Date Night @ Winder Dairy

I love this tradition of getting scones and hot chocolate at Winder Dairy. Soooo yummy. And being with my James is the BEST!

my new thing...

I am loving this show. Season one, check. Season two, in my possession. James? He's unimpressed. I think his exact words were "that's the gayest thing I've ever seen" (although he says that about a lot of things.)

it was only a matter of time.

Story and hot cocoa

I have tried to customize our advent activities to the older kids then the younger kids since we usually have them seperately. One of Carter and Ava's was "Christmas Stories and hot cocoa" (they have been wanting this hot cocoa for about a month asking me every day when we finally had it neither one liked it. haha)

Activity Advent Calender

We are counting down to christmas! Every day the kids will open an envelope and inside is an activity for us to do together, Sometime we go do something, sometimes its just movie night.

Most of the supplies I had, I just bought the ribbon and clothes pins. The numbers I downloaded from Pinterest. Then i just used paper that I had in my scrapbook supplies. I hotglued ribbon on the clothes pins to make them cuter. Then glued the hotpins on the thick ribbon that I would hang. The envelopes I did not seal in case I need to change the activity (its hard not knowing when the kids will be over for sure) and I printed a calender where I planned and wrote down all the activities so that I can make sure i have the supplies needed for the different activities.

 the finished product

 up close, I ran out of envelopes (remember I was using what I had) so Christmas Eve has a special gold envelope which turned out kindof cute and the kids thought it was cool. Then they argued who gets to open that one so its going to be James.

On Thursdays we dont have kids so even though I have date nights planned, those envelopes are empty.

Our first activity was writing letters to Santa, then we took them to the Macy's box. We came home and made cookies.

Josh

 Jordan

 James spelling words so they can write them down., I think here he was spelling Millenium Falcon

 The envelope!

 Ava

 Ava's funny letter.

 Don't look so happy kids. Dropping the letters off at the macy's Box.

I even let them use my markers which I NEVER do, and they are kept under lock and key. Go me for letting go. Haha.



Temple Square Date

James and I went to temple square to check out the lights, we went to dinner, looked at the Macy's candy windows, and had so much fun! I love hanging out with that guy :)

Too bad I got sick later. I think I have the flu. Here's to hoping I feel better soon since we have lots of fun planned for the weekend.

Elf breakfast

Last Sunday the kids woke up to a North Pole breakfast provided by Snoozy! There were powdered donuts built like a snowman, mini marshmallows, and chocolate covered pretzels.


He also left them a personalized note to each one (Carter was not there that day but snoozy brought his the next day
!)

Introducing..... SNOOZY

The name the kids picked for our elf is Snoozy. On the day after Thanksgiving he came to our house and I read them the book that explains that he returns to Santa every night to report on if they were good or bad. When he returns he "hides" in a new spot. Also if they touch Snoozy he looses his magic. THey were pretty excited. (probably not as excited as me)

here I am reading the book. 

Here are some of the things Snoozy has been up to so far.

trip to Logan

James and I went to Logan a few months ago and I never blogged about it. We drove up, stayed at anniversary inn (king arthur's court) ate chinese food. walked around the temple grounds, watched movies and just relaxed and spent time together.

 I just lovev this temple. This is where James and I are going to get sealed next year.

 My sweetheart



The lovely view. Logan is quite a charming place

at night

Anniversary Inn Logan. We found a yummy Chinese food place and got take out. 

SeReNdIpItY

I just love this movie. I borrowed this movie from the library (which is my new best friend these days) I had seen this frozen hot chocolate recipe on pinterest (my other best friend) so I decided to make a date of it.

here is the recipe. It was delish.

Ingredients

Frrrozen Hot Chocolate

• 6 pieces of 1/2-ounce chocolate (i just used Hershey's  next time I might try a mix of white chocolate and milk chocolate)
• 2 teaspoons store-bought hot chocolate mix
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 3 cups ice
• Whipped cream
• Chocolate shavings

Directions

Chop the chocolate into small pieces. Place it in the top of a double boiler over simmering water. Stir occasionally until melted. Add the hot chocolate mix and sugar. Stir until completely melted. Remove from heat and slowly add ½ cup of milk until smooth. Cool to room temperature.
In a blender, place the remaining cup of milk, the room-temperature chocolate mixture and the ice. Blend on high speed until smooth and the consistency of a frozen daiquiri. Pour into a giant goblet and top with whipped cream and chocolate shavings.

Here is my result:

I am sure James and I were this adorable....

Watching "chick flicks" isn't James' favorite past time, I appreciate that he will still do that with me anyways, just to spend time together. :)