FFF: Our Advent Calendar

Our advent calendar is one of our family's favorite Christmas traditions!  We love reading through the story every night as we add each piece, and the kids enjoy "filling in the blanks" with the names of the person or place (Enoch also points to them so that the girls can see which one we're naming).  This year we add three characters per night, one for each kiddo.   One other thing that I personally love about this system is that it actually quotes chunks of Scripture, so our kids (and Hugh and I) are memorizing key passages of the story of Christ's birth.  (We usually end up going through the whole calendar 4-6 times each December since we add more than one character per night.)

Enoch was showing the girls the animals in the stable with Joseph and Mary.

 Karis added an angel.

 Alaythia added the manger. 

Pure excitement!!!  

If you are interested in making one of these calendars for your family, you can check out this blog with free instructions:  https://heartfelttruths.wordpress.com/advent-calendar/  We actually bought ours from her etsy shop a few years ago, but she isn't selling many of them these days because of changes within their family.  

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Staying Warm and Dry

It's been feeling more like winter lately, with highs in the 50's and a chilly wind blowing the remaining leaves off of the trees.  We've also had quite a bit of rain over the past week, so as a result, we've mainly been staying inside.  Hugh's gotten pretty creative though, and he made us a nice little play area out in the garage and even added a space heater.  The kids love these tents/tunnel!!

We've also been doing more reading.  Enoch recently discovered a set of "coffee table books" Hugh bought a long time ago: carnivores, geography of the world, and monuments.  He reads each of them at least once a day, noting different things each time, always eager to show one of us what he's discovered.  :) 

And when we have braved the cold or rain, we've tried to dress appropriately.  Though sometimes I wonder if our family up North would laugh at us dressing in so many layers for a 50 degree day.  ;)  

Thanks to Gramma Patti for the matching hats!

 

This is my jacket from high school... He's pretty sure it's his though now b/c it has a hood and comes down right to his boots... to keep all of the rain out.  :)

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Nashville in November

We recently traveled with Hugh to one of his conferences in Nashville.  The kids and I went out and did lots of fun things while Hugh attended the conference every day, and then on most evenings we ate out with Hugh at a different local restaurant.  I loved the trip because the weather was still pretty warm, the leaves were still changing colors, and there were lots of fun places to visit.  By the end of our trip though I was exhausted!!  You see, our little sleepers rise early and go to sleep late when we are all sharing one hotel room, and naps were a bit sparse.  Overall though, I'm glad we went with Hugh, and I think the kids really enjoyed it!  

One morning Alaythia rose really early, so she came and nursed herself back to sleep in my bed and added on another hour or so of snoozing, which was much appreciated!!

The Lane Motor Museum had a fun kid's play area.  We stayed there for a few hours, driving in the kid's sized cars, playing with the train table, coloring, etc.

I thought these little gas pumps were too cute!!

Of course, Enoch found some books and decided to read them atop his favorite car.

The TN Agricultural Museum had some neat outdoor cabins and large equipment that the kids enjoyed!  And there was a horse stable right beside it too where we got to pet the police horses and the barn cat.

We visited a few local parks.  Fannie Mae Dees Park  had some neat play equipment, like this giant see-saw.

One of the highlights was the local library's story time.  They have a team of actors who put this on weekly.  They had fun puppets, lots of songs, and a good story.  The kids loved it so much that we stayed and watched the show a second time.

The escalator... also a highlight for Enoch.

Everyone loved walking up the huge pedestrian bridge, out over the river.

And I thought the skyline was pretty.

There was lots of playing & snuggling in the hotel room.

sweet smiles

One other highlight - there was a construction site right outside our hotel room window!!  We got to see the construction by day and watch for police cars by night.  Enoch was especially riveted by the huge crane, which worked almost non-stop!

And we went back to Cheekwood Gardens to see their train exhibit.  This was one of the more expensive places we went, but the kids all enjoyed it so much!

Enoch was mesmerized!

Alaythia called this train the "punkin choo-choo" because it was hauling some pumpkins

Karis enjoyed taking selfies and talking with the other kids who were looking at the trains.

And last, but not least, there was a superb nature center just outside of Nashville (Warner Park Nature Center).  They had some neat displays inside, but the real treat was this play area out back.  Two huge dirt piles, a sand pit, and a cabin.  It was hard to leave this place... and even harder to wash off all of the dirt, but the kids had fun!

Karis headed straight for the cabin, and played there for awhile.

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FFF: Enoch's First Loose Tooth

It seems impossible to me that my firstborn should already be loosing his first tooth, and yet it happened just last week!  He began jiggling it on a Monday, and it was out by Wednesday morning.  He was so proud of himself for pulling it out on his own, and he remarked that "it didn't even hurt!"

 Jiggling it

Showing me how far it can move forward 

That small white speck he's holding is the tooth!  And that little gap in the bottom center of his smile is where it came from.   I was expecting this to happen closer to 6 years old, but after it began getting loose, I remembered that as a baby, Enoch got his first teeth in incredibly early (maybe 4 mos?).  So maybe that's part of the reason they started coming out early...  And in case anyone forgot, this is how cute he was at around that 4 month mark when those first few bottom teeth broke through his gums... 

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