Seven Years Ago Today

Seven years ago today, we walked arm and arm out of our wedding ceremony excited and anticipating all that married life would have in store for us! I am so thankful that while it hasn't been easy, I married the person that God set aside for me before I was born! There have been a lot of things happen in the past 7 years and luckily we have been able to be there for one another through it all. I thank God daily for blessing me with Stephen to share all of life's experiences with. Happy Anniversary Stephen! I love you the most!

Norman Christmas Parade

Today was the annual Norman Christmas Parade! We had never been before, but we were very excited to get to experience it! Eleanor and her family came down to go with us. We couldn't just pull them in a boring wagon, so I had to "fancify" it a little and it became the Joy Wagon complete with bells that jingled! :)

They both look a little scared at this point...

Misty and I were definitely the Mom-a-razzi, so we had to document that too!

These two girls LOVE firetrucks, so you can imagine the excitement when there was one so close!

They even got Jr. Firefighter stickers!

And they got to look inside!

Rick Kringle getting in on the Christmas spirit!

Sweet Lorelei was so sweet and content the whole time! I would be too if I got to be so cozy!

We had the perfect spot. Right at the beginning of the route, so we were the first ones to see each float.

The girls were very impressed with the parade, particularly the people who gave out candy.

Misty got them the cutest little cups to drink hot chocolate from!

Eventually they wanted out of the wagon. The only rule was they had to touch the wagon. At one point, Eleanor was leaning down with her belly on it so that she would still be touching it! Such a rule follower! Olive on the other hand, was jumping down the sidewalk...

We lured them back into the wagon by giving them donuts! After about an hour, they had had enough so we headed home. The day wouldn't be complete without a little "extravaganza-lorious" dancing.

Thanks Thompson's for the fun time! Can't wait for next year, maybe the joy wagon will look like a sleigh!

The "Best" Christmas Program Ever

Wednesday night was our Children's Christmas Program at church. The 2 year old's were to wear these precious little sheep costumes and they were responsible for learning 2 songs: "Away in a Manger" and "10 Little Angels". Olive had been practicing her songs for weeks and knew every word. Hearing "Away in a Manger" in her sweet little voice is the most precious sound! We had a very rough time at dress rehearsal and Olive had refused to put on the costume, so I was shocked when Sunday afternoon, she put it on! Isn't she the sweetest little lamb?

But when it was time for the program, she wouldn't even consider putting it on. And so here are the pictures of the program and Olive's "part" in it...

She was completely oblivious to the program going on on the stage. She thought she was just there to check out the stairs. Going back up...

Nope! Back down...

And back up, "Hi Grady!"...

and back down...

Luckily, then she found the side of the risers and the rest of her "performance" took place to the side so she wasn't a total distraction to everyone.

Then she spotted Daddy and the camera and did a little pose.

Bless her two year old little heart, she has no idea that she wasn't doing the right thing. When we were leaving she said "I a good singer." Hmmmm....Maybe next year.

Felt Board Christmas Tree

For Olive's birthday, our sweet friend Mrs. Lecia at church, made her the coolest felt board with all of the alphabet letters! It is one of Olive's favorite things to play with. So, when I saw an idea for making a Christmas tree felt board I knew I needed to make one! I used the felt board from her bedroom as a background to put the tree on and cut out some lights and ornaments. She was so excited!

Hmmm...Where should I put the next one?

Right here looks good!She would get them all up there, say "It is beautiful!" and then pull them all off and start again!

Doesn't a felt board take you back to the days of Sunday School lessons as kid? For me it was sitting in that big room downstairs at Western Oaks Church of the Nazarene listening to Mrs. Reba tell the story...I love it!

Slumber Party! on the floor...

I was changing Olive's sheets today and had gotten everything out of her bed. She proceeded to carry it all into the kitchen and then she yelled "Mommy! Come cover us up!" Priceless!

I love this one! It is almost like she is doing roll call.

Baby Ash? GloWorm? Bob? Stella? check! Pillow pet? Angel? Gardenia? check!

And yes, all of these sleep in her bed with her and sometimes a few more.

Happy December! Let the Traditions Begin!

Every year growing up, we had an advent calendar that helped us countdown the days until Christmas. I remember having the ones with doors that you popped chocolate out of and then my parents got super creative and we had special boxes on the tree with our initials that we got to open. Then as we got older, we had "advent bags" and every day there was a special something in our bag. This was one of my favorite family traditions we had. This tradition stayed alive even when I didn't live at home because my sweet Mom wrapped it all and sent it home with me. I mean advent was serious business for the Young family! In fact, the first year that my sister and I were married at Christmas, we were DEVASTATED to find out that we weren't going to have advent anymore. Mom said it was our job now. I made this little advent calendar from a muffin tin the year Olive was born, but we hadn't actually used it until this year!

I made some little cards with special activities on them to go in some of the spots. The other spots have little things like smarties and stickers.

I also found these awesome scripture cards on Pinterest and I put one in each place.

This morning, first thing, I got the calendar down and explained to Olive that we get to open one every single day until Christmas. (Do you notice who is sitting next to her on the floor? Baby Jesus has been sleeping with her every night since we got her nativity out and when she gets out of bed, she puts him back. He hadn't made it back to the manger yet today)

Day 1: Stickers!

I am so excited to keep this tradition alive! I have so many wonderful memories of advent and can't wait to help Olive develop some too!

I had heard about this idea several years ago from a friend and I was excited to start this year! I wrapped up 24 Christmas/Winter books (luckily my whole classroom is in the basement, so I had these on hand) and each night she will get to unwrap one for us to read as a family.

She told Stephen "I only open one". I guess she caught on from this morning!

Then out of nowhere, Mommy found a special movie for Olive to watch called "An Elf's Story"

She loved every second of it! And then just like in the movie, the doorbell rang and there was a package waiting on our front porch! Our very own Elf on the Shelf! I thought we would wait another year before trying this, but the movie does such a great job helping to explain everything that we are giving it a go. I am just hoping it cuts down on the laying on the floor screaming fits that have been going on around here!

We asked Olive what she wanted to name our elf (who is a girl with a skirt!) and the first option was Princess. I asked if she had any other ideas and she said "Her name is Jovie!" This made this Buddy the Elf lover so proud! So we made it official by writing her name in the book! I can feel the Christmas magic in the air! I am so excited to spend this whole month celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus! Merry December!