Advent Calendar!

One day while shopping @ Craft Warehouse in Meridian. I came across this build your own advent calendar. So I decided I would. I found some cute paper and some number stickers. I even got a few cones to go on the side. Then I went to work. I stained the wood. Then modged on some of that fun paper and the coordinating sticker. It was really pretty easy, cheap and CUTE. Then I decided that I wanted to make this my Christmas traditions advent calendar. I wanted to do something special everyday for Christmas. So I typed up a bunch of my to do's and put them into each little box. I also added a couple stickers and some candy to a couple boxes just to keep Hailee happy.

I loved this whole experience. She would wake up each morning and drag out the next box for me to read.
Can you just see her anticipation!
I tried to stick to a theme, so The DAYS of Christmas it was.

And on the Fourth day of Christmas, you must look your best. Look under the tree for your very own Dress and Christmas Vest!
Then.... On the 15th day of Christmas make a special treat for all your neighbor friends to eat!

Some of the other things we did:

Made snowflakes.

Bought for someone on the Giving Tree.

Drove around looking at Christmas lights.

Danced to Christmas Music.

Learned a new Christmas song.

Went sledding (oh yeah we didn't have enough snow)

Wrote a note to Santa

Decorated Candy Canes for our Grandparents

Made presents for our Preschool friends.

Wrapped our own presents to our family. (Very interesting)

Played a game.

Decorated cookies.

Make Gingerbread houses.

Slept under the tree. (she ended up having a SO @ Aunt Cathy's)

Made an ornament.

Got an ornament.

Decorated our Christmas Tree.

Granted some of these things will change for next year and some of them were a little modged because we were working with a 3 year old. But for the most part I LOVE this tradition and can't wait to use this calendar for years to come!

Thanksgiving!- seriously it did happen.

I love the holidays. Complete with chaos amd noise, family, food, and fun times. This year Curt's family came up for Thanksgiving (we live here so we don't have to go anywhere, but everywhere all at the same time....does anyone else have that? Yes, the chaos.... love it!

Anyway. Aunt Cathy's house is always so much fun and with cousins it is even better. The kids spent time painting up masterpieces!

Nic got us to pkay some way fun games, which I love because I love games. I don't know why my bro-in-law is weird...but I'm sure it wasn't because I was taking pictures!

AND ..... of course we ate so much delicious and spoon-licking good food.

Then we took a nap, stretched,...and ate some more.

THEN...

We went to Twin Falls to see sweet baby Ruger blessed. We all stayed at a motel, ordered pizza, played, and had so much fun! I got zero pictures from the blessing day but Curtis gave a really great blessing and I am always a huge fan of the moment when you see all the men who care about you stand up together to bless a little tiny baby. Pure joy.

It was also a big day because it was Hailee's first time bearing her testimony. She has wanted to go up for a while but I ussually can talk her out of it. I told her to tell me what she wanted to say. She did, then I told her that she would have to say it and not get scared. She didn't. She went up and said. "I love my family. Love my mom n dad. I love Jesus. Name of Jesus Christ Amen." Tear Jerker. She is going to be such an amazing individual as she grows. I am such a proud mommy!


Finally. On Thanksgiving I finished my Cousin Cards that I had been working on for quite some time. The idea was that they could be trading cards for the kids and older people to get to know eachother better. I had a lot of fun and it was really nice to get to know some of the people I don't see as much. Just as an example here is Carter's Card.

This is the back of the card. It had information on each person. I probably should have listed ages on here so that if I did it again you could see how much things have changed. Oh well.

And the front of his card.

I designed them at home and then just took my JD to the local print shop and had them printed on Cardstock and then laminated. I have seen trading cards at walmart that you can make but that was after I went through this process. I am not sure how that one would work!

Fall Family Photos

A few shots from around the farm. I don't think there could be a better backdrop!

My friend Morgan was generous to come take our family pictures this fall. She did a great job considering what she had to work with! I need to get some of these printed before I end up taking new ones again!

The Three Amigos.

The kids and I spend a lot of time hanging out together. It is usually a lot of fun and excitement and we NEVER seem to stop. We try to stay busy so the time goes by faster until Daddy gets to come home.
I love this little shawl. My mom made it and a matching hat for Hailee. She didn't really want to wear it, which is the cause for the scowl. This was our farewell to summer Sunday. No more short sleaves around here! This photo probably sums up the rest of Carter. Such a boy this kid is, and we love him so much!

Curt was sent to work closer to some of our family so we decided to take the chance to go visit them and spend some time with him as well. We had a quick lunch with Christina and Curtis, Trudy and Ruger. It was so fun to see the girls play together. They both get so excited to see eachother. Trudy looked pretty cute in her Strawberry Shortcake hat.

We spent the weekend visiting my mom, stepdad, and grandma. It was a good time and Curt made the extra trip to spend Sunday with us. We went and saw the movie Puss in Boots and it was pretty funny. Hailee liked it, but there were a few parts directed more towards an older crowd.

He is so stinking fast these days and sometimes I am just not quick enough. Hailee was eating her dinner and ran to the potty. It must have looked really good because he scooted on over and started chowing down. Poor kid made a pretty big mess of his casserole, but he really enjoyed it!

My grandma and the kids. I wish we lived closer so I could spend more time with my GMA she is amazing.

This is how we roll into Walmart. Carter hates this hat, but he wore it anyway. Hailee hates being in the cart, but she did it anyway. I hate wrestling two kids while trying to get my shopping done, but I do it anyway.

A mother obviously invented this. I have only used it once, but I am making a mental note of where these seats are located. They are handy for so many reasons.

Go Boise State!

My Grandma LOVES watching Boise State Football. She is a dedicated fan and the rest of us really like them too. This summer we were busy painting rocks and I thought about painting one for her. It is pretty amature, but my kids make it look amazing!

Aren't these two the cutest fans in the entire world! Iam really biased!

Harvest

We recently finished our 2nd Harvest. I am pretty sure I have always wanted the country life and living on the farm has been the biggest challenge and an even bigger blessing in my life. I learn a little more every day about the work and sacrifice it takes to work a farm. It is definitely not what I had ever dreamed but better, and much harder. I think there will come a day when Curt can be home more and then it will be even better. That is the only hard part.

My favorite times are when Curt is home and we are all out on the farm working together. This happens a lot during planting and harvesting times. Mostly because it takes everyone out there to help and the kids are pretty much attached to what we do! This year the harvest took a lot longer than we had hoped and things didn't go as smoothly. We were blessed with help from neighboring farmers and were able to get the crops in.



Just a few ten wheelers lined up to help. It was crazy how many people stepped up to help, and not the ones you would expect either. Pretty Humbling.

We had 5 combines running. Two were obviously newer than the other three. It was funny how much more the newer ones plugged up than the tough old ones. Roy's Combine never even stopped to entire time. Way to go old John Deere!

The kids love riding in the tractors and combines with Curt. It is more crowded now then it used to be with Carter being mobile, but it works.

Our dog Daisy is the best dog. She is very loyal to Curt and can get pretty depressed with him gone. When he is home she rarely leaves his side- or truck as the case may be. She is out in the field waiting, like me as Curt and Hailee make the rounds. I'm thinking that we are fortunate to be waiting in such beautiful country.

The grain basking in the sunshine!

Something about an old John Deere sitting in the field.....

How could I skip Halloween?

Before the big day we made sure to get our pumpkins carved. The kids had fun and Hailee really liked the goop. Carter didn't really like the stuff at all!

I am sure you can't tell at all, but we had a Little Cowboy and Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) for Halloween. They both loved their costumes and looked adorable! Carter's mustache was a pretty big hit. I cut out some felt and then hot glued it to his pacifier. It didn't bug him a bit. The hat on the other hand was not his favorite accessory. He kept it on while we snaked around the school carnival, but I am thinking he was too tired or sick to even notice it. He was awake the entire time we were there, just taking in all the crazy looking kids!

Hailee looked lovely in her Aurora costume we got for $4. It was a perfect fit and even came with a comfy crown. She was a pretty good little trooper and had a blast at the carnival. She did a pretty good job and even won a cupcake in the Cake Walk.

On Friday we were so excited to have our cousins Nic, Trudy, and Ruger come celebrate Halloween with us. They came to School Carnival and played lots of games with us! Nic was dressed as the Green Lantern and Trudy was her favorite character, Strawberry Shortcake, Ruger was a little pumpkin. I am pretty bummed, we didn't even get a group shot of the kids!

On Saturday I invited Curt's family up to make pizzas and just visit a bit. It was a great time and everyone made their own tastey pizza exactly how they wanted. I am pretty excited about this pizza dough recipe I found because it is really easy and works great! It would have been better if Curt had made it home for the pizza but he came in later and was able to spend Sunday with us!

On Halloween Night we did the usual local activities. We went to the Trunk or Treat, which was a lot of fun for Hailee. Carter hung out in the car with Grandpa Layne because it was a bit too cold. She got a lot of candy and we could have been done right there, but I let her go to a couple of houses while Carter hung out with Grandpa Layne.

The favorite part of the night??? Well handing out candy of course! She loved to open the door and give those kids oodles of goodies!