~ HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MIKEY ~

 

                      

                            I still LOVE to eskimo kiss you !

                          

                           WHO WOULD HAVE KNOWN ! xoxo

Wordless Wednesday

 

 

xo

~ Advent at the Abbeys ~

          

~Advent ~which means “ to come “~
   

We started observing advent three
years ago and teaching our children
about the symbolism of what are
supposed to be HOLY DAYS …not
holidays:)

A LOT of things started three years
ago when our twins were born. I
think the main reason is that we
were so overwhelmed with the
thought of going anywhere- that we
just didn’t !   

Including at CHRISTMAS !

THE THOUGHT OF DOING THE
NORMAL CHRISTMAS ROUTINE
WAS UTTERLY
OVERWHELLMING FOR US!

In the year that we “stopped life” – A
wonderful thing happened …….
WE Stopped and…
Our routines stopped !
The running around stopped !
And we really had  time to
THINK about  the WHYS of what we
were doing !

Unfortunately, we came up with
many unknown reasons for it all !
It became very clear what things
were important and what things
were NOT !

Along with the rest of the world  we

had adopted a “worldly” perspective

on Christmas….

WE wanted to make wonderful

memories for the kids full of fun f

un fun …but THEY got exhausted

exhausted and exhausted !

WE wanted to be able to accept every

Christmas invitation we received to

celebrate our holidays ….But we got

tired tired tired !

AND the presents … well -the kids

got spoiled and selfish selfish

selfish !

Mike and I had many conversations
each year as  Christmas came and
went… about what we needed to do
better with the next year….. BUT it
wasn’t until three years ago that we
got it !! Because we stopped !

JESUS is
the REASON
for the SEASON !!

I have heard that even come out of
my own kids mouths … BUT I
NEVER got it!

What are we doing if we are not
pointing our children to that ~the
true reason for Christmas - with a
godly perspective?! There is so much
to this season to be celebrated!
Our HUMBLE  king….The prince of
heaven…. born in a barn ! The
greatest gift ever  GIVEN …..Here to
SERVE others !

This is what we celebrate ! What a
wonderful gift to give to our
children!!

WEEK 1 ~
The Angels & Christmas Lights
Each week we put a new figure in the middle of the table to tell the Christmas story.

This week is the angels who came to
tell Mary she was highly favored by
GOD… wow that is something to stop
and think on in itself !  We also
talk about the angels who came to
tell the shepherds the good news
about baby  Jesus !
Then on Sunday nights we put  a
wreath around it to put our advent
candles in.

We light the (votive) angels in the
middle

and the advent candle on the side in
the wreath and we turn out the
lights.

The first week of Advent we learn
about Christmas lights so we plan
to decorate the house with outside
Christmas lights and we give the
kids battery operated candles to hold
during our first advent.


The kids put them in their bedroom
windows after to help them
remember the symbolism of the
Christmas lights …

THAT Jesus is the light of the world
….and we need to let our
lights shine !

We sang This Little Light of
Mine...and then Oh Come
Let Us Adore Him.


These are the books I have been using the last few years to learn about Advent.

The Wreath and Garland 

Today we studied the symbolism of

the wreath and garland during our school

devotion time. 

Evergreens = His gift

of everlasting life …the wreath is a

circle that never ends just like His

    love…

we thought about how many people

put WREATHS on their doors

without knowing that !  We 

committed to remember WHY the

wreath is on our door and saying

thank you for it each time we see it !

The tots were so funny trying to

say the ‘th’ sound in wreath….

Wreath -in a circle…

After the story all the kids start

working on their December calendar

booklets and advent books. Here is

Miss Grade One starting on her

wreath page.

We did some coloring for

daddy from over at 1+1+1…

 

 

J is for Jesus.

Then we added this fantastic

keepsake that our very own Auntie

Jen made with with her 3 little ones.

I decided just to make one with all

my kids hands instead of 6

individual wreaths.

 

We still need to decorate our hand

print wreath.

As for GARLAND

 

     I   L * O * V * E    IT !

 

AND I DECK the house in it …to 

symbolize GOD’S everlasting life

everywhere !

AND I mean everywhere !

{ BUT I will only show you some of it :}

But…Now you know why!

{ ONE of the neighbors

asked if we celebrate Christmas,

I guess b/c we put our

lights on the

back of the house so

we can see them when we do

advent, and we only

decorate the front of the

house with garland and

wreaths }

Advent at the Abbeys continues

Week 2~

The Shepherd's & The Christmas Tree

This week we light two candles in

our  advent wreath and we add a

shepherd and a lamb to the

centerpiece as we continue telling

them the story of  Jesus birth.

We give each of the kids their own

little trees and we talk about how

small it is now but how one day it

will be as big as our Christmas

tree ! 

*This is the weekend we get our tree to 

wrap in with advent topic.

We go to a tree farm

and cut it down  bring it home and

add to the decorations in the house that we are

getting all ready for Jesus birthday !

Then Mike asked them what a tree

needs to grow ? He talked about

how we need to be growing as

Christians like the little trees and

that we need to water ourselves with

the bible so we~ like Jesus ~

can grow in stature and in

wisdom *Matthew 1 :18 and how it

is Gods SON who is our SUN and

his mercy and grace are what help

us to change and keep growing to be

more like him.

Then we sang  Joy to the World and

talked about how we need to prepare

our hearts to make more room for

Jesus in it we each shared an

area in our lives we would make

MORE room for him to come in and

help us to grow in,,,

The topics were …patience~

obedience~ kind words~ … no

screaming :) ~and self discipline ~

Week 3~

The Wise men & The Star

This week we add the STAR onto the

chandelier and hang it above the

hurricane & Nativity scene.

A BRIGHT STAR  that was nothing

less than a miracle as it appeared

right above the babe and his mother!

His very own spot light!

Then we add the wise men to the

nativity scene and we talk about

how they follow the star to find

baby  Jesus.

What really is “awe” – some are the

gifts that they brought !

NOT only that they searched the

skies for years looking for signs of

the messiah- but only wise men

could give the gifts that they did!

Gold

symbolized royalty and

acknowledged Jesus as a King.

 Myrrh

was used in preparation

for burials

Frankincense

was used in worship ! Who would

give gifts like these to a baby ?

WISE MEN who studied the

scriptures and knew who they were

beholding!

We Light three candles in the wreath

sing “Angels We Have Heard On

High” and talked about why the

Angels were rejoicing then we talked

about times in our lives our hearts

rejoiced……

{ of course it was when they were

each born :)

{ I totally forgot to get pictures ! }

Week 4 ~

 Baby  Jesus = the true GIFT !

On Christmas Eve we add baby Jesus

To complete OUR Nativity Scene!

We talk about the symbolism of

giving presents and how Jesus is the

best gift we have ever been given  !

And about how every day is a gift  

from him and how we need to have

thankful hearts… every day!!~ for

what He has done for us ….coming

to earth ….to save us ….Gods own

son…born in a barn…..the Prince of

Heaven …..FOR YOU! .. For me !…

    

That is the real meaning of 

Christmas!

W*A*R*N*I*N*G* ……IF YOU COME TO OUR HOUSE THIS IS WHAT YOU WILL SEE NOW!!!

 

 

Day AND Night…. people in ………..SLEEPERS!

{ we just switch into new ones in the morning & at night }

 

{ It is becoming an almost impossible feat to get a picture where one of these guys is not moving }

But then you get the “KEEPERS” like these pics ~if you just let ‘em be ……BOYS!

 

When the twins were born they lived in sleepers ! Forget the socks and pants and undershirts and shirts x 2 that they needed 3 x a day! IT was too much laundry for babies # 5&6  and with baby #4 only 14 months old !

My friends laughed at me on this one but I think I am onto something  { that I never used with babies  #1-2 or 3 !! }

= COMPLETE OUTFITS!

Even the bigger kids love them! ……….PROMISE!

AHH THE JOYS OF HOMESCHOOL !!!

I Remembered It’s Wednesday …………….{ My 1st wordless Wednesday }

Our MR. PRESCHOOL is no more….

  

     Introducing Mr. Kindergarten !!!!

at his new big boy desk in the school room

( I think all kindergarteners should be able to wear their jammies if they want to:)

AND…… HE CAN READ !!! 

{ Love the name of the book ! }

Here is what his typical kindergarten day will look like !

We have our calendar time with Miss Gr 1 and the Tots to sing …..seasonal songs, days of the week, months, colors, family names..then we do calendar time, memory verses, and choose what we are most thankful for ~to put on our THANKFUL tree !

We do our best to get out all the wigglies from our three little jigglies

Then the tots leave to play with Big Sis seeing as she knows all this and it is yawn- yawn “boring” ! :)

Mr. Gr 4 and Miss. Gr 1 and Mr. Kindergarten do Geography!

The “bigs” have been doing our Canada study since September and have the map its capitals bodies of water poles ..ect…ect  all memorized so now we get to start our  “Expedition Earth” !

 

It is a PERFECT Time for Mr. Kindergarten to join in !

We did Canada and America today this c.d has songs for all over the world of children singing in their Native Languages.

Then we look on our globe lamp! 

 

We found North America and the Oceans today!

Then we take animals from that Country and we put them on our animal categorization wall.

            

 

      Then he does his own calendar wall

Here is what’s in the box today .. his newly stocked Kindergarten work boxes that is.

 

#1.Practicing to write his name alphabet sheets from his preschool curricula (fine motor skills are still coming along:)

#2. Number sequencing and recognition to 100.

#3. Opposites

#4. Math sticker books –are so fun!

#5. Cut and glue work book for fine motor skills

Happily chatting away as he glued …talking about the roller coaster in his picture …” te he”

 

#6. More fine motor skills with sequencing & grouping

#7. We are using  his Leap Frog Word Wammer to learn about word families- for now. We learn the word family do with whatever the book of the day is ie :  -an for  the ” I can” book.

#8. Easy Puzzles with pictures for three letter words

#9. Phonics blend flashcards and early reader books

He actually gets them all done too !….just singing away..”sugar is sweet and so are you”

 

I love this picture ..

I think I am going to start wordless Wednesday Blog posts

( if I can remember it is Wednesday )

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

~ Today I  am thankful for the awesome opportunity to teach MY kindergartener ~

…….and for his little dangling feet xo