Harvest Craft Fair

I won some tickets to the Harvest Craft Fair at the LA fairgrounds in Pomona so Mom, Emma, & I headed over there on Sunday. I had extras so I invited Erin & her mom Nancy and little Sophia to join us as well. The girls had fun making ornaments, tasting samples, and watching the jugglers onstage. Mom bought some tasty soup & dip mixes and olive oils. Yum! I found a new gymnastics girl ornament for Emma. It is sooo cute! We had lunch there too. This was the first time any of us had visited this event and I am not sure we would pay the general admission costs to get in, but for free, it was a fun day.

Redlands Christmas Parade!

Emma participated in her first parade this weekend with her gymnastics club. It was really really cold and, being Redlands, really really slow. But, we still got to see Emma waving out the window of the tumble bus as they slowly rolled along. There were 130 groups in the parade this year and RGC was... 113. *sigh* So it took 2 hours before they passed by us. But I'm still a proud mama and I think Emma got a kick out of hearing everyone cheering her name from the sidewalk.

Trimming the tree!

After we finished at Home Depot we went to choose a Christmas Tree but the lot wasn't open yet so we headed home to straigten up a bit first. We ended up finding a great tree at a great price and the kids had a blast decorating it. I think it turned out awesome.

Building Snowmen!

We went to Home Depot Saturday morning to build snowman napkin holders. It was a very cute, and simple (!) design. With it's 2 wood screws and a dab of glue, there were a welcome change from Lowes' neverending reign of tiny finishing nails. It even came with stickers to dress the snowman once he was built, but we decided to bring Emma's home so she could paint him first. What an adorable and, for once, useful craft this turned out to be...

It's A Wonderful Life

I love the movie "It's a Wonderful Life." It's one of my favorite movies, holiday or otherwise. So, when I found out it was being performed in Redlands, I made sure to get tickets for Mom, Karen, & I. We had a wonderful evening and the play was good. The actors did well and the guy who was playing George Baily had a voice so similar to Jimmy Stewart it was uncanny. It was great to visit old Bedford Falls for the evening and welcome in the holiday season.

Make a joyful noise!

Tim had his first music recital last night, along with a multitude of other kids who are in the music program along with him. They are still learning how to play the instruments but they sure do have heart! He was very proud of himself and Emma was so excited to go see him play. She loves her cousins!

Start the countdown!

I've always liked the idea of an advent calendar for Emma but did not want to do the constant candy of the cheapy chocolate ones they sell in the stores. Nor did I want to spend a bajillion dollars buying one of the awesome multi drawer wooden ones I found on amazon. So I decided to create our own using bulletin board supplies I got for free with a coupon from Office Max. It turned out pretty cute and Emma is getting quite the kick out of pulling down her star each morning and seeing what fun holiday activity we have planned. I did break down and actually buy an additional advent calendar but this one tells the story of the birth of Jesus in 24 miniature storybook ornaments and is way more detailed than I could ever have the patience or talent to create. So we pull a star to see our activity each morning and then we read a short story and hang the book on Emma's mini tree each evening. We are having a wonderful start to the Christmas season around here! And, as an extra bonus, Emma is totally understanding time passage and how a calendar works. She is walking around telling people the date each day. Usually multiple times a day, but that is okay! :)