A Creative Fox Christmas

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! 

I love this time of year. I even got married on December 3rd so that I could use Christmas decorations. Last weekend we (meaning Gabriel) drug the Christmas decorations down from the attic.  We played Christmas music and even got on Skype for a few minutes with my mom so she could see some of the decorating fun.

The girls were so excited and fast moving it was hard to get any non blurry pictures of them in the low lighting.

We used almost only non breakable ornaments on the tree.  The majority of those ornaments are from my childhood.  Which I think now they are considered vintage.

I have this wreath out year round, I simply added the red berries for the Christmas season.  The wreath was one I found at a garage sale right in my own neighborhood and bought for less than last spring.  I spray painted it blue and added the fabric flowers.

I got these metal ornaments a couple years ago just after Christmas.  Regularly $6.99 for $.69. Can you say awesome deal?

I made the balls and tree from yarn and glue.  There are tons of tutorials out there for the balls.  Some of them I used "eye lash yarn" the others are made from regular yarn.  The tree I made by forming a cone out of card stock, covering it in plastic wrap and using a very fuzzy green yarn dipped in glue and wrapped it around the cone.  Then when dry for extra strength I sprayed it with spray starch. (Note: I saved the cone for support during storage purposes until next year.)

I used my breakable ornaments in other places around the house.

Traditions and time together with my family are the best part of the Christmas season for me.  I look forward to it every year.  I enjoy remembering and teaching my children about how Jesus came to this earth and became a man born humbly in a stable.  All so that he could live among us, show us how to live an abundant, fruitful life, sacrifice his life and raise from the dead so that we can have a relationship with God the Father.  Thank you God for such an amazing gift.

B Week: Two Bears and Fine Motor Skills

I've been homeschooling Sweet Lily Girl but of course Little Miss Ava Grace can not be left out.  At 4 and 2 our lessons are not to in depth as you can imagine but lots of "preschool" fun.

Each month has a theme such as The Human Body, Space, Earth, Ocean, Seasons/Weather, Animals and Bugs etc. You get the idea.  Each week we focus on a letter and a number.  These pictures are from week 2 of the school year.  The letter B and the number 1. (week one was the number 0).

We made Bears.  Little Miss Ava Grace's lasted all of 20 min hanging on the refrigerator before she pulled all the parts back off again.  The template we used is from this great site.  It has a lot of great resources especially for hand writing and coloring pages.

For a fine motor skills exercise we used cotton Balls and tongs and the girls moved the cotton balls from one container to another.  I'm always amazed at how long such a simple activity can be entertaining.

Yes that is a bruise.  Foreheads and door molding are not meant to come into contact with great speed.

Family Time: Hunter Park - Tulsa

Not to far from us is a great park - Hunter Park.  It has a great variety of things to do: multiple play structures, a slash pad, a pond with ducks and geese, ball fields and courts, woods to walk in, a covered picnic area, a paved walking path and a dog park for those of you dog lovers out there.

We took a bag of cereal to feed the ever hungry water fowl.

In the end I think the birds had just as much on their backs as in their stomachs. 

My man.

Little Miss Ava Grace decided the birds had eaten enough.

Family train ride.

I appreciate Gabriel so much.  He really connects with the girls and they have a great time.

Sweet Lily Dancer

Sweet Lily Girl started Dance!  I'm so excited and so is she.  As you can tell by the pictures she is really enjoying it.

I wish I could get better pictures but we only get to look though a small portion of a window.

She was watching the class before hers.  I think she approves.

She was a little nervous.

She gave us the thumbs up at least a dozen times.

I was amazed how flexible she is.

Pretty Invitation

My Sister over at The Scrapbook Cook sent me this pretty invitation this summer that I meant to share a while ago. I've blanked out their personal info so if the wording looks uneven or off center that is why. I think it is beautiful and creative.