Christmas 2017

This Christmas was both fun and crazy! Jacob was offered and accepted a new job in SEATTLE just about a week before Christmas. Luckily, mama was well prepared and had everything ready for Christmas, because we had to get in high gear to get ready to put our house up for sale and get ready to move in a few very short weeks! In fact, the day after Christmas, we took everything down and put all our decorations, etc. away as we had to prepare and "stage" our house to be photographed 2 days after Christmas! Our house went up for sale today - New Years Eve, and we even had someone come to look at it this afternoon (a perfect excuse to take the kids to Starbucks for some Hot Cocoa). So...here they are. Here we are. Our wonderful crew! Our Five Wilds! The excitement of and anticipation of all the fun and joy that Christmas can bring, as well as the excitement and anticipation on lots of big changes right around the corner! They really are the best and have been such troopers through this entire process of preparing for our new adventure. We also can't overlook that it was our baby Juniper's very first Christmas! She is such a sweetheart and we feel so blessed she came to our family - almost a year ago! I had to laugh/joke/cry/smile SO big that Jacob gave us the move we've been dreaming of for a very long time this Christmas - the gift of going home to Seattle. Even though the timing is a bit crazy, we couldn't be more excited! 

Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

Christmas Advent

It's that time of the year again...where a day feels like a million years to the tiny people in our lives, as they count down the days until Christmas. Enter, the Advent. We started doing an advent when our first baby was born, and it has varied slightly from year to year, but we have built some beautiful, solid traditions as well as tried something new each year. I will not lie: it takes a good amount of time and planning to prepare an advent as shown here.

There are some years I have done more or less (especially years I was sick/pregnant or had a newborn in my arms). I have had a lot of people inquire about our advent over the years, and there is no one perfect formula...the biggest thing is to do what you can handle, and enjoy the time spent with your little ones (or bigger ones!) during this special time of the year. You may want to simply choose a couple of activities, or none at all and just read books together by the Christmas tree. Maybe you don't feel like tracking down a bunch of books (or wrapping them up!) so instead you read something simple and perfect for younger children such as this Advent Storybook or this collection of Winter Time Tales. I recently purchased this wonderful Christmas Guide, filled with several simple ideas, which I am excited to try - next year, because I didn't get it quite in time for this year. There is enough hustle and bustle during this season - so this shouldn't create more stress in your life. However, if you do want to plan ahead and create some fun times - being a magic maker really is a wonderful opportunity to create simple yet beautiful memories with your children. Often, it is the most simple activity that they will remember most fondly (and messy! my children love making paper snowflakes to decorate all of the windows in our house). 

In the past we have used our beautiful advent calendar, filled it with small chocolates and scriptures with an activity. Some years we add something special to the last twelve days before Christmas, and bring out a piece of our tiny olive wood nativity (however, this year, the kids are just playing with it along with their other wooden blocks ;) It's okay to shake things up from year to year. You will find there are certain activities or books you gravitate to each year that you simply don't want to miss. When we lived in Seattle we absolutely adored the Figgy Puddy Street Caroling Contest, the Greenlake Pathway of Lights, and The Christmas Ships. In Austin, I'd say our very favorite tradition has been wondering the streets at Main Street Bethlehem, following the star, and finding the tiny baby Jesus. Something we could've never done in Seattle but have done several time here has been our very own Polar Bear Plunge. It's fun to find connections to others in the community through events such as those, but then there are the traditions in your own home that are just as special, and even more cozy. A "twinkle" party - sitting around admiring the tree while listening to favorite Christmas tunes. Or making your favorite cookies to set out for Santa. Or drinking a warm mug filled with hot cocoa for no reason at all - and adding a scoop of peppermint ice cream (because hot cocoa a la mode is SO good! Have you tried it? You should!) 

Here are a bunch of advent adventures we've had over the years.

And here is this year's advent: we open a book every day, and tucked inside is a little note with an activity for that day. We've done our advent this way for a couple of years, and it's been really fun. When we started out, we only had a couple of Christmas books, so we checked out a bunch from our local library (they don't care if you wrap them up! Just as long as you unwrap before they're due ;) As the years went on and our family grew, we collected more books each year - either as gifts, or used books we found secondhand - and now have enough books to do the advent with all of our own books, though often I had a book or two if anything fun, new, or beautiful catches my eye. Here is this year's line up - 


Christmas Advent 2017

1 Book: Pick a Pine Tree
Activity: Pick out a Christmas Tree

2 Book: Jingle Bells
Activity: Go Christmas Caroling

3 Book: Room for a Little One
Activity: Main Street Bethlehem 

4 Book: How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Activity: Grow our hearts by Giving (this year donating items to children in foster care from the wish list of Foster Village Austin)

5 Book: The Legend of the Poinsettia
Activity: Pick out a Poinsettias (one to have and some to give our neighbors)

6 Book: The Snowy Day
Activity: Craft: Make Paper Snowflakes 

7 Book: The Mitten
Activity: Design your own Mitten (printable or use felt and other craft supplies from around the house)

8 Book: Christmas Farms
Activity: Make Christmas Salt Dough

9 Book: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Activity: Breakfast with Santa (a winter carnival at school)

10 Book: Red and Lulu
Activity: Live music - Christmas Symphony

11 Book: Christmas Oranges
Activity: Craft: Orange Garlands

12 Book: The Polar Express
Activity: Hot Chocolate Party

13 Book: The Gift of the Magi
Activity: Visit O. Henry Musem

14 Book: The Light of Christmas
Activity: Craft: Beeswax Candles

15 Book: Frosty the Snowman
Activity: Christmas Movie Night

16 Book: The Nutcracker
Activity: Austin Ballet's Nutcracker

17 Book: The Christmas Wish
Activity: Gingerbread Houses

18 Book: The Legend of the Candy Cane
Activity: Make Candy Cane Cookies

19 Book: Christmas Day in the Morning
Activity: Make homemade eggnog

20 Book: The Tale of Three Trees
Activity: Craft: Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments

21 Book: The Message of the Birds
Activity: Craft: Bird Feeders

22 Book: Song of the Stars
Activity: Color or paint your own Nativity

23 Book: Mice Skating
Activity: Ice Skating

24 Book: The Night Before Christmas
Activity: Bake Christmas Cookies (save a few for Santa!)


No matter how you count down the days until Christmas (there are so many fun and different ways, simple to gone-all-out!) the most important thing is that it is a time you enjoy with your family, making memories with your children or others - that will warm your heart when you think back on those days. Merriest Christmas to all and may your heart bask in a few warm memories made this season.

Explore // Garner State Park

To celebrate Jacob's 40th Birthday, we took our crew camping at Garner State Park in the Texas Hill Country...and found fall weather and beauty during our stay. The cypress trees that line the Frio River were showing off their rusty hues - my FAVORITE! It rained and drizzled on our first morning, so we woke up and walked over to admire the bit of fog, mist, and MOOD. It was glorious! It drizzled most of the day - and we hiked up the top of Old Baldy only to be in the middle of a slippery, misty cloud. But we still caught a view of the river lined with all the beautiful colored trees! You know it's a good trip when you come home tired, wet, and muddy ;) This new decade of our 40s is going to be full of wonderful and crazy new adventures - bring them on!

Halloween 2017 - Hello from the Land of OZ