advent activities days 11-15

Day 11

Downtown Covington presented it's first live nativity.  There were a few kinks.  The minister who was supposed to be doing the reading was at the coffee shop across the street so we got to re sing about three songs while someone ran to get him.  However, it was a sweet night for the boys to experience and there was a petting zoo with sheep, llamas, camels, donkeys, and miniature horses to pet and feed.

On the way back to our house that night we stopped to see the lights on the Old Church and played in them a bit too.  It's very fun to see yourself lit up with green spots!

Day 12

Snowflake making!  They absolutely loved it.  Coffee filters, scissors, and an hour of crafting.  I showed them one and then they went at it, including Logan.  There were some really good snowflakes mixed in and no meltdowns when a couple didn't turn out as planned.

Before we started the activity Logan and Connor were playing "Nathan and Bartholomew" who are characters from our Advent story.  Connor is still in character during craft time.

Day 13

Micah and Connor had their Christmas Piano recital.  They did such a great job!!

Day 14

This day we played one of our favorite Christmas games, The Gingerbread Man game.  We love it!  It is so easy yet so suspenseful and fun.  I have taken this game to play with the boys' classes at school several times and it's always a big hit!

Day 15

I took the boys to shop for Zach for Christmas.  As soon as we stepped in the stores one of them said, "Alright mama let's head to the manly aisles." We spent about an hour walking back and forth to different spots and getting distracted by toys but they each found Zach something they liked.  Thankfully I talked Connor out of the hunting hat/mask/whatever thing that he found!  You're welcome hunny!

getting out

Micah, Connor and I left right after school Wednesday to head down to Enterprise for a few days. Zach was going to YoungLife Camp and Sharptop and I was just too worn out to think about being alone with the boys all weekend. We had a great time at my parents. Micah got to play with his best Enterprise buddy John Parker and had sleepovers with his two beautiful cousin friends (night one Haley and night two Keelie). They talked worms and roared with Papa, got treats from Mimi and wrestled with Tim. All in all a pretty good time. I ate Cutts (YUM!), got to see Jen, Chris, Tim and Christina (poor David was working like a dog tiling at someones house so I didn't get to see him...boo!), cleaned/organized for my mama (one of my favorite things) and last but not least GOT OUT OF THE HOUSE!!!

Connor does not typically sleep well at other peoples houses and by Friday he was exhausted, cranky and completely and utterly attached to me. Like I couldn't walk a foot away without him saying his favorite three words, "hold you mama!" I was going to try to just take him somewhere because usually he does better when we're away from the house but the weather was just nasty. By 10:00 my mom looked at me and suggested that I just get out. I didn't argue! I seriously snuck out while she gave him peppermints. No makeup, nothing, just left!

I spent the next 6ish hours driving and shopping in Dothan. I went to Sonic, Hobby Lobby, Lifeway, TJ Maxx, Old Navy, Pet Smart, and Barnes and Noble. My favorite stop was my very first. It was an antique store suggested to me by my fabulous sister in law and it was great! I wanted quite a few things. Ok TONS of things and took pictures of a few of my favorites to share.

the store

birdcage. I had the perfect spot for it but not the perfect desire to drop $35. Maybe later ;)

Not the best vintage suitcase but the red color made me like it.

Micah would have totally loved it!

I pretty much love all white dishes of any shape and size. This piece is milk glass. There are a lot of different patterns but the only ones of it I like is this diamond pattern (I have a creamer that matches this that I bought in Savannah) and the smooth finished kind. I almost bought this but ended up getting something else instead. This was a small budget trip :(

I absolutely fell in love with this print. How can you not love a sweet blond girl rocking her baby doll. I think I'd love it more if the frame were painted a lime green color and distressed a lil bit!

This just cracked me up. Nothing says I love my stage than sewing it on your apron :)

yep. this was awesome. wanted it.

more white. I think this one was ironstone. cool shape.

Ok this thing was neat. A galvanized Igloo cooler. There was a smaller one too. If I had room in my house it would have been purchased.

Honestly this secretary was not great. The condition was pitifu BUT it gave me a great idea. Zach has an old white desk as his bedside table and I thought having a girlier white desk (like a secretary) would be super cute as my bedside table!

I ended up buying two milk glass canisters that happened to be 45% off!! Plus my awesome mother sent me home with 4 large lidded ball jars and a cool gray/blue window frame. SCORE! It was a GREAT time away and my babies were excited to see me when I got back!

my bucket and me

Sometimes when I'm at the store and one of the boys sees something they want I explain to them they don't need it and we don't need to spend the money on it. Then other times when I'm at the store and one of the boys sees something they want I CAVE! Example Dollar Tree...

I mean what little boy doesn't want a pint sized bucket with a spinny top!?

(word of advice, if you're going to cave do it at a dollar store. the stuff is cheaper!)

a little outing

The boys and I went to the square in Covington today with the hopes of wandering in and out of a few shops and seeing the big Christmas tree. Connor's anger about sitting in the stroller and the rain that just suddenly appeared as soon as we got out of the car kept us from wandering and getting to get a close up view of the tree. The boys, meaning Micah, did get to pick out their present to Zach and then we headed to Scoops for a 'sorry it's raining and we can't see the tree' cup of ice cream. The good sugar buzz lasted just long enough for us to stop by Publix for the dinner supplies for our Christmas with the Cardozas tonight!!

country living fair

Stephanie and I went to the Country Living Fair on Friday. It's the first time it's been in Atlanta and we were anxious to see all the fun stuff. While we were a little surprised at all the 'new' merchandise there ( we were both expecting it to be a little more vintage) we still had a lot of fun and saw some good things. Here are some of the favs...

French furniture

There was a vendor with all French (or French inspired) pieces

I'm not a big swan fan but there were EVERYWHERE! I guess it's the 'it' decor right now.

This is from a furniture maker out of Gainesville, GA. They build all of it themselves and take custom orders. They also give a percentage or each of their sales to support missions in Africa. Very cool!

I was amused by their name ;)

Steph found a fabric booth. She was more than a little excited.

At this same booth they had quilt patterns available for sale. If the quilts had been for sale also I would have had a hard time not buying these next three!

A piggy shot for my mama :)

This just cracked me up

Sea of children's chairs and benches

My favorite booth by far is this next one. Great Stuff by Paul out of Maryland. He had lots of cool wooden trays, dough bowls, rice bowls, well buckets and asian baby bathtubs. Along with other baskets, grain barrels, burlap sacks, and more.

This is what I came home with. The third from the top is currently on my kitchen table waiting for it's semi permanent spot. I loved the dark wood and the price tag. All the other items were $20 plus more than this.