Food bank and Flash mob

Today's activity was buying food for the food bank. I gave each girl $20 and told them to make a meal and buy some treats. They were so cute lugging their baskets and agonizing over what cereal to buy. Somehow I left the house without my phone, so I'm picture-less, but I was grateful to see that the girls were just as excited about this activity as they were about decorating the house. I've got some cool kids!

And just because I am a sucker for a good flash mob, check out this video made on "Black Friday" in a crowded mall:

Christmas "Chores" Advent- Day 7

The best thing about the Advent box is the ability to incorporate the "chores" of Christmas into Fun. Family. Activities! That is what today was all about: making Christmas cards for classmates and for me, the annual Christmas letter and photo. While that meant addressing legions of cards and actually writing the Christmas letter, the girls made use of my Michael's bargain find of the week:

Stamps!

A bargain on a package of 16 Christmas stamps, 2 ink pads and blank cards and away they went!

Perhaps one will show up in your mailbox!

The decorations are up!

Since Advent started the girls have been asking to put up the tree and decorate. After a busy morning of swimming lessons and choir practise, we arrived home to this sight:

So, the girls got busy:

Let the festivities begin!

Advent day 5

Christmas Parade in which Pookie was the "Angel"

Parent teacher meetings & Advent day4

Last night we had our parent/teacher conference meetings at the girls' school. Suffice it to say that our girls have 2 very different learning styles and that is reflected in their respective report cards. ****Edited out of respect for all involved..

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In Advent news, yesterday's activity was 'Play board games'. However when I got home, the girls had compiled a list(I'm not kidding here) of 22 games for us to play. Since we only had approximately 37 minutes to make dinner, eat and get to the conference, I asked the girls for their top 3. It was a unanimous decision: Hide and Seek. I thought this was hilarious since we have maybe 6 hiding spots in our new 'littler' digs, but I was IT and off we went. And it was great! We played before dinner and after we got home from the meetings. The second time was in the dark which involved a lot of screaming. So grateful for these two who remind us that play is good.

Advent day #3

Advent in Instagram Series: Low light and fort dwelling does not a good picture make.


It's Year 3 of our family Advent Box tradition (click here for original post). The girls have been asking about the box pretty much since Halloween and when it showed up on Sunday, they freaked out. You know you have something good going on when your kids not only say that it is their favorite part of Christmas, but take it to school to "share" with their class.

In the spirit of Advent/Christmas, enjoy this video!

Advent

Advent, the beginning of the journey.
A chance to slow down and enter anew into the narrative of the God story.
We light a candle, a symbol of hope in the darkness.
Emmanuel, God with us.