How is everyone doing? I hope we all made it through Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday without any serious damage. I also hope everyone has a good plan to get through the next month… we have definitely had some unexpected challenges around here like my oven and some sickness but we will survive!
We’ve been enjoying our Advent Study by Amanda Bennett with the lap book and other Christmas activities that we have been doing. The kids have been reading ‘A Christmas Carol’** aloud and doing a unit study** that goes along with it and we plan to watch the movie when we finish the book. **You can find the unit study HERE.
So far this week we have been able to gather all of our notes, menus, and lists from Thanksgiving to add to our Holiday Planner. We have put away the Thanksgiving folder and have pulled out our Polar Express folder, St. Nicholas Day notes, and of course our Christmas. I also probably need to pull out the New Year’s folder too but I haven’t just yet.
If you are planning to do anything for St. Nicholas Day then you may need to plan to pick up those items by this weekend. I had a couple of things in my Amazon cart but when I went to purchase them yesterday (Tuesday) they would not get to me by St. Nicholas Day so now I have to plan a trip to the store for this weekend. I really detest shopping in the store anymore and I know it will be extra crowded now but I’ll try to grab everything I need for the next couple of weeks while I’m there. Our local Walmart recently had a bomb threat so that won’t make this trip any easier for me.
I will try to get some gold chocolate coins or the kid’s little shoes…. ahhhh! I haven’t even made them yet so I foresee some paper-mache shoe-making lessons this week! I have also ordered a couple of calming coloring books for the girls and a couple of fidget toys for the boys. Shyanne will be getting a toy microphone which may help encourage her to use her precious little voice a bit more. I think we will make a couple of ornaments for St. Nicholas Day crafts. I’m not nearly as prepared as I’d like to be as the baby has been needing constant Momma snuggles for the past several days but we will survive!**
I did find these easy wooden shoe crafts that we may use if I can’t get around to making the paper-mache crafts.
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I did get a big chunk of the supplies ordered for Polar Express. I ordered a few things from Oriental Trading and a couple of things from Amazon. I set a small budget and with some of the current sales on Amazon and a gift certificate from Oriental Trading, I was able to stay under budget! The kids are getting super excited about our Polar Express party and I have been brainstorming some ideas for the menu and such.
I also need to finish up the menu for Christmas so that we can make a list of supplies that we need to get for that. Most of the Christmas shopping is finished… for the kids at least. Part of the shopping for the adults is finished. There are a few things that we need to buy in the store so those things may need to be picked up this weekend. Sadly I did miss out on a few deals as the baby was sick and wanted my undivided attention so I wasn’t able to get online and place the orders when I needed to but we still found the items at reasonable prices and stayed within the budget for the Christmas gifts.
I have asked Mr. Awesome for 2x4s for my Christmas gift… lol. I’m going to need his help for a project that we’ve been putting off and it needs to happen sooner rather than later.
I’ve also ordered the last few things I need for my budget-friendly pantry makeover, here’s a link to my previous pantry makeover that I really miss! It wasn’t the most beautiful-looking makeover as it was just temporary. It’s not going to be exactly the way it was before or exactly the way I want it to be in the future but it will be closer. I will post some pictures when we get it finished. Some of the supplies I have ordered are:
- Blue Metal Shelves – like these but I found them on sale at Walmart!**
- Farmhouse Curtains**
- Wood-Look Peel and Stick Paper**
- Lattice Window Film**
- Brick-Look textured wallpaper**
There are a few other odds and ends but I’ll try to list them when I make a post about the makeover. I’ve been buying a few things here and there and finally have enough of the items that it can start to become a reality!
Most of the items have been delivered but I am waiting on a couple more things before I can really get started on it. I know it will take a bit of work and it will look worse before it looks better but I am really excited! This will probably be my Christmas present to myself! This will give us an opportunity to see how we like this new layout before we make any permanent changes in the future.
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