advent goings and doings

Good Saturday Morning to you, my few loyal readers! :) Since my last post, we have done all sorts of Christmassy things. Our Advent calendar has guided several opportunities to serve and do for others, as well as surprised the kiddos with fun plans.

Included in the goings and doings of the last few weeks... 

We have finished up our shopping, including picking out a nice dog bed and new collar for Mollie. It was really important to my babies, especially since losing Chloe, to have Christmas gifts for our sweet black dog. They had to test out the bed (on the floor in Walmart):

We have spent several afternoons popping popcorn (on the stove!) and watching movies. I have to tell you, now that I know how to do it the real way and it tastes so much better, I don't think I'll ever go back to the microwave. Love these faces:

We attended Christmas on the Square in downtown Sandersville. We've never been, as that is always the same night (first Thursday of December) as the district pastors' Christmas party. This year, Joe went solo to that, and I took Hannah and Joseph to participate in the children's parade. 

{Dinner at Waffle House afterwards...always a treat!}

We had some friends over for a last-minute get-together. Joe did custom pizzas and it was perfectly laid-back and fun.

Joseph was my big helper in tree decorating; we hung all the ornaments on the big playroom tree in no time. And only broke four or so. 

Hannah had a few Oratorical Club performances, one at a civic club and two at the school. She is doing well and enjoying that. We like that it gives her exposure to people of various ages and ups her confidence in public speaking. The students range from kindergarten to second grade and Hannah's teacher, who she adores, is one of the advisors.

We had snow. No, not snow. Sand. Lots of sand dumped and spread around our front and side yards to even them out. Ever since our new driveway was put in, we've had issues and need to backfill. There were also holes here and there from the massive trees that have been taken down in the last few years. Don't worry, you know I took a video for Joseph to see the Bobcat moving the sand all around. 

The kids liked how it looked like it snowed at our house and have had a great time playing in the sand... 

On one recent afternoon I looked out the kitchen window (while peeling a cutie for Joseph), to see something moving way up in the magnolia tree. It was my little monkey girl. It about freaked me out, but once I saw she was ok and having a grand old time, I grabbed my phone to take pictures.

{Granddaddy started her climbing on that tree when he was here for a visit earlier in the year. I knew she climbed on it when out in the backyard, but I had no idea how high she went up. That child is going to keep me on my toes...}

We squeezed in a super-short but fun trip last weekend, visiting with family and playing in Savannah. 

Going to see the Salvation Army House of Lights is a Christmas tradition in our family. We park the car and walk around a display that spans three houses.

{Unfortunately, Joseph got sick that night with what we thought was food poisoning but later realized was a stomach bug. I got it, too, and it was a hard one to shake.}

Saturday morning, after a family pancake breakfast out, we took Hannah ice skating for the very first time! Nobody fell and she loved it!

Then we picked up Joseph and headed out to Burnside Island where we played at Gran Gran and Poppy's and took full advantage of the beautiful weather by having lunch on the dock.

Between the dock and the garage door, Joseph had a ball! Neither child wanted to leave. But, we had made plans to meet Meme at the mall for mani/pedis and that was awesome! (I can't remember my last...a year ago, maybe?!)

We arrived in Savannah on Friday afternoon and left after 8 o'clock Saturday night. It was a short stay, but we packed in a lot of fun. Before leaving, Meme surprised me with a little early-birthday celebration. Hannah and Joseph were very excited about the cake and watching me unwrap some presents.

We also gave Stella her presents! 

I'm thankful Joe convinced me to go to Savannah. I really didn't want to give up a quiet weekend at home to wrap presents and be lazy, but I'm glad I did. The next morning was our Christmas Cantata at church. Both Joe and I joined the choir to sing. 

Then came this week, the last week of school. Joseph's class went on a field trip to the Milledgeville library to see Santa on Monday. I "stealed him away" and we went to run errands and have lunch with his friend, Weston and my friend, Rebecca, before heading back home. 

...Which brought even more excitement, because the demolition of Daddy's office was underway and we got to watch it!!

The construction superintendent gave them both bricks...highly treasured souvenirs from many memories spent at Joe's office for the last 4 1/2 years. 

Hannah had a Polar Express party at school, for which to attend she had to earn a "golden ticket" with good behavior. Joseph also had a Polar Express viewing and both had their class parties. While Joseph unwrapped a gift I brought for him, the big kids in kindergarten got to do a swap.

...Hannah even talked me into going on the playground with her class yesterday. (It was so cold!)

Yesterday afternoon in the Advent calendar there was a last-day-of-school surprise: a trip to Milledgeville to see the new Chipmunks movie. It was their first time going to the movies and they were thrilled! After we dropped Joe off to swim some laps, I drove the kids through one of those moving car washes. Also a first...they were excited, and hysterical:

The movie was entertaining and we all enjoyed it. Of course, we also loved the popcorn and candy.

And now it's the Saturday before Christmas! A true stay-home day. A chance for me, still in my pajamas, to write this update and do some things around the house. Tomorrow is a really busy day. 

field trip fun

The kids both went on fun field trips recently, and I was lucky enough to get to go along! Despite the fact that I sprained my foot the week before (the day after getting back from New York) and walking was pretty painful, I was glad I got to be there and wouldn't have missed it.

Two weeks ago, Hannah's kindergarten class went to the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, SC. Several parents went as well, to help chaperone. One drawback from living in a small town: you often have to travel to go fun places.

It took almost three hours to get there, the school buses having to drive slower on the interstate and stopping at the rest stop for all the kids to go to the bathroom. {To put this into perspective, it took just over two hours for Hannah and I to get home. School rules state that the kids have to ride the school bus to the destination, but can ride home with their parents.}

But once we were there, it was all fun for this little Monkey and her classmates.

I was responsible for Hannah and Janay. They are BFFs and had a ball together, posing and asking me to take pictures of them on all the little animal statues.

We checked out all the animals. The reptile exhibit was "kinda yuck and scary...there were beetles and big snakes and...how did they catch all of them?...The flamingos were cool, too, but I thought they stinked."

The huge tortoises and baboons were among the favorites, but the best were the giraffes. Hannah got to feed one! {They like lettuce, just like she does!}

Joseph loves giraffes, so we took a video for him. While I was recording, one giraffe took off on a sprint across the exhibit. Never seen that before and it was quite entertaining! We watched it over and over again.

Little brother went on his own out-of-town field trip with his pre-K class the following Monday. His was to Sunny Day Farms in Louisville, GA. That is the best field trip either of the kids have ever been on. Hannah loved going last year when she was in pre-K. I enjoy it about as much as they do!

The fun started with feeding the goats. New this year was the "Goatel" where the goats love to play and climb. 

And the coolest part was the little tin-can contraption where you could fill the can with food and use a crank to send the can up the conveyer belt. As soon as the goats hear the food going up they make their way across the "Golden Goat Bridge" to eat. And they can eat, eat, eat, those goats.

We checked out the chickens and saw where the hens lay their eggs... 

There is a "Corn Pit" where all kinds of products made from corn (corn starch, corn syrup, etc.) are buried. The kids get to dig and try to find things. Joseph was so funny and had a ball in there. 

Then we climbed on a trailer hooked to the back of a tractor and rode up to the big corn maze. Our tour guide walked us through the maze, reading a little story along the way from little signs posted along the route. Joseph kept trying to pick the leftover corn off the stalks the whole time. That kid loves any kind of corn!

We hit the playground, had lunch at the picnic tables, and then went to the huge jumping pillow, trampoline thing. This place is seriously so fun. I have a picture of Hannah on this yellow tire, too:

Joseph's favorite part? "Playing in the corn!...and riding the tractor to the corn maze!!...and I wanted to eat that corn 'cause I was so hungry!!...and riding on the bus!!!" He also loved running onto that big jumping pillow yelling "cannonball!" every time. He had a great time, can you tell?

What a fun day! The weather was amazing and not near as cold as last year. I know I will be not included in many field trips as the kids get older, so I'm taking full advantage now!

halloween

The week of Halloween was busy as it always is. We kicked off the fun with the fall festival at church on Sunday, the 25th. Pocahontas and Captain America were very excited!

Their costumes were so much fun this year. Joseph was super pumped to be Captain America. Those little kid muscle costumes are hysterical. I had to buy the shield separately, but I mean, come on. How could I not?!

As for the little Indian girl... She really wanted to be Pocahontas and I could not find a single costume online that actually looked like Pocahontas - lots of Indian/Native American ones, but none exactly like Pocahontas. All the cute ones we saw were homemade. So what did I do? Make one myself? Of course not. But I did go to Hobby Lobby and pick up some material while over in Milledgeville while Joe was swimming one day. And then I got home and sent a message to a Facebook friend who embroiders. Turns out her mom can sew and she'd be glad to make little Hannah a Pocahontas costume. She was also very inexpensive. Score! Hannah and I were both thrilled how it turned out!

Hannah informed me that her hair did not look like Pochanotas', so I remedied that by ordering a black wig off Amazon. Throw in a turquoise necklace of mine and her turquoise Minnetonka booties (couldn't go barefoot!) and she was good to go.

Joseph's best friend, Weston, was also Captain America. They didn't know the other was. Can you believe it?!

Love those two. Captain cuteness is more like it...

Joe signed us up to take part in the trunk-or-treat again this year. We've volunteered our "trunk" four out of the last five years and we have always done something elaborate, me letting my creative mind have fun with themes (spooky candlelit ghost trunk, race day, under the sea...). This year there was too much going on, but we still needed to participate.

Enter the teepee from our playroom. Stick Pocahontas in there with her basket of corn (er, candy corn), and set some pumpkins outside.

It worked out just fine. And minimal clean up!

That Tuesday was "School Rocks with Mom" for the pre-K. I enjoyed every minute of being with my little guy, completely in his element at school. We made an adorable little owl, too.

If there wasn't enough going on, it was also Red Ribbon Week and each day had a theme. Thursday was jersey day as the kids "teamed up against drugs". We proudly supported Georgia Tech and Auburn. With all the Bulldog shirts, my kids definitely stood out!

That day was also Hannah's first performance in the Oratorical Club. Joe and I met her at a local nursing home and watched her recite her part of the grandparents program. Look at her in this outfit. I mean, really. Off to prep school...or Hogwarts.

Then we had class Halloween parties at school. Joseph's was Thursday afternoon, Hannah's was Friday. They both ate plenty of sugar.

Joseph also went on a field trip to trick-or-treat around the square downtown, as Hannah did last year. It is so cute watching all the kids in costume parade around the town square, filling up their treat bags. The businesses all take part and even dress up, too. The morning is grand fun for the little ones.

Joseph pulled off that little mum in my hand from a plant as he passed. He loves to pick me flowers - even those he is not supposed to!