Days 17, 18, 19, 20, and 21 of the Advent Angel

Wow, guess I got a bit behind. =)

Day 17: A piece of chocolate. It can't get much more exciting than that.

Day 18: Looking at Christmas lights in our little town and handing out our annual award! I think I mentioned this in a previous post, but I'm too lazy to go check. So...every year I print out an "award" and the kids and I go around to see the lights in our neighborhood. They pick their favorite. This year I was going to do a plaque, but ended up not liking my options, so just stuck with what I know. I also threw in a little somethin' for the winner.

Day 19: Chocolate covered rice crispy treats (courtesy of my friend Amber)

Day 20: Camp out by the Christmas tree (which really ended up being a camp out in the family room since there wasn't enough room by the actual tree)

Day 21: A trip to Chuck-E-Cheese! It was great. We got there right when it opened and had the place to ourselves for almost an hour. Superman and I enjoyed some time out without having to watch the kids too closely.

Can't believe it's only 3.5 days until Christmas! My printer cartridge just ran out, and I have to brave the crowds to go get a new one. Ugh. I was so proud of myself for being done shopping and not having to go out in the madness.

Happy Gotcha Day to my Sweet G...

One year ago today, G came to us...6 weeks old; tiny, sweet, adorable.

She fills our lives with more joy than we thought possible.

She giggles and laughs and runs around with her brothers and sisters.

She has spunk and grit and tenderness all in one.

Sweet little G...how grateful we are for you!

Days 15 & 16 of the Advent Angel

Today is M's preschool Christmas party. He's pretty stoked about it. His teacher is one of those people born to teach little ones, and he absolutely loves her. I thought this gift idea was cute and affordable:

The Advent Angel treated us to frozen yogurt at NuYo last night. For those who haven't heard about it, it's an incredible frozen yogurt joint where you can pick your own toppings. What's so great about it is that they have fresh fruit instead of that goopy defrosted-frozen junk. Oh, it was soooo yummy. There was sugar in my vanilla yogurt, I topped it with fresh berries, and it was well worth a brief trip off my no-sugar wagon!


Don't you just wanna scoop that up and eat it?!?!






I had J-Man's parent conference yesterday, but that post will require some thought and time, so I'll post that later. Have a great day!

Day 14 of the Advent Angel

We were going to take cookies to the firemen yesterday, but decided that they may be more likely to eat a sealed box of See's chocolates than home-baked goods from a stranger. =)

I was so surprised and happy with how wonderfully welcoming they were to us! The nice fireman let the kids go in his truck and explore, and gave them all fire hats and stickers. The kids had a blast, and I think we probably got more out of it than the firemen did!

Fun stuff.

Three More Days of Advent and Other Tidbits

Day 12: Candy canes!

Day 13: The Pirates of the Caribbean Movie (which we scored at a White Elephant exchange--gotta love free!)

Day 14: Taking cookies to the Fire Station.

On Friday the kids made a thank-you card for our local police station and we delivered the cookies. This deputy was kind enough to pose for a picture with the kids. They initially stood a few feet away from her when I asked them to get in the photo with her, but they eventually warmed up. =)

We looked at a house nearby this weekend. We're not actively searching for a place to move, but it has always been our desire to have some land where we could raise some livestock. We love our current home and love our neighborhood, so are content either way. But there is something about being in the country...

At any rate, the house we looked at is probably one of the ugliest (and I don't usually like to use that word) houses we've seen. BUT, it has so much potential. It's 700 square feet larger than our current house, but more importantly, is on an acre of land--with a huge pond! The house is in dire need of much aesthetic work, and who knows how much structural work. But oh, how I would love to have some piggies and goats.

At this point, we're just waiting for a door to open. There would need to be a lot of financial ducks in a row before it could happen, so we'll just see. The thing that appeals to me the most is that I could actually add the leaf to our dining room table and we could have room for ALL of us to sit together. Right now, I'm not sure where we'll put G when she's ready to be out of her high chair...maybe we could just set her in the middle of the table? =)

While I lay in bed the other night dreaming of what I could do with that place, I realized that we are not finalized with G yet. And being that there is a pond on the property, I didn't know how we could get our homestudy amended and approved without having some sort of fence around the pond? But then, the pond is just too big to fence in. Sigh. I can't WAIT until G is ours and we no longer have to worry about what paperwork we'll need to fill out or what hoops we'll have to jump through when we make decisions for our family.

Oh, Hot Cocoa, You Are Divine.

So some of you may remember my life change from back in October. It involved refined sugar, and you can read about it here.

I've pretty much stuck by my plan, which was originally just for 30 days, but became a life-long commitment. I've enjoyed two or three sweet concoctions since giving up refined sugar, but in general, I stay away from the stuff. I think chemical sugar-free substitutes are just as bad, if not worse for me than regular refined sugar, so I try to use natural alternatives when possible.

The last few days I've been craving hot cocoa. Superman ordered one from Starbucks last night, and I took a teensy weensy sip of it, and it got my wheels turning. I felt challenged, no CALLED to concoct a hot cocoa that I could enjoy without falling off my "no refined sugar" wagon.

So, before I started creating recipes myself, I figured I'd look online, and I came across this. And boy, oh boy, is it divine. As I sit here, I sip my chocolate-y hot cocoa while the rain drizzles outside. It is a true December afternoon. And if you want to pick up some Agave nectar, you can get it at Costco now!

Ear Tubes and the past 4 days of Advent

Mr. C has had a lot of ear problems the last few years. He had never actually had an ear infection until about 2 weeks ago, but he would get earaches, followed by months of not being able to hear. So, yesterday, he had tubes put in to help the fluid drain. He was pretty cranky coming out of anesthesia, but after a few hours, he was back to his normal self, tormenting his siblings.

Here he is before:

...And after. He told me he wasn't going to let the medicine make him sleep. Guess he lost that battle.

The Advent Angel has been enjoying herself around here.

Day 8: Chocolate bars!

Day 9: A special treat (homemade chocolate-peanut butter cups) after dinner.

Day 10: Looked at Christmas lights in a town nearby.

Day 11: Taking cookies to the police station!

We watched the movie "Blindside" the other night. Wowee, I loved it. It was such a "feel good" film. It just made me all tingly inside. I thought about our kids, and where they would be right now if we didn't have them. They could likely be in foster care, bouncing around from home to home...wishing for a forever family to scoop them up and rescue them. I thought about how fortunate we are to have them in our lives, and what a sheer joy this Christmas season has been with them so far. I am richly blessed by their placement in our lives. I wonder which one of them is going to grow up to be a professional football player? =)