Things My Kids Say

* When we went to the Live Nativity, we explained what it was before we went.  As we were driving there, Josh pipes up with, "Are we going to the Activia now?" To which Nate replied, "It's not an Activia, it's a Live Activity!" HA!  When we started our 12 days of Christmas Advent cards, we asked the boys if they remembered where Jesus was born, and Nate said, "YES!  He was at the Live Activity - we saw him there!"  It's just too cute to correct! 

*On the way home from AWANA the other night, the boys piped up with, "Mom, did you know that dad is a sinner?".  I ask them, why, of course.  Their response?  "Don't you remember, mom, that one time when dad touched the piano and didn't wash his hands?  Then we told him to wash his hands and he said they were clean.  He's a liar because they weren't clean which means he is a sinner."  LOL  Well, at least they have the concept, right? 

Family Fun - Seeing Santa, Christmas with Great Grandma and some fabulous lights

This past week brought some really fun things! 

 There is an official Michigan Santa house not far from us and we finally were able to go see Santa.  I've wanted to take the boys for two years but, one year we were so super sick that we did nothing and last year the boys said NO! to Santa.  This year, they were beyond excited and Santa and Mrs. Claus did not disappoint. 

 Josh had zero fear.  He walked right up to Santa, talked to him and told him exactly what he wanted - LEGOS!. 

Nate, on the other hand, hid behind me.  He wouldn't get near the big guy in the red suit so I managed to snap this photo as we were leaving. 

 Darryl and his grandma - she is 94 years old (soon to be 95) and yes, she is using a laptop, remembers just about everything from her life, has amazing stories and has all of her senses.  It's pretty amazing when you think about it.  She lives in a nursing home since she is unable to walk but otherwise, she's as alert as anyone else. 

This year, the family decided that we would each take time to visit Grandma individually instead of trying to hold a Christmas party at the nursing home as we have in the past (which, honestly, isn't a lot of fun).  This way, Grandma can visit with each family and the focus be more on her instead of all of us just sitting around trying to talk and not be bored :-)  It really was perfect.  The boys had made a snowflake ornament for her and she loves homemade gifts so those were perfect.  Darryl and I took her a container of my homemade cookies, again, something she enjoys - homemade food!  We were there about 2 hours and the boys did great - we played "I spy" and then went for walk to get some water from a water "tank" - the boys loved watching the bubbles and, like always, the old people love seeing those two blonde boys walk down the hall. 

After leaving the Nursing home, we went to Red Robin for dinner.  There's a reason we go to Red Robin . . .because the fries are free and Nate loves to just eat fries for dinner.  It saves us some money.  Throw in the fact that Darryl had to return his burger because it was ice cold . . .it cost us less to eat at Red Robin for four of us, than it does to eat at McDonalds HA!   

 We then headed downtown Grand Rapids to see the lights  This huge blue and white display is on the side of the Amyway Grand Hotel and the picture does not do it justice.  It literally took my breath away!

 The Trees were beautiful too!  So many lights. 

 This was the huge tree that is downtown by the Ice Skating Rink.  The whole area was so nicely decorated. 

More beautiful trees.  I so love Christmas lights!!

 From there we headed to the "Largest Light Display in Michigan" at the Fifth-Third Ballpark.  It is a mile long lighted drive through the ball park and it was beyond amazing.  This will be a family tradition without a doubt!

 One of the traffic guys told us that they work on setting this up for three months and have been doing it for 16 years.  It's pretty amazing.

 The "Activity" was pretty amazing (Aka The Nativity!)

 Don't you love that blue tunnel?  There were several tunnels throughout the drive -some with moving lights and some just with tons and tons of lights like this one.

The boys loved the Elf flying the airplane.

 The Helicopter was another huge hit.

 Dragons and Dinosaurs always are a hit with the boys.

The light display wouldn't be perfect without Santa and his Reindeer!

Another perfect weekend! 

Weekly Menu - The one with a Birthday and Christmas

I'm not quite sure how it happened but, it's Christmas Time.  Wow.  Really, that's all I have to say!

Saturday - Today is Darryl's family Christmas.  We are doing snacks for food so I'm going to take The Bacon Wrapped little Sausages and Bacon Dip with Chips.

Sunday - Baked Sloppy Joes, Salad, and Rolls.  This is a new recipe but it appears to be something simple I can put together on Saturday and then cook after we get home from church.

Monday -Today is Nate's birthday so we are meeting my parents for dinner to celebrate.

Tuesday - Marinated Steak Bites, Sweet Potatoes, Green Beans, and Biscuits.

Wednesday - We'll be heading to my parents for Christmas.  Our tradition is to feast on snacks after the Christmas Eve Service.  I plan on taking a cheese ball/crackers, Gingerbread Cheesecake Dip, Bacon Wrapped Dates, and veggie pizza.  (Well, that's my plan at the moment!)

Thursday - Merry Christmas ! My mom is cooking - I think we are having Steak and Potatoes.


Friday - Our family Christmas so we'll have the full Christmas spread.

A Christmas Tour

Here's a look at our Christmas Decorations this year!  I found that I enjoy putting out our favorite things and not overloading the house with stuff.  :-)

 We love these two musical houses.  My mom gave them to me and the boys love to hear them play Christmas music and light up. 

 This set holds a special place because my Grandma made them.  I have several other Christmas items that she crocheted through the years and I love putting them out each year.  She was extremely talented and make awesome things through the years (I miss the slippers she used to make us!)

 I love the top of our TV cabinet.  The trees, the Christmas Tree and Snowman which are snowglobes that run on batteries, the candles - some of my favorite items! 

 My nativity scene!  I made this during the summer and was very excited to get it out this year.  The boys have enjoyed the "Activity" too. 

 Of course, our tree!  I love having a Christmas tree up - especially at night or early in the morning when the lights are all that is on.  It is so peaceful!

 Another thing I love is to put out things the boys have made - those snowflakes were made a few years ago. 

 Of course, there must be trees in the boys room!  They each have their own and they love to decorate them.

 A few more art projects :-)  Nothing better than hands and feet (and fingerprints!)

 This tall, skinny tree is a new addition.  I bought it after Christmas last year and just love it!  I wouldn't mind getting a few more to place in corners around the house.

 This is "my" tree.  It sits in the dining room and is covered in pink and purple.  It's a total girl tree and I love it HA!  Plus, it matches my purple dining room!

What We're Eating - Corn Casserole

Corn Casserole
adapted from Made from Pinterest

I came across this recipe when someone posted a link on Facebook.  It sounded good and like something a little different for a side dish than what we usually have with dinner.  A friend of  mine shared that her family has been making this for years and it is a true favorite.  It really was tasty and it is a pretty inexpensive dish to make also.  


1 (8 ounce) box Jiffy Corn Muffin mix
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (15 ounce) can creamed corn (not drained)
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup (1 stick) melted butter
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a bowl, mix all of the ingredients together and pour into a greased 8″x8″ casserole dish.
Cook uncovered for 50 minutes or until lightly browned.
 

Homeschool Happenings - Week 16

I remember, when I taught school, how exciting this last week of school was before Christmas break.  I would plan special activities that revolved around our studies currently, make special crafts, finish up work on Christmas gifts I would make my students, and plan our Christmas party.  Really, I was just trying to make the week go faster so I could enjoy a few weeks off HA!  (Now you know how teachers feel!) I have a similar feeling this week - I want to do some fun things, wrap up some studies, and get ready to take some time off. 

 I shared on Monday about the Snowflake craft that we made this past week.  We usually do our crafts on the day that the munchkin I babysit doesn't go to preschool which is normally Friday but, this week he did not have school on Tuesday (but went on Friday instead) so we did our craft on Tuesday.  They all enjoyed glitter glue and paint to the fullest extent possible.

 The boys had fun "rolling" a gingerbread man (the idea comes from Teaching Hearts) .  They always love when they get to use the giant foam dice that we have and, amazingly, they had very few extra rolls; they had to tally mark each number that they rolled and you can see that there weren't a lot of marks!  (Josh's is the one above and Nates picture is the orange one.)

 Another day, we colored this cute little reindeer based on reading sight words. This comes from a packet created by The Moffatt Girls. 

 The boys really love to sing so using some printables from 1+1+1=1 to teach them "The Twelve Days of Christmas".  We sing one section each day and they have a number tracing sheet to do as well.

 Nate's numbers to our song.

 Josh's Numbers to our song.

I really struggled this holiday season with what to use to teach the Christmas story.  I've done something dinfferent over the past two years and thought about using one of those again but, honestly, I wasn't feeling a month long advent study - I felt like it was just too much.  Then I came across this 12 days of Christmas concept from Happy Home Fairy that was perfect.  It's just these little cards/pictures that you place inside an envelope; each day pull out the card which tells one piece of the Christmas story and the pictures.  It's a great way to talk about the Christmas Story with the boys. 

Just a peak at our White Board.  Josh likes to keep track of how many days we have to special things such as Nate's birthday (The "Happy Birthday") and Christmas.  He changes the numbers every day.

Our regular school work is going great.  Josh accomplished a big thing in phonics . . .he can sound out words; he is beginning to read!  It is so awesome to see that happen and see him start to put the sounds together. 

It's hard to believe that we are coming into our last week of school for 2014.  We will take the week of Christmas off without anything school related at all.  We will do some fun things but mostly, we'll focus on Nate's birthday and Christmas.  The week of New Years, I'd like to do as little as possible but I may plan a couple of fun crafts to break up our day. 

Make it Monday - Star Christmas Ornaments

I've mentioned before that I have tried to be intentional with our December plans by planning activities and, well, actually doing them!  The boys have enjoyed doing some crafts especially when those crafts include things like glitter glue, beads and paints! 

Mess for Less shares a simple tutorial for making some awesome snowflake ornaments that were perfect for my boys.  I love the idea of having the boys make a special ornament each year for our tree so making these was a winner!

 Nate's masterpieces which he made exactly the same. 

Josh's masterpieces - he made a rainbow and a fun snowflake with lots of beads.

I did a little prep work on these by using hot glue to make the snowflakes out of popscicle sticks.  This way, the boys could just paint and glitter and glue to their hearts content and I wouldn't need to scrap anything off to glue them together.  We made two ornaments - one to take to Great Grandma and one to keep at home (but Josh has already told me that his is for Papa and Nana so . . Mom, you might get it but it is really mine HA!) Great Grandma loved her ornaments and hung them on her super tiny tree (she lives in a nursing home). 

These would make a great craft for the family, daycare, or a Sunday School class!