Eli – “Is there Christmas in heaven?”

Mommy – “Oh Eli, in heaven it’s like Christmas every day because we are actually with Jesus…”

(insert melodic music as I give an amazing Bible lesson about the awesomeness of heaven)

Eli – “So Santa and all his reindeer are dead!!”

Mommy – “Say what??”

Eli – “If there is Christmas in heaven, and you have to be dead to go to heaven, then Santa and all his reindeer must be dead.”

(my mind is racing: what was the original question?… oh yeah, Christmas in heaven… gee, he sure is smart to make those connections… funny how he added the reindeer into the mix… focus self!!…)

Mommy – “Santa isn’t dead.” (I know, not the best answer but I was thrown for a loop!)

Eli – “So, there is no Christmas in heaven?”

Mommy – “Not really…”

He was satisfied with that. But like most sensitive topics I’m glad I got a bit of a prequel before the bigger conversation. We do celebrate Christmas with Santa around here but we also have some pretty solid beliefs about the whole thing.

I’ll share in a couple of days, so get ready to share what you do on my next post!

Sometimes after folks buy Lids they send me pictures of their adorable kiddos wearing them (or post them on our Facebook page).

I love it.

Like really LOVE it.

Because I really think people who buy Lids are my friends.

Is that weird??

Anyway, each Sunday I’ll try to feature one of the Kids in Lids pictures!

I just adore these pictures from Elizabeth of her two kiddos (Pretty in Pink Snowboarder Lid and Method Brown Snowboarder Lid). I’m so in love with these pictures! The colors are bright, the kiddos’ expressions are RAD and our Lids are keeping those sweet lil’ heads cozy warm with that snug fit!

It’s been awhile since I’ve linked up with Life Rearranged’s InstaFriday. I just love love love to document my phone pictures.

Don’t you love your phone pix too?

I can’t believe Christmas is here! These are pix from Sam’s Club (my favorite store). Cora was miffed we couldn’t buy the giant soldier.

Today I’m taking Cy in for six pages of blood tests. (Remember his sores and our hospital stay.) He’s had a crazy sore/growth on his tongue since June. It’s gross. We’ve been to loads of Drs and are hoping this one can diagnose it. If you know of anything it could be (you know, a friend of a friend story), please share. That would help a lot!

My children are growing up. Are yours? What’s that about???

It sure is bittersweet.

(pix; 1-Stoked Eli can get our drinks when we go out because I’m THAT lazy. He may be wearing a prototype for something in the works here at Eli’s Lids!!! 2-Tess at 2 months. 3-Cora painting her own nails… in the car… while we wait for Eli to get out of school. 4-Cora told us she wants a “real life pony” for Christmas. HA!!!!)

The Star Wars exhibit at the Discovery Science Center is RAD. If you like star wars it’s worth going. I think Hot Hubby and I might go on a date night to see all the stuff we couldn’t take in with kiddos.

I went to the Queen Bee market with my friends Kyla and Jaime. Afterward was a Mindy Gledhill concert. Her voice is beautiful. I regret not getting her Christmas CD while I was there. She has 3 sons… how lame would it be if I sent her some Lids?

How much to you love her voice!!?!?

December means Advent Dinner and Hot Hubby’s family company Christmas party! (Just as fun as last time)

Then the actual formal company party that night.

Yes, you see bumper cars and I’m jumping on bubble wrap.

I can’t even begin to tell you how awesome it is to jump and pop bubble wrap. It’s everything you have dreamed of and more!! (see pix from last time here). I think it would be really fun to do at a kiddo birthday party!

I’ve started walking for exercise (I’m a whale).

Mostly to the post office to drop off orders. Just a bit more time left on our sale!!

Happy Weekend!!

Sunday we were invited to Knott’s Merry Farm!!

Knott’s is all decked out for the holidays!

Let me tell ya a bit about it…

The Gift of the Magi and A Christmas Carol (running till Jan 1st) are over at the Birdcage Theatre. We saw The Gift of the Magi and it held all my kiddos attention.

I was shocked.

No one seemed to mind me nursing Tess the whole time.

In the front row.

Did I accidently flash the actors?

I’ll never tell. Hopefully they won’t!

Next we popped over to Camp Snoopy to see Charlie Brown, Lucy and Linus perform in Winter Wonderland.

Again, the kiddos were totally into it…

A visit to Camp Snoopy means rides rides rides. This was the first time Eli went on the up and down ride. I think he only went because he saw his friend go first!

Snoopy is dressed like Santa and I took this great self-portrait on a Christmas tree ornament just like Momfluential!

Probably the highlight of my kiddos’ day was the blacksmith, Robert. (Not just a Christmas thing.) At the beginning of the day we saw him start a decorative dragon hook and before we left we got to see the finished product! Robert answered all our kiddos questions… “do you make swords? How hot is the fire?” and more.

Knott’s Merry Farm was so much fun! Great entertainment, no crowds and plenty to do in my kiddos’ age range! I even looked into getting a season pass. Only $65 for the year!!! The kiddos were shorting out so we didn’t stay to see all the Christmas lights that evening and we hope to go back soon to see the ice spectacular, “It’s Christmas, Snoopy!” 

And of course you can never leave Knott’s without the obligatory coffin picture…

Final day for 50% off!!

Happy December!

We’ve been getting into the Christmas spirit (and packing up all the orders from our awesome Lid sale)!

Last night was our First Day of December Advent Dinner.

We do our advent activities at dinner time so the whole family can join in the fun.

aka Hot Hubby leaves for work before sunrise.

Decor: (everything bought that day at The Dollar Tree $16)

~Giant gold star hanging from the ceiling fan

~Three big stockings instead of a table cloth

~Two cake plates with three sparkly Christmas trees, a glitter bell and mason jar filled with peppermint stick straws 

~Simple paper name cards above glitter ornaments – Christmas trees for the boys and angels for the girls

~Finished off with “snow” beads 

Menu:

~Chicken and Squash stir fry (honey and soy sauce dressing… SO yummy!!)

~Whit rice

~Edamame

~Strawberries

Served in beautiful crystal. (Wish I had a good pic of the serving dishes.)

Cora Jane was very impressed with the “sparkly party hats.” They turned out to be so much more than a center piece.

We have done a lot of things for advent – paper chain countdown, chocolate, advent wreath… This year Eli got a Star Wars advent calendar (so wrong but so fun). I felt so bad that he was going to get a lil’ something everyday so we put together a lil advent countdown of our own for Cora Jane.

You’re only a kiddo once.

To counter all our worldly heathenism we are doing Truth in the Tinsel.

LOVE IT!

It’s only $4.99 and it’s 24 days of curriculum and ornament instructions. My hubby loved teaching the children about the Light of the World and the children loved making their candle ornaments… 

The End

Do you celebrate advent?

Any great ideas?

(how could I not put a pic of this little gal in the post!)

Yesterday’s library storytime craft were these sweet lil’ pumpkins…

So easy to make and I think they would be the perfect Thanksgiving place cards.

You’ll need:

~Tissue paper

~Pipe cleaners

~White paper for the names

~Hole punch

~Scissors

1. Cut tissue paper into 3×5 rectangles.

2. Layer six tissues on top of each other.

3. Accordion fold the tissue pile starting at the short end (about 1/2” between folds), and set aside.

4. Fold the pipe cleaner in half and twist the folded end about an inch down to create the pumpkin stem.

5. Place the fully folded tissues to the top toward the fold.

6. Twist the bottom to secure the tissues.

7. Un-fan the tissues and gently spread out each layer till a nice lil’ round pumpkin is formed.

8. Open up the bottom of the pipe cleaner to make a hidden pumpkin stand.

9. Cut out rectangle name tags and hole punch in the upper left corner.

10. Cut a slit into the upper left corner into the hole punch so the name tag can easily be placed on the pumpkin stem.

How cute would these be with brown pipe cleaners and off white tissue… or brown tissue and yellow pipe cleaners… fun for place settings, a kiddo craft or fun Autumn décor!

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!!

I really can’t believe I’m a mom of 4 kiddos. When I see all of them together I’m a little in awe at the crowd. It really feels like Eli was born yesterday AND that all 4 have been in my life forever.

Does than make sense?

Not really.

Even though it was almost 2 months ago, I have to share our trip home from the hospital, AND how to make custom big brother/sister tees for your kiddos.

Hot Hubby brought the kiddos to the hospital to bring Tess home. The big kiddos were instantly smitten…

Cyrus was… well…

On the way home we stopped off at Souplantation.

People thought we were crazy.

But it was dinnertime and we had to eat. If we had ordered take out or had one one our lovely friends bring us something there would still be some prep and clean up. At Souplantation I just sat there, ate and left.

It makes for a good story too!

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Now about those cute custom tees they are wearing. The boy’s tees are durable heat pressed vinyl. I’m thinking of opening a custom shop.

Thoughts??

To make the ‘big sis’ tee you’ll need: a tee, fabric for the letters (a fat quarter or 1/4 yard of fabric will be plenty!), iron, and fusible webbing (I used Steam-A-Seam).

1. Pick font for your phrase of choice. The font should be simple with thick lines.

2. Print out your letters in the size you want them to be on the tee.

3. You will trace and cut the letters on to the fusible webbing. I recommend following the directions on the package slowly and step-by-step. It’s one of those things that seems super simple then you realize all your letters are backwards! (Ahem)

4. Ironing secures the phrase to the tee. If you want the edges to be super clean, you may want to top stitch around the outer rim of each letter. I didn’t. The Steam-A-Seam sticks very well and is washer/dryer safe. It won’t fray. And it saves an hour of work!

It’s so fun to be creative with the fusible webbing! Think personal Christmas gifts!!! What will you try??

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Oh and it didn’t take long for Cy to fall in love with Tess. In fact he loves her just a bit too much. Lots of hard hugs and slobber kisses. Eeeek!!