Advent Activities Part 3 Finale!

Dec 16: Make Porter crafts

I was really just planning on making one a day with Sadie, but we were on a roll and once we finished them all Sadie lined them all us and said “They are all friends.” So cute! These kits were great because they were only 1-2 bucks and all we had to do was glue them together. That is my kind of craft!

Dec 17: Family Date & record Sadie singing Christmas Carols

Every Friday we do a family date and usually Sadie picks pizza, pop, and a movie.

This was my best purchase of the entire season! It has provided many hours of fun for both girls and wonderful teaching moments too! One of the best things is that both of my very breakable nativities made it through another season...SCORE!

I will get that video of Sadie singing songs up soon, even though I am sure that no one watches these video clips but us (only because we rarely watch anyone else's...actually I take that back  because Sadie loves watching video’s of her friends and cousins)

Dec 18: Special breakfast & sledding, Go see Tron 3-D

While Brian was playing basketball I took the girl to McDonald’s for breakfast (it was special for them, not so much for me) and we split a breakfast and Sadie played on the toy thing. She kept seeing cars pull up and thought that her friends were coming. I am guessing that on a Saturday morning at 8am, most of her friends were not venturing out in the snow to McDonald’s. I may the only one crazy enough to do that. 

It is so nice to have Brian out of school for a couple weeks so we can do fun things together. We sat Emmy on the sled and she went down the hill (a few feet) all by herself. Both girls were having a blast.

Later that afternoon we went out to eat at Café Rio and saw Tron. Fun movie!

Dec 19: Try the graham cracker houses again!

I used hot glue to make the base of the house. Don’t tell Martha Stewart!

 

Dec 20:  FHE – talk about Jesus birth, watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas

We’ve pretty much talked to Sadie daily about Jesus’s birth and it is so fun to have these conversations with her. I told her that it was Jesus’s birthday this month and she thought that Jesus should have a monster themed party. I told her that Jesus didn’t need to have a theme and that hasn’t really caught on with her yet, because I still think she thinks we are having a Monster party tomorrow. She did say that she was going to give Emmy hugs and kisses, and a pat (watch out!) to Jesus for his birthday present.

Sadie and I were fighting over this yummy caramel popcorn our friends delivered. YUM!

Dec 21: Take Family Pictures in front of the tree & watch Polar Express

Dec 22: Make paper plate Santa, listen to message from Santa, and make melted snowman cookies

It turned out really ugly. I will spare you the picture! And I will get that message from Santa up here. So cute!

Dec 23: Play at mall toy, see Santa and do a family service

I get to take the cutest girls on outings with me! Although by the time we make it home I am wiped out and there has been a lot of whining, crying, tears, etc. it is still fun to get out with them.

We have seen Santa a ton this season. I think Sadie is almost getting bored seeing him now, but last night before I put her to bed she told me that she had forgotten to tell Santa that she wanted a dolly house for the bazillionth time! I reassured her that Santa knew

 

Dec 24: Do all Christmas Eve traditions

This day pretty much deserves a post of it’s own so stay tuned and have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 

And just because I was having fun!

Emmy has three out of her four molars...insane? I know! I like in the center pic how she moves her tongue so you can see her pride and joy!

Christmas Cards

I love my Christmas cards this year. All I had to do was write a little ditty about how great Shutterfly is on my photoblog and I got 50 free quality cards! They even have a little texture on them. I just wish I could have gotten more free because at 2 bucks a card I was not willing to buy them. Call me cheap, but that just seems like a lot!

This is the letter I included...

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Here is a rundown of our latest happenings in 2010!

Emmy – aka Emelia Grace was born February 9^th, weighed 7lbs. 7oz. and was 21” long. She is ten months old now and just barely started crawling the same day we got our Christmas tree. I guess she just needed some motivation! She has such a sweet personality and is always looking for Sadie to see what she is doing. Emmy has nine teeth (including a molar) and they are still coming hard and fast. Her first word was “up” which is really important when you have a busy sister running around the house trying to bulldoze you over.

Sadie – is two years old and is an active girl who has no time to eat, drink, or wear clothing I am afraid. Her life is a musical and she is singing all day long. She takes nursery rhyme songs and makes up her own lyrics for whatever she is doing. She watches a lot of Little Einsteins on the Disney channel so she uses words like ritardando and forte in everyday conversations. She loves to swim, take baths, and play with cups of water (do you see a theme). She has just started to really enjoy Disney movies and especially likes Tarzan, The Little Mermaid, and Toy Story.

Brian – was released as the Ward Activities Chairman, and is now serving in nursery with Sadie and is also still the Stake Athletic Director. He is about to start his third semester of the MBA program at Idaho State University. We figured he will be graduating about the same time that Sadie is starting kindergarten, so he is a little ways out, but has a positive attitude. He is still working for Nitro Security as a Software Engineer and has found a new enjoyment in running, which makes me so happy because I have a running buddy now. It only took six years of marriage to get one. Well actually three running buddies since all summer long we would load the girls up in the jogging stroller and head out into the country together.

Kelly – Brian, Sadie and Emmy are pretty much my life and I would have it no other way. It's funny how just the little things keep me happy and smiling, like when Sadie does her fake giggle after something she says, or when I see the girls playing together and enjoying being with one another. I have been lucky to have their naps overlap, so for about two hours during the day I have time to do stuff like write Christmas letters, edit pictures, or for a good part of the year, catch up on lost sleep. I have been really busy taking pictures this year too, which I love. I was released as the YW president and now I am in charge of the church blog and the ward directory.

It is such a wonderful time of year where we can focus on the Savior and the importance of his birth and realize how blessed we are to live in this day where we have his teachings at our fingertips. I love this quote by President Monson,

“As we seek Christ, as we find Him, as we follow Him, we shall have the Christmas spirit, not for one fleeting day each year, but as a companion always. We shall learn to forget ourselves. We shall turn our thoughts to the greater benefit of others.”

We hope this letter finds you well and that you have a Merry Christmas and wonderful New Year!

Love,

The Stewart Family

Fabulous Fall Family Pictures

I did a photo swap with my awesome friend Kimberly  on pretty much the last nice day to take pictures with the Fall leaves! We really lucked out because the next day there was a foot of snow and the temp dropped about 20 degree and it hasn’t really warmed up since.  I have been playing around with the pics and doing a million head swaps (Kimberly...you are going to laugh at how many I did!) and trying some new actions, so in a nutshell, I have been having lotsa FUN! It is fun to have so many photography friends so we can get family pictures a few times a year because these little girls change so much and I guess I do to with gaining and losing baby weight. Enjoy!

Advent Activities Part II

This is the ornament advent I made last year and I finally found cute ornaments at Hobby Lobby, and this is our “Elf on the Shelf” that Sadie thinks is great. When we first got it she would run by it and say, “I made it”, as if it was going to jump out and get her. Probably because we told her that “Mr. Jingles” was watching her and was going to report to Santa. Then we sorta changed it to Mr. Jingles moving during nap time and at night (whenever we remember really) and that he brings her treats and dances when she is sleeping. It’s made it a lot more fun for her.

Dec 12: Go On a Lights Drive and Watch Christmas movie

Last year when we took Sadie to look at the lights she was not interested and was pretty cranky, so I guess we figured Emmy would act the same, but no way! Emmy LOVED the lights. Especially the ones at the Owen’s house that are synchronized to music. I wish I would have had my camera with me. Emmy was wearing a little teddy bear hat and she was standing on Brian’s lap leaning out the window (the car was fogging so we had to open our windows) and just smiling and bouncing the entire time. Sadie was in the back of the car throwing a fit! I guess nothing has changed for her since last year.

Dec 13: Finger Christmas Ornament

While Brian was taking his last final in accounting (which he got a 95% on woot, woot!) and Emmy slept, Sadie and I were making these ornaments.

Dec 14: Make Treats for neighbors and deliver them

...and we are still delivering them!

Dec 15: Make Christmas frames & graham cracker houses

we sort of just ate the graham crackers and candy and never really made it, but we will make our real one Christmas Eve so it is all good!

Advent Activities – Part I

Each day Sadie puts an ornament up and picks a box with an activity and piece of candy. I started off with a master plan of what activities I wanted to do with the girls each day, but it has turned into a “do whatever we feel like” smorgasbord of events. I guess you do whatever you can when you are taking care of two busy babies!

Sadie put these two ornaments by each other because she said they were “brothers”. It made me laugh! And here she is enjoying one of her surprises!

Day 1 - Surprise Daddy at work and decorate office, & write Santa a letter

Sadie wants a dolly house and candy. She pretty much feels a need to tell everyone she knows.

Dec 2: Make Hand print wreath and Snowman purse

Dec 3: Play Break the Ice, do a service & go to Ward Christmas Party

The girls wanted nothing to do with Santa.

Dec 4: Go to Holiday Carnival & get our Christmas tree

We went to Brian’s ISU school party and of course the girls freaked out again when they saw Santa. Sadie was pretty much hyperventilating, but they took a liking to Mrs. Claus. There were so many fun little crafts for the kids to do and free lunch! I guess it is one of the few perks of Brian busting his butt in school.

Emmy started full-fledged crawling the day we got our Christmas tree. She has so many funny faces!

Not sure why I wanted a picture with the elf. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Dec 5: Watch First Presidency Message & decorate tree

We got our tree from the same place as last year. It still smells amazing! Even though I keep telling Brian that we should just get a fake tree, there is nothing that gets me in the Christmas mood faster than the smell of a Noble Fir.

Sadie helped us decorate and was really excited over every ornament we pulled out. We put her to bed and we were about to watch the First Presidency Christmas devotional when we heard a crack and the tree started to fall. Our stand had broken because the trunk of the tree was insanely crooked. Brian’s parents rescued us and brought over a heavy duty tree stand at about 10:30pm Sunday night. They helped us transfer it and pretty much saved us. It is so nice living close to family! We still have yet to watch the Christmas devotional. Maybe this next Sunday.

Dec 6: Sadie & Poppa’s date to Grandma’s Choralaires Concert

We go on “family dates” with Sadie and Emmy each Friday and then a couples date most Saturdays so Sadie knows dates to be “a fun outing where a treat is involved”. So we told Sadie that Papa was going to take her on a date to Grandma’s Choralaires concert and she was bouncing off the walls happy. I helped her get all ready by cleaning the boogers out of her nose, and packing her purse with a diaper, a piece of candy, and one toy. Brian and I stayed up waiting for her to come home and we realized that we had many more nights like this ahead of us! Sadie had a blast and loves her Papa!

Dec 7: Go to story time at Library and pick out Christmas books. Bread at Great Harvest afterward (of course!)

Dec 8: Send Christmas Cards, open Gong & Nanny’s Christmas present

It was such great timing. We got their present about an hour before Sadie had one of her favorite friends over to play. She was in heaven! Emmy loves it too. She squeals in excitement when she goes down the slide.

Dec 9: Decorate for Momma’s Party

We rearranged the furniture for a girls party I had at my house and now Brian won’t let us move it back. He said that is the only present he wants for the rest of the year. That makes my job easy

Dec 10: Paint Christmas colored toenails, make paper bag reindeer, & buy buy sister gifts

I named off all the reindeer to Sadie and she chose Blitzen to be her hand puppet.

Sadie and I have been going Christmas shopping a lot together after we put Emmy down at 6pm. Sadie brings her coin purse and we take off while Brian has been study for finals. Sadie picked Emmy out an adorable baby doll that squeaks, rattles, and has a crunching noise. She wrapped it up that night and put it under the tree. She knew just what to do. I still need to figure out what Emmy is going to be getting Sadie.

Dec 11: Buy Sadie & Emmy’s ornament and make angel journal