:: Countdown to Christmas | Day 8-10 ::

Both Elfie & the kids have all been busy with Christmas activities. Here's a quick catch up post!

Tuesday Elfie was making his wish list & the kids made their gingerbread houses.

Wednesday Elfie left the kids coloring sheets to write their Christmas letters on, so that was their activity that evening.

 They also got started on tonight's activity; which was to string cranberries, oranges & birdseed covered pinecones.

This morning Elfie was swinging in Ella's underwear. Oh boy was she mad! LOL!

And tonight we decorated a cedar tree out in our CRP for the birds. It was nearly 60 degrees today! 

:: Countdown to Christmas | Day 7 ::

The kids woke up yesterday morning to find Elfie dressed up as an "angel" but if you ask Ella he was dressed as a fairy. LOL! They found a note and (3) $10 gift cards to Walmart on the table when they got home from school.

The note:
Coe, Chase, & Ella -
Christmas is only 18 days away and we have been doing some fun projects & activities. We've been working on our wish lists full of our wants and not necessarily always our needs. For some families Christmas is a struggle; whether the Mom & Dad haven't worked much that year or maybe there was a tough illness they've had to deal with. Those wish lists don't always get answered. So, tonight we are going to Walmart to buy for a few people in need. Coe & Chase, you each have $10 to spend. You are in charge of finding two outfits for a 10 year old boy who wears a size 11/12 chothes. Ella you are going to pick an angel off the angel tree and can pick out a gift for that child. 
Sometimes it's easy to get wrapped up in the excitement of the Holidays, so tonight we are going to make a few kids' Christmas that much more special!
Have a little snack & let's get going!
Love ~ Mom & Dad

The kids all got to go over their amount just a bit but it was a great way for them to learn how to budget and more importantly how to GIVE.

:: Countdown to Christmas | Days 5 & 6 ::

It was a typical busy weekend around here, but we managed to get our two Christmas activities in.
Saturday morning I ran a very SLOW 5k. The first one I've done since last March. Oye! We are going to have to step up the training before Spring.

Our activity was to create snow globes! Love how these turned out. 

 Elfie was leaving us a little hint about what our activity was going to be.

We ended the evening with Elf style ice cream sundaes. Bananas, strawberries, chocolate syrup, m&ms, & chocolate chips. (Everything but the spaghetti noodles -  hee!)

Sunday morning Elfie was holding a paint brush. He was leaving us another hint to todays activity. 

However, Aaron was lucky enough to harvest a nice buck this morning so we swapped out the painting for processing a deer. The boys helped daddy with the meat & Ella helped me make a "Christmasy" supper. 

Our favorite show Alaska the Last Frontier is on in about a 1/2 hour so it's jammie time around here!

:: Countdown to Christmas | Day 4 ::

Yesterday Elfie was found building an Olaf snowman out of toilet paper. Another awesome free printable from the Simple As That blog.

Our evening activity was to take part in the Viola Christmas Walk. The boys were part of the live nativity scene at the center of town, we had roasted chestnuts for the first time, & Ella got to see the big guy himself. 

We spent the rest of our evening eating popcorn and watching the movie "Elf". One of our favorites!

:: Countdown to Christmas | Day 3 ::

Hello Day {Three}

This morning the kids found Elfie with a tree decorated full of Christmas fruit snacks.
It was easy and I didn't have to think real hard; what can I say.

Tonight's activity was a Pinterest find and one that was completely free because I had all of the supplies in my scrapbooking room. Bonus!

Coe was home not feeling well today so he did all of the cutting and prep work while I was getting some office work done. Double bonus (minus the sick kid part).

The instructions for the fun project can be found HERE. Enjoy!

:: Countdown to Christmas | Day 2 ::

Yesterday morning poor Elfie was found enjoying an ice-cream cone in the cold cold freezer. Ella was concerned about him but I assured her it was probably just as cold in the North Pole so he would be alright. 

Our activity doubled as an after school snack before we headed off to Ella's first Grade School Christmas Program.

She was pretty excited about both of her programs and about the fact that she had TWO pretty dresses to wear in one day.

She asked to have her hair curled before school so I did the best I could with my curling iron from the  90s and the fact that I do not own hairspray. I'm an epic fail as a girly girl.

So for the evening program we straightened it. That I can handle. LOL!

All of the kids looked so cute up on the "risers". Ella thinks that's such a cool word. Ha!

One of their songs was "He's got the whole world in his hands." One of my favorite kid songs. 

Merry Countdown to Christmas everyone!