Funny Friday

 

Happy Friday! :)

Jump!

 Another advent activity was that we got to go to a school field trip to a local trampoline park! Boo had choir and volleyball practice that day so she wasn't able to come but Peanut, Peaches, and Lou had a great time! 

Peaches really wanted a picture in this chair. :) I don't know why but a lot of trampoline parks have this chair?

 

 

Lou had the most fun. She is a little monkey and a place like this is right up here alley! She has no fear and was climbing, running, and jumping like she owned the place.

 

 

 Peanut had a great time too but kept complaining that she was tired. :P

 

 

And Peaches had a lot of fun in between breakdowns. I don't know if she didn't get a good night's sleep or what but she burst into tears at least four times while we were there. 

 

 

Peanut braved the zipline.

 

 

Noni went with us...it's hard to keep up with the three of them in a place like this so she sweetly volunteered to come with us and help me keep track of them.

 

 

This was a new attraction...jousting. Lou thought if you fell off you "won" so she kept wanting me to do it with her and I would gently knock her off so she could cheer, "I won!!" 

 

 

Peaches played it with a boy she met there.

 

 

This was a great way to get out some of those winter wiggles!

 

 

This was new too...aerial silks. I don't think we ever got the hang of it but they had fun playing with them for a long time!

 

 

Noni got this picture...Lou is so funny.

 

 

We had fun! Thanks for coming Noni!

 

 

And on the way home we stopped by Costco and they wanted ice cream...even if it's below freezing it's always a good treat. Haha.

Christmas Cookies!

Another advent activity was making our traditional Christmas sugar cookies. I made three batches of dough and then let the girls cut out the shapes they wanted. They had so much fun and did a really good job!

 

 

Then once they were all baked I whipped up the frosting and let them get to it!

 

 

Noni stopped by to do piano lessons after her mission meeting and got this picture.

 

 

 

It took hours for us to get all those cookies frosted!

 

 

And things got quite sticky! You can't see her pants well but they were covered. :P

 

 

Towards the end they were giving out on me and I kept at them until we got it all done.

 

 

Our table was a sticky floury mess! 

 

 

We got the cookies all boxed up and then Bug drove with Daddy supervising and the other girls delivered them to the neighbors. I had several happy texts saying how much they brightened the evening and how sweet they were. All that mess was worth bringing some holiday cheer to the neighborhood!

Living Nativity

 One of our advent activities was to attend the living nativity that is put on by one of the big churches in the city.

The youth group decided to brave the trip even though it was only 23 degrees so we bundled up and joined the fun!

 

 

We had to wait in line for nearly an hour but we had fun talking with everyone and it was a gorgeous night. I love when it is dark and snowing with no wind. Everything seems peaceful and right. We got a little preview when some ponies and shepherds walked by the line.

 

 

They had some really nice heaters set up along the sidewalk. I don't know what these kind were but they put out some great heat!

 

 

And a local Christian radio station was there giving out free hot chocolate.

 

 

We waited another 45 minutes inside but there was live music to keep up entertained and the girls loved having extra time to hang out with their friends. We finally made it outside to the Nativity and it was just as good as I remember from the last time we went there ten years ago! 

 

Lou and Peaches loved the women who were dancing and rejoicing over finding the lost coin...besides the Christmas story they tell four different parables along the way. 

 

 

They did a great job with the sets and actors. Our "cousin" (guide) was very funny and entertaining. He kept heckling Pastor J. :)

 

 

They had some live animals but no camel this time. Lou loved the little lambs. So cute!

 

 

This was a neat scene when the angel appeared to us to bring us the good news, "A savior has been born to you..."

 

 

The only bad part was they kind of hustle you through, but I can understand why...they had thousands of people go through that weekend! It was a long wait but we had a lot of fun and enjoyed seeing the nativity brought to life! 

 

Advent

 The girls love our advent calendars. This year we had three again...stockings, Lego, and our devotional. The Lego advent is a present they get to unwrap the first day of the stocking advent.

 

 

They take turns getting to read the days' advent and do the Lego.

 

 

We've had all sorts of things...candy cane hunt, making cards, pizza movie night, presents, making cookies, wrapping gifts...Lou is getting really good at writing letters. She wrote To: Grandpa with a Daddy telling her the letters.

 

 

I didn't know someone took this picture of me...

 

 

But based on this one and the five others just like it I'm guessing it was Peaches. Haha.

 

 

We had snowman pancakes one morning.

 

 

We did a Grinch night and Boo got to make us green cookies to go with it.

 

 

Our devotional advent has ornaments that come with it and tell us which devotion to read in the Jesus Storybook bible. They hang them on this small tree they have upstairs. Their previous dance teacher gave them the ballerina inflatable and Peaches likes to unplug it and tuck it in at night. :)

 

 

I like to do presents sprinkled throughout their advent month, socks, underwear, a new Odyssey, a little Christmas decoration, and this one was Christmas window clings to put up.

 

 

Game night!

 

 

 

Santa waffles!

I'll do separate posts for some of our bigger advent adventures! We love counting down to Christmas!