DIY Advent Calendar with Easy Devotions

I'm so excited about Christmas and the holidays!  We are slowly decking the halls and getting our decorations up.  Hopefully, we can get our tree this weekend!

So, for the last few years I have struggled to find an advent calendar that works for our family.  Are we the only ones out there whose children can't sit still and cooperate for more than 2-3 minutes?  I mean, in the past we have tried to do some of the longer devotionals out there and in the end Jeff and I just got frustrated and mad because our kids are apparently all ADD and hyperactive and can't listen:).  Seriously, it's like we bring out the Bible or something serious and our kids go wild.  Pull out Cat in the Hat and they will listen like angels.

This year, I was determined to get ahead of the game and make my own advent calendar that would work for our chaotic family!  This means it needed to be fun, short, and easy!  I just finished it up yesterday so we can start it this weekend on December 1!

I got all my supplies at Hobby Lobby for half off or with their coupon.  This is totally customizable.  You can get whatever type envelopes you want.  I got these that were a little longer because I wasn't sure what candy I was going to get to put inside.

I made these easy devotionals the week of Thanksgiving.  It basically just has 1-2 verses each day to read and then a question or two to start a conversation with your kids and explore more about the events and people leading up to the birth of Christ.  I did find the order of verses online somewhere but I forgot to bookmark it so I can't give it credit.  So I used those verses and topics and then made these little cards on my computer with my added questions.  Then I printed them out on white cardstock and cut them into squares to fit into my envelopes.  We plan to do these at or around dinner time so we can read the devotion and then have the treat after dinner.

I got some smaller candy to put inside each envelope along with the devotion card,  and then the jelly beans are for the Christmas day envelope.

Finished product!!!

I struggled with how and where to hang them.  You could string them on a long wall or window or maybe even along a mantle.  In the end, I decided on my old windows and they barely fit.  But I do love how it turned out and am excited to see if my short and easy devotionals can keep my children engaged and help them focus on the true reason for this special holiday season.

 

And just for fun...here are my crazy rascals...

 And here are your free downloads for the devotions.  Just click on picture, right click and save to computer.  Then print and enjoy:). 

 

Adoption Day!

7 Years ago today we were in Ukraine bringing this boy out of the orphanage forever and into our arms!!!

What an adventure that was and what an adventure it's been since. We are so thankful that the Lord chose Samuel for us and that he made us parents. We waited and longed and prayed for so long and it was so sweet to watch our God provide for us in His timing.  

"He has made everything beautiful in it's time."  Ecclesiastics 3:11 

Samuel November 2005...Samuel November 2012

 

Happy Adoption Day Samuel! 

God has big plans for your life and He loves you so much. 

We LOVE you. 

We are proud of you and we believe in you! 

10 Months!

Well, here we are a mere 2 months from your first birthday.  I seriously cannot believe how this first year is flowing by!  You are 10 months old today, Anna Mitchell!   My printer ink was out of color, so I had to channel my inner 4 year old and color in your 10 month paper.  I actually still love to color:).  But of course I had to print out two more copies for your sisters because they wanted to do it too.

 And seriously, how cute are you?  You continue to be such a joy!  Our little bundle of energy who never stops and is always getting into something.  You are a stinker for sure!

Annie, you have 4 teeth.  Still cruising everywhere. Climbing on stools, up the stairs, and up on the dishwasher and oh so proud of yourself for that new skill:).  

You are such a happy baby although you have begun to show some preference to things.  You have started to whine a bit when I take things away from you (you know, things like shoes, cords, paper, small toys, etc).  Also, you do not like when your sisters smother you anymore.  You definitely let them know when enough is enough! 

You go to bed around 6:30 and wake up at 6:30 am the next morning.  I'd say that's pretty good!  You also take 2 good naps a day for about 1 1/2 - 2 hours each.  

You love to play with balls.  It's really cute because you throw them down or away from you and want me or whoever to roll it back to you.  I love watching you learn and copy things! 

We are on the go alot and you are such a good companion.  It's so easy to take you places with me.  We have a lot of fun together going to Publix, Target, Panera for lunch dates, long walks, teacher conferences, gymnastics practice, and more. 

 You have started to really eat a lot of table foods and have loved everything I've given you from banana bread, to green beans, to potatoes, to pancakes, to chicken!

We love you little peanut!  More than you will ever know and more than we thought we ever could!  

Anna Mitchell, look at how you have grown the last 10 months! 

Free Thanksgiving Printable

The holidays are the best time to get crafty and bake which means we truly are entering my favorite time of the year!!! I love to make cute little happies for friends, neighbors, teachers, etc.  So Wednesday Abigail and I made some sugar cookies with my mom's famous icing (confectionery sugar, a little milk, & almond flavoring) in fall colors.  We then put them in clear plastic bags that I already had (I just have a big clear plastic bin that houses all my party gear and I usually 'shop' out of that:)).  Tied them up with some bakers twine from Hobby Lobby.  I am TERRIBLE terrible taking pics lately of this kind of stuff.  Thankfully instagram has saved me because I did of course snap a pic on my phone:). 

And here is a free printable of the cute little turkey for all of you if you want to do something similar...

just click on picture to make bigger, then right click to save to your computer

The way I do these is create them in photoshop, but then put them in my word processing program (Pages on my mac because it's really easy to use but you could do this in Word or Publisher on a PC ) and then use my little punch from Hobby Lobby (these are not expensive if you use your 40% coupon) to make the scalloped edges...but you could just cut them out yourself.  Add a hole punch at the top to tie with string.  Then have fun handing them out to neighbors and friends or taking them to school for teachers and administrators.  Ok, so as I was writing this, I decided to go ahead and make the file for you to save to your computer.  I'm nice like that:)!

Happy baking and crafting my friends! 

Kickball Party!

After Abigail's pajama party the morning of the 3rd, we had a few hours break and then geared up for Samuel's kickball party.  I have to laugh because it's pretty apparent that a 10 year old boy's party is a whole lot different than a cutesie girl party:).  Seriously, I have done some pretty all out parties for Samuel, but those days are sadly over.  He doesn't really care about that anymore!  So we had a kickball party at our neighborhood playground and it was PERFECT!  The weather was actually warm and the boys had a blast.  

Simple. Simple. Simple.  

Cooler of drinks for adults.  Water bottles for favors.  Solo cups and straws of gatorade.  A bowl of chips and pretzels.  And a Cookie Cake.  That was it! 

Some of the boys!

Happy Birthday Buddy!

Piling on daddy after the game

And the girls who were around just practiced their gymnastics.  Very typical these days:)...

It was a great party and totally laid back.  Yay for that!

Pajama Party!

 Last weekend, we celebrated a super fun Pajama party for Abigail's 4th birthday!

I love to throw a good party, but now that we have four children, I am trying to simplify a little.  This party was really fun, not too expensive, and pretty easy to pull off (I also had a lot of help from family in town). 

I designed and printed a really simple invite

Abigail was so excited for her party and kept saying she couldn't wait to see all her friends in their pajamas!

{The Party Table}

Bran Muffins with chevron penants

Assortment of Fruit

 Bacon (not shown)

Pancake Cupcakes

Candy eggs and bacon

Donut Hole Pops

plates and party banner from Target on clearance

pink placemats and napkins from Oriental Trading leftover from another party

I thought these were possibly the cutest thing I've ever made and Abigail was able to help me!  All I did was melt white chocolate and then put a dollop on wax paper.  Then add a yellow m&m face down then two pretzels. 

I loved how these turned out too and they were easy to put together! I scoured pinterest for ideas as usual and then just sort of made up my own thing.  Mini frozen pancakes, homemade icing/syrup (confectionery sugar, maple syrup, and milk mixed together to desired consistency), sprinkles, and then a cupcake topper to help hold them steady. 

{Party Activities}

Our party activities were making fruit loop necklaces, make your own pillowcase, and read If You Give a Dog a Donut.  All three were a huge hit! 

fabric crayola crayons, stamps, and fabric ink pad all from Hobby Lobby, white pillowcases from Wal Mart

 

 

Then of course it was time to sing happy birthday and enjoy all the goodies!!! Abigail does not like a lot of attention on herself:).

 

 

{Favors}

For the favors, I just did dollar tree bowls with small boxes of cereal:).  Simple but cute!

We are so blessed by all the family that came into town to help celebrate.  It was a fun excuse for us all to get together (we also had Samuel's party later that afternoon - more on that soon, and a big football game to watch).