Adventures in Life

Since the year is at and end, it is time to check on last year's resolution.

1. Organize Stamps - complete
2. Finish 2008 Scrapbook - complete
3. Lose Baby Weight - complete
4. Do A 365 Scrapbook - this one isn't going to happen. I lost my motivation when I lost my camera.
5. Make at Least One Christmas Present Per Month - complete
6. Update Alex's Baby Book - complete, but it is an ongoing process.
7. Unpack/Organize House ( I would LOVE to complete this by the end of February) - complete
8. Landscape Back Yard - complete

Okay, so overall not too bad.

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December 1: Holiday Mail for Heros
December 2: Zoo Lights
December 3: Christmas Coloring Page
December 4: Gingerbread House
December 5: Toys for Tots, Letter to Santa, and Christmas Party
December 6: Let's Say Thanks and Ornaments
December 7: Make A Child Smile and Ornament
December 8: Christmas Cards
December 9: Learn About Another Countries Christmas Traditions (United Kingdom)
December 10: Any Soldier
December 11: Office Toy Drive and Online Cookie Exchange
December 12: Purchase formula for shelter, Fourth Avenue Winter Street Fair, Parade of Lights
December 13: Christmas Candy (to share with neighbors)
December 14: Deliver most of Christmas Candy and Attend Party at Florentino's
December 15: Deliver the Rest of Christmas Candy, Donate Formula to Shelter, and Alex's Letter from Santa
December 16: Cookie Exchange and Gabe's Office Party
December 17: Color Me Mine
December 18: Winterhaven Festival of Lights
December 19: Holiday Festival and Follow That Star
December 20: Hand Print Mitten Ornaments
December 21: Christmas Carols and Dancing
December 22: My Special Christmas Adventure Book
December 23: Driving around looking at Christmas Lights and Watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas
December 24: Library Story Time, Watched Rudolph, Read The Night Before Christmas, Read Luke 2:1-18, Made Cookies for Santa
December 25: Opened Presents and Christmas Party

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Today we opened our presents. Alex received a lot of great gifts. He especially likes his slide and swing, his bike, and rolling his cars around the floor. Santa rides around our neighborhood in a firetruck on Christmas morning and hands out candy canes, but Alex was taking a nap and he missed it. Around 2:30 p.m. we stopped off at the R's house (our neighbors) to say hi. Around 3:30 p.m. we went to Kevin's house.

Sliding!

Riding a bike!

Christmas Day!

Follow our other daily December activities. December 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21. 22, 23, and 24.

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Today we went to story time at the library. Alex had a lot of fun once he settled in. Before we headed out to the library, we watched Rudolph. Later on in the evening, we read The Night Before Christmas and then we read the Christmas Story (Luke 2:1-18). Everyone received new PJ's and we made cookies for Santa. After Alex went to bed, Gabe and I started putting toys together.

Making cookies for Santa. Next year I hope to paint (or have Alex paint) a cookie plate.

Follow our other daily December activities. December 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21. 22, and 23.

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Happy Birthday Daddy!

Graphic courtesy of Pat's Web Graphics.

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Gabe, Alex, and I drove around our neighborhood looking at Christmas lights. There are quite a few houses that we have nicknamed "the Griswold's". The plan was to do this in our PJ's, but Alex was the only that participated in the PJ wearing. He fell asleep while we were driving around. Gabe and I came back and watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Follow our other daily December activities. December 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21. and 22.

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Congratulations to Kyle on his recent graduation!

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Tonight we read My Special Christmas Adventure. It is a personalized book that Gabe and I purchased for Alex. He also has My Adventures in Birthday Land. I would love to buy him a set of these books.

As promised, here is a picture of my artwork from our December 17 Christmas activity.

Follow our other daily December activities. December 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, and 21.

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Happy Birthday Elsa & Clara!

Graphic courtesy of Pat's Web Graphics.

Today is the day that we celebrate both Elsa and Clara's birthdays. As a special treat, I made them a birthday cake. I found a couple of recipes online. The same few recipes are listed on several sites (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5). I made the Peanut Butter Delight Dog Birthday Cake. Both Elsa and Clara really liked it.

Peanut Butter Delight Dog Birthday Cake

1 cup white or whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup shredded carrots
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup honey
1 egg

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C)

Mix together flour and baking soda. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Pour into a ring mold sprayed with a nonstick spray for 40 minutes.

Frost this cake with low fat cottage cheese and decorate with carrot pieces. Store in refrigerator.

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Our Christmas activity today was singing Christmas Carols. Alex likes to dance to Christmas songs, so we did that a little too.

Follow our other daily December activities. December 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20.

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We made hand print mitten ornaments today. I painted Alex's hands (one red and one green) while Gabe held on to them. We actually did all of this one hand at a time and we stopped to wash his hands in between hand prints. We pressed his hand onto a white foam sheet. I drew a mitten shape around each hand print freehand and cut it out. I glued some ribbon on the back and also wrote "Alex 2009" with a marker. Finally, they made it to the Christmas tree. If I were doing this again, I would probably paint both hands green and stay away from the red paint. Cotton balls would look cute on the bottom of the mitten, but I chose white for the mitten, so it didn't look that great with white on white.

Follow our other daily December activities. December 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19.

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I participated in two ornament exchanges online. One was over at An Island Life and the other was through The Benner Daily.

This ornament is from Stacey over at Stacey Says.

The two purple ornaments are from Jenny over at Jenny and the Princess Peonies...

I realize that our ornaments are pretty crowded on the tree right now. This is because the bottom portion of the tree is no longer considered usable space since it is within Alex's reach. So, the bottom four feet of ornaments have been relocated to the top portion of the tree.

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Happy Birthday Anna!

Graphic courtesy of Pat's Web Graphics.

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We went to the Pima Air & Space Museum. It was a lot of fun. The best part was the tram ride. We could have walked and looked at the 150+ planes outside, but the tram ride was great because they told us a little bit about each one. We also walked through the five hangers and two museums. One of the museums had a piece of moon rock. There were also some fun cutouts for a photo op scattered about the grounds.

Cool plane in a hangar.

Alex the Pilot.

I "think" this the plane that hauled the Titan Missile.

Even though it does not look comfortable, I would love to have a Jeep like this (it was made by Ford).

Astronaut Alex.

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Today we went to the Holiday Festival. They had food vendors, jumping castles, an "ice" skating rink (made of plastic), and Santa. We skipped Santa.

A local church tells the Christmas story through live displays in people's garages. You get a CD that narrates. We drove around looking at all of the displays. The estimated time was 30 minutes. It took us an hour to find the starting point and another hour to look at the displays. Kevin came with us, but luckily we weren't on that tight of a schedule.

Follow our other daily December activities. December 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18.

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Tonight we went to the Winterhaven Festival of Lights. It is a neighborhood that goes all out with their Christmas decorations. The really nice thing, well for the visitors at least, is the streets are blocked off by police and you can take a leisurely stroll down the streets to look at the lights. Alex really liked the house with the water fountain and lights synchronized to music.

Follow our other daily December activities. December 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17.

Posted by at 10:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today Katie and I went to Color Me Mine to paint pottery. I had a great time. We get to pick up our creations next Tuesday. I will post a picture of the finished product.

Follow our other daily December activities. December 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16.

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Today I participated in an actual cookie exchange. I came home with three dozen cookies (six different varieties). Click here for the recipe I used. I also made a dessert for Gabe's holiday party at work.

Follow our other daily December activities. December 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15.

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Today Gabe delivered the remainder of the Christmas Candy. I donated the formula that we purchased to the shelter. Alex, Gabe, and I read Alex's letter from Santa.

Follow our other daily December activities. December 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14.

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Today we delivered the Christmas candy to most of our neighbors. I went to a party at a local restaurant. It was a lot of fun and there was gift exchange. I came home with a really cute snowman. Alex loves to watch him (he changes colors).

Cute snowman (Yes, he is on our bathroom sink. I am not sure why I chose to take the picture there or why the snowman is even in the bathroom.)

Follow our other daily December activities. December 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13.

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Today we made candy to share with our neighbors.

Follow our other daily December activities. December 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12.

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Well, the search continued today for winter clothes for Alex. We went to the store where I had seen one fleece outfit in his size. I guess I should have bought it on Friday, because it was gone. So, off to another store. The sales associate informed me that they do not have winter clothes and they would not be getting any in. Winter starts in less than two week (December 21) and they will not be getting any winter clothes! To be fair, if we weren't going on a trip we would not need winter clothes for Alex. So, we went to a different Babies R Us and found two pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt on clearance for $8.00 total. I found one pair of sweatpants and two sweatshirts at a different Babies R Us yesterday. So, that puts the total at three pair of sweatpants, three sweatshirts, a sweater, a winter coat, mittens, and a winter hat. He already has a few pair of jeans, so we will be taking those with us. That should be enough to get us through the trip. We can wash clothing as needed.

Our new kitchen table is here. We are currently using it. It is bigger than our previous table and has six chairs. So far I like it a lot.

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We have an upcoming trip that will require some winter clothing for Alex. This is a lot harder to accomplish than you would think. We were headed up to Tucson so we decided to stop by Babies R Us. We had no luck. Since Babies R Us doesn't carry mittens and winter hats (I asked), we decided to head to the very busy mall. Babies R Us is still selling swim trunks at full price, so I guess mittens and swim trunks don't mix. I did manage to buy two sweatshirts and a pair of sweatpants for $8.00 total (they were on clearance). We entered the mall through JC Penney. They did not carry mittens and winter hats. Our next stop was Old Navy. They had about 5 winter hat and mitten sets. They were all large with one medium. Alex needed a small. Ugh...I guess that is what you get when it is 70 on December 12. Our next stop was The Children's Place. They had a very small selection of mittens and winter hats. The good news is they were on clearance, $5.00 for the mittens and $7.50 for the hat. So, after several stores and a lot of searching, Alex has mittens and a winter hat. People look at you a little weird when you ask for winter clothing when they are in shorts and flip flops. Next time, I am just going to order them online. Oh, on a side note, he does have a warm coat. I bought it on clearance last year in Illinois. I think he will have enough clothing to stay warm. I am sure my Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois friends are reading this wishing they didn't need their mittens.

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Today we purchased some formula to donate to a shelter. They have several new babies and formula is a really big expense for them. Next we went to the Fourth Avenue Winter Street Fair. We walked around the fair and had dinner at Magpies. After dinner we walked to the Parade of Lights route, had a seat, and waited on the parade to begin. The parade was a lot longer than I expected. It was around an hour and a half. Alex liked watching the lights, but he especially liked the trucks. Of course, Santa made an appearance at the end of the parade.

The storm trooper made it to this parade too.

One of the trucks that Alex liked.

Santa

Follow our other daily December activities. December 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11.

Posted by at 11:23 PM | Permalink

Today we donated toys to the toy drive at Gabe's office. He is actually in charge of the event and I always (well, since last year when we moved here) make the ornaments that hang on the tree. They are simple little circles in different colors with an age, gender, and gift on the tag. There is always a practical gift listed on the tag as well. For example, the word "toy" will be on the tag along with either "socks" or "soft lunch box". Something that is needed along with something that is wanted. I guess it is more than just a "toy drive", because things are purchased for adults too.

I am participating in an online cookie exchange over at The Mom Creative. Check out my recipe here.

On an unrelated topic, our new kitchen table is going to be delivered today. I am pretty excited about it. Also, our friend, Kevin, is coming over for dinner tonight. I am going to make fajitas...yummy! I think we will have some strawberry ice cream for dessert. Gabe and I made it in our ice cream maker. We have also tried the vanilla, but so far the strawberry is my favorite.

I also finished The Shack. It is an interesting book. It managed to keep my interest and keep me thinking. I was always wondering what was going to happen next.

Follow our other daily December activities. December 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10.

Posted by at 9:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Chocolate Mint Cookies
Prep: 15 minutes Cook: 9 minutes per batch

Use a small ice-cream scoop to measure the perfect amount of dough each time. It also gives you a head start on rolling the balls.

1 (18.25-ounce) package devil's food cake mix
2 large eggs
1/3 cup canola oil
40 chocolate-covered mint-filled candies (such as Junior Mints)

1. Preheat oven to 350̊.
2. Combine first 3 ingredients in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed just until blended.
3. Divide dough into 40 pieces. Press each piece of dough around 1 piece of candy, and roll dough into 1-inch balls. Place balls on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Bake in batches at 350̊ for 9 minutes or until surfaces are dry and centers are soft. Remove from pan, and cool completely on wire racks. Yield: 40 cookies

These cookies are really yummy! Sorry I don't have a picture, they never last long enough to take on :)

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Today's daily December project was sending care packages to deployed troops. You can do it too! Just go to the Any Soldier website and click on Where to Send. A list of soldiers will show up on the left of the screen. I chose to sort by the number of times that the address had been requested and chose to send packages to two of the individuals that had the least number of requests. The packages are distributed to a soldier in the group that does not get a lot of mail, however, all of the contents are shared. They also have little websites where they can enter special requests.

Some of the items that we sent were zip lock bags, hand sanitizer (in a zip lock bag), hot chocolate, mac and cheese, word search books, pens, water flavor packets, candy canes, smarties, DVDs (not all groups have DVD players), frisbee, baby wipes, and some other odds and ends. Basically whatever I could stuff into a priority box. If you use the military flat rate box (and you are sending the package to an APO, etc.) you get $2.00 off of the large flat rate priority mail box rate. If we send a package again, I think I am going to fill a box with canned goods, then I will really get my monies worth on the shipping. Technically our packages were for Any Marine. Any soldier goes to all branches of the service, or you can select a specific branch like I did.

Follow our other daily December activities. December 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.

Posted by at 9:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today our Christmas activity was to learn how another country celebrates Christmas. We chose the United Kingdom. In addition to learning about the traditions of the the UK, we made crackers, and Victoria Sandwich Cake.

Alex walking around with his cracker.

Victoria Sandwich Cake with a yummy filling.

Follow our other daily December activities. December 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.

Posted by at 7:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today we mailed our Christmas Cards. I decided to take them to the post office since a couple of them needed international postage (Canada and Greece...you know who you are). The cards have been finished for a while now minus a few details that came in the mail yesterday. So, I was finally able to mail them today.

Follow our other daily December activities. December 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.

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We had two Christmas activities today, but one of them was sort of a continuation of yesterday. First, we sent cards to the three featured kids over at Make A Child Smile. Most of the children on the website have medical issues that they will not recover from. If you have a couple of spare minutes, I encourage you to write out a card or three. We included a picture of our dogs in the cards and I wrote a little story about them. I also encourage you to read the "DOs and DON'Ts" section in "Frequently Asked Questions". There are a lot of helpful tips like don't send candy due to allergies, don't send glitter, don't say "get well soon", do send cheery mail, do tell a story.

I bought contact paper, so our second activity was to make the ornament that I had planned for Alex yesterday. I placed a piece of contact paper, with the backing removed, on the floor. I gave Alex a pile of pieces of scrap paper and I let him adhere them to the contact paper. The idea was for him to cover the entire piece of contact paper. Since he didn't, I placed the contact paper on another sheet of white paper. I then cut out an ornament shape, added ribbon, and placed it on the tree. You can find the ornament pattern here.

Follow our other daily December activities. December 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.

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Happy Birthday Troy!

Graphic courtesy of Pat's Web Graphics.

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Happy Birthday Esther!

Graphic courtesy of Pat's Web Graphics.

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Snowman Ornament.

I saw something similar to this at the mall and decided to come home and recreate it. It is really easy. Paint a popsickle stick white and let it dry. Cut out a hat and glue it on the stick. Use sharpies to "paint" the eyes, mouth, buttons, and carrot nose. You could use paint if you wanted, but I thought using a sharpie was pretty easy. Finally, I added the ribbon scarf and hanger. Oh, I also wrote "Alex 2009" on the back even though I pretty much made this one on my own. He did choose the ribbon.

Santa Hat Ornament.

The idea for this ornament came from a website and I cannot find it. If it was your website I was looking at, let me know. I would love to give you credit for your idea.

To make the Santa ornament simply paint three popsicle sticks red and allow them to dry. Glue them together in the shape of a triangle. Next, I glued cotton balls onto the sticks to make the "fur" on Santa's hat. Next I attached a picture and placed a triangle shaped piece of red paper over the back of the ornament. I glued a ribbon to hang the ornament and wrote "Alex 2009" on the back with a sharpie.

I also really like the idea for this Santa ornament here. And this reindeer idea is cute too. Maybe we should try a snowflake ornament. So many cute ornament ideas.

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Today we each sent a postcard through Let's Say Thanks. You can do it too! It is easy and free. Just select the postcard you would like to send, choose a message or write your own, and hit send. Xerox prints the postcards and sends them to deployed troops. It only takes a second to send one or even more.

We also made some Christmas ornaments. I did most of the prep work, but Alex glued the cotton balls to the popsicle stick.

I actually had a more age appropriate ornament activity planned, but I could not find the contact paper.

Follow our other daily December activities. December 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.

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Today was a pretty busy day. We went to the Pecan Festival. It was actually more entertaining than we thought it would be. I really liked the parking lot. Instead of gravel, they used pecan shells as a covering. What a creative use!

Pecan shell parking lot.

Next we headed to Toys R Us. We dropped off our Toys for Tots donations. Alex has both of the toys that we donated and he really likes playing with them. So hopefully they are good ones. December 6 is the last day to drop off toys at Toys R Us, but you can always make a donation online.

I have a picture of Alex and the Marine, but I didn't ask permission to post the picture and I haven't blurred the Marine out of the picture yet.

Our next stop was the mall. We had to mail his letter to Santa at Macy's. Macy's will donate $1.00 to the Make-A-Wish Foundation for each letter collected.

Dropping off the letter to Santa.

We came back home to get ready for the Christmas party that we went to tonight. It was fun. I don't have any pictures right now. I did take my camera, but our friend was taking pictures with his fancy camera, so I am just going to get copies of his photos. He is also the same guy that ended up taking pictures for Alex's first birthday party.

So, I realize that we completed more than one Christmas activity today, but it is just how things worked out.

Follow our other daily December activities. December 1, 2, 3, and 4.

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We made a gingerbread house today. Alex ran around having a good time. I don't remember our previous gingerbread houses taking so long. Or, maybe we just didn't follow the directions. When we started "gluing" the pieces together with icing we realized we had to wait 2-3 hours. After waiting, we started "gluing" again and then began waiting an hour. Next, we finally began decorating. There you have it, our Christmas activity for the day.

Alex decided to rearrange the ornaments on the tree.

He also thought it would be fun to pull the presents out from under the tree.

Follow our other daily December activities. December 1, 2, and 3.

Posted by at 10:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

To make these ornaments print out the pattern Ornaments.pdf and use it to cut out the shapes. If your paper is patterned on only one side, you will need to cut out two of each shape and glue them together. I used a glue stick. Then I used hole punch to place a hole in the top. I cut ribbon of various lengths and tied them to the ornament. I then used a command hook to attach them to the ceiling. Cute, cheap, and easy! I did consider using dental floss or fishing line, but in the end I decided I liked the look of the ribbon. If you are using two pieces of scrapbook paper for each ornament, you could glue the ribbon between the sheets of paper if you don't want to use a hole punch and tie the ribbon. If you have a paper cutter with ornament shapes, you can skip the step where you cut out the shapes by hand and use your instrument to do so. I think I might get them laminated so I can use them year, after year, after year.

I couldn't decide between snowflakes, snowmen, gingerbread men, presents, stars, or ornaments for this year. This possibilities are endless.

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Today our Christmas activity was coloring. Pretty easy and low key.

I picked up the new book for the book club this month. The selection is An Idiot Girl's Christmas: True Tales from the Top of the Naughty List by Laurie Notaro. I have not started to read it yet. I am in the middle of The Shack by William P. Young and about 50 pages into I, Alex Cross by James Patterson. I will start read the book club book soon. I usually read multiple books at a time anyway.

Follow our other daily December activities. December 1 and 2.

Posted by at 7:07 PM | Permalink

Tonight we went to Zoo Lights. The animals are all sleeping and away, but the zoo is decorated with a lot of lights and other decorations. There are photo opportunities with a lot of decorations and even a lion Santa. We went tonight because it was one of the members preview nights and admission was free. I was a little disappointed that I didn't bring our Toys for Tots donations with us. I guess I can just drop them off at Toys R Us, but there were two Marines at the entrance collecting toys. I guess I will know to bring the toys with me next year. Anyway, it was a lot of fun and there was live music and hot chocolate. I think it is something that we will do again next year.

Follow our other daily December activities. December 1.

Posted by at 9:34 PM | Permalink

There is a little independently owned quilt shop the next town over. They carry designer fabrics that you can't buy at places like Wal-Mart or Jo-Ann's. The ladies there are always really helpful and freely give away patterns. One of my favorite patterns is for Christmas Tree napkins. These are super simple to make. One napkin takes two fat quarters (one each of two different materials). If you would like six napkins, you will need two yards of material (one yard each of two different materials). To get six napkins out of a yard of material requires a little finesse, but you can do it!

This is a little hard to explain, but if you have a circle that is 20 inches in diameter (across the center of the circle) and you cut it in half, you have the shape that you need for the napkin. Cut out half circles of both of the materials and sew them right sides together. Make sure and leave a space to turn the material right side out. I left my opening on the straight side of the material.

Turn the material right side out and press. Use the step-by-step pictures below to fold the material into a Christmas Tree shape. Once you have the shape you desire, iron the napkin again.

Next, sew a straight stitch down the folded crease from the iron. This will allow you to know where to fold your napkin to get a Christmas Tree shape after washing. Cute and simple! Enjoy!

Depending on which way you fold your material, you can get a different look from the same napkin.

The ladies at the quilt shop said they use non-Christmas material to make these napkins and use them all year. I sort of like the Christmas Tree aspect myself.

Posted by at 8:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Along the lines of Ali Edward's 25 Days of Christmas, I am doing my own spin on the idea. I have a scrapbook with one page for the first 25 days in December. I am going to add one photo or item for each day. To help this project along we are going to do one holiday related activity everyday in December. Some must be done on certain days (ex., open Christmas presents) and some can be done on any day in December (ex., learn about Christmas traditions in another country). I am pretty excited about this little project. At a minimum, I will try to post our activities on a weekly basis. I have also been considering going back and adding activities since Thanksgiving because I couldn't wait to put up the tree and Alex has already had his picture taken with Santa.

So, day 1 is already scrapbooked and in the album. There is a program called Holiday Mail for Heros and it is sponsored by the Red Cross. Basically, individuals or groups send cards to a P.O. Box and then the cards are distributed to service members, families, or veterans across the United States and abroad. There is still time to participate in this program, but you must do it soon because the deadline is quickly approaching. For more information, visit the Red Cross.

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I am participating in two ornament exchanges online. One is over at An Island Life and the other is through The Benner Daily. I am really looking forward to both giving and receiving ornaments.

Posted by at 11:48 AM | Permalink

The Friday after Thanksgiving we attempted to do some Black Friday shopping. We went around 7:00 a.m. and needless to say, everything was gone. The lines were still really long though and I do not like waiting in long lines anyway. We almost bought a new table and chairs for our kitchen, but we decided against it. One of our chairs is broken.

On Saturday, we went to Sierra Vista and Fort Huachuca. The mall in Sierra Vista has a display of Christmas trees. Alex also had his picture taken with Santa while we were there. He cried the entire time. Oh, and when did it start costing $25 to have your picture made with Santa? For my $25 I received a 5 x 7 and picture CD. After the mall we went to the Fort. It is an active military base, so we had to get clearance to enter. It is also a historical site, so civilians are allowed onto the base. It was fun to drive around and to see some of the training areas. There are also three neat museums (Fort Huachuca Museum, Fort Huachuca Museum Annex, and The U.S. Army Intelligence Museum). My favorite was the Intelligence museum. They have a 12 ft section of the Berlin Wall.

Alex and Santa.

On Sunday we finished putting up Christmas decorations.

To make these hanging ornaments I simply cut out an ornament shape from scrapbook paper. There is patterned paper on both the front and the back. I tied a ribbon through ornament and hung up using command hooks. The ribbon was cut at different lengths. Cheep, easy, and cute!

Closeup of an ornament.

Yesterday was my birthday. Gabe and I went to see New Moon. I think this movie was much better than the first, but I still prefer the books. After the show we went to Red Lobster for lunch and the Cold Stone Creamery. We picked Alex up early from school and headed home to relax. Dinner was pizza and carrot cake...yummy!

Today I am attempting to knock quite a few things off of my list. So far I am doing ok.

Posted by at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)