In Our Home :: Thanksgiving & Early Dec

Thanks to the gentle nudge of a blog reading friend I was encouraged to update our little blog space.  I mean, one post a month just isn't working with some of our readers I guess?!  ;)

I apologize to all of you avid Flies Blend blog readers who anxiously await new blog posts (all 5 of you, right?!).

Without further ado, here is the newest addition in the "In Our Home" blog series.  

***************

Thanksgiving

1) Alan's mom, Ardyce, spent Thanksgiving week in AZ.  We started the week off with a trip to the SeaLife Aquarium.  Both Nora and Elsie love this little place.  It's certainly no Monterrey Bay Aquarium but it's a nice little morning activity.

2) As you can see by this pic, the girls LOVED having Nana in town!

3) I humbled myself this year and purchased the pre-made Fresh and Easy Thanksgiving meal. It was only going to be the 5 of us (3 adults, 2 kids) and so I thought this would be more favorable than spending the entire day in the kitchen slaving over each dish.  Now some of you may think this is genius but in all honesty, I love to host, entertain and cook, so the thought of not making each dish from scratch made my little heart squirm.  However, now looking back, I'm totally not ashamed to admit that it ended up being the best decision!  Thanksgiving day was so relaxing and the food was so super yummy!

4) The girls had a blast doing our Thankful Tree this November.  If you didn't get a chance to read that post, be sure to do so!  It's totally a family tradition I'd strongly suggest doing next year.  Such an easy and practical way to be reminded of all of the things we all have to be thankful for. So pin the post and remember to come back to it early November!
***************

Our Christmas Tree & Advent Calendar

1) & 2) We may be one of the few AZ people who get a real Christmas tree, but we love it!  There's just nothing better than the fresh smell of a Christmas tree in December.  Now keeping it alive until Dec 25th is a little bit of an ordeal.  We'll see how our green thumbs do with this year's tree.  Last year I was pretty certain  that come Dec 25th our tree was a massive fire hazard. (eek!)

3) Does anyone else do the Pickle Ornament (a German tradition)?!  We love it... especially b/c I love giving gifts (my primary love language, as noted in The Five Love Languages is Giving/Receiving Gifts).  There are lots of ways to do it but the basics of the tradition are that we hide the pickle ornament on the tree and whatever child finds the ornament first gets the first gift of the Christmas season. This was the first year that Nora actually understood the tradition and she was super excited about her Dora the Explorer play tent (which happens to have already broken... oh kids!)

4) I was super stoaked to put up our DIY Advent Calendar this year.  If you missed those directions be sure to click here for the free printables!
***************

Gingerbread House Party

All three girls were thrilled with all of the sugary sweet goodness that a friend planned for them this past Friday at their very first Gingerbread House Decorating Party!

I mean who wouldn't be excited about gumdrops, skittles, sprinkles, Twizzlers and everything else that makes a Gingerbread house so amazingly wonderful?!

***************
We have more family coming in this week and will have much more to report as we prepare to celebrate Christ's birth at the end of the month!

Merry Christmas Season!!!  Eat your tummies silly!