Christmas Countdown 2011 - Day 3

Day 3 - Festival of Trees

Wow! How does a whole week go by in a blink of an eye?! Although I haven't been up to date with blogging every day, our family is still doing our 25 Days of Christmas. Some days I'm a little more prepared than others, but no matter what...the kids are having a blast (and we are, too!).

Last Saturday (day 3) the kids and Daddy got to have a little day with just the three of them and they met up with his parents at the Festival of Trees in downtown Portland. I decided to stay home to prepare for my Holiday Bazaar the following day. It's not often that Daddy gets a day with just the kids (and his parents), so I knew it would be a fun day for them! We originally were going to go see Santa come in on a helicopter in our hometown, but last minute Grandma Ruth & Grandpa Charlie called and we decided to change the plans! Good thing we did because it was too foggy for Santa to fly in. It would have been such a big disappointment!

I lovingly encouraged (hee hee!) Ryan to be sure to take LOTS of pictures for me and he did amazing! I was able to see the fun the kids got to have through pictures!

This event was sponsored by Providence, so one of the treats of the event was that they each got to take home a stuffed bear. But, before they took it home, they had to fix each of their bears up from all of its boo-boos.

{Austin named his bear Arthur...I'm pretty sure he named him after the boy in the movie we watched the night before}

All fixed up!

And, of course it wouldn't be the Festival of Trees without pretty decorated trees! Each of the trees were being auctioned off to the highest bidder and the money would go towards a charity. They were each decorated with a theme and under each tree were supplies or toys that went along with the tree's theme. Those who bought the tree could then keep the items or donate those as well. Such a neat concept!

There were people making gingerbread houses, as well as some on display...

The kids also got to decorate sugar cookies...

These look yummy and I'm sure they ate every crumb!!

There was even face painting...

And best of all?

SANTA!!

Thanks to Grandpa & Grandma for a fun day!

And what a special day for Daddy and his kids!

Christmas Countdown 2011 - Day 2

Day 2 - Family Movie Night

Friday night was the perfect opportunity to head to our local movie theater and watch the newly released "Arthur Christmas". What a super cute movie!! We had such a great time enjoying some family time together and getting in the Christmas spirit. It's a fun family movie! There were plenty of parts to giggle at...and I love hearing my kids giggle!

They were super excited to read the activity for today!
{notice the "thumbs up"}

But before heading to the movies, we needed to pack a little snack. (Shhhh...don't tell anyone at the theater we brought in outside food!)

I went through the pantry and found some snackies that sounded yummy together. I poured each of them into bowls and let the kids make their own snack mix!

*Honey Nut Chex, pretzels, chocolate chips, M & M's, peppermint flavored yogurt covered star pretzels (these are amazing, by the way!), Chocolate Chex*
Yum! The perfect blend of salty and sweet!
What made the night even better was the FREE movie tickets we have been holding onto. We were just waiting for the perfect opportunity to use them!

What a fun night!! The movie didn't start until close to 7:00, so the kids stayed up a little past their bedtime (just like last night) and Austin fell asleep on the short 20 minute drive home, but it was all worth it! Hopefully the kids will sleep in...I know I will!

Day 1 Christmas fun!

December 1st marked the day of our FIRST DAY of the 25 Days of Christmas! Each day the kids will pick an activity out of our countdown calendar (a tradition we started back in 2008) and we will celebrate the season doing something fun together as a family, whether it be big or small!

Day 1 - Decorate the Christmas Tree!

First things first...let's get festive with Santa hats!

Check the lights to see if they work...

You seriously want me to untangle that mess?

Time to open the first gift of the season from Grandma Ruth & Grandpa Charlie. Each year (starting when the kids were babies), they have been given an ornament to hang on the tree. It's a fun tradition that the kids look forward to each year (and me, too!)

An ornament for Austin's 5th Christmas...

And Mikayla got Minnie Mouse this year!
Then it was time to go through the ornament boxes and look at all of the ornaments from Christmases past while Daddy hung the lights on the tree.

Ready to light up the tree...

THREE
TWO
ONE!

Now it's time to hang the ornaments...

Hanging ornaments takes concentration, you know.

Daddy helping Austin reach up on the high branches...

Our newest family ornament from our Disneyland trip in October.

{our tree}

And the cutest little Santa helpers I've ever seen!

on the hunt for the perfect Christmas tree!

Well, I didn't quite make it through my October and November pictures to post here on the blog. I'm missing our Disneyland trip, making caramel apples, Halloween, and Thanksgiving Day! I'm kind of past the "catching up" phase, so I'll have to relive those memories later because now it's time for all things...

CHRISTMAS!!

Normally we wait until December actually comes around before getting our tree, but this year we decided to jump a little ahead of schedule due to busy weekends ahead in the early part of December. We didn't want to just cram it into our schedule, but yet enjoy going on the hunt for the perfect tree because we had time to! We got our tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving (it was a beautiful, crisp, clear day!), but didn't put it up in the house until Monday night. It sat bare for a few more days before we decorated it last night as our first activity of the 25 Days to Christmas!

First up...one sweet sibling picture!

And they're off to find the perfect tree!!

My baby girl is growing up way too fast!!

Grammy came with us and it didn't take us long to help her find the perfect "skinny tree".

Finding our tree on the other hand? It took us much longer! After awhile all of the trees started to look the same, but there would always be one minor imperfection we couldn't live with.

Nope...definitely not this one!

We finally found the one we wanted!

Helping Daddy cut it down...

Pics with mom...

Yep! I'm the one behind the camera lens...I was there, too!

Hot cocoa before heading home!

Thank you to Jorgensen Tree Farm in Newberg for our awesome tree!