Christmas Fun

We have had a sweet month of December here...busy enjoying Advent and preparing for Christmas.  A few of our fun activities this month...

Candy Cane Pizza

Reindeer Treat Bags (for preschool class)

Reindeer "Lollipops" (for ballet class)

Lollipops all dressed up!

Ornament Wreath (ornaments on wire hanger...so easy!)

Foam Gingerbread Houses!

Handprint Christmas Wreath

Christmas gifts for our small group's "adopted" family

All wrapped up!

My old friend and new neighbor (yay!), Theresa, found this fun nativity on Pinterest, and we decided to try it.  The kids (and their moms) had such a fun time making them.  The angel on top was our addition, and we love how they turned out! 

Gingerbread and Candy Nativity

Kade, Clara, and Ainsley proud of their nativities!

The Jesse Tree has been our newest tradition, and we have really been blessed by our Advent time every night.  During the day, the girls color their ornaments for that day's lesson, and at night, we read the Scripture for the day and hang the ornaments on our "tree".  It has been really sweet reading through the family tree of Christ as we prepare to celebrate Jesus' birthday!  

Our Jesse Tree

Fall in Review!

So, in honor of the last day of fall (and because I have been so bad at blogging), I thought I would do a quick recap on all of our fall fun.

Over Labor Day, we had the chance to get together with our sweet friends, Chris and Rebecca.  They are in Mississippi and we are fortunate to be able to meet up with them once or twice a year.  We met at Callaway Gardens (our fave in-the-middle meeting place) for the Hot Air Balloon Festival.  Their sweet girls, McKenzie and Sydney, along with Clara and Ainsley, had a blast, and it was so great to catch up with our families.  

Fun at the beach!

Sweet friends!

With Rebecca

Later in September, we took our "summer" vacation to Sea Pines.  This was a new vacation spot for us and it turned out great!  The house was a great fit for our family and the beach there was amazing.  

Family on the beach

Sweet sisters

Deer on the way to the beach!

October rolled around with Halloween fun.  Clara had been asking to be a unicorn since last October, so she was thrilled with her costume!  Ainsley made for a sweet owl, and precious Madeline was a fish, just like her sisters had been for their first Halloween.  The big girls went to a few houses in our neighborhood and really enjoyed dressing up.  We also enjoyed time carving our pumpkin!   

Unicorn, Owl, & Fish  :)

Proud Clara

Silly Ainsley

November brought birthday time - Clara's 5th and Madeline's 1st!  We had a sweet party here for the two of them...brunch and outside runaround time - perfect!.  It was an apple harvest/"modern" farm theme and was a lot of fun to put together.  We were so grateful to have so many friends and loved ones here to celebrate the girls with us!  We ended November with family time in Blythewood and Bamberg for Thanksgiving.    

Fun Milk Bottles (repurposed frappuccino bottles)

The Birthday Brunch

Clara with her sweet friend, Madison 

Enjoying that first taste of cake!

December came quickly, and we have really enjoyed the Advent season and preparing for Christmas.  More on that later and here's hoping for better blogging days ahead!  :)