Reading through Advent (and Epiphany!)

We LOVE to read around here.  Seriously, it's our favorite thing to do.  We've always read tons over the Christmas season, many of our own I've collected over the years and even more from the library.  We may or may not just hoard library books...  😬  It was a killer when our old library only let you check out 5 seasonal books at a time!!!!!!!  Anyway, I listened to a podcast last year (you can listen here:  https://amongstlovelythings.com/36/ in which Elizabeth Foss talked about her children unwrapping one book every day of advent and they would spend the day focusing on it - whether through art or activity or conversation.  This sounded right up my ally, especially considering our routine schooling goes way down during the month of December and reading, crafts and advent activities take over.

Using her ideas, my own Christmas books and the help of the inter-library loan system, I was able to schedule all 37 days of reading (December 1st thru Epiphany) without having to buy one new book.  Although after reading some of these, I may just have to find used versions of a few spectacular ones!

Not every book I picked has a connecting activity with it.  Some activities I chose because the book just lends itself to it, but others I didn't spend much time brainstorming because I want to see how the kids will respond and what ideas they will come up with.  Some activities are things I want to make sure we do this season and aren't necessarily directly connected to the content of the book.

Our days will be divided up by three main reading periods.  During breakfast, we read from this advent calendar.  We've had it for 8 or so years and the kids just LOVE finding the appropriate number on the little books and pulling it out to be read.  After breakfast we love to curl up on the couch and read before starting our day, so that's when we'll read our daily Christmas book. In the afternoon before Justin comes home - somewhere around 4/4:30, they are at their craziest. That's when I plan on sitting by the tree and reading these advent readings.
Focus on the Family has all kinds. I noticed they even have an Adventures in Odyssey one. Anyone,  I'm going to hid the little book and they have to find it using the hot/cold game. So - that along with flash cards, piano and CC review is our plan for the Christmas break. Now onto the books!

1. Bright Star  - this beautiful book is told from the angel's perspective
2. My Prairie Christmas - this book is so simple and sweet AND the family is from Maine, so it was all the more special
3.  The Huron Carol - This is the Canadian carol that introduced the Huron people to the story of Christ.  We loved it.  After we read it, I told the kids that we would be attending a Chamber Choir concert at our church that evening.  They wondered if the choir would sing this and I told them probably not - but they did!!  It ended up being our favorite one they did as they imitated forest sounds with their voices.  You can listen here:
4.  The Miracle of Saint Nicholas - We're reading quite a bit about WW2 right now, so this fit into that genre for us.
5.  The Christ Child - This one I had to buy used after reading it.  It's straight from the Bibical text and the illustrations are amazing.  We really liked that the story didn't end at the birth but continued telling some of the life of Christ.
6.  Baker's Dozen -I was able to get this free on Kindle a while ago and am so glad we have it.  We read it on the 6th - St. Nicholas Day and made gingerbread cookies & decorated them as our activity.
7.  A Poem for Peter - this book is amazing.  Seriously.  It tells the story of Ezra Jack Keats - author Snowy Day and so many others.  We read this then watched the new Amazon Prime episode, The Snowy Day
8.  The Magic Maguey - we own this one and love it - anything illustrated by Eliza Kleven is just magical.  This would be a great day to make salt dough ornaments or buy little poinsettias to give out.
9.  Silent Night -  Just try to read this one without a shaky voice.  We had to find it used, we loved it so much.  The illustrations - the story - the way it was lined up with the carol - everything!  Read it.
10.  Dream Snow - We read this one on our first snowy day then painted ceramic snowmen ornaments I had picked up on major sale at the end of last season.  We always watch Frosty on the first snowy day while drinking hot cocoa.
11.  Cranberry Christmas - Use the recipe at the end of the book to make cranberry cookies!
12.  Apple Christmas Tree - We love this book.  We had made heads to our apple dolls quite awhile ago and never got around to making their bodies.  Today we used this book to inspire us to.  Bodies, clothes and hair and then the kids spent the ENTIRE day in the workshop making them homes.
13.  Hanna's Christmas - This is going to be our favorite new tradition.  The 13th is Santa Lucia Day in Sweden.  The eldest daughter wakes up the family by serving buns and cocoa to them.  El and I made not the traditional buns, but this bread.  We doubled it and made the second one with nutella and raspberries - amazing!  The boys were so surprised.  I love the story behind Santa Lucia Day - also called the Feast of Saint Lucy, is a Christian feast day celebrated on 13 December in Advent, commemorating Saint Lucy, a 3rd-century martyr under the Diocletianic Persecution, who according to legend brought "food and aid to Christians hiding in the catacombs" using a candle-lit wreath to "light her way and leave her hands free to carry as much food as possible". Her feast once coincided with the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year before calendar reforms, so her feast day has become a festival of light. Falling within the Advent season, Saint Lucy's Day is viewed as an event signaling the arrival of Christmastide, pointing to the arrival of the Light of Christ in the calendar, on Christmas Day.
14.  Legend of the Candycane - We were originally going to write fun messages down our sidewalk and leave a jar of candy canes at the end of our street where the neighborhood kids wait for the bus in the wee early hours of the morning, but now we have no sidewalks as they are covered in snow.  So instead we made little Merry Christmas notes and drove to our bank, putting the notes and candy canes in the little auto teller canisters and sending them up the pipe and into the bank :)
15.   The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey - Oh how I adore this book.  I dare you to read it without crying.  I had found a sweet, paint-your-own ceramic nativity set early this season and bought it saving just for this day.
16.  The Christmas Wish - We were given this last year and just adore the photography in it.
17.  The Snow Speaks - Perfect that we are getting more snow on this day!  We read it and then make all kind of paper snowflakes to hang around.
18.  I'll be Home for Christmas/Home for Christmas - We will make Christmas cards to send to the kiddo's friends
19. Why Christmas Trees Aren't Perfect - We are going to make our neighborhood tea party invitations and the kids will deliver them to our three lovely elderly friends on the block.
20.  The Legend of the Christmas Rose - We will buy white Christmas roses to give out at the tea party
21.  Jacob's Gift - We will work on gifts for family/make goodies for tea
22.  Grandfather's Christmas Tree - We will visit some widows from our church, bringing them our Christmas card and a few goodies.
23.  A new coat for Anna/An Orange for Frankie - Last year we had heard of this idea and the kids LOVED it.  We put $1.06 in several little baggies with the note:  "Surprise!  Our family is on a mission to keep the focus on others this Christmas.  We hope this gesture lit up your heart in a special way today.  Merry Christmas!" and then secretly taped them up all over the Dollar Tree.  The kids were so nervous about "sneaking" but can't wait to do it again!
24.  There was no snow on Christmas Eve/The Best Christmas Pageant Ever - The kids perform in our Christmas Eve pageant this evening.
25. Great Joy - We love this book.  We won't be doing our tree today on Christmas, we'll be serving a Christmas meal to our community, going to church, and surprising a few other people with some Christmas blessings.
26.  One Wintry Night - We'll be having our Christmas on this day
27.  Father and Son - boys out for breakfast  Waiting for Noel - girls night watching Little Women
28.  Charlie and the Christmas Kitty - We own this and the kids love it.  We'll make granola and chex mix
29.  Gingerbread Mouse** - We'll make our gingerbread village today
30.  The Cowboy Christmas - Clean to prepare for our friends to arrive
31.  Christmas in Noisy Village - Our 6 friends will arrive, we'll read this appropriately named book :)
1.  I didn't find a good book for New Year's Day - we'll be quite busy today anyhow.  Church, Rosebowl Parade, J's cinnamon rolls!
2. 12 days of Christmas in New England**
3.  The Christmas Donkey
4.  Shooting at the Stars, the Christmas Truce** - make winter decoration - paper stars for hallway
5.  A Christmas Story - paint with gold
6.  The 4th Wiseman - Do a search through the house for baby Jesus.  We will not find him, but instead find "an old shepherd" (justin) who will tell us we just missed Him and read us this book instead.

...And 5 months later! Pt. 1

It's so funny when you buy a house.  I went through it and saw it empty or with other people's things in it and man, I had a list a mile long of all the things that would *have* to be changed ASAP.  THEN you move in.  And you paint and paint and paint and paint and clean and clean and clean and unpack and unpack and move things around over and over and over...you get the idea.

Anyway, so now we're 6 months in and I'm tired.  I'm tired of painting and moving things and decorating for Christmas and undecorating... And there's still this list a mile long of things I want to do but haven't.  But hey - it's my house and I'm not going anywhere anytime soon, so we're good. We're settling and budgeting and living.  So here's the tour 5months after moving in (and somewhat decorated for Christmas at the time).  And I'll still point out all the things I WANT to do someday* :)

Before

After

...Just Kidding!  Obviously nothing has changed except there's no sweet Mary and there is a few new items.  What's missing?  There's NO outdoor light!!!!  Drives us crazy - and probably our guests.  That's next on our list!

Before

After

Again, nothing changed but my furniture added.  I loved sitting here late summer and reading or working while watching the kiddos play out back.  I do wish there was a back yard entry though here though.

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After

Our table JUST fits in this space.  But I love that we get to use it everyday.  On the "to do" list is to build two benches for it so we can get rid of some of the bigger, bulkier chairs that make the space tighter.

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After

We'd love to turn this window into french doors someday and build a deck off here and into the back yard!

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After

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After

All the trim IN.THE.WHOLE.HOUSE was a creamy, off white.  It was ALL painted 2-3 coats of glossy white.  Ugh.  The fireplace was white washed and the back of the bookcases were papered.  Missing:  a nice old piece of barn board for my mantle.  Someday!









Before


After
Every wall in the dining/living/bedroom area was a different color when we moved in.  This entire living space is now a gray/blue.  Wanted:  an area rug for this space.


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After
Down went the curtains - now we can see that amazing backyard!





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After

Master/Guest Bath.  This will be our next big project.  A shower will be installed and then all new white subway tiles in the bath/shower area.  Pine boarding will go up on the rest of the walls.  The sink and vanity will be taken out and replaced, along with the medicine cabinet on the wall.  Finally new floor tiles will go in...someday :)



Before


After
Guest Room.  Everything painted white and wall paper put up on back wall.  Still left to do - 2nd coat of paint and hanging a few more things up.  Plus sometime of privacy curtain for window over bed.





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After

Kids Hall.  So, just raising the shades helps a ton.  I LOVE this hallway and have big plans for it.  Each door is going to get  numbered with a bright splash of yellow.  Going down the right hand wall, I'm going to paint big, white navy and white stripes.






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After
El's room.  Everything was painted in here, including  her furniture!  Still a lot to hang on the wall and in her closet we're turning half of it into a play/work space.



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After

Boys room.  Pretty drastic changes in here - well color anyway.  I love the gray and Addison is still hoping for some navy, yellow, red and white striped accents around the top of the room.  Some of the trim in here still needs to be painted.  The windows are a pain!!  The massive shelves that got left were taken down and put on the opposite wall.  

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After

 

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Home Sweet Home - Move in Edition

So as you can see by the last post - September 2013! - I haven't had a whole lot of time to do the bloggy thing.  But now that we've moved and we miss a whole lot of people and a whole lot of people ask to see pics of Maine life, I thought I'd at least start uploading some pictures.  Pictures of Maine, Augusta, our fam, life.

Let's start with our new home.  I've never done a visual "walk though" so we'll start there.  This is how the house looked the day we toured it for the 2nd time (making sure we really wanted to put an offer on it.)

First Day of 1st in photos

it's here!  the day we've been dreading/waiting for...

 oh my baby - 1st grade!  may you go forth being filled with knowledge, being blessed and being a blessing to those around you.

What are You doing This Summer?

1.  Ride on a Train
2.  Go to the Beach - check!
3.  Go to the Sidell's pool - check!
4.  Play outside - check!
5.  Go to the Duffield's Farm
6.  Eat popsicles - check!
7.  Get ice cream - check!
8.  Ride on a Boat - check!
9.  Go to Grammy and Papas
10.  Grow flowers - check!
11.  Watch the fireworks - check!
12.  Get glow stix - check!
13.  Go on trails in the forest - check!
14.  Go to the Skating Palace
15.  Go to yard sales - check!
16.  Go to Storyland
17.  Watch the Little Mermaid - check!
18.  Jump in the rain puddles - check!
19.  Go to parks and find... "nature, like froggies or snakes or mooses" - check!

What about you?

Eliana is 4!! A Strawberry Shortcake kind of Day.

Oh El, you are four!!!  We had your first "girls only" party and it was such a blast.  You are blessed with the sweetest of friends.

Another Hallelujah

"Mama, is Addison a Christian?"
"Yes he is, honey."
"Are you a Christian?"
"Yes, sweetie."
"Is Daddy a Christian?"
"Mmm Hmm."

These conversations have been going on for the last month.  We've been able to tell over the past year that Eli has learned so very much at Sunday School.  I mean, yes, we read the Bible and pray together and talk about the Lord throughout the day, but she's really been picking up so much from her teachers at church; it's been exciting to hear!

Also this year has been quite challenging regarding sweet Eli's temperament and emotions.  When the girl gets angry, I'm quite at a loss for how to handle her!  The last few days have found me begging the Lord for wisdom and patience again as it seems like just nothing works when she's like the.way.she.can.be.