Advent Days 13, 14, & 15

And it happens again we have been doing our calendars I just have been a bad blogger and haven't been updating. I have to get caught up so tomorrow I will post the other two Christmas posts I promised earlier. One is Oh Christmas Tree and the other is The 12 Days of Christmas Hubby Style! But put the curiosity on hold today I update you the calendars.
Day 13:
Lauryn got a table, plate and some frosted cookies :)
Kaleigh got a robot with a shooting eye.

Day 14:
Kaleigh got two guns and a light saber and a weapon holder.
Lauryn got a dog bed and a bone for her puppy.

Day 15:
Lauryn got another sled for her snowmobile.
Kaleigh got a storm trooper.

The girls love these and it is funny to watch as last night they were almost a sleep on the couch and then they remembered that they hadn't done their calendars. 10PM and up out of bed they went like it was Christmas morning.

Love my girls!
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Advent Day 11 & 12

Ok so the big hype today 12/12/12! So happy 12/12/12 there I jumped on the wagon! Aren't you proud of me? Ok enough of that I am thinking about how old I am getting! 13 more days and I will be 32 now 30 didn't bother me nor did 31 but 32 seems to be bothering me a little. Maybe it is more that my babies are not babies anymore they are becoming young ladies this may be the last year they fully believe in Santa and that makes me sad that some of the magic will be lost. More about this in a different post but now we have two days of calendar fun!

Day 11: Kaleigh got a dog robot. Ok so that isn't what it is and I remember watching this Star Wars but I can't remember the name. Aunt BJ? And Lauryn got a present with a bow on it and a paw print? What could that mean?

Day 12: Lauryn got a puppy and immediately she dressed her up with a tiara very cute! And Kaleigh got a trooper yep again we don't know the name but she loves the people so it is cool.

I will be doing a follow up post with all the pictures and their names as Aunt BJ has been helping us with this :)
Thanks for reading!
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Advent Day 8, 9, and 10!!

What is more fun than combining three days of blogging into one! Not much sorry but there will be delays in these postings from time to time as I do have a full time job at an office another as a mom and yet another as a wife! Juggling them all sometimes get a little hectic and I have to take a breather to stay sane. However I didn't forget my blog followers and hope you are all still out there reading and enjoying the adventure with my family.

Day 8: assembly of a table and chair set for Lauryn and Kaleigh a flying ship!

Day 9: produced a trooper for Kaleigh and cake, milk, cups and a plate for Lauryn.

Day 10: a fantastic trailer for the snowmobile for Lauryn and a satellite dish (pretty sure this is not correct but the girls decided and I went with it) for Kaleigh!

Keep checking my blog this I have a couple of fun things coming!
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Great Perspective

A friend posted this on Facebook and I had to share. I love this!

I am grateful for my mortgage because it means I have a warm home.
I am grateful for doctor bills because it means we have access to healthcare.
I am grateful for sadness because it means I have had joy.
I am grateful for hard work because it means I have had opportunities.
I am grateful for dirty dishes because it means we have food to eat.
I am grateful for student loans because it means I have had the chance to further my education.
I am grateful for laundry because it means we are clothed.
I am grateful for whining, crying, and fits because it means I am blessed to have my kids.
I am so grateful for a different perspective today.
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Advent Day 7

Day 7 brought some assembly and lots of fun.

Interesting contents for Lauryn. A little bag of hair accessories, mirrors, brushes, tiaras, and blow dryers. She is now sure she is going to get a table or something to keep these things in. Her dolls look beautiful and the girls were having fun messing with them putting bows and tiaras in their hair.

Kaleigh got a gun. She was pretty stoked as she was sure her guys needed weapons of some kind. You see there is a picture of a big red faced guy on the front of the box and she is positive he is BAD! She doesn't like him so I think it made her feel better that her good guys now have a for sure weapon to get the bad guy.

These calendars are so much fun!
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Advent Day6

Day 6 came and went and I didn't post! That doesn't mean we forgot calendars it just means we are a normal family that got busy! Grocery shopping, helping my sister with a Christmas project and enjoying hanging out.
The girls did open their calendars though and this is what they assembled.

Lauryn got another girl for her village this was has a red sweater on with a Christmas tree, Lauryn got upset last night and asked why the girl she put together was missing her sweater and I simply turned her around and shared with Lauryn that you have to put her head on right :) It was really funny we had a good laugh about it.

Kaleigh got a creature, she calls him robot guy. We will wait for Aunt BJ, or Ellen and Brandee to share with us what his real name is, as Kaleigh has decided it is a boy. Very cute!

Advent Day 5

The craziness of the holiday season seems to be slowing a little. The stress of money and family and this and that is slowing too which is not something I thought I would be saying but am so thankful for. Santa came to my work tonight it was very fun! Yes my employer does the Santa thing buying gifts for the kids and cookies and everything it is so nice and always a treat for the adults as much as the kids. The girls each got a kit to paint two Breyer horses they love arts and crafts so it was a great gift. My niece and nephew got to come too and got an airplane model kit for a 3 year old perfect as he is 4 and all boy and my niece got a baby doll. She seemed to think it was a great gift and she did so good with so many people that she doesn't know. It was a fun time and set the mood for a pretty relaxed evening. It was off to bed more regular time and the advent calendars produced for Lauryn a snowman and for Kaleigh a creature we think. I am telling you this Star Wars thing is new to us. So Aunt BJ, Ellen, or Brandee we need the name of our newest addition! Love my girls!!
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Advent Day 4

OK so last night came and went and I didn't get a chance to post about Day 4, sorry for the delay but here it is.
We needed to do some laundry and of course there was a kitten to play with, but most importantly there were two girls who needed to go to bed because man oh man can you say GROUCHY!!
Anyway calendars are never forgotten so off to open calendars and go to bed we went.
Kaleigh got a flying plane thing she is sure it goes in the water too, which I have decided with her imagination that sounds good to me! And Lauryn got skis and ski poles for her girl. I have to say Kaleigh might be starting to think Lauryn's calendar is pretty cool she was really into those skis and of course the snowmobile, having a girly calendar isn't all bad, although she still isn't think all that pink is for her. Oh well it is for Lauryn she loves all that pink! And Kaleigh still loves the little man with the long hair she says, we found out from Aunt BJ his name is Jar-Jar Binks she just calls him JJ. These are definitely cool calendars :)

Ornament Swapping!

So I signed up for an Ornament Swap through Jessica over at Dreaming of Dimples. It was my first ornament swap and as I love Christmas and all the decorations that go with it, it sounded like so much fun.

I got S.K from the blog Created by S.K., I did a little blog stalking and communicated with her via email to figure out what a fun ornament would be for her. Then off shopping I went to see what I got her you can read here Holiday Ornament Swap.

Kimberly over at I'm Probably Crazy got my name and boy did she do a great job. Our communications mentioned that my tree has a theme of family memories. It is a collection of ornaments from the last 12 years and some from my grandma. I love them all and almost all of them have a meaning or memory behind them. Well I got her box and opened it up and found this beautiful mistletoe and jewel ornament. The camera was not cooperating and did not catch the true beauty of this sparkling ornament with glitter on the top and the jewel on the bottom it is truly so pretty.

We cut down a real tree every year and this year the branches just won't hold this ornament but have no fear I found the perfect place for it and in fact I am pretty sure it will hang here every year.  There is a hook in the ceiling in the living room, I have used it for a multitude of things including stretch bands for workouts but it is perfectly in the middle of the entryway and makes for a good kissing spot. Remember her ornament had mistletoe on it! Oh yes I love that my hubby was totally included in my ornament swap without him even knowing.
Thanks Kimberly for the fabulous ornament I love it!!

Advent Day 3

Deck the halls with boughs of holly and rockin round the Christmas tree! Oh yes our tree went up tonight it is absolutely beautiful too we have collectively decided it is the most beautiful tree we have had. A picture will be in a seperate post. The girls opened day 3 today and man oh man they are going to drive me crazy. Shane and I agreed they open their calendars at bedtime, but they start asking to open them as soon as we get home at night it is hilarious! Oh well such a good bedtime activity Shane and I help if they need assembly assistance and it is such great family time along with a Winter book. The girls have quite the collection of Christmas/Winter books and they are stored with our Christmas decorations so they only get them for the month of December which means a new book every night although there are definately a few favorites. Onto assembly tonight Lauryn got a lamppost with holly on it and Kaleigh got a launcher. Both are very cool and the girls were super stoked. These are definately way better than chocolate calendars. Although I will admit the plastic just doesn't taste the same :)
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Advent Day 2

Day two and we woke up a little later than planned oh well it was nice to get to sleep in a little. After dropping off Lauryn's friend we hit the dirt road to go hunting. The guaranteed kind of hunting Christmas tree hunting. And we were successful within 1/2 hour thanks to hubby and Kaleigh. After it was cut and tagged we headed to Papa and Nana's house to see Nana for the first time in a couple of months. After a short visit we headed home in a torrential rainstorm and stored the tree in the garage so it could dry out. Then some out of town friends came over for dinner and talk. It was wonderful to see them and their kiddos are growing like weeds :) hopefully we can make a trip down to see them soon I am thinking this could be an epic summer vacation with a stop in Colorado and then Ohio :) And my girls shared again tonight with a little man who seemed to think their advent calendars were pretty cool. So to advent day 2 here we go. Kaleigh got a little guy we aren't sure what his name is so if you know his name please share we are curious. And Lauryn got a snowmobile for her girl to ride pretty sweet.

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Advent Day 1

So last year hubby's aunt and her fabulous fam got the girls a Lego Advent Calendar. This was a huge surprise and very special. I didn't even know they made lego advent calendars and it was definately so much fun. The girls have been doing advent calendars since they were very little, as it was something I used to do when I was little and a tradition that I wanted to carry on. Well this year Great Aunt BJ, Great Uncle Al and Great Cousins Ellen and Brandee remembered the girls again and got them each an advent calendar. As they don't live in the same city as us I thought it would be fun to show them day by day what the girls are assembling via my blog.
Kaleigh's calendar is Star Wars and Lauryn's calendar is Friends. The girls were so excited when I got them out last night and put them on their dresser, they thought that they weren't getting calendars this year and were really bummed. They have told everyone that Aunt BJ and Uncle Al got them calendars all the way from Great Falls. The magic of the holiday season really comes alive through the eyes of children. So BJ, Al, Ellen, and Brandee we say thank you so much for thinking of our girls!
Day 1
Today was even more fun watching them open their calendars as they shared the experience with a friend. Lauryn is having a friend spend the night and the girls let her help with assembly it was so fun to watch. So without further words here is what the girls assembled. A friend and what we believe is a fighter flyer.
The girls love them and can't wait for tomorrow night.

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