The Christmas Countdown-24 Days!!!

Yesterday was the 1st of December and I was VERY excited to get all of our Countdown stuff started...We (of course) have the classic Advent calenders- everyone has their own and get the Chocolate for the day.

We are also doing a Scripture chain that follows Jesus Birth!

 AND we are doing 25 books till Christmas- I am really excited about this one because I wrapped 50 Christmas books so each night they will each choose a book to unwrap and we will read them all together. It helps them get more excited for Christmas, they get to do a lot of unwrapping and it's fun. I plan on doing this every year and I hope that as the years pass it will get better because they wont know whether they are opening a new book or an old favorite!

So Since Yesterday was the First we wanted to get it started with some Christmas Merriment! First stop was the Festival of Nativities! I LOVE this! There are Thousands of different nativities to look at, from different counties, handmade, different interpritations- truly beautiful and spiritual experience...I was Very happy we could make this our First stop because we want to keep a ballance at Christmas time of "Jolly" and Spiritual.

Next we went to the "Old Cannery" to see Santa, I had thought that this Santa looked more "real" then most Santa's you see at Malls and stuff so I wanted our kids to meet him- since we have never done this before....

so we went and waited for about 3 hours- but as I was waiting in line the parents were talking about how this Santa is so great and he doesn't rush the kids and really takes time with each child, and that's why it takes so long.

So, Malachi went and got lunch, the kids watched "Elf", Colored some pictures and we walked around the Cannery looking at all their decorations- it was decorated really cool.

When it was finnaly our turn it was spectacular. Santa talked to each Andrew and Mallory individualy and made them feel so special.

He didn't just ask them what they wanted for Christmas but he came up with other ideas they may want too, they thought it was great that Santa could "KNOW" that they liked coloring!!

 I know it was kinda crazy to wait in line for 3 hours- but it was totally worth it!

From there we went to a Baptism (again keeping it balance) It was fun to go and I try to attend as many as I can with my kids so they can see how special it is.

Then we RUSHED to the "Christmas Parade" It was about 5 O'clock and was dark already so the parade was lighted...all the floats we lit up and the cars had Christmas lights all over them. There were dancing Snowmen, penguins, and Christmas trees. Bands were playing Christmas music- that was really fun too! Then they had a tree lighting ceremony after!!!

Such a fun Christmasy day..... We ate lots of Candy canes, Sang along with Christmas carols and really got into the Spirit of the season!

Happy Thanksgiving & Family Snap-shots

On Thanksgiving this year we did a Mini-Thanksgiving, Just the 4 of us! It was great- although I miss other people's cooking....after dinner the kids had a sleepover at Grandpa's house and Mom and I went BLACK FRIDAY shopping

 Then on Saturday we had a big "Thanksgiving" dinner with the whole Inman clan...I didn't take any pictures of us eating, but we did get some pictures of all 4 of us...

 I am not very good at having family pictures taken regularly

 But I cannot believe how much they have grown since last year

 They are Darn cute kids and I am very happy with our little family, they are defiantly what I am thankful for!

Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Cute Kids make EVERYDAY fun!

So we never really do anything very cool- but here are some pictures of our everyday stuff...

 Mallory's "Last" day of Ballet....I am not doing any for the rest of the year then next Feb. she will be 5 and can go into the Older class!

 This is a TERRIBLE picture (you can see ALL the way up Dads nose) but it was the only one I took at Dave Ramsey's "Living a legacy" Event! Dad took Manda and I to see him. It was GREAT and I came  home all excited to budget and get my money in order!

 Here is our Mallory girl painting a Beautiful picture!

 And another of her getting ready for school!

 Saturday Morning Granny and Grandpa invited all the grand kids over for breakfast! The Haney's couldn't make it..... but we had a good time anyway.

 After Breakfast Grandpa put all the kids to work filling up the bird feeders and squirl feeders- They were all GREAT helpers!

 I've been making LOTS of Hair clips for Mallory- so we sorted though Granny's buttons to find some cute ones for clips!

Sunday after church the kids were playing and I walked up stairs to help them start brushing their teeth and readying books and this is what I find.... They are So funny, They have a WHOLE playroom of toys and they are Racing Andrew's shoes with "Ballerina Barbie" and "The incredible Hulk"

 

 Monday the kids didn't have school so we decided to go to the Zoo.....

 

First we went to MacDonald...This kids got Coupons for free burgers from Granny and Grandpa so they were excited!

 The Zoo is starting to get ready for Zoo lights so there was lots of extra stuff to look at...

 We stayed and listened to them tell us about the Tigers- That was pretty interesting....

 Then we watched the show and went home

 Since they didn't have school we did our own version of "Mommy school" at home- They are both super good at knowing the letters and numbers!

Back to school today.....

Thanksmas

So Last week I started putting our Christmas decorations up...

 

I know a lot of people think I am CRAZY to start this early,but I love it, and seriously there is just not enough time in-between Thanksgiving and Christmas to prepare for all the festivities and soak up all the Christmas magic. Decoration are up, started wrapping a few presents every night after the kids go to be, Malachi will put lights up next week, then I will finish up my shopping on black Friday and not have a care in the world except listening to Christmas music and drinking peppermint hot coco.

 When we went shopping this weekend we walked though all the stores Christmas sections!

 I've already started planning out our activities for December, I am going to try to take us to a bridge lighting, tree lighting, Ice skating, pictures with Santa, do gingerbread houses, sugar cookies...... and maybe some more stuff too?

BUT don't worry we are not "Forgetting" about Thanksgiving- Last night we did Thankful Turkeys as a family- mine is the biggest, I think that's because I have the most to be thankful for!

SpOOOOky Halloween!!

Just a cute picture of Mallory going to ballet- just because

 A few weeks ago it was a crisp, dry afternoon so we decided to ride our bikes down to the school...

 Malachi pumped all our tires up- Andrew helped

 There we go- Andrew has NO training wheels, an Mallory is well on her way

 Then we played at the school for a bit, Tucker and Grandma Swift came too

 We had lots of fun- doesn't he look like a monkey?

 We figured this was one of the last days to play outside for the season- glad we went out and did it!

 Last week Mallory and I were out doing some errands and stoped at Burger King to pick up some nuggets and fries and the had Mario crowns!

 Albertsons had coloring contests so we did our BEST coloring so we could try to win!

 We didn't win, but the kids had a good time anyway, and they really are getting good at coloring!

 Last Saturday we wanted to go to our friend Rachael's store for their Spooktacular Halloween party

 You get to trick or treat the departments, play some games, get for face painted and some other fun activities

 And it was warm and dry inside- my kind of party~

 Then (lucky ducks) we stopped to eat afterward- everywhere we went people told me how CUTE our lady bug and spiderman are!

 On Halloween night we got ALL bundled up- because it was raining...

 Bruce was Ice-cream, which he HATED for the 10 minutes we made him wear it!

 Andrew was the AMAZING Spiderman

 And Mario rounded out the group!

 Cute looking bunch- Well I think so anyway.... there is kinda a lot of red, we need to branch out a little next year to other colors

 Mario (Of course) drove us to trunk-or treat, because Mario is the best driver on Mario Cart

 Trunk-or-Treat was a little wet, but we had fun and there were lots of FUN kids there to see!

 Then we made a few stops to Granny and Grandpa's house to get some candy...

 Then to Auntie Manda's where we found a Cute Kitty, Rodeo Princess, and Minnie mouse...

 They let us trick or treat around their neighborhood a little bit, then it was time to get our bums home and into bed!

Hope you had a SpOOOKy Halloween too!