advent ornaments

some of those interested in following along with our advent readings have expressed fear and trepidation when it comes to crafting the ornaments.  so i thought it would be helpful for me to include a post that shows what each ornament looks like.  i promise, they are very simple!  most are made from felt and yarn that we already had on hand.  others are ornaments we already had or some we've picked up over the years with the advent tree in mind.  i think the quainter they are, the cuter they are!  my favorite is the rainbow coat!

however, if crafting is not your thing, i also think it would be fun to have each child draw a picture of each bible story and then at the end staple it all together and you have a cute picture flip book from advent!

and don't feel like you have to have all 25 ornaments ready to go on december 1.  our first year doing this found me making the first half and then finishing out the last half as i had time. make it fun!

so happy to celebrate this time with my family and with you!

fall 2014

well life is just so busy and my computer is so full of pictures, that both have prevented me from being a faithful blogger.  thanks to a new external hard drive and thanksgiving break, i am finally able to sit down and share some of my favorite pictures from this fall. 

this is my favorite time of the year! 

we kicked off the fall by enjoying a family trip to the zoo.  i think this may be our new picture spot.

i had to do a little photo shoot with salsa and the pumpkins.  he was moderately cooperative.

 we celebrated noodle's 9TH BIRTHDAY on october 23.  i simply cannot believe that my big boys are getting so big!  noodle you are still my super sweet and sensitive child who always has to make things right before you go to bed at night.  i love your heart and how it desires to be in a right relationship with others.  you were an awesome pitcher and 3rd basemen in baseball this fall with the phillies.  you are a great student and get upset when you make anything less than a 98!  ha ha!  you are a great little brother to burrito and a great big brother to salsa.  salsa really loves you and thinks you are the funniest thing!

carving pumpkins was so fun this year and noodle and burrito took full charge of accomplishing this task all on their own.  we roasted the pumpkin seeds and had fun lighting the pumpkins each night.

halloween was a fun-packed day!  there are so many fun fall things to do and i find myself running out of time each year to get it all in.  so we did it all on halloween this year!  the big boys had an early release day at school that day so they enjoyed parties at school and then we went to IHOP for free scary face pancakes.  after a quick afternoon nap for salsa, we went to a local pumpkin farm and had so much fun running around and enjoying the scenes of fall there.

 we even braved the corn maze this year and finally found our way out!

 we had to be a little silly too by taking some action shots jumping off the hay bales!

 salsa's favorite part was the farm animals!

and then we did the traditional halloween trick or treating in our new neighborhood.  the boys had a blast!  there were so many trick-or-treaters, that cars could not drive up the street.  it was super fun to meet new neighbors and see so many people out loving on kids.  salsa and i made it up one block before it was his bedtime and john took the big boys until they were complaining that their candy bags were too heavy!

we decided a while ago to do a star wars theme this year, so we had obi-won kenobi, a clone trooper and salsa was r2d2!

we've enjoyed our fall and look forward to celebrating advent!

preparing for advent...get your ornaments ready!

advent is just around the corner and the anticipation is building in our home. and we're super pumped to share this advent with baby salsa who might even get into the hanging-the-ornament-action this year!

what is advent?  advent (from the Latin word adventus meaning "coming") is a season observed in many Western Christian churches, a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. Christians believe that the season of Advent serves a reminder both of the original waiting that was done by the Hebrews for the birth of their Messiah as well as the waiting of Christians for Christ's return. (from Wikipedia)

we celebrate advent by doing an advent tree.  what is an advent tree? the idea of an advent tree comes from Isaiah 11:1-9, where God promises a discouraged nation that the glory they remember from david's time will come to them again. they will have another king from jesse's family, in whose reign the whole earth will know God. christians see that promise fulfilled in Jesus, and so we put up an advent tree and decorate it with reminders of how God prepared the world for that Kingdom. (taken from Darcy James' book Let's Make a Jesse Tree!)

each day, starting on december 1 and ending on december 25, i will share the scripture that we read as a family and the ornament that is hung on the tree with you in hopes that family and friends would join with us.

we crafted our advent reading plan to perfectly coincide with our favorite children's bible, the Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones.
if you have young kids and don't have this bible, you must walk out of your house, get in your car, and drive to your nearest bookstore to buy it. right now. seriously. and no, i am not being paid to say this. this bible is the sweetest one i've read. each story points towards Christ and is so good!

so here is our reading plan for this advent, along with the coordinating ornament.  some of the ornaments are simple, crafted from felt, that noodle and i made together 7 years ago while burrito was at school.  others are hallmark ornaments or other ornaments that we've picked up over time.

so the reading plan is this:

dec 1 creation genesis 1-2 pgs 18-27 dove
dec 2 the fall genesis 3 pgs 28-37 fruit tree
dec 3 the flood genesis 6-9 pgs 38-47 rainbow
dec 4 tower of babel genesis 11 pgs 48-55 tower
dec 5 the promise to abraham genesis 12-21 pgs 56-61 stars in the sky
dec 6 abraham and isaac genesis 22 pgs 62-69 ram
dec 7 jacob, rachel and leah genesis 29-30 pgs 70-75 stalks of grain
dec 8 joseph genesis 37-46 pgs 76-83 a rainbow coat
dec 9 moses and the burning bush exodus 3-13 pgs 84-91 a burning bush
dec 10 moses and the red sea exodus 14-15 pgs 92-99 the split waters
dec 11 the law exodus 16 ff pgs 100-107 stone tablets
dec 12 joshua and jericho josh 3-6 pgs 108-115 trumpet
dec 13 david's anointing 1 sam 16 pgs 116-121 david the shepherd boy
dec 14 david and goliath 1 sam 17 pgs 122-129 slingshot
dec 15 david the shepherd psalm 23, 51 pgs 130-135 lyre
dec 16 naaman 2 kings 5 pgs 136-143 a heart
dec 17 isaiah isaiah 9 ff pgs 144-151 crown
dec 18 daniel in the lion's den daniel 6 pgs 152-159 daniel and a lion
dec 19 jonah jonah 1-4 pgs 160-169 fish
dec 20 the prophets neh 8-10 pgs 170-175 party hat
dec 21 john the baptist matt 3 pgs 200-203 a shell
dec 22 mary and the angel luke 1-2 pgs 176-179 an angel
dec 23 journey to bethlehem luke 1-2 pgs 180-181 a scroll
dec 24 the shepherds and wise men luke 2, matt 2 pgs 184-188 the three wise men
dec 25 jesus is born! luke 2 pgs 182, 190, 192-198 baby jesus

i would love for you to join us in doing this. this is our 7th year to do an advent tree and it makes this season so, so sweet!  it takes a commitment of time, which just means less opportunity to be assaulted by consumerism in the malls. it takes a little bit of effort in making or securing the ornaments. however, it is so worth it and so rewarding! the boys loved taking turns hanging the ornaments on the tree, and the excitement and expectation builds as more and more ornaments fill the tree, until christ is born and christmas is here!

happy advent!