Life and Times of The Johnston family: Festival of Trees!

Monday morning Elizabeth and I managed to do school, but it would prove to be the only day we managed it this week....is it just me or is it hard to do school in December?! There are just so many other fun holiday things to do! I'm thinking if we're lucky we'll get through a weeks worth of school this month but that's just one more thing I love about homeschool, it's super flexible that way. From here on out I'm just planning to take December off! We always seem to anyway! That evening Elizabeth was pretty congested(both kids managed to tack a cold onto the ends of their croup, and being asthmatic the coughs last forever!) So she didn't feel up to going to her theater class. They were super excited to start their advent calendars though....we have several. We have a peanuts one that has a fun activity for each day, like make paper snowflakes, make a Christmas card for a friend, watch a Christmas movie, make a snack for the birds ect. They love that one! We have one that is a house with doors that have M&M's behind them(in the future this will become our service advent). We do those two during the day then before bed the kids do the look and find one(I love that one it makes an adorable decoration!) Then they do their chocolate one and eat it while we watch a short video about the true meaning of Christmas from the advent DVD one of our dear friends from Taylorsville gave us, I love that it keeps Christmas Christ centered! Tuesday was a laid back day of reading Christmas books, singing Christmas songs and playing. In the afternoon Mary came up and watched the kids.(which they were super excited about!) My dad and I went and picked up Jen at her mom's house(as she was watching Daniel) then the three of us picked up my mom and her work and we went to the Festival of Trees opening night. Tony met us there shortly after we got there. We actually managed to look at all of the big trees this year! Then we wandered the gift shop and found a few little fun things, then Jen and I sat down and rested while my parents waited to see if they got either of the two things they bid on....sadly they didn't get either. Then we went over to Joe's Crab Shack(as has become tradition) and had a very good dinner. And called it a night! Wednesday was another low key day as the kids sniffled and coughed in chorus, so between that and the fact that Devin was still asleep at 4 o'clock we didn't go to Bravo classes that evening. Thursday was yet another low key day, but at least the kids started sounding better! Friday morning my mom took me and my kids to the Festival of Trees. We started by going to see Santa and it gave me great hope when the group in front of us in line was a special ed class, all of which Santa interacted with beautifully, so I knew Devin would be in good hands! We had Devin go first and though he didn't say much, their was never an awkward silence. Santa just talked with him like he knew him from birth! And most impressively he got Devin to smile! And the photographer managed to capture it!! When it was Elizabeth's turn, she was surprisingly shy, but again it didn't shake Santa, he just talked to her and found out she wanted him to bring her a Furby Boom, just as he'd gotten out of Devin that he wanted a Batcave. The pictures turned out so cute! After seeing Santa we went over to the kids korner and did some fun activities. Once their tickets were all used up, my mom took Elizabeth to dress a stuffed animal to as Elizabeth says, "cheer up a kid in the hospital". She chose a cute little stuffed dog and my mom helped her make an Elsa dress for it. It turned out way cute! Then my mom took the kids creations out to the car while I took the kids to look at some of the trees and such. My mom got back and got in line for some yummy scones and flavored milk, while we continued to look at trees. Then we sat at a table and ate our treat. Even Devin ate almost half a scone! I had to hold it for him at first, but then he decided it was good enough that it was worth getting the cinnamon sugar on his hand! After that my mom let them each pick out a little thing from the gift shop. Elizabeth found a Batman felt pouch with candy for Devin, which he of course loved and then she found a cute pink butterfly felt purse with candy for her. While my mom continued to look around, The kids and I went over and watched some of the performers, and the kids really enjoyed it! After we were done at the festival we went to IHOP for lunch, where Devin amazingly ate half a pancake! We got home in the afternoon and the kids watched a Christmas movie then played. After dinner Tony took the kids Christmas shopping and I enjoyed some time alone. I watched The Forgotten Carols and ate some delicious chocolate covered caramel corn we got from our nephew's fundraiser for his band trip. It was a nice break! Even if I bawled through the whole show. Nothing gets me in the spirit of Christmas like The Forgotten Carols!! And this is where I'll leave this post!

Playing in the school room....at least we were in there, that counts for something right? ;)