Advent Fun!!

So as some of you may know a short 3 years ago I finished my crazy advent calendar in the middle of my third pregnancy while I was moving.  I would have probably never attempted it had it not been the perfect storm of craziness and hormones in my life, but I did it!! If you would like a reminder on that project or some of the crazy involved link to here.  Well now I get the awesome job of filling it with things for me and my kiddos to do to feel the Christmas Spirit each day!  So here is my list this year!

1. Ice Skating (I bought a voucher on groupon a few months ago and now I'm going to use it, yay)

2. Open a Christmas book and read it.  (I have a couple left over from last year's 12 books of Christmas that we did)

3.  Go through toys and find ones to donate and take them as a family to Goodwill (I would do DI but it is far from us now :/ )

4.  Make the house smell like Christmas.  ( Maybe some of this, and some pumpkin bread)

5.  Make Christmas Decorations.  We will be wrapping cones in yarn like these.

6.  Decorate our bedroom doors for Christmas with wrapping paper and bows.

7.  Go to Hospitality Night in Laguna Beach.  See Santa!!

8.  Open New Pajamas in the a.m. and wear them to our Breakfast with Santa Ward Party.

9.  Make and decorate sugar cookies

10. Make chocolate chip cookies for the Sister Missionaries

11. Make marshmallow stirrers and use in our hot chocolate

12. Make a treat to take to a friend.

13. Color a Christmas Picture.

14. Make red and green playdough.

15. Visit the Los Angeles Temple, bring our own hot chocolate!

16. Open a book from Great Grandma, (she actually passed away this year but she had given the boys a book last year that was a recording of her reading it.  It didn't work the first time or we erased it or something, I'm not sure but she rerecorded it and got it back to us after Christmas and it was wrapped so I put it back in the box till' the following year.  Sadly she passed away a couple months later but we have this sweet book. I think the boys will love it)

17. Minivan Polar Express!  we are totally doing this.  I cannot wait.

18. Make sugar cone Christmas Trees.  (this is where I say we like treats a lot at our house)

19. Open a Christmas Book and read it. ( our last one)

20. Christmas movie with popcorn.

21. Take the train to Santa at Irvine Regional Park (we have never done this before, so I am excited to try it)

22. Watch a movie about the birth of Christ.

23. Read Luke Chapter 2

24. Make cookies for Santa. ( this is also one of our family Christmas Parties so we will be out most of the day.   So this will be a fun morning activity)

25. Christmas!! My absolute favorite day of every single year!!

Camp Kevin!

I cannot believe I have a seven year old! Kevin is truly the sweetest little boy. He is the most awesome big brother in the world ( in my opinion). This year I asked Kevin what he would like to do for his birthday. He said, "go camping!". We were not up for braving the November night temps in the mountains so we went for a camp themed party. Kevin liked that idea too since his friends could come to it! This party was so much fun to do. It was a lot of planning and I could not have done it without pinterest :) I had 4 activities lined up for the day, they included campsite bird feeders, ghost stories by the fire, make your own trail mix, and dodge ball for the in between times! So here are some snap shots of the fun we had!

Campfire cake!!!


Some of the food!








The s'mores were so yummy!


The food table


Our first activity was the bird feeders. They turned out great! The dads were awesome at helping!














Next was ghost stories. Bryan had planned some awesome stories and kids soaked them up. It was so fun!


Yes, Bryan and I made these tents!











Then we made our own trail mix! I had 7 choices to add to the mix including craisins, peanuts, sunflower seeds, m&m's, mini marshmallows, mango granola, and pretzels. Nana and Aunt Lindsey were super helpful at this activity!











There is the birthday boy! He said after opening his gifts, "I got everything I ever wanted in my whole life". He is hilarious!


Grandma, Grandpa, Nana and Ziggy at the grandparents table :)


Grandma was the grill master and cooked us up some fine burgers!








A happy birthday boy, that's what we love to see!


All the birthday pals together for a s'more near the fire. From left to right: Isaac, Adam, Ryan,Wesley, Kevin, Ethan, Caleb P, and Caleb Z. (not pictured: Logan, Hailey, and Isaiah)

To The Zoo

Our boys love the zoo. Last Friday we decided on an all day zoo trip. Usually I do a couple hours since we have a membership. But since we have gone so little this year, I decided to make it a day! I wanted to make sure that we brought our science units into our trip and it was fun to see all the animal vocabulary the boys knew. They were able to look at animals and tell me what they used their claws for, why they had big or little eyes and of course what kind of foods they ate! It was fun for everyone including myself.








We did the petting zoo which we rarely do, but since it was an all day adventure we had time for everything!




We pet a Python, had lunch at a park ( we brought subway) and ate snacks!


We rested!


We got to see the new exhibit which was so cool. The boys, of course, thought this was the best part of the day!








Friday field trip days are always lots of fun!

Congratulations!

A few weeks ago Bryan's 65 million dollar project that has consumed his work hours for the last couple years went to bid. (the design process ended) it was bid on by several companies and a company was chosen to build the project. We went to the office for the luncheon they had to congratulate him and his team. He was the project manager on this project and will be the project manager during the construction as well, so he will be once again consumed with it :)














A decent family picture is hard to come by, but here is one!


- Brought to you by Nap Times at the Low House.

Pumpkin Patch

So we of course did our annual pumpkin patch trip last month and of course got some awesomely orange pictures!

Owen is six months old!


These boys are all living in Frankenstein Land!! We went with our buddies the Zappata Boys!


Train rides and little boys will always be a perfect pairing!








Adam smiling like Owen, I love it!


Me and my little loves!


- Brought to you by Nap Times at the Low House.

Carving pumpkins

They are some rad pumpkins! Kevin got to do some of his own cutting this year! They turned out great. Everyone designed their own, except Isaac got some help from Mommy!