Countdown to Christmas with Books

(Trying this again... I attempted to fix a formatting issue and lost the original post.)

This year we are celebrating Advent with books. I saw this idea on a blog last Christmas and decided we would do it ourselves. We had some Christmas books, but I found many more at a local used book store. This is a wonderful place, especially if you are like me and love children's books. In fact, it may be a little dangerous:-).

So here are the books we have unwrapped and read each evening on our countdown to Christmas.

A Charlie Brown Christmas

I found a beautiful copy of this story at our local library's book sale. I find the story kind of sad, but also think it is a great telling of the true story of Christmas.

Little Angel (Geraldine McCaughrean and Ian Beck)
This is a sweet story of a little angel who gets separated from the others when they come tell the shepherds about Jesus' birth. A little shepherd boy helps her get back to the others and is helped by her as well.

The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey (Susan Wojciechowski, illustrated by P.J. Lynch)
This is one of those stories that always chokes me up... a hurt and bitter person reminded of the truth of Christmas. It was a little too old for Grace, but Hannah enjoyed the story.

One Winter's Day (M. Christina Butler, illustrated by Tina Macnaughton)
I LOVE this story. Someone from our church gave it to our girls last Christmas. It is a story about a little hedgehog who gives away his hat, scarf and mittens and ends up being blessed by those he blessed.

Danny and the Kings (Susan Cooper, illustrated by Jos. A. Smith)
We read this book tonight and once again I got a little teary eyed. It is a story of a boy who wants to get a Christmas tree for his brother and ends up being blessed by several truckers... a "Hallmark" story (not really, but you know what I mean).

I Spy Christmas (Photographs by Walter Wick, Riddles by Jean Marzollo)
I got this because my girls love their I Spy board book, but we found this extremely difficult to find the objects. I might take it on our trip and play our own game of I Spy with it.

The Christmas Story (Rona Davies and Tommaso d'Incalci)
The illustrations are great and it sticks pretty closely to the biblical story.

Silent Night (illustrated by Darcy May)
I like the illustrations in this book. It follows the words of the song. Hannah liked that we sang the song after we read it.

Laura's Christmas

This is a "lift-the-flap" book and an early introduction to the Little House books. Hannah and I have read the chapter books (up until The Long Winter), but she liked this book as well.

An Angel Came to Nazareth (pictures by Maggie Kneen)
This story is told from the perspective of 4 animals who needed to chose who they would take to Bethlehem. While 3 animals pick "important" people, the donkey picks a pregnant woman. It is a nice retelling, but not one of my favorite.

Baby Jesus board book

Even Elizabeth gets a Christmas story. This story is told in rhyme, but I wouldn't call it a "must have" book.

The First Christmas (Carol Heyer)
I LOVE the illustrations in this book. It is a good retelling of the Christmas story.

The Golden Christmas Tree (Jan Wahl, illustrated by Leonard Weisgard)
We enjoyed this story about the animals working together to decorate their Christmas tree. Hannah has asked to read this a couple times. I thought a good activity to do after reading this book would be to decorate a tree for the birds (like peanut butter and birdseed pinecones), but it didn't happen this year.

Angelina's Christmas (illustrations by Helen Craig, story by Katharine Holabird)
Hannah loves Angelina Ballerina and this was another sweet story in that series. Angelina blesses a neighbor in need of compassion.

God Gave Us Christmas (Lisa Tawn Bergren, art by David Hohn)
I really enjoyed God Gave Us You and bought it before Hannah was born. A friend gave us this book and it is a great story about Mama Polar Bear and her cub going out to find God through the ways He makes himself known in nature.

So that is where we are. We have 10 more books. The last book will be the reading of the Christmas Story from either The Jesus Storybook Bible or The Big Picture Story Bible on Christmas morning. The kids seem to have enjoyed opening a book each morning and I like reading new books.

I'll post the rest after Christmas!

Out of the Mouth of Hannah

I overheard these sayings from Hannah this evening...

(While wearing Daddy's shirt) "Mommy, do I look like a college guy?"

(Directing her sister, Grace, in a Christmas play) "No, Gracie, angels don't bow."

(Tells Gracie to laugh into a bowl... which Gracie did. Hannah puts the cover on it.) "Ok, Gracie, this is going to God."

God's Grace

In many ways the past 2 weeks have been rough. One child after another (after another) has managed to pick up some kind of bug. First Grace and Elizabeth caught a cold. By Friday (a week ago), Elizabeth developed an ear infection and was refusing to nurse. After 24 hours on antibiotics, she was slowly starting to nurse (and sleep) again... s.l.o.w.l.y. Grace started getting strange bumps on her feet... then her hands... then in her mouth. An internet visit (and mommy diagnosis) revealed Hand, Foot and Mouth disease. The sores in her mouth kept her from eating anything except bread AND kept her sleeping only 3 1/2 hours on Tuesday night... mommy slept about the same amount of time. Wednesday was a LONG day! Thursday morning we felt like we were turning a corner when Hannah woke up with a stomach ache and a low grade fever... no school for her and ANOTHER day of mommy entertaining all three girls in the house.

Yet, God's grace was sufficient. On Wednesday, at 5:30, I woke Daryl up not sure how I was going to make it through the day, yet every time I ask for God's grace to make it through a moment... it was there. We even got the Christmas Tree decorated and the bathrooms cleaned! On Friday, a sweet friend came up and stayed with the girls so I could FINALLY go shopping for groceries. Another friend sent me an email to encourage me. Another friend called and helped me remember that this (caring for the girls whether sick or well) IS my job and it IS important to God. God's grace in the form of friend. Yet this... this was God's grace from my little girl.

Daryl and I found this note on our bedside table on Thursday night. Can you read it? I had tears in my eyes when I saw it.

A final picture for this post. Hannah set one of our nativity scenes up in the window and one morning this is what we saw.

Thank God for His Grace coming to earth as a baby! The reality is... this world is full of sickness and disease. Although we try to make this season all fancy and perfect, it is because of brokenness that we needed Christ. Thank God that He knows what we need. Thank God for His Grace.

Teaching School

The latest "game" at the Olson house is teaching school. Grandma and Grandpa were very gracious students. Here are two short clips of "Miss Hannah" and "Miss Grace" teaching their class.

MIA

There has been lots going on in the Olson household... the NEW Olson household. I will share more, but for now here is a picture of the girls with their grandparents. We had a great visit. More pictures to come!

(Later)

I realized that I never got back to the pictures from Grandma and Grandpa's visit. We really enjoyed our time with Grandma and Grandpa. The girls LOVED playing "school" with them and we are still finding (in January) their "schoolwork" around the house. We also spent a morning at Russell Orchards seeing the animals and enjoying apple cider donuts. Hope you enjoy the slideshow!

Patience...

is something this house has very little of these days and I'm speaking about everyone, but the adults (especially mommy) are in serious need of a patience recharge. Sigh...

This morning... mommy snatches Hannah's "My Little Pony" box house away from her because she was tackling her sister because Grace was about to touch it. Hmmm... probably not the best example of conflict management, but Hannah added to the moment when she responded (to my "Hannah, you need to learn to be kind") with "But mommy, you need to teach me!"

Tonight, mommy tries to refill Gracie's almost empty water cup before bed and was told "no." 5 minutes after she is in bed (if that), she screeches (yes, screeches) for mommy to refill her water cup. Did I just get played by a 2 year old?

Elizabeth... well, she MIGHT just be the most patient of us all... as long as she is fed when she decides she's hungry.

Yes, an extra dose of patience wouldn't hurt. We are going to survive this move if it kills us!

Daddy's new workout system

Enjoy Fall!

Multitude Monday

Multitude Monday is about intentionally fixing my eyes on God's blessings, big and small, whatever the season, whether life is good or the road has been rocky.

57. 8 months with this little munchkin

58. a morning playdate with a neighbor up the street... complete with traveling to Mexico via a loveseat "airplane," a "train" with chairs in the hallway, a "boat" box in the attic, dancing to Swan Lake, and art... who knew so much could be packed into less than 2 hours.
59. a "letter and shape" walk on a beautiful fall afternoon
60. french toast for dinner
61. a complete night of sleep for mommy
62. late sleepers this morning
63. a chance for a morning coffee and quiet time before the little ones woke up
64. a TOTALLY HILARIOUS talent show at our church on Saturday night... the laughter continues to spill over
65. a very funny daddy who helped bring the house down (along with many other very talented people at our church)
66. the anticipation of next talent show
67. checking some moving "to dos" off the list last night
68. a sweet card from my aunt

A Taste of Fall

Despite needing to pack for next week's big move, the girls and I decided to have kind of a "normal" day and enjoy fall with a trip to Russell Orchards. We got our "classic" pumpkin pictures, fed the animals, ate apple cider donuts and picked up some pumpkins to decorate at home. It was great just to be out for a while and continue to ignore the task at hand... I suppose I'm continuing to ignore it now!

Enjoy the pics of the day!

Elizabeth at almost 8 months old!

"Little House on the Prairie" Grace... she wanted to wear this hat:-)!

I'm not even sure what to write for this caption!

Painting their little pumpkins

Digging out the seeds and membranes (Gracie didn't like this job, until we brought out the spoons)

We baked the pumpkin seeds and had them for supper with our Friday night pizza. They were a big hit with all of us!

Daddy carving the pumpkin.

We need to get a candle for in the pumpkin and when we do, I'll be sure to post the finished product!

For the last 4 years, I've gotten pictures of my "pumpkin snatcher." To see those pictures, look here. And here is the four year old pumpkin snatcher.

Multitude Monday

Multitude Monday is about intentionally fixing my eyes on God's blessings, big and small, whatever the season, whether life is good or the road has been rocky.

Here is my continuation from last Multitude Monday.

 
40. another bedroom (and a backyard)
41. Gracie's enthusiastic "Momma's back"
42. An opportunity to study Hebrews with other women
43. a supportive husband
44. a fun week with Nana
45. opportunities to pray for others
46. breakfast with just my mom
47. weeding out "stuff"
48. an encouraging email
49. a much needed talk with a friend
50. Elizabeth's morning happy sounds
51. a crazy game of hide and seek complete with LOTS of little girl laughter
52. two loads of "stuff" to the new house
53. birthday party at a campground with friends
54. babies who fall asleep in your arms
55. evening in a quiet house
56. a phone conversation with mom and dad

Springtime Citrus Cake

For my mom's birthday cake, I used a new recipe. It is actually a recipe I picked up randomly at Ace Hardware... yes, you read that right. Hannah and I happened to go to Ace on a day they had a demonstration. We had a sample of this cake... yummy!


Springtime Citrus Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup butter, room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
3 eggs
1-2 tbsp lemon zest
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tsp lemon extract
1 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 325. 

Generously spray with nonstick cooking spray 10-inch bundt pan or 10-1 cup ramekins. (I used 2 round cake pans.)

Into a bowl, sift (or whisk) together the flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, cream 1 cup butter and granulated sugar; beat at high speed until mixture is very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down side of bowl frequently. Blend in lemon zest.

Add flour mixture to the creamed mixture alternately with sour cream, adding each in 2 additions.

Scrape sides of bowl frequently. Pour batter into prepared cake pan(s); bake in the preheated oven for 35 to 38 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden pick inserted near the center of cake comes out clean.

Cool in pan 10 minutes.

For the orange cream cheese frosting:
1 lb powdered sugar
1 pkg. (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened
1 navel orange, zested and juiced

Beat sugar, cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Add zest and just enough orange jice to make frosting spreadable.

The Finale: Nana's Birthday Week

On Saturday evening, (after nana and her sisters went on a fabulous whale watch ~ you'll have to get pictures from them) we gathered for a birthday supper of Seared Haddock with Edamame Succatash, spinach/apple/mozarella salad and rice. The meal was concluded with Hannah's special "Sea Glass Cake" for nana. The cake, Springtime Citrus Cake, was a new recipe for me and I found it particularly yummy (that recipe may need to be a future post). Enjoy the pics of the evening!

Preparing the "Sea Glass" Cake with Daddy

The table set and ready for our special guests

Make a wish, nana

The special birthday party with Nana, Aunt Faye, Aunt Glynette, and Aunt Jean

Nana, her girls and Daryl

Day 3: Nana's Birthday Week

On Wednesday, the weather was just perfect, so we took Nana down to the beach for a picnic. Not only did we have some yummy food together, our "collectors" (nana and Hannah) had lots of fun finding treasures on the beach.

Picnic with Nana

Watching the cruise ship anchored in the harbor

Hannah finding treasures

Just one more 'nack

Our little Bee

My chunk-a-munk

Wednesday afternoon, Gracie had her 2 year check-up. She had to get 3 "ou-wees" and that made her (and mommy) very sad. She did perk up a bit when she was allowed into the doctor's treasure box. The nurse felt so bad she told her to take as much as she wanted! Thankfully, Gracie limited her loot to 4 things and a bucket.

Thursday morning nana and mommy got a "girls-morning-out" breakfast at a local breakfast joint. Then mommy went to work and nana waited for her sisters to arrive. Thursday and Friday we got to spend some time with Aunt Jean, Aunt Faye, and Aunt Glynette. Silly mommy forgot to bring her camera for those adventures and will need to wait for nana's pictures.

Stay tuned for Saturday's Birthday Bash... including Nana's Sea Glass Cake!

Day 2: Nana's Birthday Week

Today Hannah went to preschool, so Grace had some special time with Nana. Tuesdays are typically our library day and Grace participates in a library playgroup that begins with a time of play, followed by a book, a simple craft, parachute time, and songs. She loves it and often sings the various songs or does the hand motions throughout the week.

Playtime with Nana

Elizabeth just completing the puzzle

Grace preparing to sing "Mr. Sun" (each song has a prop that goes with it)

Miss Connie does an incredible job with the kids. Hannah LOVED the group when she was 18 months to 3 years. Now its Gracie's turn. I'm excited that I have one more girl to bring to the group!

This actually took place last night, but I thought I would include it here. Enjoy!

Day 1: Nana's Birthday Week

Nana arrived safe and sound yesterday, which I suppose is truly Day 1, but we didn't take any pictures of our adventure to the Children's Drop and Shop where mommy found 3 costumes (a bee, a butterfly, and makings for a 2nd butterfly) for 7 dollars! Yippee!

Today our adventure was the Topsfield Fair. Enjoy the pics!

Nana and the girls outside the horse pulling event... Gracie LOVED the horses!

The girls were entranced by the horses... "just 1 more"

Just need to start 'er up!

She's a natural!

Both girls LOVED the rides

Tomorrow... preschool and library time!

Engineer in Training

A pile of wood and a little imagination... I love seeing the creativity of kids! Hannah wanted to make slide too, but "mean mommy" squashed that idea (and told the story of how that worked out for poppi when he was a little boy... a rough board leaned up against a fence. Well, you get the idea!)

Word Explosion

Well, it has happened... no, more accurately... it is happening. Just like my husband, my mother-in-law (and countless other people) said it would, but when one daughter sings her ABCs before she turns 2 and the other, well, she primarily yells, MAMA, even after she turns 2, you wonder.

Yes, Grace's vocabulary is exploding. Every day it seems, she says something like "Up, please," I do what she says (without thinking) and then I stop and ask, "did you just say please?" She proceeds to smile her big Gracie smile, because "wow, mommy understands me!" It is simply amazing.

Today she wanted to put on underwear (yes, the one who didn't talk is potty training herself... go figure) and she said "El-me." This is Grace talk for Elmo, i.e. the Elmo underwear. Before today, she had never even attempted to say Elmo. It is really cute.

So Gracie may be ALL 2, but she is going to be 2 with a vocabulary. Maybe this will cut down on the screaming tantrums. A mom can dream, can't she?

Some of Gracie's words as of September 2011:

• El-me (Elmo)
• Happy (part of singing Happy Birthday... This consists of saying Happy over and over again, and then ending with "blowing out the candles")
• Mom-mee
• book
• cheese (teez)
• up
• down
• please
• uh oh
• baby (ba bee)... a change from baba
• amen
• Knock Knock (to which we answer "who's there", she responds "uh oh," we say "uh oh, who?" she answers "dada dada dada")
• ow-ee (seems to be getting these a lot these days, including rolling half-way down our entry-way steps)
• pop (popsicle or lollypop)
• snack (old favorite)
• hop
• ball
  

First Day of School

And so it begins... Hannah had her first day of preschool today. Daryl said she didn't even look backwards when he dropped her off at her class. Hannah informed me that they didn't have "circle time" because it was really a square, so they had "square time." Our little scholar... I think she is just "wired" for school.

The last picture is for Grandma Olson. Hannah is putting her tissue into her bag. Daddy remembers Grandma giving him a whole bunch of tissues on his first day of school. They all fell out at school and he was embarrassed. He said he remembers her giving him tissues on the first day of high school, college and seminary! The tradition continues!

Wordless Wednesday

Gracie's story

Grace has started "telling" us stories. It is really cute and quite humorous. For the longest time, her story (repeated often) was about the 4th of July parade. She would cover her ears for the loud firetrucks. She would make a throwing motion for the people who threw candy. Then she would point to Hannah and Mommy who picked it up. Finally she would pretend to eat it for all of us eating the candy.

Here is her latest story.

In case you need further translation, the grunting is the dog going to the bathroom. The "crying" face is us being sad because no one cleaned up the mess. This one isn't her best performance, but it is hard to catch her with the camera.

A Week in the Life of the Olsons

A little bit of everything has been going on these days. So, this post is going to be a bit of a random walk through the week in pictures.

Last weekend... Our good friends, the Boggs, were in town. It was great to spend time with them and to catch up on life from the past year. We still miss them, but are so thankful for what God is doing in their lives and in the church to which he has called them.

Gracie and Derek... she wasn't too sure about this "stranger" at first,
but by the end of the weekend they were good buddies!

Baby Eve wasn't so much a baby anymore! She is SO CUTE!

Jessica and the kiddos... Grace (2 years), Hannah (4 years), Levi (3 1/2 years)

Another picture of the cutie

Derek, Jessica, Daryl and I got to go out for dinner thanks to some brave souls friends who agreed to chase after 5 busy ones. Thanks guys! It was such a gift for us to be able to do that. We owe you BIG!

On Wednesday... my baby girl turned 6 months old. She is such a delightful baby. She is getting steadier and steadier with sitting up, but still needs the pillow net around her (especially if there are siblings near).

Sweet girl... Elizabeth Anne

Silly girl!

This weekend... All week we have been hearing about HURRICANE IRENE!!! Well, for us on the northshore, it was a brief rain and a windy day. I know other areas have been hit hard. For us in this section of Gloucester, it was the storm that wasn't. There were some pretty cool waves!

Saturday... Hannah and I went to get our hair cut. Hannah did so well for Loretta (she sat still for her, something I am having trouble getting her to do when I cut her hair.) It is really cute and makes her look so grown up! School starts this week!

Still working on growing out those bangs... I think I need to get some headbands for her!

Today... was the great bean harvest. Gracie and I picked beans for our supper tonight. There is something really rewarding about that. They were good, but I think they would have been better if I would have picked them a couple days earlier. It is a learning experience.

Believe it or not, this is actually a pre-smile... she was really excited about the beans

And that concludes the random week in pictures. Thanks for stopping by!