Y'all Rock!

I have the best friends, family, and blog readers. Not only do you care about helping me not make a fool of myself, but you graciously tell me PRIVATELY that I may be slipping.

What am I talking about? My "Fourth Sunday in Advent" post yesterday. I DID explain that I'm of "Low Protestant" background and then I posted a 4th Sunday post. ::snort:: ::hiccup:: I LOVE that so many emailed me privately to let me know of my "mistake".

I did make a mistake but it was NOT the one that appeared. I needed to publish that article so that I could link it in the sidebar.....this is part of a devotional booklet that Mike wrote and a chapel passed out years ago. I thought for those who are new to Advent, it would provide an easy starting point. So I meant to back date the article and link it.....it's now back-dated.

AND for some reason that "Second Sunday" link does not take you to Mike's writing but to a glimpse of one of our Second Sundays.....so I'll be adding that and BACKDATING it too - maybe today - so that any who want a weekly devotional with daily readings can easily have them. BTW, this works well for older children or adults...edit on the fly to bring it down to an understanding level for young children.

I love y'all!

©2008 D.R.G.

Day 2 - Advent Activity & Gift....

In a perfect world gifts and activities would be blogged about on the very day that they occurred. You KNOW my blog is not a "perfect" world. ::snort::

Tuesday's Activity

Can you read that?"Make Snowflakes & decorate the windows."

Tuesday's Hunt and Gift

True Confession: Mike came home from work ill yesterday and went right to bed where he stayed until this a.m. Jamin hid the gift for yesterday this a.m. and so we looked for Tuesday's gift on Wednesday.

I've got the clue - but I can't read it...


Big brothers are so handy...Hint: "wind bag under canned air."


In the dishwasher?


No, Jared, your gift is not a cheesecake!


Jared knew immediately - the fridge in the garage got Arielle moving in the right direction!


We appreciate all the time Mike and Jamin put into creating clues and now hiding gifts. Jamin even took time to blow up balloons for all.

Stacia has a unique technique. She holds it with one hand and wails on it with the other. ::snort::

Other Tuesday Tidbits

I announced to the Produce Co-op that 19 December will be my last day as coordinator. This is NEW for me to begin cutting back on activities before a move. I make it a practice to tenaciously refuse to acknowledge changing seasons until they are thrust upon me. I've taught Bible Study one night and drove out of state the next a.m. THIS time I realize that *maybe* some of Mike's "PCS pinging syndrome" is due to my refusal to admit I'm moving. ::snort:: We're both determined to keep each other accountable and make this a "friendlier" move. Seriously, through family discussions and prayers, I've realized that I need to start slowing down so that I can spend the next 6 - 9 months focusing on relationships, school, packing and Jamin's last few months with us ::gasp::.... this is the first activity I let go. It sort of hurt and sort of felt good at the same time. Hurt? Because it signifies in a big way to me that I AM going to be moving and I've come to love West TX (not as much as Alaska ::snort::). I also have not volunteered to do anything new....I'm making an effort.

I also ran (figuratively) to the theater...snapped this shot....

Party Boys (Nolan, Erik - Doug & Deja's son, Wade)

then zipped to PWOC and led Bible study and then back to the theater. I've been trying to figure out how to do early dinner (then he needs late dinner) when he gets home....and last night...like a shining star in the winter sky...BURGER KING drive-through loomed in our path. $2.98 - not bad when only ONE eats there. ::snort:: Frankly, he eats BEFORE rehearsal and is ready for another full meal after (at say 10:00 p.m.). Burger King is truly a shining star in my week. ::snort::

©2008 D.R.G.

Monday Mania

This begins Nutcracker crunch week. Exciting days...and late nights.

I ended up needing to be 3 places at the same time. It all worked; thanks to Coach and Deja A. Mike told me it would be o.k. to break my 10 p.m. rule and get the photos posted. LOL

These three came with me to the Base lighting. Jamin was at work, Jared was at basketball and Nolan was at Nutcracker practice. This was our first Advent activity.


Santa came on a fire truck - it was really dark and you can barely see him. We met the new Catholic priest. In a couple of weeks he will take over as our new Wing Chaplain.


Vegging


Mike saved the first clue/gift until we were all home. I'd say it was about 9:30 p.m.


Nolan reads, "Whale of a tale" as the clue....





We're studying whales....could it be something with our school books?


I directed them to Moby Dick....


Hmmm...Zander got side tracked. It turns out we have THREE copies of Moby Dick. ::snort::

Fluffy but happy ::snort::

Jared finds the Ziploc with tonight's gifts - behind the 3rd copy of Moby Dick that we discovered. Tonight's gifts were erasers and sticky note pads.

I should comment that many of you may be confused as you read about our full Advent season. Don't I often write about "simplifying"? Yes! However....I greatly simplified my life so that I COULD make these sorts of memories with my children. Believe ME this is much simpler than our schedule used to be. I've come to the realization that I WILL be busy...but I'd rather be busy with my family than busy without my family.....and this week is the most insane week of the month....then we look forward to enjoying the season and cruising into the New Year. ::snort::

©2008 D.R.G.

First Sunday in Advent

I'm really striving to make bed by 10:00 p.m. so this post began last night and I'll finish it now. LOL Family, friends...I sure hope you enjoy all these inane photos and they give you a sense of living the Season with us. LOL Of course, with my memory as it is, I have to blog to REMEMBER what we do. ::snort::

The day was FULL.

We attended chapel. We enjoyed lunch as a family.

We had our first devotional.

Zander graduated from topping the tree to LIGHTING the FIRST Advent candle.

Who says inductive study has to be boring? I didn't have copies printed yet for the children to mark so we simply did actions for various words and discussed the questions. This is the sign for Bethlehem - I don't know WHY....because I wanted to see the young men do it? (No time to lighten this photo).


They really did participate - but Jamin wasn't about to snap their photos. Payback ya' know?

Mike took Nolan to Nutcracker practice. Mike went to the gym.

Jamin and I went to the mall, Walmart and Sam's. "10 and 2 son, 10 and 2."

We completed two Advent projects (details below).

Zander wanted a "ticket" and so Mike set him to folding...he thought it was terribly hard. ::snort::

We forgot our first Sunday gift and pulled it out later. Mad libs....what fun.

Stacia pulled each little book from the bag and gave it to whoever she felt it would work for.

We ended the day creating a few mad lib stories. Mike read a chapter out of Great Brain for the younger boys. We've not decided if we want to do a Jotham book this year. It was a very full day to begin a very full season. Why can't I accomplish this much in a "normal" month?

©2008 D.R.G.

Advent Activity Calendar

This another new addition to our celebration this year. Thanks so much to all who helped me brainstorm this idea.

Arielle and I took this project over. We planned out 25 (32) activities we wanted to do. We checked the calendar and did our best to put easy things on busy days etc. I'm sure we'll be flexible with this.

I experiemented with various sizes and paper (constrcution, wrapping paper, scrapbook paper)...and finally this is what we did.

Make a 5 in template from cardstock.


Fold paper in 1/2....


and 1/2 again.


Trim about 1/2 in off the edge (this size gave us 4 per sheet).


Fold corners up...rotate view to the right....


Fold third corner over


Write activity on paper

Close with a sticker (we used some scrapbooking ones I had - I forgot to take a close up).

Jared helped us hang the line...which became MUCH longer than I expected...I'm glad we didn't go with the original size we tried. LOL


We finally ended up hanging them around the top of the entertainment center.


We're happy....I'm really happy to think that the things we WANT to do stand a better chance of not being lost in the busy-ness of the chapel/base schedule this year.

Every family will have a unique list. This is what we hope to do in the next month. (Yeah, the masterlist is for ME in case I lose the scrap paper.)

Today: Put Advent candles in wreath, begin our Family Inductive Advent Study, top the tree.

1. Attend the Base Christmas Tree Lighting and enjoy hot chocolate and cookies afterwards.
2. Make snowflakes and decorate the windows.
3. Go to Eggemeyers and buy fudge. This is a HUGE treat around here.
4. Make truffles and favors for the PWOC "Delight in the Light" Tea.
5. Go to Christmas at FT. Concho.
6. Play tickle little kids, host the PWOC Christmas tea.
7. Attend the Nutcracker: Go Nolan, Erik, Emma and Ellie....and everyone else. Enjoy ice cream Sundaes...the Nutcracker is over.
8. Take a walk and enjoy the Christmas lights.
9. Start work on our Christmas Puzzle (make sure we have opened this from the calendar).
10. Take toys to Toys for Tots.
11. String Popcorn and cranberries.
12. Decorate an outside tree for the animals and read Night Tree by Eve Bunting.
13. Dance like crazy.
14. Take a walk to see the deer.
15. Watch a Christmas movie.
16. Have an indoor picnic to Christmas music.
17. Prepare the staff and chapel gifts.
18. Bake Christmas goodies for neighbors.
19. Pick up BreAnne and David at the airport!
20. Make a gingerbread house.
21. Act out the Christmas story.
22. Have a picnic at the lake (indoors if need be).
23. Meet Krista at the airport. Family game night with hot chocolate and appetizers.
24. Visit the living nativity downtown and attend the Base Candlelight Service.
25. Have a birthday party for Jesus and open our "Jesus stocking".
26. Have a family scavenger hunt - would other famlies be brave enough to join us? What would the town think if a zillion mini-vans and 15 pass vans were zipping around town taking photos while oodles and oodles of kids spilled out????
27. Go see the light show on the Concho river.
28. Sing Christmas carols - who cares if we are late - maybe we can do that with the scavenger hunt.
29. Take a candle-lit bath, paint our toes, go paintballing...to each his own.
30. Family game night - dance like crazy.
31. Play charades, attack someone with silly string and sparklers.

©2008 D.R.G.