Christmasy Wintery Fun

We are so excited that it's December around here.

There are so so so many fun things to do and enjoy as a family this time of year.  We are enjoying making special memories together!

We put the Christmas tree up a little early this year since we were in Minnesota for Thanksgiving.   We may have the ugliest tree on our block... a certain someone can't keep his hands off of the ornaments and the branches...  All of the more fragile ornaments are toward the top so it just looks ridiculous.  We talked about getting a real tree this year, which I LOVE, but I'm really glad we didn't because of Mr. Trouble pictured above and below.

This girl was a big help with the tree though!

Look how mischevious and adorable I am!

Miss Lainey has been doing a great, great job at staying in her bed and staying dry all night.  I made her some hot chocolate one morning as a special treat.  She was so proud and loved drinking out of a mug like Mommy has her coffee in each morning.

I love my early mornings with that girl.

Lainey, Wyatt and Penelope played some piano at a friend's house the other night.  They were playing Christmas carols I'm sure...

We did a little Christmas goodie making the other night.  Oh boy was that fun with Lainey this year.  She was a great helper.  She kept saying, "What are we doing here Mommy?" each step of the way.  They weren't the prettiest cookies you ever saw, but they tasted great of course.

While we were in Minnesota for Thanksgiving, Jed and I got to work a shift at the Operation Christmas Child processing center in Bloomington.  It was beyond awesome.  We love OCC ... it is an awesome ministry and it was so much fun to get some insight into what goes into the whole process.  Boxes are packed at local churches, in homes, etc. then they get collected at a local collection center.  They then go to a processing center like where we were.  At the processing center, each box is inspected, organized by gender and age, and then put in big cartons that get shipped all over the world.  The boxes coming out of the MN Processing center were heading to either Madagascar, India, Zambia or Kenya.  The boxes we specifically worked on that day were all going to Madagascar.  Jed got to lift some big heavy cartons and I got to do the pre-inspection job, so I checked each box first for donations.  It was so awesome to get a peak at the special gifts people packed.  There will be some very excited children in Madagascar sometime soon!  Many of the children who receive the shoe box gifts have never received a gift in their whole life and I've read many stories about how God often provides them with something they specifically need... simple things like socks, a toothbrush or pencils and pens for school.  National Collection Week is over but if you would like to build a shoebox gift online, you can do so here.

Tonight we had our good friends, the Laehns, over and the girls made gingerbread houses!

 I think we parents had more fun than the girls did :)  2 year olds have a lack of attention to detail.

There are still a few weeks before Christmas so I'm sure we will pack in more family fun coming up!  Blessed to make memories with my sweet family!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

It's Thanksgiving Eve!

Jed and I (mostly me) did some decorating for Christmas last weekend BECAUSE we were SUPPOSED to be in Minnesota right now hanging out with my mom and then leaving for Wisconsin in the morning. Unfortunately, northern Iowa and pretty much all of Minnesota (at least along I-35) got blasted with some ice and snow so we decided to stay in Des Moines. It's our first Thanksgiving as a family and we are excited to spend it together. Jed's parents will be down sometime this weekend so we will get to see them and Jed's sister, brother in law and our niece too. Yes!

Anyway, here are some fun shots of our decorating. I really love Christmas and the holidays and I was so excited to decorate some in our first house. Especially thankful for my fabulous fireplace! :)



Bo and I had a crafting afternoon last Saturday. I turned my fall wreath into a Christmas wreath by adding some green felt and then some red and white berries ghat I got at Hobby Lobby for 50 cents! I love it!
These are hand painted carolers that Jed's great Grandma painted and I think they are SO cute!
Leftover wedding centerpieces + 50 cent Hobby Lobby berries = Mantle decorations!
This is another gem from Jed's Christmas box. This is a super antiquey looking advent calendar that Jed's grandma got somewhere in Europe. It's the sweetest thing with the little pop open windows! I need to find a better spot for it.
The mantle in all it's glory! I love my stockings. My Aunt Barb bought them for me one year on our girl's Chicago trip!
This is a lovely ceramic tree that my Grandma Carey gave me a few years back. It is probably my favorite Christmas piece. It's so fun to take out of the old box and put all of the little lights in it. It's like a light bright! And then you flip it on and it's sooo pretty!
My cheerful helper!




Final product. This picture does not do it justice.

I will be sure to mentally document all of the hilarity that is guaranteed to ensue tomorrow as we make our first Thanksgiving meal together and update the blog again soon!