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I found a really cute Advent idea in my Parent Magazine a few weeks ago that I wanted to try. I love this idea for Sadie because it is very hands on. She can scratch the paint off the cards each day to reveal a family activity for each night leading up to Christmas.

Advent clips

What you'll need:

25 1" wood circles, small number stickers (1-25), 2 colors of acrylic paint, paintbrush, 25 miniature clothespins, tacky glue

Make it:

1. Press a number sticker firmly on the center of each wooden circle. Apply acrylic paint over sticker and remove sticker immediately; let paint dry.

2. Paint the front of the clothespins in the second color; let dry.

3. Glue wooden circle to top of clothespin.

Advent cards

What you'll need:

Cardstock, scissors, clear packing tape, dish soap, acrylic paint, paintbrush, string

Make it:


1. Download the Advent cards using Adobe Acrobat Reader. All card text can be altered; customize it as you like.

2. Print cards onto cardstock and cut each one out along the dashed lines.

3. Place a piece of packing tape over the center of the card, covering text.

4. Mix 1 part dish soap to 2 parts acrylic paint and paint over the packing tape. Allow to dry completely. Once dry, repeat the process for a second coat.

5. Hang cards on string with clips.

I downloaded the cards and printed them on cardstock. Then I took the clear packing tape and placed it over the text.

Then I painted the circle wood chips and placed sticker numbers through 25 on them.

Then I painted the clothespins and use a hot glue gun to put the numbered chips on the clips.

The painting over the clear packing tape took the longest. You mix the dish soap with the acrylic paint and it requires several coats to cover and get it semi even.

Once done, I placed them down the hall on a craft line.

http://www.parents.com/holiday/christmas/crafts/diy-decorations/?page=4&ordersrc=rdparents1102561

Santa Clause is Coming to Town!

I love the excitement of Sadie seeing Santa each year! I also can remember the fear of tears that comes with it each year! :) In 2009, we made it through without a tear when we saw our favorite Santa at Bass Pro in Nashville. Although we did get the "look" from her and of course swooped in and rescued her before they started.

 Love this first glance up!

 I can 't believe how little she was.....

 Then we chanced out luck with this guy because I wanted really good photos of her very first Christmas.  Same cute look up.....

 but not the same reaction! She cried her little heart out.

 Once he was gone she was happy!

 Last year, she was REALLY excited to see him because we had been talking about him alot and reading all kinds of books with the big guy in it!

 She stood in line and watched so intently as each kid visit with him.

 Then she waslked right up to him....

 She never cried, but she had the "Look!"



O Christmas Tree Tradition

Some of my best memories as a little girl were putting up the Christmas tree. I just love it and I want my children to cherish it too. For Sadie's first Christmas, I got her a little pink tree that I decided we would use every year as her "own" tree that she could have in her room.

This was her Christmas 2009 tree. We decided to go very simple with pink and green ornaments that included balls, bows, and a baby's first Christmas ornament. She was only 9 months old but we found that there were several parts of this tradition that she enjoyed even at a young age.

For instance, she loved the balls mainly. They always went straight to her mouth so we had to be really careful with the ornaments and in the end we put her little tree up on a table so she couldn't reach it. She also loved the ribbon. She would pull and tug at it until most of it was unraveled.

                        

Even better was putting up our family Christmas tree! She was really into the lights. Her little pink tree was already lit with lights so it wasn't was fun as playing with the string of them. These are some of my favorite pictures and memories of her.

Helping her Daddy string the tree with lights.

Really looking at each light on the strand. I always wondered what was going through her mind as she saw new things being so little. She was a plump baby :)

Time to tug!

Her second Christmas 2010, we did an all pink ballerina tree in her room and she was able to help alot more with the ornaments.

This was when she loved the pink and green decorative picks and the princess beads.

This was also the year she started to really want to help with everything and do it all herself. I loved watching her wait at the bottom of the attic steps for Toby to hand down Christmas ornaments and decorations. Once it was all down- she was into Everything!

This was a fun year also because she started to really get into books and so I made a basket of Christmas themed books that sat under her tree all season for easy access.

This year 2011, the season has just begun but we are in the Christmas spirit already! Last year my sister in law's mother invited me to a Cracker Barrel sale where we got wonderful deals on Christmas stuff and I focused on getting Sadie a few fun ornaments for her tree this year. I had alot of fun picking them out and anticipating how much she would love them this year and I was so happy to see that she did!

It's quite colorful and wild but ironically it fits her personality this year so it was meant to be and she loves it in her room! 

Happy Halloween!!! 2011

The holidays (my favorite time of the year) are quickly approaching and being 6 months pregnant during this time has left me looking through pictures from the past 2 1/2 years leaving me quite pitiful. Call it hormones ......but I actually sit and cry thinking about how quick my baby girl has grown in such a short time. What gets me most is the thought that this is our last Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas etc. with just our little girl. In a very short few months we will be a family of four!! It doesn't seem real. I am excited to meet baby Chase and treasure all of these special moments with him as well. But the thought of our family dynamics changing once again is somewhat scary. Just like it was before Sadie when Toby and I couldn't imagine having a baby and being "three" much less being parents! Now we can't imagine our lives without her in it. We have a date night and we end up missing and talking/laughing about her the entire time.

Sadie's First Halloween 2009 @ 7 months old dressed as our little piglet!

This was also the night of her very first tooth's appearance! That was why most of her pictures have her tongue sticking out, lol! Talk about scary!

Loved her little spider dress!

Halloween 2010@ 19 months old- Lion & Ladybug

Look at those tears- she really disliked the lion costume that was to reflect one of Noah's lions on the Arc! 

We had much better luck with the ladybug :)

Halloween 2011 @ 31 months old- Cupcake Princess

 I realized that I had dressed Sadie as an animal every year and decided that this year maybe we would go a different route. I was out and about the day after Halloween last year and found this sweet outfit at T J Maxx for half price and fell in love with it.

 Now I am looking forward to a little duo to dress up next year!