Advent bags

(as requested by Kelly)...

What do we do with our advent bags you may ask?
Well, we don't have that completely figured out yet.
Y'know those chocolate advent books that you can get and every day you open up a little flap and there is a chocolate in there? Well, that's kinda the idea but we will add a LOT more meaning into ours.
I found a great advent book that goes through the alphabet the 25 days before Christmas. So for example, B is for Bethlehem, so it will have a little blurp about Bethlehem and also a verse or two to look up in the bible.
Brian grew up with a homemade wreath and everyday you stick on a (flannelgraph?) item from the Christmas story (ex. a shepherd). So, we kinda wanted to incorporate something like that, which would go along with the book.
I've been looking for a cheap little nativity set that has 25 peices and you can put a peice up every day, but haven't found one yet...
But for this year, we will probably just read the short little story and verse from the book and there will be candy (or something fun) inside the bags to open everyday.

A fun way to keep Christ and his birth on our minds these days leading up to Christmas.

Catching up

Today is my day for catching up on the following:

-dishes
-sleep
-laundry
-cuddles with K
-cleaning up from Christmas and baby gifts
-blogging/e-mails
-journalling

Guess I better get at it!

Yesterday we enjoyed a quiet Christmas at home - just the 3 of us!
We had a little sleep in (Kellan is an amazing sleeper so we aren't too sleep deprived), then while I gave K his breakfast Brian set up the vanTol traditional dutch breakfast - complete with candles, tea, cinnamon buns (close enough to the cinnamon bread), and dutch rusks with chocolate sprinkles.


After our tummies were full we opened our stockings and the rest of our presents. We usually open presents on Christmas Eve but we were too tired that night so we thought we would open one and save the rest for Christmas morning.



Then we SKYPED with Brian's family on the computer and showed off all our loot!

Rewind to Christmas Eve....we went to the service at our church then when we got home we set up a little buffet and enjoyed some quiet time with our little family. We've been so busy lately (haven't had one day without packing up and going somewhere or having people over) so it was great just to relax.

Christmas Eve family shot:

After cleaning up and finally getting out of our pajamas I bundled Kellan up, put him in my carrier and I walked to the hospital to show him off. He was again very popular and it was nice to chat with the girls I work with since I haven't for a while.

Then we headed out to the cemetery to visit Brennan, take him his Christmas teddy bear and introduce the brothers. (see his blog for pics)

We were originally going to fly out to BC yesterday to visit Brian's family but because of the bad weather and all the delayed/cancelled flights we decided to rebook our flights for the 30th (next Tuesday). Even tho we really wanted to be there for Christmas and all the activities - I'm relieved we won't have to sit at the airport waiting for a delayed flight and also I now have more time to pack and get ready (I was feeling a bit rushed so now I have time to get things ready and get REALLY excited!)

Anyways, that's a quick update. Kellan is an amazing baby! Very content and sleeps two 4-6hr stretches a night! I'm LOVING this little guy and it's hard not to spoil him with cuddles - Brian and I often find ourselves fighting over who gets to hold him! :) I hope to write/post his birth story soon and a little more about him. Stay tuned...