The Nutcracker

The day started with a fancy lunch at one of our favorite local Itallian restaurants downtown.  Nana and Auntie Amber came up for our special girly date.  We had amazing seats!  This Nutcracker performance was beautiful and put us all in such a festive mood.  I have fond memories of seeing The Nutcracker with my mom and grandma when I was little, I still have the Nutcracker souvenir from that day.  I bought each of the girls a Clara ornament as a keepsake.

 The girls with "Clara".  She was an amazing ballerina for her age!  I'm certain she's going places, and she was so sweet to boot!

 Here they are with another amazing ballerina.  Chloe was pretty tired at this point, can you tell?

And the best part of the whole day?  That evening, the girls asked for Nutcracker music, dressed in their ballet outfits, helped each other put buns in their hair and danced around the living room with Nutcrackers in their hands.  And of course, asked daddy to do lifts with them.  I wish you could have seen the glee on their faces as daddy treated them like prim a ballerinas, priceless!

Autumn Mae at Nine Months

 Mommy's precious baby girl!

 Snugglin with Nana

A nap with daddy on the guest bed.  Is it just me, or does that little foot peeking out of her blankie just beg to be eaten?!!!  I'll post some crawling pics soon, baby proofing is in full swing over here!

In My Own Little Corner...

Last month, I took the girls and my mom-in-law "Grammy" to Rogers and Hammerstein's Cinderella at our local performing arts center.  The afternoon started with a lunch date and then it was off to the show.  I have vivid memories of seeing these productions as a little girl with my mom, at the very same performing arts center.  It was where I developed my love of theater.

 This was the girl's first live musical.  When the lights dimmed and the music started, I got teary watching Emma and Chloe on the edges of their seats in excited anticipation of what they were about to see.  It was as if I was a little girl again, feeling all those same feelings of wonder and excitement. 

 Here they are getting Cinderella's autograph.  They were too shy to pose for a picture with Prince Charming;).

And of course we had to talk to the silly step sisters, such great acting!

And the fairy godmother of course.  It was such a special day, one vivid childhood memories are made of.  Next weekend we have our Nutcracker date with my mom and sister.  Oh how I love my girls!  Thank you Jesus for the gift of daughters!

Homemade Avent Calendar- The Greatest Gift

This mama has been a busy bee for the past month creating this special Advent calendar.  Three years ago, my good friend Lindsay displayed her version of this calendar at our moms ministry auction.  I have wanted it (but have never been able to bid high enough at the auctions) for three years.  So this year, when my paddle had to come down, I buckled down and committed to making one myself.  I'm so glad I didn't win the bid this year, because now I have a handmade-with-love by ME keepsake that will hopefully stay in the family for years to come!  If any of you would like all the instructions and patterns for this, let me know and I can email them to you.  I'm so excited to open our first pocket tonight!

 Each pocket contains an ornament that represents an attribute/name of Jesus along with a devotion for that day.  Each devotion takes you through scriptures that tell of who Jesus is.  Just like the Bible, it all points to our only Hope, Jesus Christ.  The devotions are short enough for the little ones, but deep enough for the whole family.  And the ornaments are a visual memory cue for remembering each attribute, I love it!

 You wrap each ornament in tissue paper so that opening each one is like opening a gift.  Each member of the family takes a turn doing this of course.

 Here are the ornaments (I'm not quite finished with them, still need to fill with fleece, tack together fronts and backs and sew on all the snaps).  The star is ready for tonight's devotion though:).

 Here's what the devotion cards look like.  Each one has a song as well, that you can either sing if you know it or read as a poem if you don't.

 A close up of some of the adorable ornaments.

With the help of this calendar, I hope we can keep our eyes on Jesus this Christmas season, on the author of our Hope and Salvation, truly the greatest gift we've been given!  Happy Advent!