Advent is always exciting, well so is Ordinary time, Lent and just about every other Liturgical cycle change around here. Something we are changing a little around here, is our sacrifice manger, we got the big paper one from Holy Heroes and we bought their Advent books this year too, even Brenden is doing a book.
Zoe sits and grabs at all our stuff laying out on the floor and then flops over and cries if we don't give her our pencils or crayons or the computer! She loves watching the Holy Heroes kids- she never paid attention to the TV/computer screen before, but I think it's because they are children talking to you, so it's fun for her to see them.
Zoe sits and grabs at all our stuff laying out on the floor and then flops over and cries if we don't give her our pencils or crayons or the computer! She loves watching the Holy Heroes kids- she never paid attention to the TV/computer screen before, but I think it's because they are children talking to you, so it's fun for her to see them.
In addition to their fun Advent calendars with Playmobil we like to use, I also ordered these cute $.99 felt advent wreaths for the kids to put in their rooms and altar tables and even on the piano. They came from Autom- I think they were a clearance item, but they came in a 4 pack I think- which is how many we needed. We also ordered some new Advent books and St. Nicholas feast day gifts- which I need to go and look at again and make sure everyone has something.
Also last year I started putting together a Nativity Peg doll set for the kids. I went around looking for a stable or something I could make a stable from. I found these cute moss covered creches at Walmart for around $11. At that time, I wasn't sure if I wanted that particular style, but after searching more, it ended up being the best and sturdiest and cheapest! When I went back they were sold out, and weren't available on line. So I waited till this year, and snagged one back in November before they disappeared.
I just need to paint the wise men and 2 shepherds now, maybe one will be a shepherd boy. My dad made the animals last year for us for Christmas, the kids love them. I need a sheep though. I might try and find a sheep pattern for him to cut out for me.
Really $11 is a good deal for all the materials and time involved in making my own. I don't think I could do it that cheap and it would be time consuming.
I finished the peg dolls faces tonight- see below. I posted about those pegs back in October. Now I need to find two crochet projects for Knox and Genna to do this winter, a hat and a scarf combo maybe, it's dual purpose is to enter it into the county fair for 4-H.
Speaking of 4-H
Knox had a couple of county awards this past week at the 4-H banquet. He had an award for best 4-H story (two kids received it), and then received certificates for 3 KAPs and a pin for his KAP in poultry.
We were very proud of him for his achievements!
And now speaking of poultry, we have lost 3 hens in the past two weeks from possums. WE ARE INFESTED WITH POSSUMS here in our neighborhood apparently some must have had some babies- it's been two years and this is the first time we have had problems. We keep catching them. We have moved them far away from here- 6 miles at least, but more keep showing up, I am hoping we get rid of them soon. Two possums in one night Sunday- me and Knox caught them by hand and raking them into the cages chasing them around our chicken pen. My oldest is no wuss- he's a pretty tough young man already. I have tons of funny possum videos and pictures from my trail cam. My parents apparently have a mountain lion living up near them (they are 5 mins from here) and my mom heard a roaring like a jungle cat a few Fridays ago around midnight. She could hear it through their closed windows and went and opened a window to get a better listen. She was a bit unsettled afterward.
Also Genna's Little Flowers meeting was canceled last month, the girls we do with it were sick and then poor Maureen got sick on top of that. So we just decided to do the project and virtue at home and meet for the next virtue after craziness slows down. This month's saint was St. Clare of Assisi.
We decided embroidering little St. Clare dolls would be fun, did you know she is the patron of needleworkers and embroiders? We are moving up in difficulty on projects, Genna really loved this one though. She is ready to start another doll. Knox is also sewing one. I plan on having them enter their dolls into the fair for 4-H art projects.
Genna finished her St. Clare doll-which was the craft for the month. It really was a lot of fun.
Pretty soon here I will be starting Genna's quilt. Next week both girls have their birthdays. And I promised Genna I would have her quilt done by then, it isn't even cut out yet. It will be late or for Christmas. I have a few projects I am going to finally get to though that have been put off because of all the commitments I got myself into. And I am looking forward to being deep in them!
And I always love visiting Brad with the kids when he is working, at home, he drives a pretty nice truck, and at work he sometimes gets a nice sports car to drive.
So what do your kids do to keep themselves entertained when you go shoe shopping?
Happy Feast of St. Andrew! We enjoyed singing St. Peter Damian's hymn to St. Andrew with Conditor Alme Siderum, and ate red peppermint Oreos (for his martyrdom) and hot chocolate in his honor while watching Holy Heroes Advent Adventure of course.