Mom visits, Brian’s birthday, and an (awesome!) advent calendar.

I have been looking for a Christmas advent garland for a few years with no luck.  About a month ago Annie and I found one on Pinterest that we really loved, but it cost over $100 dollars so it wasn’t going to happen, obviously.  So we thought: certainly we make that!  We were skyping my mom and started talking more about how exactly we would go about making it, and the more we talked the more my mom probably realized we wouldn’t be able to do it without a little bit of help.  Somehow we convinced her to come help us.  (yeah, I know the ticket probably cost more than our garlands combined, but don’t tell her that!)  She came on a Monday morning and stayed through Friday evening and we worked the entire time.  My mom was entirely necessary!  Thanks Mom!!

I’m glad I took this cute picture of these cousins.  Elna loves Joanne!

Harriet really loved chewing on apples.  Check out her spitty foam beard—funny girl!

Harriet is going to be a tough girl!

These pictures were taken in the morning as I was trying to give my mom and sister a few more minutes of sleep.

Sleepy sweet girl!

Funny Elna had put her baby in her pajamas like the picture on the left, and then the baby had slipped down her pants.  She went about her day for about an hour with the baby down her pants.  Silly girl!

Elna and Grandma Elna eating popcorn and sewing.  My mama’s so pretty!

Harriet was there too!

Brian’s birthday was this week too!  He was nice to share his birthday week with my family.  I like to celebrate for the week leading up to his birthday as well as his birthday, so I did something each day and that made his week a little better I hope.  A few days before his birthday we all went out to Veggie Grill, which was yummy and fun!  On his actual birthday we went out on a date which was really nice for us—we don’t get out as much as we would like to.  We went to Chevy’s and then brought back donuts for our family’s from Voodoo.  Yum!

Brian and his little helper blowing out his birthday candle (on his donut)

Earlier in the day I got the girls to pose for a little birthday message for Brian.  Elna has done this since she was younger than Harriet. 

These pictures are from the last 2 years:

The one on the right was her first year doing it.

And the next pictures are of this year—both girls:

I know I’m including a lot of these pictures, but I like all of them for different reasons.  I love Hattie’s hands in the picture on the right—classic Hattie hands!

And here Elna is singing happy birthday to Dad when she woke up on his birthday:

Happy birthday to Daddy!

She couldn’t be any cuter!

Elna posing in front of our finished garland.

Grandma Elna with Elna, Hattie, and Joanne.

And a picture of the final project!  I LOVE it!!  I’m really excited to put things inside them for Elna and Harriet.  Most of the days will have activities inside, but a few will have little gifts.

My advent ideas so far are:

1.  Cut down Christmas tree and decorate it.

2.  Put up Christmas tree in bedroom.

3.  Put up nativities and talk about Jesus.

4.  Make and decorate cookies.

5.  Take picture with Santa.

6.  Go sledding.

7.  Candy canes.

8.  Ward Christmas party.

9.  Make peppermint stir-sticks and drink hot chocolate.

10.  Make snowflakes.

11.  Make a birthday cake for Jesus.

12.  Read the story of Jesus’ birth from the scriptures.

13.  Drive around to see lights.

14.  Have a picnic under the Christmas tree.

15.  Make mistletoe art project.

16.  Draw and send Christmas cards to family.

17.  Gingerbread nativity.

18.  Zoo lights.

19.  Make a Santa ornament.

20.  Sing to people at an old folks home.

21.  Watch a Christmas movie and drink eggnog.

22.  Open Christmas dresses and wear them to church.

23.  Go caroling with family and friends.

24.  Open Christmas jammies.

Am I missing anything?  I’m open to suggestions.  This list may change as I go through the month. 

After my mom left for the airport we got busy packing for Mexico.