Advent Scavenger Hunt

This is tonight's Advent Gift.  They are 20 oz mugs! That's a WHOLE LOTTA tea, coffee, or hot chocolate! 

Of COURSE, they had to solve the riddle and follow the clue to find their gifts. Nolan and Alex were both home tonight, our first hunt with all four. 

Scavenger Hunt Clue: I once used thermal energy to break molecular bonds. The hunt began!

The girls checked the microwave

They checked the old microwave in the basement

Alex checked the water heater or some such thing

The girls checked the dryer

 Stacia asked if it could be outside of the house. I'm not sure what the boundaries are, but I knew Michael had hidden it in the garage.  I said yes. Alex and Stacia thought it must be the boiler in the garage.  While they climbed behind a shelf to check out the boiler, Allie spotted the broken dryer...could it be? 

She sees them...

When they came back into the house, I gave them the 2nd half of the gift. We had picked these up at a vendor's market on Small Business Saturday. 

They are hot cocoa bombs. They are quite big.  None of the photos quite did them justice. Stacia thinks we could make these...

We weren't 100% sure what they were supposed to do...

Some split open like this and were pretty spectacular. Others just melted from the bottom and the marshmallows started oozing out....It matters which way you put the bomb in the cup - I think you want the seam UP...

They made 1/2 a mug of drink....

Success!

We sat around the dinner table and read about Jesus being the Word from our Advent Devo. It was a relaxing and quiet night. 

Benny's Baachan Date

Papa joined us this year for Benny's date. It was great fun. Arielle came by for our respite care. We grabbed Benny and headed out, while she and Danny played with Dad.  Papa handled getting him in and out of the car seat. He cracked us up with the warnings not to nip certain sensitive spots with the buckle. 

Benny is a conversationalist. He told us a story of an accident, and we processed together how good it is of God to send people to help when others need help.  

Then he told us we could get ice cream in the little shop we were passing...we suggested we do brunch first. We asked him what he'd like to eat. He thought hard and came up with "pancakes, Mickey Mouse Pancakes, with chocolate eyes." He told us if he ate vegetables on his pancake, maybe we could get ice cream later. ::snort:: 

He kept pointing out the pretty lights, wreaths, candy canes, snow and nativities as we drove through town. It began to snow right as we sat down to eat. It was magical. 

A person can't smile all the time 
Check out the pancake

After Brunch we started shopping. We bought a couple of gifts for Cory and Arielle. And, yes, we bought a Baachan shopping gift too. Benny picked out this little snow globe. 

We stopped to check out the new Nativity in town....

Our final stop was the local ice cream store. We all agreed their ice cream is amazing. 

Back at the house Benny and I began wrapping gifts. Michael came in and Benny told him, "Baachan isn't very good at wrapping." LOL   Papa came to his rescue and I went back to taking photos. 

It was a great date. I'm glad Michael joined us. We have a few more Papa/Baachan dates in the upcoming weeks. 

It's a great time of the year to connect with grands. 

A Great Sunday in Advent

 Carrie is a nurse at a local hospital and works nights. What a blessing it is that she was able to come out with Josiah and Livie today. Ellie, Livie's cousin came as well. The girls have been working on the sledding "hill" and this was the perfect day to pack it down. 

Stacia, Allie, Ellie, Livie

Hey, Livie!

Allie

Livie

Stacia

Ah, Jamin arrived with a sled! This was good news. He was able to go further, packing down more of the "run."  I think we need to get out and pack it down tomorrow...then maybe spray it with water so it will be a bit icy. That should help them reach the end of the run. The first year they went into the garden spot...so we know it CAN be done. 

Jamin

Alaska's realtor at play in Alaska

When everyone had had their fill of outside, we moved inside. I brought out a little "gingerbread village" for the young girls, Carrie and I to work on.  It also serves as a bit of practice before the annual gingerbread competition. LOL 

Go Livie! 

Carrie's house

These two came to our rescue when we ran out of frosting. They whipped some shortening/sugar paste up. 

Arielle and the boys showed up as we finished the village. Cory was still busy at the church. 

Danny and Arielle

Benny and Uncle Jamin 

Josiah telling a story

CyRi needed to head back to Anchorage. Jamin also headed up the road. Nolan came home from work. We moved on to the evening's Advent Scavenger Hunt. 

Allie retrieved the clue for today's advent hunt. 

Scavenger Hunt Clue: HP's abode.

First, they all ran down to the study and checked the HP printer boxes in the hallway. 

Then, they all crowded into my nook...because you know, computers. 

At this point I had mercy and gave them another clue...HP doesn't necessarily mean Hewitt Packard.  Nolan proved his quick reasoning when he said, "Harry Potter."  The space under our stairs - Potter's Closet. 

The girls spotted it and waited for Benny to find it. 

Tonight's gift was a family activity. A big tin of popcorn and a movie - Mr Roger's Neighborhood. 

Arielle told Benny they needed to go home. He showed HIS quick reasoning when he asked for a cup without a lid...then he politely asked Allie to fill it with popcorn for the drive home. LOL 

We DID watch the movie and loved it. It's very well done and brought back happy memories, along with a few sad ones. 

Krista sent more photos of their Christmas decorating efforts. She and Kaelyn have been at it....

I think the taxidermy adds a nice Alaskan touch to it all. Don't you?