shaped candle base, clay, some spruce tree clippings and birthday candles. (The blue candles should be purple, but we didn't have that color.) We light the candles each Sunday during our scripture reading to start the new week of advent. (The candles are a lot of fun for the kids...they LOVE blowing them out!)

I have enjoyed these new advent calendars as much as the kiddos have. It's been so fun that I already purchased a new advent book in anticipation for advent next season! :-)

I have a Pot Rack!

I know it may seem minor to have a pot rack put up in my kitchen, but it's exciting for me! I've been waiting for six years for it to happen! When Rich and I were married, we received this nice set of pots for either my shower or the wedding. (See, it's been so long I can't even remember-LOL!) Anyway, there isn't enough room in the drawer under my oven to store them and if I tried, they'd scratch easily. So I've been using some old Teflon pots and pans waiting until I could get my nice new set out.
For my birthday, almost a year ago, my sister bought me this pot rack from IKEA. Well, it finally got put up last night!! I cleaned all the pots and pans today and hung them and now I can't stop looking at it I'm so excited! Now for a new kitchen to go with my new pots and the new pot rack! ;-)