Christmas Countdown Days 12, 11, 10, 9, and 8

On Christmas Countdown day 12 the kids made Christmas presents for their Sunday School teachers. We made magnets using canning jar lids (the flat part). We painted them and added a snowflake stamp, jewels, and buttons.

On day 11 of our Countdown we read the Christmas story from Luke 2 in the Bible.

Then on day 10 we rode around looking at Christmas lights. This was also the day of Isaac, Sarah, and Elijah's piano recital. My parents and Bryan's parents were able to come up and attend the recital. Bryan's parent's brought the kids a tree swing! The kids LOVE it!!

Day 9 of our Countdown to Christmas was game night. Playing board games, card games, etc. is always lots of fun family time! Bryan's parents had to head home this morning but my parents were able to stay a few more days. UNO is just one of our many games we like to play. What is your favorite family game to play?

Day 8 of our Christmas countdown was when we had Christmas with my parents. Christmas with Maw and Paw is always special. Since we have been in Tennessee my parents have came up and spent Christmas with us, such a great time! This meant that altogether my parents would end up staying with us for 11 days!!!!

 Maw and Joanna enjoy playing with one of Joanna's presents from Maw and Paw.

My parents got Timothy this hat, overalls, and green long sleeve shirt. Now he can look like Paw!

Christmas Countdown: Day 14 and Day 13

I promise I will finish this Countdown and maybe I will get it down before January 1. :)

On Day 14 of our Countdown to Christmas we went caroling in the community and then went Christmas shopping. It is such a joy to hear our kids singing Christmas carols and watch them serve the Lord. After our caroling we went in to town and did some Christmas shopping. We had lots of fun spending time together as a family!

On Day 13 of our Countdown we watched a Christmas movie. The movie we chose was "Christmas with Tucker". My mom had watched it and thought we would enjoy it. It was a very cute and very family friendly movie.

Purple Monday Sale at Lilla Rose!!

I hope that each of you had a wonderful Christmas!! We did! My parents were able to come and visit with us for 10 days! It was so hard to let them leave. :( I will be sharing Christmas pictures soon!

Here is a picture of Joanna's hair for church yesterday, Christmas Day! The clip in her hair is the Silver Fir and size is Medium. This looked so pretty on her and she liked it.

Today is Purple Monday at Lilla Rose!! That means its a SALE! Everything is 10-15% off and some of the holiday items are 50% off! Free shipping on retail orders of $40 or more. Just head over to www.lillarose.biz/cantinacamp to check out all the beautiful hair accessories that are on sale!

21 Years Ago

On December 23, 1995, Bryan and I had our first "official" date! That was 21 years ago and I love that man more today than ever before! Very excited to spend the rest of my life with Bryan and I am looking forward to all that God has planned for us!

Countdown to Christmas: Day 16 and Day 15

One of the things we miss the most that was lost in the fire is our home videos and pictures. Those are things that we will never be able to replace. Back in 2007 and 2008 Bryan made our parents home videos of the kids. For day 16 of our Countdown to Christmas we watched one of those home videos! It was so fun to see those home movies we had made. Of coarse there was lots of laughter as we watched and I shed a few tears. I miss my kiddos being that small and I wish I had all the home movies we had ever made. Very thankful my parents shared these videos with us!

On Day 15 we had our Christmas with the Camp family. We were able to be with Bryans family and enjoy some time with them. We had got to Alabama on Thursday night and on Friday my dad had a heart cath, so we were able to be there with my parents during that time. Dad is doing well and had a good report. Then on Saturday afternoon we had our Christmas with the Camps, then headed back home later that evening. Always a blessing to be with family!!

Countdown to Christmas: Day 18 and Day 17

On day 18 of our count down we wrapped a few presents for our Camp family Christmas that was just a few days away! The kids enjoy wrapping presents and do a pretty good job of keeping secrets.

Then on day 17 of our count down we prayed for a family friend that is going on a mission trip next summer. As one of our gifts this Christmas we are not just giving prayers for this friend but also going to give financially. As parents desiring to train our children in the way of the Lord, we feel that teaching our children now about missionaries and the impact they have on others is very important. We also want our kids to know the importance of having a giving heart. As a family we will continue to pray for our friend as they prepare of their mission trip and we will pray for them to be a great witness as they share Jesus with others.

Merry Christmas 2016!

Merry Christmas to your family from ours!! 

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them. Luke 2:13-20

Count Down to Christmas: Day 20 and Day 19

On Day 20 of our countdown to Christmas was made birdseed ornaments. This is something we did last year and the kids really enjoyed it. We found this recipe for the ornaments and it was very easy! We even gave a couple of them to the chickens!

I don't have a picture to share for Day 19 because it was so busy I forgot all about taking pictures. LOL! Day 19 was our Christmas/Craft Party with our Homeschool group. We had a great time! Each child did 3 crafts. A few of the moms were in charge of the crafts. I did a craft with the 4-6 graders. Then each family brought a food item to share with the rest of the group. A great time of fellowship for all of us!

This picture is of a sample of what we did. We put magnets on the back and the kids decorated them in Christmas theme.

Count Down to Christmas: Day 22 and Day 21

For Day 22 on our Count Down to Christmas we read two Christmas books. One was a small book called "A Night Like No Other" and the other book was a Bernstein Bear book titled "The Joy of Giving". We love reading together and enjoying a good book. We have many other Christmas books that we will be reading between now and Christmas.

For Day 21 on our Count Down to Christmas we were to see how many acts of kindness we could do during the day. Since this day was on a Sunday the kids were able to give acts of kindness to those at church. One of the children helped a lady take her things to her car. All the kids enjoyed giving acts of kindness to each other and Bryan and I at home. One of the kids folded clothes for all the other children, one made mine and Bryan's bed, one child cleaned out the dishwasher, and the list goes on.

Count Down to Christmas Day 23

On Day 23 of our Count Down to Christmas we were to bake something to enjoy and share. The kids and I love to bake, so I knew they would really like this. My plans were for all of us to bake something together but the kids had other plans. We ended up turning it into a cookie bake off. There were two teams and each team had to bake the cookies and then we would let Bryan be the judge. We had lots of fun!!! One team made monster cookies and the other team made "brookies" (which is brownies and cookies combined). 

After supper we blind folded Bryan and gave him one of each cookie. He tasted the cookies and enjoyed them both! Both teams were winners!! Yes we enjoyed them and will share them with others as we go with our church caroling, sharing cookies, and sharing Christ on Sunday afternoons. 

Count Down to Christmas! Day 24

We have started a tradition in the Camp home and it has been so much fun! We have been doing a Countdown to Christmas for 5 years. I am not sure how I got this idea but I am very thankful for the joy and fun it has brought us! The first picture is of the "tree" we place on the door with each card. I took index cards and wrote the activity for the day, folded it, and then on the outside I wrote the number of day till Christmas.

The activity for yesterday was a Nativity Hunt. I took our Nativity set and hid each piece around the house and the kids had to find them. Then we all gathered in the Living Room to put the Nativity together. The only problem was no one found baby Jesus. We talked about how important He was to the Nativity and without Jesus there would be NO Nativity or Christmas. Jesus IS the Reason for the season!!

Thankful Thursday!!

Its been a long time since I have done a "Thankful Thursday" post. I meant to post this yesterday but my day got busy.

I am thankful for...
232) God's mercies that are new every morning; great is His faithfulness.  Lamentations 3:22-23
233) creative children.
234) Lilla Rose.
235) the smell of banana bread.
236) a GPS on my phone.
237) the sound of my kids playing praises to the Lord on the piano.
238) blueberry tea.