Sleepover & New Nephew!

The other night we had a sleepover and let the kids sleep in our room with us.  We watched a movie together and had orange julius's and then got out the sleeping bags to get settled in.  Well it didn't take long for the kids to get annoyed with each other, so while they started next to each other like this, it didn't last.

Rylan moved to the other side of the room between the bed and the window and Mackenzie moved to the closet.  Haha - whatever works!  

However, I ended up at a different sleepover because Nick's sister Katie went into labor that night and delivered a beautiful little boy!  So I was at their house taking care of their daughter Ella.  Little Ty is just perfect and we love him so much!

Rylan is SO thrilled to have a boy cousin!

Attempting a cousin picture.  Ella wasn't really in the mood for photos, especially with Mackenzie forcing her to look at the camera!

Sweet, sweet Ty and his awesome hair!

Easy and Delicious Chicken Soup

This soup is so easy and so delicious, a comfort soup for a cold day - can't beat that!  I originally found this recipe on (surprise surprise) Pinterest, but it was for a creamy chicken and rice soup.  I tried it though, and the creamy part ruined it!  So when I tried it again, I left the creamy part out and it's perfect!  And seriously, it's so easy!

Here's the link to the original recipe: http://thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com/2011/09/comfort-foods.html 

But here's the better version.

Crock Pot Chicken and Rice Soup
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
2 boneless-skinless chicken breasts
1 pkg Rice-a-Roni long grain and wild rice (with seasoning packet)
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup diced celery

Put all ingredients in a crock pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours or until chicken is cooked and tender.  Shred the chicken, add a little salt and pepper to taste and enjoy!
Seriously, it doesn't get any easier than that!

Mexico!

As I said, we had a wonderful time in Mexico.  It was perfectly relaxing to be surrounded by great people, amazing food, and beautiful weather.  Kim and Jon had their groom's dinner at Roberto's Bistro, a restaurant that also serves as a sea turtle farm.  They collect turtle eggs during the night and re-bury them in a safe place away from predators.  When the turtles hatch, they are released amidst a crowd of people, again so predators don't snatch them up.  It was the most amazing thing to watch these little turtles make their way too the ocean! 

Seriously, so cute!

You're almost there little dudes!

Go here to see more about Roberto's.

Kim and Jon's wedding was beautiful - so intimate and emotional, I don't think there was a dry eye.  

We had such a great time and were so thrilled to be able to be there with them on their wedding day.  Love you guys!

After the reception, we lit lanterns on the beach, it was beautiful.  It was surprisingly calm when we launched them and they went straight up and a few came straight back down right to us when they burned out.

Other than the wedding festivities, we did pretty much nothing and it was glorious!

We went for walks on the beach.

I danced on the beach.

We ate delicious meals.

Took naps and read books,

ate more, 

laid in the sun, 

and ate some more.  :)

We did swim in the pool every day too, but I don't have pictures of that.  What a perfect vacation!

Another Daily Christmas...Thing

I don't know what else to call it, so we'll just call it another Christmas thing.  I saw this idea on Pinterest as well - wrap up books, one for each night for the month of December.  Kids get to unwrap one book each night to have you read to them.  I wanted to use all the Christmas books we already had, so I started hunting through all the book spots in the house.  I wasn't sure if I'd find 24 books about Christmas, but surprisingly, I actually found about 30 of them.  It was perfect though, because I just wrapped 2 books together if they were both short ones.  The kids are loving it and I love to wrap presents so this was right up my alley!

So far we've read:
If You Take A Mouse To The Movies by Laura Numeroff
The Night Before Christmas by Mary Engelbreit
Twas the Night Before Christmas
Holly Jolly Christmas
The Christmas Cub by Justine Korman Fontes

Such A Softie

When we first got Ace as a puppy, he was allowed in our kitchen, but that was it.  But after growing up a bit, the hair got worse and the smell got worse.  Ace has pretty bad allergies (to almost everything) and it makes him have extra yeast on his skin so he just kinda smells yucky all the time.  It would have taken 3-4 baths a week to keep him smelling fresh.  So we decided he should only be in the garage and backyard at our old house.  Now at our new house, he's only been in the nice heated garage as well.  Lately though, I've noticed that he's not as greasy feeling or as yeasty smelling as he usually is.  So I've been letting him lay on the rug in the back entry every once in a while.  He likes to be close to us and it makes me smile when I see him there.  I think he only likes it for a couple hours though, because when I let him back out, he goes right to his bed to curl up for a nap.  I think it's too noisy in the house for his naps!

See, getting tired.

He sure likes the extra attention from Mackenzie though!

I'm thinking he's just finally outgrowing his allergies which is really nice for all of us.  The worst part of his allergies is it causes the yeast build-up in his ears too and he gets awful ear infections.  That's how we figured out he had allergies - after so many ear infections, we had him tested and he's allergic to almost everything in nature.  Eating a specific food and drying his ears out after swimming have helped with it, and we've even given him allergy shots, but I really hope he's done with all that now!

The Church Purse

I have a special purse that is just used for church.  The kids only get the contents when we're at church and I always keep it stocked so it's ready to go on Sunday mornings.  Here it is!

Here's what's usually in it.

Snack: usually goldfish, little waters, and sometimes we have Pez candy

Wipes, crayons, kleenex, lip gloss, chapstick

Stickers and notebooks for the stickers - polka dot for Rylan, black for Kenzie

Coloring books, coloring packets from Sunday school, and blank construction paper

Sticker books - These are great!

They have pages of stickers, 

then you find which page they belong on and match the shapes.  And the pages are glossy so stickers are reusable.

I've also been carrying around the DVD, Soul Surfer, the true story of Bethany Hamilton.  I have it in case we need it for Sunday School.  There's a 30 minute documentary about the real Bethany and her faith through the whole ordeal.  What an amazing girl!

I guess there was also a bottle of tacky glue in there last week when I took these pictures - we had used that in my Sunday School class for a craft last week.

I know it seems like a lot of stuff, but the kids don't use it all every week.  As long as I have some variety, it's sure to keep them quiet during church.  I'm sure some people think they should just sit and be quiet and not have to be entertained, but I do what I have to do to be able to enjoy the church service.

Advent

I decided a couple weeks ago that I wanted to do an advent calendar with the kids for the month of December.  We've never done one before because to me, an advent calendar meant a cardboard box thing with perforated doors and chocolates inside.  We don't eat much candy, and it does't have much meaning, so we've never done that.   But after seeing super cute ideas on Pinterest, I decided to do Christmas activities each day in an advent calendar.

It was yesterday that I realized I better get going on this little project since we would need to start today!  So back to Pinterest I went to find a cute idea, but obviously one that was pretty easy to throw together.    I found the perfect one here: http://www.hookedandhappy.com/2012/11/mini-muffin-tin-advent-calendar/

Usually when I try to replicate a project, mine never looks as good as the original, but this time, I have to say I like mine better!  I just love the Christmas papers I found.

Here are the supplies I used:

-mini muffin pan
-magnetic paper
-Christmas scrapbooking paper
-number stickers
-glue
-printed activity slips
-2 1/2" circle punch

I found everything I needed at Michael's.  Well, except the muffin pan, I already had that, but you probably could get one of those at Michael's too!  I bought a book of coordinating scrapbooking paper and I plan to use it for our paper garland too. 

First I used the puncher to punch out 24 circles each of the magnetic paper and various Christmas papers.  Then I glued the Christmas paper circles to the magnetic paper and put stickers on.  Because the magnetic paper was rolled up in the box, each piece was slightly rolled and wouldn't stick on the pan that way.  So I put them under some heavy books over night and that flattened them out.

Then I made up little tags with each activity, folded them up and filled the muffin pan.  The magnetic paper sticks right to the pan to cover up each hole.  Voila, we have an advent calendar!  Actually the hardest part was deciding which activity we would do each day.  I had to check our calendar and make sure certain activities were on the weekends and I spaced things out just right for my sanity.  I'm so excited to do this each year with the kids.  It will be the perfect way to get excited for Christmas, spend time together as a family, care for others, and get ready for Jesus' birthday!

My plan is to take pictures of each activity and post them all here too, so keep checking back!