Today was a rough day but I am thankful that I came across this at Hy-Vee last week...

I know tomorrow will be better...or at least I hope. 

To help me get out of the funk tonight, I am thinking back to our time at Silver Dollar City. Even though my kids came down with croup while we were there...it was a lot of fun. I didn't look at my phone, answer emails or check my calendar while we were in Branson. 

John and Sophia saw Santa while we were there. John was hesitant but Sophia hopped right up on his lap!

I also think about one of our Christmas Calendar events - The Lighting of the Mayor's Christmas Tree. The weather was a beautiful and the music was wonderful. 

I also think about taking my kids to my school's Santa Breakfast. It was funny because John hopped right up on his lap and Sophia wouldn't go near him. Totally opposite than Silver Dollar City. 

And then I think about another Christmas Calendar activity - Decorating Gingerbread Men. 

Tonight's activity was an indoor picnic. Unfortunately, I had meetings tonight but John and Sophia assure me it was a blast. 

Like I said before..tomorrow will be better. I am blessed by my family, my job and my friends. 

Christmas Calendar Day 3

Day 3 of our Christmas Calendar was Christmas Movie Night. This was suppose to be spent with friends, but since our kiddos have been sick, we just had our family attend. We watched Veggie Tales Christmas Star and had hot chocolate and popcorn. 

Luckily the kids seem to be feeling better. Tonight was the first night in 4 days that we have went to bed fever free. Hopefully, we stay fever free all night long. 

A few new things: 

John loves using the word "compromise"

Sophia loves say "Christmas is coming!"

Christmas Calendar Day 1 and 2

Day 1: Make Christmas cards and mail them.

(There are a couple that ended up not being Christmas...but the kids loved doing it!)

Day 2: Have a dance party with Christmas music. 

We danced to Chipmunks and songs from Elf on our new wood floor in the kitchen. 

Unfortunately, both kids have croup. So they are both feeling a little under the weather...but we still danced our hearts out tonight. 

We also did our first night of Advent. The theme was Hope. The question tonight was "What are you hoping for?" 

John: Bayblades

Sophia: Trees

Matt: Everyone to be healthy at Christmas time.

Jodi: To have the whole family together at Christmas time. 

The Christmas Season

The Christmas Season has begun!!! These next few weeks are my absolute favorite time of  year. I love Thanksgiving, Black Friday (only on Friday), and the holiday traditions that we leading up to Christmas. See what we have done so far already this season...

The event that we are still working on is putting in hard wood floors throughout pretty much the whole house. It is a slow process but Matt is doing a wonderful job. This isn't the most current picture, but it gives you an idea of what the hard wood looks like. The kitchen is pretty much finished, so on to the hallway now. 

After shopping on Black Friday, we bundled the kiddos up and went down to see the Plaza lights. We stopped at Latte Land, which is now Kaldi's to enjoy some hot chocolate and cookies. Below are the children blowing kisses. 

Saturday night we had some dear friends over and they helped us decorate our Christmas tree. Please excuse the sub flooring...we haven't gotten to the living room yet!

 Monday night was a continuation of a tradition that was started a few years back with friends...Christmas Movie Night! We meet up every Monday between Thanksgiving and Christmas to enjoy a meal together and a Christmas movie. There are 9 kids age 8 and under. So it is completely crazy but such a good time. This past Monday we watched Elf and had Chicken Noodle Soup. I didn't take any pictures...so hopefully next Monday I will remember to take some. 

Below is what I have been working on for a new family tradition. It is a Countdown Christmas Calendar or an Advent Calendar. I couldn't find one I liked to buy so I just made one! Gotta love Pintrest! Each ornament has a pocket that contains a slip of paper for a family activity. These range from looking at lights, Christmas movie night, coloring Christmas pages, to setting up our nativity scene. There are some more detailed activities and others that take no prep time or very little time. I arranged the slips of paper according to our calendar so if we have something going on one evening, the activity is smaller. 

I am hoping it is a hit this Christmas season! 

I hope everyone has a very special holiday and gets lots of family time to enjoy. 

I went to the eye doctor today. 

Eyes look good and my astigmatism has gotten smaller. 

However, after my eye doctor asked me a bijillion questions of "does 1 or 2 look better?" "how about 3 or 4?" "does 5 look better or worse?" she states: 

"It seems that your eyes are working very hard when you are looking at things up close. I think a +1 would be helpful to you."
I am puzzled by this +1 thing and then I say "Is that like bifocals?" (in a disgusted voice)

Calmly, the doctor says "You could just pick up a pair of reading glasses and have them on hand when you are working on a computer for a long period of time or reading for a long period of time."

Great...I love getting older. 

I come home to tell my husband how my appointment went. I simply state that a pair of reading glasses would help my eyes from being so tired (I am trying to be positive). 

He laughs and says...so you need bifocals?

Thanks honey...

So I am going to embrace this and find a cute pair to carry around with me. I might even get a super cute, sassy case for them...heck I might even go with a chain! (Actually probably not a chain.)

Have a good night!

Princess Party

Each year Blue Springs puts on a Princess Party. The money goes to provide dental work for kids that don't have insurance. I had heard about the Princess Party but this year Sophia was old enough to go. I had no idea what this even was going to be like...and it was more than I could have ever imagined. It took up the most of the alternative high school building. They had a nail salon (it even smelled like it), cookie decorating, an Enchanted Mall, professional pictures, makeup, the tooth fairy, crafts, a Princess Concert, a Princess Dance Party and more. It was so much fun. What was even more fun was that Sophia dressed up like a princess. Take a look...

 Sophia was so excited for the Princess Party. She was dressed by 10:00 and the party didn't start until noon. 

There was a nail salon. This was our first stop and Sophia asked for white fingernail polish. She sat like a big girl and was so proud of herself. 

While decorating and eating her cookie, she kept looking at her fingernails. 

Asking Nana LeAnn if her face was clean. :) 

Looking in the mirror...

Getting makeup put on like a little lady

Here she is looking in the mirror checking out her makeup and sparkly hair. 

Dancing it up at the Princess Dance Party. She danced like no one was watching. 

The Bears Visit!

We have dear friends, the Beards and they came to visit it us! Our kiddos got to meet for the first time.  It was so sweet. 

Sarah and I are good friends from college. We married best friends, lived in the same town for a while, lived in the same house for a few months, then both lived in the KC area. Then the Lord took them somewhere else to serve and now we live about 8 hours apart. Sarah and Andrew are like family to us so for our kids to get to meet and play with each other was fantastic. 

Check out this little guy...LOVE his cheeks.