Advent

" Advent. Adventus. Ecce advenit Dominator Dominus. Behold, the Lord, the Ruler, is come."

That's a quote from the beginning of this gem of a book! We've been reading this book, and two more of it's series for years now. I think we must have started this tradition when Banana Taffy was 5 or 6. I just can't recommend this book or the other two: Bartholomew's Passages and Tabitha's Travels (currently out of print) enough! Every evening during the 4 weeks before Christmas, we set aside some time each night to focus on the reason for what we are celebrating. The first year we read this book I practically wept at the ending because my heart was so filled with awe and love towards God. Even last night when I was reading I was getting choked up, it's just that meaningful! And funny too! We were all laughing out loud!

She likes to knit while she listens. :o)

This picture was taken earlier in the day, but this is normally what he does while we read!

And when the reading for the day is over, we take some time to pray together as a family and thank the Lord for His provision and Goodness.

"Stir us up, O Lord, to make ready for your only-begotten Son. May we be able to serve you with purity of soul through the coming of him who lives and reigns." Advent Prayer

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy

Christmas Pillowcases and daily ramblings...

Another tradition at our house during Christmas time is to change our pillowcases to Christmas Pillowcases! Wednesday is sheet change day at our house, so it was the perfect opportunity to make the change.

You should of heard these guys get excited when I said, "Let's put on the Christmas Pillowcases!"

A few ramblings:

* My trays came from Oriental Trading Company-excited to use those today.(I paid for these with money I made from selling books on Amazon!)

* It's snowing and blowing and freezing outside and I'm so thankful to be warm and cozy in my house!

* I'm going to have to make myself do school this morning with my little ones...I have a big list of baking to do! I have plans to let the play with play dough while I'm baking though.

* Baking goals: Rolls for dinner, Pumpkin Bread for breakfast tomorrow, Grind Wheat: Spelt, Barley, Hard Red and Soft White, cookies for after lunch.

* I made a venison roast in the crock pot yesterday, I ended up shredding it and mixing it with barbecue sauce for sandwiches-it was de-lish-but it STUNK!

* I have a $15.00 Toys R Us gift card that is burning a hole in my pocket!

* I've already had 3(!) cups of coffee this morning!

* I'm really, really, really hoping that we get a call from a certain company that could possibly hire Mr. Taffy in the very near future. Please Lord!?

* My little people are really hyper-excited about the snow outside!

Okay, that's what's on my mind at the moment. I think I need another cup of coffee and then I need to put the diapers on their second wash so I can get those sheets washed! I love the morning-so full of possibilities and endless tasks!

Hope you are cozy!

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy

Christmas Nativity

Just a couple cute pictures to share. We have two toy nativity's. One is Fisher-Price and the other one is made by a toy company that was specializing in making Bible Toys...I can't remember where I got it though, a link from somebodies blog last Christmas. If you know, you can include it in your comment.

Hope your days before Christmas are full of warm memory's and sticky hot-chocolate kisses!

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy

Christmas Tea

Back in November Strawberry was asking me about having a tea party, so I suggested she plan a Christmas Tea Party. She did the inviting, the menu, the game planning, the cleaning, list making and cleaning up afterward, all of it. Obviously I was there to help, but this was HER event and I wanted her to have the experience of planning such an event from start to finish.

Here she is getting the cookies ready.

Here's her cookie tray. She bought the chocolates with her own money.

Rice Crispy Gingerbread Men.

They also had chocolate/mint parfaits and 2 kinds of tea: Peppermint and Apple Cinnamon. Here's the centerpiece we came up with. Strawberry picked the greens and the basket and I added the extras.

Here's how the table looked. Not too bad for using our outside picnic table cloth. She made the crackers out of toilet paper tubes and inside she put: a recipe, a jingle bell, a friendship bracelet she made, a candy cane and one little girl had an extra do-dad that gave her a bonus prize which was a pair of knitting needles from Strawberry's personal collection. :o) We bought the tea cups at Goodwill for .50 each, the girls got to take them home as a souvenir.

The party started with a craft, supplied by my mom. They each made 2 glitter bird cards, they turned out just lovely and the glitter that ended up on the girl's faces was a nice Christmassey touch!

Let the eating begin. Most of the time they practiced very good tea-proper manners. But not always! lol

The dolls were invited too, dressed in their finest!

Each girl brought one home-made gift to exchange. There was hand-dipped candles, a paper doll, cookie mix in a jar and pillow set (one for the girl and one for her doll). It was lovely!

The time went by so quickly. The girls all had a lovely time and I'm sure Strawberry is already dreaming about her next tea party. I had fun too, as one of the young girl's mom is an old friend of mine, I've known her since before I married Mr. Taffy and we've recently become reacquainted--I'm just so blessed to know her and getting to spend those two hours visiting with her was just like a party to ME!

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy

A Special Visitor

We've had such a nice few days. My dad and step-mom have been in town on business and we got to spend some precious time with both of them but especially my Dad! My dad is so nice to have around, he's easy-going, happy, great to play with and completely in love with his grandchildren. He pretty much played with them non-stop.

Legos and many games of Connect Four.

Monopoly. Popcorn. Naps by the fire. Strawberry Cheesecake. Christmas Presents.

It was a wonderful visit and we are sad to see them go back to Florida. Though I'm sure they will be happy to return to warmer weather!

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy

TOT School

Fun week here at my house. We are a flurry of activity, both school and Christmas planning. Laffy Taffy enjoyed seeing the Christmas boxes get unpacked. Here he is playing with a gingerbread beanie.

Picking out the Christmas Tree was definitely a high-light of the week. It was so fun running around in the dark tree lot.

Decorating the tree!

A cool new train puzzle toy from Papa and Grammy. This was so fun to take apart, not so fun to put back together. LOL!

If your interested, we got this at Costco.

We had many more tot school moments this week, but the camera wasn't around. Puzzles being a high-point of interest. And not just doing the puzzles, but talking about them and naming the colors and shapes. He's watched the Wiggles Christmas Video half and dozen times and jumped up and down at watching the snow fall!

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy

Bit by the paper crafting bug...

So, my mom made those adorable Christmas memory books for us, so I got to thinking about how I have a ton of scrapbook paper and I could probably make a similar book for my nieces. So that's what I did today. AND IT WAS SO FUN! I should have taken a picture of my mess, because boy was it HUGE! I made one book for each girl, different shapes and with colors I think are their favorites.

This is Pillars book, Strawberry did a few pages in this book. She made the page with the heart and I did the other one.

Miracle's book. Hers is my favorite because there's lots of brown and pink.

This last one is Rosebud's, her book has a candy theme, except these two pages I guess. :o) Lots of room for secret notes and pictures and journaling!

Now if you happen to see my nieces, don't tell them about these, because I am planning on giving them to them for Christmas. But I realize the MAJOR risk I'm taking here...they read my blog after all. :o) I had to show my mom though, and anyone else who is interested! By the way, I am going to add ribbon to the rings, I just don't have any right now.

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy