Saturday, December 1, 2007

The 25 Days of Christmas

At last, here are pictures of everyone's advent calendars:

My husband's:


Solomon's:


Isaac's:


John's:


My Mom's:



Solomon's calendar is not completely done yet because it was just getting too late tonight, especially since I was working with Miriam sleeping in my arms. The poor baby is doing very bad, and can only breathe through her mouth because her nose is all stuffed up. She keeps waking up crying and I am terrified to go to sleep because I want to make sure she is safe.

If you are wondering how I had the time to make all these - I don't know, I am still wondering about that myself! Maybe it's because we have no TV.

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Another tradition we will continue this year is taking some time every night for Christmas-related activities. Some of the things we are going to do are:

- make cookies
- string a popcorn garland for the tree
- sing Christmas songs
- write Christmas cards
- take a walk around the neighborhood at night and see the lights
- fold stars out of paper
... and many more things

Here are a few pictures of some of the things we have already done:

Making igloos from mini bundt cakes and mini marshmallows


Building and decorating a gingerbread house




Going to "ZooLights", the lights display at the zoo



Baking cupcakes


Tree lighting in Glendale


Wrapping Christmas presents




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Because I don't have enough to do already, I am looking into cloth diapering. Yes, that's right. I did try it once before with Solomon (6 years ago), but let's just say that one (very) dirty diaper later I was back to disposables. I have never really been to keen on them, but it's the lesser of two evils as far as I'm concerned. Then a read an online review of a certain kind of cloth diaper, Sugar Britches, and I was so impressed I just had to try them. Well, they feel sooooo nice and soft, I now feel guilty putting anything else on Miriam's little bottom. So for now I will use the cloth diapers I bought as well as disposables when the cloth are in the laundry (I only bought four) and see how it goes before I order a bunch more. I think another downside of cloth diapering would be that I can't see my husband catching on to that, and I would hate to have to change all the diapers myself. But if you are already using cloth diapers, you would definitely LOVE these diapers. They are made extremely well - I was trying to find a flaw and couldn't find one. The lady who makes them was wonderful, very friendly and helpful.




And here are some not-so-flattering pictures of Miriam:



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Our '99 Ford Escort finally broke down last week. It had a little over 140 k miles, and maybe it could have been fixed up again, but my husband decided that it wasn't worth it because he needed a reliable car for all the driving he does.

When him and Isaac broke down last week, it was late Friday night in a town on the border between AZ and CA, a good 2 hours away. AAA towed him into town, but I had to pick him up from there with the other 3 kids in tow. We got back home around 3 AM and it was not a very fun trip.

Losing this car is very sad for me because we have had it ever since Solomon was a baby, and I used it to go everywhere with the kids until we finally outgrew it with 4 children. We also moved across the country twice in this car. I have lots of memories of fun family outings.

Here is Isaac looking sad, and me sad behind the wheel one last time:



This week, we replaced the Escort with a brand-new 2008 Hundai Sonata. We bought it new because we got 0% financing. When we bought the van used we also got 0%, but nobody was offering that deal on used cars right now. I took this picture because I thought it was funny that the odometer reads 18 miles (we bought it with 9). Within two days, my husband had put 500 miles on it. "Every car on the road is a used car" is indeed true.


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Last, but not least, are some of Solomon's portraits from his 6th birthday. He asked that Miriam be in them, too - how sweet is that! The photos are small because Penney's doesn't give them to you any bigger. : (








7 comments:

  1. All the pictures are great! Glad to see you getting started on all the Christmas stuff. That is what we are starting to do around her now that I am feeling better.

    I was looking up Christmas cookies tonight. I had the kids start cutting out snowflakes on Saturday.

    Sounds like you really needed a new car for him.

    I tried cloth once with my first and chucked that idea soon enough. lol Hope it works good for you this time!

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  2. The Advent calendars are beautiful! What a wonderful job you all have done. Also the pictures are so beautiful.

    I was the same way with our one car which we gave to my mother in law. It was with us from the beginning and I have so many memories attached to it.

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  3. Thank you both for the compliments and for reading my blog.

    Please pray for Miriam, who is very sick. :( Thank you!

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  4. No problem. I will pray. Hang in there. She WILL get better!

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  5. These pictures are sooo precious! Where did you find a cute long skirt for Miriam? I have a hard time finding cute long skirts for my girls so I end up making them, but that jean one is adorable. I have not endeavored to sew jean material yet! I am still a beginner with alot to learn about sewing techniques...

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  6. Thanks! I just got the actual portraits back and they were so adorable! I love J.C. Penney for portraits because the price is very affordable ($4 per sheet, and I always have a coupon for a free sheet as well).

    I found the jean skirt at the thrift store, where I buy all our clothes. I LOVE to find a good deal, it is so much funner than going to the mall and spening some ridiculous amount on one item. You are right, it is hard to find skirts that are long enough. I have wondered about the motives of clothing designers who make skirts for little girls that barely cover their rear, and show their underwear if they do anything other than sit down or stand stand still.

    My mother is a seamstress and taught me to sew very well, but I don't sew near as much as I wish I had time for. I have made all the kids matching PJs, and that was very fun. I just bought some more fabric that had the same print on yellow (for the three boys) and on purple (for Miriam) that I am going to sew matching PJs and a nightgown out of. It will be the only gift that the kids will get to open Christmas Eve because I want them to look funny for the pictures when they open their presents the next morning. I also like to sew baby slings, but that really doesn't take much sewing at all.

    I really enjoy doing a wide variety of crafts, but unfortunately don't have much time for any of them.

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  7. I too enjoy the thrill of the hunt when it comes to thrift store shopping! There is an outlet mall close by with a childrens store that often has .99 and 1.99 specials and I was able to get some beautiful sweaters for the kids there as well as some fleece lined sweater coats for the girls. I cannot buy skirts there though because they barely cover the girls buts. They make designer tights to wear with them, but it is so immodest looking. I am almost on the last part of a fleece sheep looking snow suit when the needle broke on my machine (well it is bent back horribly). I bought many older modest and very cute dress patterns for girls clothing on eBay awhile back and need to start on them soon if I want to be done by springtime. Our nearest JCPenney is an hour away, but it would be worth the drive for us. We got our last family portraits from Wal-mart and it looks like the baby is falling out of the picture! I think we are going to invest in some sewing lessons so I will be able to sew for the girls and myself better. I am six feet tall and have a hard time finding skirts in the desired length that fit properly and are pretty. My goal is to learn how to use some of the thicker materials and trims to make some Victorian looking long skirts with velvets and wools for next winter.

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