Advent: Day 23

Lego Advent Calendar:

 Bible Verses:

For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
    and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
    there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
    to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
    from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. isaiah 9:6-7

 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed^[b] to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, andyou shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took placeto fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
    and they shall call his name Immanuel”

(which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife,  but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus. Matthew 1:18-25

Activity:

watch a christmas movie and eat popcorn

we sat by the light of the christmas tree and garland for our movie watching {santa paws 2}

i love watching movies/tv by the twinkle of the white lights

i would love to leave them up all year

we all snuggle in on the couches with our pj's on and bowls of popcorn

it was the perfect quite night before christmas eve

Advent: Day 22

Lego Advent Calendar:

 Bible Verses:

The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
    nor the ruler's staff from between his feet,
until tribute comes to him;
    and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. Genesis 49:10

the son of Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of Arni, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah Luke 3:33

Activity:

get sonic shakes and go look at christmas lights

 before we headed out to look at christmas lights, we made a pit stop at sonic for shakes

it might make more sense to have hot chocolate while looking at christmas lights, but half the people in my house do not like hot chocolate

everyone likes ice cream

morgan had been wanting to try out the peppermint shake {it wasn't her have... not enough mint}

 our first stop was a local house that had been all over the news.  it was obvious that everyone knew about this house as the line to get into the development was long and slow.  it was fun even though we didn't see much of it.

 morgan had a friend who lived nearby and told her about a house in her neighborhood that was set to music.  it was very quiet in that neighborhood so we could sit and watch for a bit.  

 then andrea told me about a group of about 8 houses that were coordinated to light up to music

i didn't get any pictures 

{all pics on my phone as i wanted to focus more on enjoying lights than getting right picture}

it was so impressive!

i think that was our favorite stop of the night.

Advent: Day 21

Lego Advent Calendar:

 Bible Verses:

and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice. Genesis 22:18

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.  Matthew 1:1

Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.  This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void.   For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.
  Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary.   Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.
 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law.  But the Scriptureimprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.  So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.
Galatians 3:16-24

Activity:
celebrate the first day of winter
make snowman cookies
make marshmallow snowmen
paint a snowflake on a canvas

nutter butter cookies dipped white and decorated to look like snowmen
well, the littles had different ideas about decorating
i love that they took their creative liberty and just decorated however they wanted... we did a get a few snowmen out of the group though :o)

after we made cookies, the kids worked on making marshmallow snowmen 

 they just drew an outline of a snowman on their paper 

 and added marshmallows until it was complete

 they turned out pretty cute.

 the kids each had a canvas

they made a snowflake out of tape

 then painted their canvas with blue paper

 we let them dry

then pulled off the tape

 we had these fun snowflake pictures to hang up during the winter!

Advent: Day 20

Lego Advent Calendar:

Bible Verses:

Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.
    The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness;
    you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you
    with the oil of gladness beyond your companions

Psalm 45:6-7

But of the Son he says,

“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
    the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.
 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has anointed you
    with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”

 And,

“You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning,
    and the heavens are the work of your hands;

Hebrews 1:8-10

Activity:

sew felt ornaments

 i found some packages of cheap felt at michaels that were perfect for this project

 one package was bright colored and the other was more christmas themed

 the kids picked their felt and then decided on a shape

we cut the shape out of the felt and the kids began to sew their shapes together with colored embroidery thread

once they were almost around their shapes we stuffed them with some cotton batting

 in a short time we had some cute and easy ornaments

Advent: Day 19

Lego Advent Calendar:

Bible Verses:

But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

 The people who walked in darkness
    have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
    on them has light shone. Isaiah 9:1-2

 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee.  And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.  Matthew 2:22-23

And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory ofZebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

 “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
    the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
 the people dwelling in darkness
    have seen a great light,
and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death,
    on them a light has dawned.” Matthew 4:13-16

Activity:

make and decorate cookies

morgan woke up with the flu and spent the day in bed so it was just the two littles helping with the cookies.  they were great helpers!!!

landon was great at helping to roll dough and cut out the cookies

 mauryn brought her little rolling pin from her play kitchen to help roll dough

 mauryn snuck in a few bites of dough she was working

 their favorite part.... decorating

 which included plenty of finger licking

 my kids are not afraid to use sprinkles and sugar on their cookies

they take the term "sugar" cookie to a whole new level

they had a great time baking, decorating, and eating!

Advent: Day 18

Lego Advent Calendar:

Bible Verses:

I see him, but not now;
    I behold him, but not near:
a star shall come out of Jacob,
    and a scepter shall rise out of Israel;
it shall crush the forehead of Moab
    and break down all the sons of Sheth

Numbers 24:17

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
Matthew 1:1-2

Activity:
play a game by the christmas tree

the kids decided to play by our little tree upstairs {the one filled with all their ornaments/decorations} so they could sit on the carpet and not the hardwood floor. ha!!

we played disney trivia.  we divided up in teams. landon and mauryn wanted to be on the same team since they were both wearing footie pajamas.  it was pretty sweet.

this is another one of those advent activities that they love to do each year. the kids love games but just to play by the tree seems to add something special to game playing for them.

Advent: Day 17

Lego Advent Calendar:

Bible Verses:

The Lord God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this,
    cursed are you above all livestock
    and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
    and dust you shall eat
    all the days of your life.
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring^[a] and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
    and you shall bruise his heel.”

Genesis 3:14-15

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, Galatians 4:4

Activity:

 go ice skating

this is the one advent activity the kids ask for every year

they love it!

the library gives out 2 for 1 skating passes in the summer for the summer reading program so i just hang onto them until advent season 

 getting used to the ice

 loving her little skate mate

morgan taking a few laps on the ice

we hadn't been there long when the two big kids decided they needed to race

good thing we basically had the ice rink to ourselves

 silly boy!

he did fall quite a few times because he has no fear and was going as fast as he could on those skates

i know he has some bruises on his legs

he didn't mind

 the skate mate isn't just for helping little ones skate

we had a great day at the skating rink

by the end of the day mauryn was even skating on her own... yeah!

the kids are already talking about skating next year :o)