Merry Christmas Guys!

My apologies for the lack of communication this past week. I'll be posting all you've missed and all future advent fun and Christmas cheer on our facebook page or in our instagram album. 

I just wanted to take a moment to thank each and every one of you for your love, guidance and support this year here on our blog. Thanks for your comments of encouragement and wisdom and most of all thank you for lifting us up in prayer. 

This year has by far been the hardest so far in the way of motherhood and marriage but I have pulled through and am looking forward to what's in store for us next year. 

Also just wanted to praise my children for they're efforts this year! Nevaeh graduated Kinder and will be attending a new kinder next year. Jiedyn passed grade one and made some amazing new friends whom he'll be going into grade two with next year. I'm so proud of each of them and their achievements. They truly are great kids and are always willing to give everything 110% (Except for photos!). 

2013 has had us all learning and accomplishing our goals. We're all happier, healthier and have learnt to work together a lot more than last year. We've learnt to listen to each other, put others first and to share the load. We're still learning to make good choices for ourselves, each other and our family as a whole. We've come such a long way in 12 months and have a lot to be thankful for.

Thank you guys for your readership of our blog and hanging out with us here on the web. We will be back next year with more adventure, repices, wakky truths and happiness. Have a spirit filled Christmas and you'll see us again in 2014!!

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December 14th

Christmas Advent Activity Day 14.

Camp around the Christmas tree!

This is another advent activity we have done before. Last year I captured some really festive photos which you can view by clicking here..

This year I only got a few. I left it to the last minute to set the mattresses up and together we watched Charlotte's Web. Nevaeh fell asleep around half way through while Jie and I went on to watch  another movie.

For a full list of Family Advent click here..

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December 12 & 13..

Christmas Advent Activity Day 12 & 13.

Cozy up and read Christmas books before bed {plus} Eat a Gingerbread man game!

Yesterday was such a massive day. Doctors, blood tests, shopping, Jie's school finishing early, mowing the lawns, preparing for Nevaehs break up party/graduation then babysitting 'til late had my head pounding from 5pm onward. The kids were so tired after such a bg big Thursday night that we almost threw the books (I'd bought from the op shop earlier in the day) in the bookshelf just to sleep. But we didn't. We cozied up with our tired and worn out bodies all snug under my doona and read Peter Spier's Christmas and A Bear For Christmas. Then we all fell sound asleep..

Tonight was our 'Eat a Gingerbread man game' night! Uncle Anthony and Aunty Jane were meant to come over but Aunty Jane called us to let us know that they wouldn't be able to make it as she wasn't feeling well at all. We prayed for her together before playing a game of picturika! I was actually impressed by Nevaeh tonight who scored the same amount of cards as me at the end of our game. This is a personal best for her finding around 15 objects without any help! Her and I came runners up to Jie beating us by just one card. 

After a quick break for toilet and drinks I prepared the table for our 'Eat a Gingerbread man game'. I found the game back in November via this blog post.. I did plan to print out this game and the M&M's game called 'Dont Eat Pete" but unfortunately our printer ran out of ink so Jie did a great job at drawing the dice and labeling them with the instructions just like the original..

The kids and I had fun munching on our Gingerbread men, eating off heads and limbs. I won the first game and Jie won the second. We also realised halfway through that we all needed a glass of milk. 

Jie and I played two games and Nevaeh decided that she only wanted the body of her other one so we called her man a Gingerbread Nobody! We all couldn't stop laughing..

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Nevaeh & Hosanna's Graduation Night

We all had a wonderful time at Nevaeh and Hosanna's Graduation night last night. 

We enjoyed a picnic with sweets and fruit, fairy bread and biscuits.

Here are some photos from last night..

The two girls of the night!

Hosanna with her Mama Penny..

My son munching away..

Nevaeh with her friends Ella-Jayde and Lacey..

Marky and Judea..

Hosanna with her friends..

The kids in a circle about to perform for us parents..

My big proud girl!

Our other big proud girl..

Well done little ladies. 

We're all very proud of you!

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December 10

Christmas Advent Activity Day 10.

Write out our Christmas Cards! 

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Moments that made me smile today..

The kids watching TV together..

Jiedyn doing some writing..

and Nevaeh playing happily by herself!

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December 7th

Christmas Advent Activity Day 7.

Bake and deliver cookies to our neighbors!

Last night we baked over 100 cookies using this recipe..

We then glazed the cookies using this recipe..

We ate all the burnt ones!

And packed the others in the goldest cellophane we could find..

We eventually ran out of sticky tape..

But that didn't stop us!

We packed the cookies in pairs..

We hand wrote notes to go with our cookies..

and shared them with our neighbors today!

Today we spoke to old neighbors, new neighbors, neighbors with lots of kids, neighbors with no kids, happy neighbors, grumpy neighbors, neighbors of all shapes and sizes from all different cultures believing in all sorts of gods and goddess' but one thing we all have in common.. Love for shortbread biscuits! Merry Christmas Clarinda street and surrounds! We love you all!

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December 5 & 6..

Christmas Advent Activity Days 5 & 6.
Make popcorn necklaces and watch a Christmas movie & Play the "Don't eat Pete game"..

Day five.. Don't remind me.. SIX hours of Christmas shopping for 8 children had Penny and I Hoola hooping in Sportsco and walking around bare feet in Kmart! We stopped in to grab our Christmas DVD and popcorn but the popcorn was gone in 20 seconds flat of walking into the Shillings house. The DVD did not work on their DVD player though I did make one necklace/bracelet before the kids dipped into another batch of popcorn. Instead, we painted Hosanna's bedroom with the paint we got from Bunnings and eventually got home just after 12 am.

On day six, yesterday, I spent most of the day trying to relax which was hard seeing as there was absolutely no food in the cupboards and the kids were very tired and constantly fighting. I had no motivation to do shopping but eventually did anyway. I tried to make it bearable for the kids and just stuck to very basic instructions and remained positive. It worked quite well without any meltdowns. At around 5pm the Shillings younger four joined us for dinner before I grabbed my thin mattress and mine and kids bedding to cosy up in the lounge with the movie we were all still wanting to see. 

The movie chosen was Christmas Angel.. 

You can grab a copy here.. or if you live near by I'm happy to lend my copy out!

Here are a few photos of our night last night..

And no "Don't eat Pete" game as yet..

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December 4th..

Christmas Advent Activity Day 4.
Write angel notes for our friends!

This was so totally fun! The kids picked from 6 types of sticky note designs for 5 of their most {favorite} friends and one {could be in the future} friend. They said thank you to each friend for things like, always sharing, being kind, helping and just being a great friend. Nevaeh got really specific thanking a little boy from kinder for helping her build the biggest and best tall tower with the blocks. I thought that was so cute! Unfortunately no photos were taken but memories abundance! 

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December 3rd..

Christmas Advent Activity Day 3.
Take photo's beside the Christmas Tree!

Such a FUN photo shoot!

Which one is your favorite?

This one is my favorite.

Nevaeh on her tippy-toes to reach Jie's shoulder..

It really is the little things..

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December 2nd..

Christmas Advent Activity Day 2.
Retell the Nativity Story!

Check out The Action Bible here..

While telling the nativity story to Nevaeh, she picks up our baby Jesus ornament and says "I love the little Lord Jesus.." and kisses it. Such a sweet little moment.

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December 1st..

Christmas Advent Activity Day 1.
Put up the Christmas Tree!

Around a week before Christmas I got the sewing machine out to sew my first ever Christmas Tree Skirt. I did the whole thing free hand and used fabric I got given to me by a neighbor plus two of my old shirts. This was a big deal for me as I have always wanted one. I remember one of the foster families I lived with had one and since then I always had my eye open for them but have never crossed one in the shops. Last year I asked a friend to make one but they weren't confident enough so this year, I made one.. I did it and it turned out better than I expected. Prefect for our Christmas tree! Here are a few pictures of the progress..

On December first, while putting the tree up I was amazed that it actually fit because I didn't actually measure anything. I really just roughed the whole thing.. This year, I was the one most excited about putting the tree up. The kids hardly helped at all. While they did put some bulbs on they just wanted it to be over with so they could go and watch Pokemon no matter how loud the carols were! But anyhow, the first advent activity was done. Maybe not the best start of our advent but a start..

This year is also the first year we have stockings! 

Shopping for stocking fillers have been so fun..

Do you guys do stockings?

What was your favorite thing you received in your stocking as a child?

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