Christmas Wreath....

 Our family has never done an advent calendar....until this year that is. I was inspired by some other moms who were doing it this year, and thought that I would give it a whirl.  The one I made was nothing fancy, but our lovies look forward to opening the envelope each day to see what is in store for us. I've tried to make each activity something we can do as a family.

I am trying to savor this special time leading up to the celebration of the birth of our Savoir.  

Some of our activities have included: A pizza picnic inside, Christmas movie night, Christmas craft, dinner with friends, ice cream picnic on the floor of the family room. The following photos are of our Christmas wreath the kids made.  

Just some left over Christmas decorations and some pretty decor from Michael's craft store. We made a special trip while Daddy was at work, and I let the kids pick out some stuff.

I could do an entire blog post on the many faces of Noah.....he is the most difficult of all of my lovies to get the candid shots I love.....hamming it up comes naturally to this guy. I have to admit, he often makes me laugh when I have my camera out trying to take photos of them all. The other three just do their thing, and Noah sometimes makes it a point to act goofy for the camera....it's been like that forever with him. One of those things that I love about my oldest son....he always knows how to put a smile on my face.

Jared loves to do crafts as you can tell by his facial expression in the background of the above photo.

I know this looks like serious business. When I was going through the photos, I thought man...they were really working hard on this wreath. 

I always enjoy watching little fingers.....no matter if it's painting, turning the page of a book or molding playdough. I have a thing for chubby hands....something that is not a shortage in this house.

They each took their turn placing pine cones and holly berries. I just stood back and took the pictures....making sure not to intervene. I really wanted this to be a true kid creation...something they can look at and know that put it together themselves.

My four little lovies pose with their homemade wreath....I love it!

Noah is sure to let anyone who walks through our front door that he and his brothers and sister made this all by themselves.  

Just a little crafternoon at the Cochran's.