The kids and I have been having lots of fun with our Christmas activities.  I even have some pictures!  So, stay tuned & come back later on--i plan on putting up a big lovely post while the kids are napping later.  Right now....I can't think....

Did I say come back later?  I meant tomorrow.  The day has gone by really fast and I haven't had a chance to sit down and think through a post about all the fun things we've done.  I've been doing more pressing things--like, (online) Christmas shopping.  I have 4 gifts now, for the record.

Here's the rundown of our events though:

Dec 1-hot cocoa for breakfast
Dec 2-sprinkles on our biscuits
Dec 3-making Little Town of Bethlehem advent calendars (they turned out SO CUUTE!)
Dec 4-decorating our christmas tree (i know. it's a given.  but for them it was special!)
Dec 5-church choir christmas party (they went caroling and came to our house afterward for refreshments.  much to our surprise, they caroled for us!!  I felt like Donna Reed to Matt's Jimmy Stewart!)
Dec 6-at bedtime, turning on the lights of the the little Christmas village I put in their room
Details coming.
Dec 7-going christmas caroling at a local nursing home with church

oh...and today is Day 1 of our seventh year of marriage! :)  Our 6th anniversary was yetsterday & we thoroughly enjoyed every second of it. (and watched our wedding video--boy, oh, boy, 6 years brings a lot of change!)

happy monday!

• i'm freezing.  i cannot get warm. 
• the baby is helping me type.  How can kids manage to hit ONE key on the keyboard and shut down the computer?  I could never do that if i tried.
• the baby is able to pull herself into a standing position and cruise along furniture now.  which is why she was helping my type.  She was hanging on to the keyboard.
• She's tall enough to grab stuff on the dining room table!  She stood at it last night on her tippy toes trying to reach as far as she could for whatever she could find on the table.  watch out, world!
• Our thanksgiving was very nice.  It started off wit ha wonderful Wednesday evening.  Matt planned on hunting Thursday morning, so he went to bed a little early.  And, we had all straightened up the house before the kids went to bed.  So, once everyone was in bed, it was me, my clean house, HGTV online (!!!!), and me in the kitchen making turkey cake pops.  It was so peaceful and quiet and cozy.  Time alone, doing something I love is so very refreshing sometimes.
• (Earlier that evening, I had to go the the grocery store to pick up some supplies, one of which was candy corn.  I seriously thought i was going to get taken down in the candy aisle because I took that last bag.  There was a girl huffing and puffing and blowing the house down because the candy corn box was empty.  I considered kindly offering her my candy corn but a)I really, really, really, really needed it.  b) she shouldn't have waited until the minute after the last minute (cuz clearly, I grabbed the corn at the last minute. since it was 10:30 p.m. before t-day!)) this is tongue in cheek.  i can't say anything about last minute waiting. iii)I just couldn't give it up because my turkeys needed feathers.  I don't know if she knew I had it....but she was huffing and puffing and tossing boxes around and whatnot.
• So, it's december.  I'm excited.  I've worked hard the past couple of weeks to really get things in order so that this december we can focus on preparing for Christmas, readying our minds, our house, doing activities, etc.  I want to do something special with the kids each day.  And slooooooooooow down and take it all in
• Dec 1:  Snuggled with E2 (freshly bathed, dressed and wrapped in a down blanket (COZY!) because his diaper leaked) on the couch for 30 minutes instead of doing morning chores.  Already read a book to E1 and snuggled with her for a bit.  Served the kids hot cocoa at breakfast time.  (E1 wanted hers in bowl, and E2 wanted his cold.  But it started out as hot chocolate!)
• I'm going to blog about our special things each day this month.  so, remind me if i forget!
• and now...we're off to the grocery store!
• happy tuesday!
• 
• I 100% stole the idea from www.bakerella.com
• 

I love Matt because he's outdoorsy...that he smells like the woods...that he's big and strong and manly....and because he's not afraid of cinnamon and sugar coated apples tucked nicely beneath a leaf-embellished pie crust:

look what he made for his work party.  Isn't it pretty? (i forgot to take one after it was baked.  oooops!)

We had a rough night last night.  The Little Man is sick with a fever, stuffy nose, etc.  He was up a lot, but thankfully he's not a whiny sick kid.  Just one who gets uncomfortable with snot dripping out of his nose, but who can blame him?   So...today...E1 is capitalizing on our, "when-someone-is-sick-you-can-watch-extra-t.v. rule."   Special perk of sick days.  I always loved that when I was a kid, didn't you?

Happy Tuesday!