Shh! Baby Jesus Is Sleeping!

There is a local mormon church that puts on a live nativity during the Christmas season.  We took the kids last year and they really enjoyed it, so we went again tonight.  Getting there early is the key!  You have to wait in line to go through the (heated) village where you can see what life was like over 2000 years ago.  They have carpenters, weavers, potters, tax collectors, bakers, a market, an inn keeper, etc.  They also have shepherds with lots of goats, sheep, camels, llamas, and calves.

When the kids saw the 3 wise men, Riley said, "Look, it's the wise men!" and Kendall's response was "The wise man built his house upon the rock!" which lead into the entire song with motions!  She got the wrong wise man, but it was all she knew!  It was precious.

Hanging out by one of the many warm fire pits!  Kendall was refusing a photo op...no surprise there!

I'm wondering how often this was seen in Bethlehem...Palm trees in the snow?  It was a first for me!

Look Daddy!  Camels!

Please let me pet you Mr. Llama!

Checking out the cow pen

Like mother like daughter...gotta pet the cows!

Watching the tax collector count the money

We had practiced how to behave when we got to see baby Jesus.  She kept telling me that I had to be quiet so we wouldn't wake him!  When we finally got to see him, she was the quietest I've ever witnessed!  She told baby Jesus that she loved him and then blew him a kiss.  It was so sweet and I'm so glad we waited in the cold to see him.

Christmas Crafting Ideas

It's been requested by some friends that I share some of my Christmas crafting ideas.  So here we go:

Such an easy idea for a handprint with your child!  The instructions for this craft can be found HERE.  You could use this as a card for grandparents or hang it on your tree.

Another cute use of a handprint for the holidays is to create a Santa!  Another cute card possibility.  The instructions can be found HERE as well as instructions for a handprint tree, handprint angel and my favorite, the handprint snowmen ornament.

We made these cute ornaments snowmen ornaments last year for the grandparents as well as for our tree.

On the back has Riley's name and the year.  You can dress them up with scarfs, etc. if you choose.  Ours have black stovepipe hats but you can't see them well in this picture.

I also made these last year for us and for the grandparents:

I took photos of the kids from the side and then printed them out, traced and cut them out on black cardstock and then mod podged them to the wooden discs I picked up at the craft store.  Distressed the edges with some ink and then attached the ribbon and they go perfectly on your tree.  On the back I included the child's name and year.

I've been in a shirt crafting mood lately so here is one of my favorites!  If you would like the template for this one, please feel free to contact me and I'll send it to you.  I made one for a dear friend in Jax and I really wish our two girls were still neighbors to see them in their matching shirts!

I also created a Christmas tree shirt for Kendall, here's the what inspired my creation.

With Kendall's I created it on a white tee shirt and have 4 layers of ribbon - two different types of the same color and width.  I used only red buttons attached with fabric glue and stitched the ribbons onto the shirt and stitched the star on at the top.  (A mom at Riley's school thought I bought this shirt!  Gotta love it when it doesn't have the "homemade" look!)

(Sorry for the poor quality photo - I just got it out of the wash) 

I've also wanted to create a shirt with words on it in a holiday print...Yes, I made the matching skirt, but you wouldn't have to go to all that trouble.  Find some cute Christmas material and then trace and cut out letters you print off of your computer.  You can use heavy duty Heat & Bond or stitch around them with a sewing machine like I did.

This was last year's matching shirts I made for my kiddos.  I created them using a stencil made from freezer paper.

These are some other adorable ideas using handprints for the holidays:

These ideas came from HERE if you want to see more information about them.

This one is on my list of ideas to do with my rugrats this season.  I have a bunch of green and red buttons left over from the tree shirt I made for Kendall.

For the directions, go HERE and make some with your little crafters!

I also went to a great store out here called The Wood Connection.  It's a wood crafter's paradise!  They have every thing precut and ready for you to take home and make your own!  Here is what I've made for Christmas this year:

I painted the sides and parts of the fronts with an off white paint.  Then found some coordinating scrapbook paper, cut it out and mod podged it on.  Then I took some sand paper and sanded off the edges and any extra hanging off the sides.  Then I took my distressing ink and made it look older.  I love how it turned out.  This store has all types of fonts, word packages, etc.  I'd like to find a rusted bell to hang from the "e" and maybe embellish some of the other letters, but that's for another day.

I also bought and made this using the same idea as the project above.  Painted the sides, mod podged paper down and then used vinyl letters to spell out JOY!

My other creation from that store was this:

I think I'm going to find some pretty red wire to wrap around the tree on a diagonal and make some cute curly q's at the ends, but haven't been to the craft store all week...Not to worry, it's only Wednesday!  Still plenty of time to get back there and do more damage to the credit card!  

That should hopefully spark some ideas for you to create for the holidays!  Happy Christmas Crafting!

Breaking Out The Sleds!

Here is a snippet of us sledding today after school.  There is a great sledding hill at the park behind the Kmart in town.  They have a "bunny hill" and a steeper hill for the big kids.

They are calling for even more snow this week...more sledding might be in the plans for our after school activities this week!

Chunko Christmas Traditions

Every family has traditions that they pass down from generation to generation.  We have some of our own...some old and some new.

One thing we enjoy doing is having an elf visit us during the Christmas season.  My friend Kerri introduced me to "Elf On The Shelf" when we lived in Jax.  We have our very own elf who comes to visit us every year now and each night he goes back to see Santa at the North Pole and reports on the behavior of our kids.  In the morning he reappears in a different spot in the house.  The only catch with having an elf in your house is that you can't touch him or the magic will disappear and Santa will know you weren't on your best behavior!

This is Hermy who came to live with us this year.  We spotted him sitting on the speakers that are attached to our wall in the family room this morning!

Another tradition is having the kids pictures taken with Santa.  There is a photographer here in Sandy who brings in a Santa and takes pics of the kids with Santa.  It's so much nicer than waiting in line at the mall!  We get 15 min. with Santa all to ourselves and she takes some amazing shots for us.  It only costs $10/kid and you get a free 5x7.  It's totally worth it to me!  We are scheduled to get ours taken this week.  

This is last year's photo shoot!  We're hoping for better results this year...But she captured the kids' reactions!  Kendall did NOT enjoy Santa last year.

This was Kendall's first experience with Santa...she slept through the entire visit!

We also like to try to take the kids to see a live nativity each year.  In Jax, we took them to a church in Ponte Vedra that would create the town of Bethlehem and you could walk all over the village and see what life was like back when Jesus was born.  You could also walk through the stable and see Mary, Joseph and Jesus.  Last year, an LDS church in our town did something similar.  They have you walk through a path that takes you by the same types of things.  Last year they had calves, camels, donkeys, etc.  We also saw a live nativity at This Is The Place where you can tour an example of an old pioneer town and how the Mormons lived when they first settled here.  They also have Father Christmas there for the kids to visit with as well.  Hoping to get to one of those places again this year!

This photo is from the chuch in Florida...How neat is it for the kids to see what it was like to live during Jesus' time?

Last year's LDS live nativity 

So fun seeing the animals

Seeing Christmas lights is always on our list of things to do to enjoy the Christmas season.  In PA, we'd go to Longs Park or drive over to Wheatland to see the lights.  In Jax there was an awesome little neighborhood near our house that would light up the entire neighborhood and hand our candy and hot chocolate on Christmas Eve.  Here we go to Thanksgiving Point and see the lights they set up there.  You can drive through while viewing the displays or take a carriage ride instead.  The kids love it because we let them out of their car seats to get a front row view!  We also took the kids to Temple Square last year to see the lights there.  It really is a beautiful setting.  I think we're going to take our parents there this year.

Both of these pictures are from Temple Square last year at Christmas

This is from Thanksgiving Point

This is from the cool neighborhood in Jax!  The entire 'hood looked like this and they had the neatest blue colored lights!  Check out how they hang the lights straight down from the branches of the old trees.  Never saw anything like it!

Another fun thing we do on Christmas Eve is to bake a birthday cake for Jesus. Riley and I have always done this in the past and it's time to include Kendall in our holiday tradition.  On Christmas day we sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and then enjoy some cake in His honor.

Getting a video message from Santa is another treat for my kids.  This is the second or third year we've done it.  This year Riley wasn't too sure if it was real or not, but after listening a few minutes, he totally bought into it!  If you click on this link you can view Kendall's message or click on this link to view Riley's.  If you want to create one for your child, click on this link.  

We are planning to make a gingerbread house this year again.  We didn't get to do it last year because of living in a tiny apt, but I think it will be lots of fun for the kids to do while Nanny and Pappy are here to help them!

An Advent calendar is another tradition we have at our house.  Riley's former babysitter started it with him when he was 18 mths. old and we've been doing it ever since.  We make paper chains with 25 loops and then attach it to a paper star.  On the star we write "Every night after prayers are said, we take one down and jump in bed, when the only the star is left to shine, that's how we'll know it's Christmas time."  We've got one more day to get ours made!  Guess I know what our after school activity will be tomorrow!

Going on an elf hunt is something we started here in Utah.  There is a shopping center called Gardner Village and they put out numerous displays of elves at Christmas time and the candy shop sponsors an elf scavenger hunt.  The kids have a blast checking out the elves and finding all the ones on the hunt!

It wouldn't be Christmas without a few trains running under our tree!  For as long as either of us can remember, we've both had trains under our tree.  Even before we had kids, there were one or two of our own trains (yes, I have my own train!) under our tree.  This year, both kids have their own trains and they are running under our tree.

Here is Kendall watching her first train under the tree

Watching Christmas movies is always a favorite at our house.  Andy and I already viewed Christmas Vacation for the first of many times this season.  Other favorites of ours include:  Holiday Inn, White Christmas, It's A Wonderful Life, The Christmas Story, as well as a few of our Veggie Tales holiday movies and the classic Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, Rudolph, Frosty, and Charlie Brown.  The Muppets version of A Christmas Carol is also a fun favorite!

We just received the new Veggie Tales movie "It's A Meaningful Life" in the mail today and we're off to watch it as a family...What are YOUR family traditions?  I love to hear what other people do.  That's how we get good ideas, by sharing them with others.

Have a wonderful Christmas season!



NOTE:  After I had most of this post created, Riley came home with an assignment for school on holiday traditions!  How appropriate!  The hardest part for him will be choosing his favorite one:  Elf On The Shelf, trains under the tree or baking a cake for Jesus.  Tough choices!

Thanksgiving Wrap Up

So much has happened this past week!  Whew!  Where to begin....Well, first we had a blizzard last week that closed school on the day before Thanksgiving.  It was Grandparents Day at Riley's school so that was a disappointment, but he got over it quickly by having the day off and being able to play in the snow!  Uncle Kevin and Aunt Cara were going to go with him to school that day to represent his family.  He was bummed about that, but he said they plan to reschedule Grandparent day.  To keep the kids occupied, we dug out the Christmas decorations and started to go through all of them.  The tree is now up and we are ready for Christmas!  Since we didn't get to decorate our apt or a tree last year, this was a real treat for all of us.  We even have both kids' trains running under the tree!

On Turkey day we headed over to Cara's mom's house to celebrate all we've been given with her family.  They are so kind and loving and accept us into their fold as if we really were related.  We are so thankful for them and their willingness to include us in their lives.  The kids had a blast even without their buddy Tristam there to play with.  Aunt Heather introduced them to Beauty and the Beast that night and both kids were glued to the tube!  Uncle Tom was there and that was Kendall's excitement for the night.  She flirted with him the whole night.  She was playing hard to get though.  Thankfully she always went right into Uncle Kevin's arms and not Uncle Tom's!  She knows who her favorite "uncle" is!  ;)

On Black Friday I ran out for a few errands around 8:30 am.  I didn't buy into the get up at 3am and find huge savings hype!  I just can't stand the crowds or the lines.  I have done that a time or two in the past and never felt it was worth the hassle!  Later that day we headed out to Gardner Village to go on an Elf Scavenger Hunt!  It's the same place we went to see the witches around Halloween.  We somehow missed two of them in our search so now we'll have to return (maybe during the daytime hours) to find the missing two and get our reward for completing it!

They had some of the displays in empty store fronts which made for creative displays.  This one was the elves baking and packaging cookies!

Saturday was the day Andy decided to head into work to try to get caught up on some things that needed to be completed by the end of the month.  He traveled a lot and had some important people visiting his region this past month so things didn't get done and he needed that uninterrupted time so the kids and I went to see Tangled at the movie theater.  Both kids LOVED the movie and mom did too.  Disney did a pretty good job on that one - sometimes I'm not thrilled with their humor or vocabulary in G rated movies, but this one was pretty good.

After Andy got home from work he wanted to take us to Thanksgiving Point to see their Christmas lights.  It's the type that you drive through and see the different displays.  At the end of the experience you get to drive by the shops and restaurants where they have a pen of reindeer.  We always stop and get out to see them.  This year Kendall really went nuts over them because she understands the idea of Santa and Rudolph.

This one was so cool - it was a lighted ice sculpture

Checking out Comet and Blitzen

Sunday was the second Sunday in a row that it snowed...seems to be the norm around here now.  We've got about 10+ inches outside right now...may be up to a foot of accumulation by now.  After church the kids convinced Andy to take them sledding.  They all had a blast!  Kendall loved going down the hill with her dad because they went so fast and pretty far.  Riley has a sled that looks similar to a boogie board and he loves to try to go over jumps with it!  I was grateful for a little quiet time away from the kids.  I was able to get almost all of our Christmas cards addressed and ready for stamps!

This morning there was even MORE snow!  I am convinced winter is here to stay!  Thankfully we have some awesome neighbors who've been kind enough to offer their snow blowing services when they notice our drive isn't done or if they see Andy out there with our shovel!  I think we're finally in the market for yet another snowblower.  He was checking out prices online last night.  Here are some pics of Kendall and Penton playing this morning.

She thought it was loads of fun to get a running start and crash into the snow bank on the driveway

You can see how much we've had by how much is piled up by the mailbox

It drifted in the back last night and filled the fire pit to the top with snow

Penton can't get enough of the snow!  She missed the cold and white stuff when we lived in Florida

She'd had enough...time to go inside

Not without falling down in the snow first

Penton decided to be helpful and lick all the snow off Kendall's face!

All in all it was a great weekend and we were all sad to see it end.  Three more weeks of school until a two week vacation and a week+ long visit from Nanny and Pappy Hershock!  We are all thrilled that they are coming to spend Christmas with us here in Utah!  Maybe we'll get some skiing in during their visit?  Riley's lessons start at Snowbird in less than 2 weeks!  I'm sure the time will fly by!  We've got some other fun stuff to do with the kids between now and then.

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well!

What Is Family?

According to Mr. Webster, the definition of family is a group of individuals living under one roof and usually under one head OR a group of persons of common ancestry.  For us, family means something all together different.  Since it's rare that our address is anywhere near those of our same bloodlines, we often find ourselves choosing our "family" based on where we live.

Here in Utah, we are so grateful for the love of my friend Kevin and his wife Cara and her family.  They have graciously adopted us into their lives and we couldn't begin to express our gratitude to them.  Kevin and Cara will always be known as "Uncle Kevin and Aunt Cara" to our kids.

This Wednesday is Grandparents day at Riley's school.  We obviously have no grandparents anywhere nearby, so Riley invited Kevin and Cara to come and be his family for the day.  They will be eating breakfast together and then going to Chapel, back to his classroom for a bit and then the kids are putting on a performance for their extended families.

Cara's mom has again extended an invitation to us to join them for Thanksgiving.  What a joy it is to be included in someone else's family!  The holidays are always so difficult and Thanksgiving is one that we've always spent with my family.

I think family means who you choose to spend your time with...who loves you in spite of your flaws and gives you the support you need in times of trouble.  Family is who you feel your best with because they are your biggest cheerleaders.  Family is who you can be yourself with and know that they will love you no matter what.  Family makes an effort to be involved in your life no matter how far away or how close you live.  They care about you and those you love are important to them as well.  Family comes to your rescue.  You can always count on them physically, emotionally and spiritually.

We are grateful to have "family" in numerous places - those with common ancestry as well as our chosen family.  We would not be able to live this mobile lifestyle without the love and support of ALL of our family.

To those we can't be with this year at Thanksgiving, please know that we love and miss you!

Happy Turkey Day!

My Boy Can Sing!

If you know my son, you know he CAN sing and does it frequently, except when it comes to singing in front of OTHERS.  He's so nervous about someone making fun of him.  He must really like his music teacher this year because this is the now the second time this year that he's sung in front of a group of people.  The first time was for Mother Goose Day and it was just parents and siblings.  This time it was in front of the entire Grace Lutheran Church congregation!  People he didn't know were watching him and he didn't even care.  If you know Riley's voice, you can clearly hear him on the video I captured below.

Changing schools has been such a positive experience in so many aspects of Riley's life.  It's given him confidence he lacked last year.  It's challenged him intellectually and grown him spiritually.  He will be the first to admit that he has so many more friends in his short time at Grace than his WHOLE year in public school.  In the public school, he was an outsider, accepted by a few.  At Grace, he's one of the family.  I can't say enough about how wonderful this school is and how thankful that God opened this door for Riley.  This video is evidence of that!

Disclaimer:  If you don't like listening to children singing (aka shouting) off key, then I don't recommend you click play.  If you want to see Riley in all his glory, check it out.