Christmas Advent, days 1-19

 Every December we do an activity advent calendar. I found this fun wreath made of circle boxes and I put a slip of paper in it that tells the kids what we're doing that day. Last year it was all about fun activities or opening a new dollar-spot Christmas book. But this year with the kids being old enough to understand more, I wanted to do more service-oriented and spirit-filled activities mixed in with the fun things. Even LuLu our elf has reminded the kids a few times that we still need to remember Jesus and do the things He would want us to be doing... rather than worrying about Santa so much. :)

Day 1: Opened an early Christmas present from the Berger family! They gave us a few wonderful Christmas books to help us add to our collection. We read at least on or two every single daily and we love them.
Day 2: Purchased and donated cans of food for an Eagle project a boy in our ward is doing.
Day 3: Did a Christmas craft: beaded these candy cane ornaments. I always hit up the 50% off Hobby Lobby sales to get craft kits for $1-$2. That way I don't have to use my brain! :)

I also painted Grace's nails that day just for fun!

Day 4: Opened another new Christmas book (Disney Christmas collection)
Day 5: Saw a live nativity (and went to dinner beforehand with the Goates)

Day 6: Watched for ways to serve our family members that day! The kids loved this one, and so did I! They were extra helpful and ready to jump in with a job more than usual. Then I wrote them down.

That night was also our ward Christmas dinner. Santa was there too of course! 

Santa: "What do you want to Christmas?" Logan: "Ummm..."

The kids made little cards for us and Logan drew the cutest little faces of all of us. I love how they look so grumpy even though he says they're happy faces. 

Day 7: Watched some videos about Christ and Christmas on lds.org.
Day 8: Had a picnic lunch by the tree.

Day 9: Did a Christmas craft while drinking hot chocolate.

Day 10: Met Ryan up in Dublin after work to see the Wildlights at the zoo!

Day 11: Christmas craft

I just wanted to include this picture that shows Grace hard at work learning to write her lowercase letters!

Day 12: Facetimed with Nana and Bompa to sing them Christmas carols.
Day 13: Rang the bell for the Salvation Army at walmart. This was one of our favorite activities! It was only for an hour and it went by way too quickly. We were so impressed with people and their generosity! Logan had a blast ringing the bell himself. He did it more than any of us and did a great job!

Also that night Ryan and I went on a double date with our friends the Allemans to downtown Columbus.

Day 14: Colored holiday pictures to hang in the playroom.

Day 15: Drove around the neighborhood to see Christmas lights. The kids are on cloud 9 whenever they get to be driving around when it's dark outside. It blows their minds to see all the lights, and at Christmas time it's as if it's the greatest thing in the world.

Day 16: Saw Santa and got pizza for lunch at Costco! Grace asked for "Curious George toys"... Good luck with that one, Santa!! There is no such thing. And Logan asked for "Big Hero 6 toys". Yeah, he has his work cut out for him this year!

Day 17: Baked and decorated sugar cookies (Turner family tradition)!

Day 18: Give our mailman a Christmas gift.

 Day 19 (today): We were going to watch more Christmas videos online (because I'm running out of steam) but didn't even get around to it today. Whoops!

 Also a few weeks ago I took Logan up to Easton Mall while Grace was at school. We walked around and saw the Christmas trees (this one is in the middle of the fountain), saw the nativity there and the little toy train all set up with the Christmas town. He was loving every second of watching that train and had a full on meltdown for 20 straight minutes while we drove home. 

He is such a character! I just want to eat him up.

Recently Happenings

I've said it in the past and it's still true now: we have some wonderful missionaries that get to serve in our ward! I feel like I become close with the sisters when they come into the ward and then it's so sad having to say goodbye to them a few months later. Last Christmas I spent some of my very lonely Christmas Day with a couple of wonderful Sister missionaries, eating lunch and playing card games, and I'll always remember that. This year we have been lucky to have Sister Bettridge serving out her last few months in our ward before heading home last week. I was able to go be a part of some teaching opportunities in a neighbor's home and this awesome Sister taught me by example how to teach and how to explain the gospel. I has been a LOT of years since I'd been in a missionary discussion and I truly learned so much from those experiences! I'm grateful for "Sister B" and her love for me and my family. She was always so quick to give me thoughtful compliments that made my day. It meant so much. :)

The big day finally arrived! After having a couple professionals look over Ryan's contract with Paradise Medical Group, we were finally in the position to be able to sign it and move forward with the job there. Ohhh, does it feel great!! We are beyond excited and are looking forward to our house-hunting trip in March. Everyday Ryan sends me information on a new house listing and (after the slight heart attack I have when I see the cost) it makes us more and more excited to start our new chapter there. I've been in touch with several people about Grace's school applications, and a couple of other moms from there I'm already in touch with, and each time I am impressed with how caring and welcoming everybody has been. The kids talk about California often as well, reminding us that they get to see their Montague cousins, go camping, go fishing, and find sea glass on the beaches. 

One thing I'm really looking forward to is for this man to have NORMAL working and sleeping hours. It's a total pet peeve of mine that he can't sit down for 2 minutes without falling asleep. There's no hanging out with him after the kids are in bed because this happens. This was taken at 7:15pm the other night... But on the other hand I'm grateful for how hard he works, even scheduling extra shifts when he could be at home to help pay for Christmas and other big things that have come up lately.

When I was even a little younger than Grace, I used to watch the 1960 version of the Peter Pan musical. I loved it and watched it all the time! There is a classic home video of 4-year-old me doing a dance to one of the scenes. A couple weeks ago NBC aired a live TV production of the musical and I let Grace stay up waaaaay late with me to watch it. I didn't realize it was 8-11pm ... so we were both struggling to stay awake and enjoy that last hour. But it was fun having some cuddle time together watching the show! When she talks about it still she calls it "Peter Pan Alive" instead of "Live". hehe 

 I was VTing my friend and between all of us there were several little boys playing together during the visit. They were just so cute sitting at the bar watching a video.

 Sometimes when I pick Grace up from school we see a police car in the parking lot. He must help out in the elementary school some days. Logan is always super excited to see it! He absolutely loves firetrucks/firemen, ambulances, and police cars/policemen. We briefly chatted with the cop as he walked out to his car and when he saw how excited Logan was about his car he insisted that the kids go check out the inside and turn on his lights. Such a nice guy!

Just a few funny things the kids have said lately:

One of the kids in Grace's class must be diabetic because she said he doesn't eat candy or treats and has to leave class each morning (I'm guessing it's for an insulin check). However here is Grace's perspective on it: "Mom, Tyler didn't want a cupcake and only eats SlimJims at snack time. That's because he doesn't like sugar. He has to leave class to go see the dentist in the school somewhere." 

So cute! I mean, sugar... dentist... that makes sense. :)

Logan's new phrase of choice is "Ohhh, I get it!" 

Grace and I were talking about the North Pole and our elf LuLu going back and forth each night. I said it's one of the coldest places on earth and said stops eating her cereal, looks at me and says "Wait!! The North Pole is on the earth?!" 

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!

We woke up last monday morning to THIS. I had been in Chicago and didn't even know it was supposed to snow so much the night I got home. I was super grateful we got home before it hit. But the snow was so pretty. It was absolutely perfect packing snow.

 This boy loves to shovel!

This is what happens to the powder here and causes a lot of road problems. Look how freaky!:

 Christmas decor came out - yay! It makes a pre-bedtime pillow party much more magical.

 We have 3 advent calendars going this year and it's a lot of fun for the kids! Our main one has activities every day: some service days (like donating food or doing something nice for someone), some fun things (like doing a christmas craft or opening a new Christmas book), and some spiritual things (watch "Joy to the World", see a live nativity, etc). 

Pictures by the tree are my favorite.

LuLu the "elf on the shelf" came back last night along with a letter from Santa. He reminded the kids that even though Christmas is full of exciting things and surprises, the most important part of it is Jesus. LuLu is just in our home to help us remember to choose the right. Hopefully it helps a little! ;)