Advent is here!

Week 2 of Advent is already here and Christmas preparations are in full swing! I got my camera back last week, so I'll have some better photos coming soon! But here are some from the past few days...

We had our Little Flowers class at the park last week. The girls made mini Advent wreaths. They strung beads to wrap on their wreaths.


Love this of Ellie and her "twin" on the left. They are not even 2 weeks apart in age and look so alike, especially their concentrating looks in this photo!


All the girls wreath-making


Mary Clare's finished product! We broke the long candles, glued in a cup, and glued the cups on clear plastic plates. Then we put their wreaths in the middle.


For our Advent wreath at home, we used Lacy's idea and painted white taper candles with crayons that we melted on the griddle, to make our purple and pink candles.


The girls take turns lighting and blowing out the candles each night at dinner.


The playhouse got some decorations too! My parents had some extra blue lights and the girls were thrilled to decorate the house and their mini Christmas trees last night!



Okay, and why did I not think of this sooner? I put a clear vinyl sheet of plastic over our tablecloth (thanks to my mom who had several yards of extra vinyl!). This way our stained and scuffed up table doesn't show, and I don't have to wash a tablecloth after every meal! I remember my Aggieland friends doing this but I had forgotten until I was at a friend's house last week. Thanks, K! This will save me a lot of headache and eyesore :)


We have a busy week ahead! St. Nick should be visiting us tonight. The girls have their shoes out on the fireplace! We've got several rehearsals for our Christmas Showcase (which happens on Friday), the big Nutcracker downtown, PaPa's birthday, ballet class, neighborhood Christmas party, Immaculate Conception Holy Day, and I'm sure I'm forgetting something!

2 prayer requests for tonight: Our dear priest friend from Nigeria had his hometown attacked by the military and lost close friends. Also a young father of 3 has passed away from lung cancer. He and his wife were involved in the same Catholic campus ministry as we were, so we had many mutual friends. They were the most positive, joyful couple even in the midst of such suffering. May Matt's soul rest in peace, and may his wife and three little boys (one just a newborn) find peace and hope as they mourn.

O Come O Come Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel....
The Advent journey...