Thursday, December 26, 2013

My 12 days of Christmas

In honor of my friend Bobbi, here is a synopsis of the darker side of Advent.

1)  Being handed a "rock" only to have Christian announce "POOP!"  after it was in my hand.  Smelling it and finding indeed it was poop.  Never figuring out where it came from.  It was a poop fossil from somewhere.  Lord, please let there be no more.

2)  Arriving at a gas station, narrowly escaping running out of gas only to find my wallet AND money were at home.

3)  Flooded basement bathroom.

4)  Rainbow putty ball down the shower drain...ball that had been removed from the TRASH can, mind you.
Rainbow Putty Balls
5)  Flat tire.

6) Finding this under the recliner the day after my kids were roughly putting the foot rest up and down and we heard a terrible noise....

and still a day later finding this....



Do you think they're important?  We are still avoiding the problem.  The chair seems secure to sit on.  We haven't put up the foot rest.  We like our chair; we are in denial.  Our plan is to tell my Brother in Law to sit back and relax when he visits next week....you know, break him in to how this kid thing really works.

7) One of the garage doors being stuck open...with Marc out of town. 

8)  Forgetting my social workers was coming for our three month post visit at 8 am, until at 11pm when going to bed Marc says, "what time is that lady coming tomorrow?"  oops.

9)  Findly out Ava and Phin have cavities...lots of them and WE, Marc and I, are the one that brush their teeth every night.  The dentist's look of disapproval was enough to make one tuck their tale between their legs if they had one.  Mom of the Year right here!

10)I ran out of Christmas Cards...Turns out my hubby took a bunch for coworkers and such.  I had to quickly reorder from Walgreens because I couldn't wait for shipping.  It was 10pm at night.  I knew I was exhausted to I triple checked the letter on back for spelling or grammatical errors.  Any blog reader knows I am notorious for typos.  Unfortunately I failed to take a good look at the FRONT of the card....oops.



11)  As I was putting on Chloe's coat to go to her Preschool Christmas play, I noticed her hands were exceptionally dry.  No Problem! I had picked up lotion samples when at the doctors last week.  I opened the bottle and poured it on her hand.  It looked like oil.  What in the world?!  I looked at the bottle to find I had poured BODY WASH onto her hand.  We washed her hand and reached in for the second sample and I poured it on her hand.  SAME THING.  Why on why would a mom not check the second time...


12)  It was Thursday, the final day of school before Christmas break was Friday.  I realized as I was packing up Chloe and Phin's teachers gift, I had never stopped at TJ Maxx to get Ava's teacher gift.  It was Candy Cane day and Ava had an after school program.  I realized we needed to leave immediately and stop on the way to pick up Ava so we'd be able to play with our play dough and have dinner.  Marc was out of town so I couldn't go after bedtime!  I told the kids to get on shoes and coats, we had to stop at TJ Maxx.  As we are walking from the car to the store, I notice Phin is tip toeing.  I started to ask him why when I noticed he had NO SHOES.  Why you ask, as I did?  He decided to skip shoes.  The ground was freezing!  We had to get back in the car.  On the way to school, he say, "Mom I have to poop so bad.  I have to go now!"  I made him hold it and when we got to school, I parked.  I somehow made it into the school with him on my back and holding Christian and CHloe's hands...not easy since he kept slipping because my coat was slick.  We got inside, I sent him to the boys bathroom while I ran downstairs to get Ava.  We got back up and the door was propped open, the janitor was cleaning.  Phin wasn't waiting outside, so I said, "Phin are you still in there."  He was.  A minute or two later, he ran out.  This time, Ava held Christian and Chloe's hands and I carried Phin on my back.  His hands were around my neck.  As I started out the door, I smelled poop...like REALLY smelled poop.  I said, "Phin, Did you wash your hands?"  He replied, "Oops, I forgot."  AH!!!  Then I said, "Please tell me you flushed the toilet."  He said, "I didn't do that either cuz that cleaning man made me nervous."   Oh no- the poor janitor not only knows my son neglected to wash his hands, but he found a present in the stall.  I made phin sit with his hand folded and threatened his life if he touched anything.  He went straight to the sink for a handwashing and my coat went straight into the washer.  How will I every survive boys?!




CHRISTMAS!!!!

CHRISTMAS!!!!


Gotta start the day, right?!


We finished our Advent Book.


Then we opened the most precious gift first, baby Jesus 

And we put him in our manger...which was decently full of hay (though I think with four kids it was a bit easier to fill)

Our family with our Precious Baby Jesus...just a small symbol of how Precious the Lord is to us.

The we opened our gifts, symbolizing Gold, Frankincense, and myrrh.
Frankincense was use in worship, so these gifts are things we hope will help them grow in worship.
Myrrh has many uses.  It was used for embalming, so it symbolized that he came to die, but it also had many used for the body as salve, etc.  This is a gift for the body.
Gold is precious.  It is a gift that is precious to him. 

The kids with their Frankincense gifts.


This year for the body, I decided to go with gifts that help them keep their body active.  Phin, Christian, and Chloe got Bilibo's and Ava got an indoor pogo stick.



For his Myrrh gift, Babbo got new PJ's that Phin picked out;)  He was such a good sport;)

Gold gifts- 
Chloe got a Ballet box.  She is getting Ballet lessons, so it had a sign indicating this with new ballet slippers, tights, and a leotard.  I also threw in a Barbie and a Pink Shoes Barbie doll, so she had something to play with.

Phin got an activity box- with small "active toys" to keep him busy this winter- a stomp rocket, a balance board, an indoor pogo stick, catapolts, and a pumching bag.

Ava got an American Girl Gymanstics set.

Christian got a Plasma Car.

Our Christmas dinner table.  I had much fun doing Christmas dinner.  We had Beef Tenderloin with Mushroom Ragout, Honey Almond Green Beans, Sweet potatoes, Strawberry Romaine Salad, and Popovers.

We had Birthday Cake for Jesus (along with Pies for dessert).

What a reason to celebrate.  Emmanuel- God with us!



Advent Day 24

12/24/13-  Tomorrow is Christmas!  The LIGHT OF THE WORLD IS COMING.  Tonight let’s remember that the world is dark without him.  Let’s eat dinner by candlelight and let’s sleep under just the light of the Christmas tree, let’s wait and watch…TOMORROW IS JESUS BIRTHDAY!


My inlaws arrived earlier in the day and we were able to go to church together.

Then home for Candlelight dinner....I made one of our favorite soups.  (Seriously, it is AMAZING:)

The kid means business when it comes to getting very last drop;)

We had to turn on the lights to introduce Grammy and Babbo to Jack Frost's Not Lost

<3 p="">


Christian's very first stocking!!!!

Chloe 

Phin

Ava

It was fun...though I have to confess, the kids were so wired for our super fun Christmas Eve service and s'more than by 9:30 they still were not even hinting at falling asleep so we had to pull the plug and send them to their beds so they could get some sleep;)

Advent Day 23

12/23/13- The Wiseman were Magi- they were Kings, but they were studying, waiting, and watching and when they saw the star announcing Jesus birth, they left all their comforts and they went to meet him.  They knew Jesus was the true KING!  Let’s make paper stars and tonight, let’s go outside and see the stars.  How bright must the star have been announcing Jesus birth?!

Um, yeah so we opened our advent card and then got so busy preparing for my inlaws arrival that we forgot to do it....oh well;)  It was a productive and peaceful day- maybe forgetting was a gift.

Advent Day 22

12/22/13- Let’s think about what it was like in Bethlehem at the time Jesus was born.  Let’s dress up and eat foods that they may have eaten.  Let’s act out the Christmas story and pretend we are there! Wait...that's not all.  It's the LaPine family Christmas so we get to do this with our family!!!

Phin was a Shepherd, Chloe was the donkey (as soon as we read the card she declared she wanted to be the donkey;), and Ava was the angel

Christian was a Shepherd

Mary and Joseph (with baby Jesus, of course)

We bowed down to worship and sang Away in the Manger at the end of our play;)

And Christian opened his first Christmas Present

Advent Day 21

12/21/13- Today we will head to Kenosha to celebrate Anthony's birthday.  On the way home, will stop in Vernon Hills so we can see the Holiday Lights display at the Cuneo Museum.

It is hard to get pictures, but this is the BEST lights display....we love it.  They have so many different types of displays and hand painted lighted chartoon character signs of every chartoon character you can imagine.

The best line of the night, was when Phin saw these and said, "Look! It's the vitamin people."  I felt so old;)

Advent Day 20

12/20/13- Are you ready for Fun?  It's Christmas Family Game Night!

This was a new one this year;)

We were given the Christmas version of Spot it and I happened to find this Candy Land game, with REAL Chocolate.

SO FUN!

Advent Day 19

12/19/13- - Today is CANDY CANE Day.  We’ll read The Legend of the Candy Cane.  You can have a candy cane for breakfast, a candy cane for lunch, and we’ll have a very special candy cane dessert after dinner.  There just might be another candy cane surprise…be on the look out!


Candy Canes at Breakfast

The "surprise" was homemade candy cane playdough...not edible, but it was glittery and smelled just like candy canes.

We made a candy cane after reading The Legend of the Candy Cane

Ava made a candy cane girl;)

They also attempted to make the worlds longest candy cane... may seem strange but we live near The All Chocolate Kitchen, whose owner is the current world record holder for the World's Longest Candy Cane.

For dinner- Candy Cane pancakes

Dessert- Candy Cane Joe- Joe's...gotta keep things simple when Papa is out of town:)

Advent Day 18


12/18/13-  We have many blessings in our life.  Today we will show appreciation to God and one another.  First, we will go through our toys and take ones we don’t use or need anymore and donate them to kids who don’t have very many toys.  Then tonight at dinner we will make a list of all the things we love about one another and about God.

The kids were so tired, as we had Ava's program last night and ended up getting to bed almost three hours late.  I gave the kids the option to push back our purge day until Saturday.  I was anticipating tears and a fight and I had no energy for that.  To my surprise, they insisted on the purge today and were thoughtful and wise in their purging.  This gets easier every year.  I was VERY pleased.

Our big box of giveaways

Phin and Chloe also had their preschool program today.  They were ADORABLE, absolutely adorable.  Phin sang every word and did motions perfectly.  Chloe knew it all at home, but was frozen on stage





Advent Day 17

12/17/13-  Today is Ava’s Christmas Program.  It’s a special night for her; she has her VERY first solo!  Let’s celebrate with WINDOW CLINGS and dinner out at a restaurant of Ava’s choosing!!!!

WINDOW CLINGS!

Chloe and Christian went close and low.  Ava meticulously put her tree up high.

Phin picked his own area;)

This just makes me smile.  This is Phin sounding out how to spell Christmas;)

I was so impressed with all the little props and choreography their director put forth...adorable.

Ava had her first solo...sweet girl.