Ft. Myers Trip: Day 5

RECAP:    My husband and I both grew up on the river.  Literally.  The river was just footsteps outside of both of our front doors.  We love the water.  We love the beach.  So when we decided to start venturing further than a day's drive away from our home for a family vacation, we chose the beach.  Ft. Myers Beach, FL, to be exact.  Here's what we did on:

DAY 5:

     Day 5 is the day we really settled in.  It was Tuesday and we had no intentions of leaving the island for any reason until it was time to go home.  The weather had warmed up, and stayed that way for the rest of our trip!  No more cool mornings and evenings...even for me!  We were adjusting quite well to our little home for the week!

     Dave and I started the day with Mass, while Grandma stayed behind with the kids.  We made it in time to pray a couple decades of the rosary and were able to stay for the Divine Mercy Chaplet after Mass.  This reminded me of my former days of daily Mass back home, with the added bonus of having my husband with me!  A great start to the day!

     Next up on our list of things to do was figure out the bike situation.  There were two adult bikes in the garage and one children's bike.  All of which had flat tires and rusty chains.  Dave picked up an air pump and some oil and went to work.  He had some success and was able to get one of the adult bikes and the children's bike working.  He and our oldest son then took a ride a few miles down the beach to check out an area we had thought looked cool on Google Earth.  

The Area:

When they returned, Grandma and our daughter took the bikes in the opposite direction.  In the meantime, the rest of us decided to talk a walk.  

Unfortunately for for the biking crew, the children's bike did not hold up and we saw Grandma and our daughter walking the bikes back home (we ended up renting two more bikes for the rest of the week and it was money well spent)!  We did a partial kid exchange, with some continuing with us, and some going back with grandma, and we continued on our separate ways. 

The walkers got to see a little white crab!

We also saw a live starfish, but the waves were quicker than the camera, and it was covered in sand before we could snap a photo!

Of course we saw plenty of pelicans too!

     We spent the afternoon...you guessed it...hanging out on the beach.  

With the warmer weather there was a lot of action out on the water!

The little guy discovered a great love for jumping in the waves!

Still searching for shells, especially whole sand dollars!

Going for a swim with Daddy!

Relaxing!

By mid-afternoon, the little guy had run out of gas!

     That evening Dave and I got to take a bike ride, which was so much fun.  We were trying to make it to the pier at the north end of the beach by sunset, but just when the pier was in sight and we thought we had a chance to make it, the chain fell off my bike.  The sun set while we were trying to fix it, so we didn't make it. It was still absolutely beautiful though, and the whole experience was fun whether we made it to the pier, or not.  After the chain was fixed we rode back, stopping at Publix along the way.  Who cares about a trip to a grocery store?  No one, but going to Publix on the bikes became our little mini-date every night.  So...it holds a very special place in my heart, and who could leave a thing like that out??

 The Sunset

Even better post-sunset if you ask me!

We also saw a horseshoe crab, which I thought was soooooo very cool!

By the end of the day I was REALLY beginning to wish I could just hit repeat everyday for the rest of my life!

 Here's what we did on:  Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8,  Day 9

Ft. Myers Trip, Day 4: Sanibel Island

RECAP:    My husband and I both grew up on the river.  Literally.  The river was just footsteps outside of both of our front doors.  We love the water.  We love the beach.  So when we decided to start venturing further than a day's drive away from our home for a family vacation, we chose the beach.  Ft. Myers Beach, FL, to be exact.  Here's what we did on:

DAY 4:

Trip to Bowman's Beach, Sanibel Island

     8:00 a.m. found us loaded into the van and heading to Sanibel Island, hoping to reach it in time for low tide, on day 4.  We had read that Sanibel is known to be one of the shelling capitals of the world, and we were not disappointed when we arrived, shortly after low tide.  The weather was cool when we arrived, but was pretty toasty by lunchtime and some members of our crew warmed up enough to require their first official swim in the gulf!  This was a super fun day!

     While Ft. Myers Beach is more built up with condos, hotels, and beach houses, Sanibel remains in a much more natural state.  There is public parking for Bowman's Beach with a rate of $2 per hour and at 8:45 in the morning the lot was pretty vacant and we had no trouble finding a spot.  Next to the parking lot are dressing rooms and restrooms, which were an unexpected convenience.  We walked about 1/4 mile from the parking area to the beach, including a couple bridges over fresh water.  The boys and I were heavily scouting for gators...no luck!  

The Walk:

One of the bridges over fresh water

My husband/the kids' science teacher was pretty pumped up to see the mangroves, which he had just taught the kids about the week before!

The Beach:

We made it!

Hardly any visitors so early in the
morning!



  

So  many shells!

So pretty!

The Wildlife:

We may not have seen any gators on our walk, but Sanibel did provide us with plenty of wildlife to view!  Shortly after we arrived I was a few feet into the water searching for shells when I heard movement to my right.  I looked over expecting to see a jumping fish, and saw instead, an annoyed stingray inches from my ankles swooshing away from me.  I get super excited about things like that, and it may or may not have been the highlight of my day and scared me silly all at the same time!  The dolphin, directly below, was a little less startling!

Our first dolphin sighting of the week also occurred on Sanibel.  I am 100% certain this was our daughter's highlight of the day!

The beach was full of seagulls and our 3 year old took GREAT delight in feeding them.

The rest of our family took great delight in hearing him laugh as they flocked around him!

And I enjoyed this memory as one of the highlights of my Sanibel day until...

...later in the week when my husband zoomed in on this photo of the "Welcome to Sanibel" sign he had taken.  There, right on the sign, plainly written, were the rules.  To  my absolute HORROR, listed as rule number one was:  NO FEEDING WILD BIRDS!  Oops.  I suppose it's probably not good for the birds and perhaps people don't like the fact that after you feed them they become a little too confident and try to steal food directly from your hands.  Half of my mom's sandwich was swiped right out of her hand by one of the fattest, bravest seagulls on the beach that day.  We, of course all thought it was a total hoot!

More Fun in the Sun!

Smashball, the beach game of the week!

"Do you think we'll EVER find any shark teeth?"

Shelling and cooling off!

By the time we left Bowman's Beach, it was PACKED.  The empty lot we had found in the morning was full, and the traffic was slow.  The drive that took us only 42 minutes that morning, took over 2 hours on the way back home.  When we finally did arrive home we headed back to the beach and pool, not wanting to waste a minute of the warm weather and sunshine!

We were all tired by the end of the day, but our wildlife adventures were not quite over yet.  As we lounged around the house, barely moving more than beached whales, we discovered a little friend living with us:

"Dunk, the Living Lizard," named after "Dunk," the original toy lizard of our 5 year old.

This little guy/gal was great fun for the kids.  As for me, I was so stuck to the couch that despite my great love for seeing animals I don't usually get to see, I simply had to view this little one from the camera.  Grandma and Daddy put it outside where it reportedly ran like a mad-lizard, most likely to its' sudden and untimely death, off the patio.  

Sanibel's Treasures at the End of the Day:

Here's what we did on:  Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8,  Day 9

Ft. Myers Trip: Day 3

RECAP:  My husband and I both grew up on the river.  Literally.  The river was just footsteps outside of both of our front doors.  We love the water.  We love the beach.  So when we decided to start venturing further than a day's drive away from our home for a family vacation, we chose the beach.  Ft. Myers Beach, FL, to be exact.  Here's what we did on:

Day 3:

     I've been saving one of my very favorite things about our vacation and it's time for the big reveal!!!  

Ascension Parish

Located just ONE mile from our rental house!!!!!

So beautiful!

We are used to a 15-20 minute drive to get to Mass, so we were super excited to have such a short distance to drive, walk, or bike, to our parish for the week!  The Mass was packed and we later learned that it can take up to, and sometimes over 2 hours to get off the island for Mass.  In fact the church we attended was built just to accommodate all the visitors.  It is just across the street from the beach and everything inside reflects its' unique location.   You could literally walk or bike on the beach to get to and from Mass and although we didn't get to do that this time, because it wasn't practical with the kids, I could not imagine any better way to start a day!

Shell shaped Baptismal Font (the Holy Water Fonts were shells too)

Outdoor Stations of the Cross

It has been quite a few years since I have been able to attend daily Mass more than once in one week, and I miss it so, so, much.  Due to the close proximity of this church we were able to make it to daily Mass several times throughout the week.  Daily Mass was at 8:00 and we did not have to leave until 7:52 in order to arrive and still have plenty of time to park, speak to the priest about Holy Communion for the gluten-free members of our crew, and pray a bit before Mass.  This made the trip a spiritual retreat for us, in addition to just being a relaxing beach vacation, and thus, one of my very favorite parts of the trip!  In case you don't know, the number one component of my dream retirement is being a daily Masser.  I can't wait to go to daily Mass.  I just can't wait!   So within minutes of seeing how smoothly this all worked, I was totally daydreaming about the possibilities of becoming a snowbird daily Mass goer right there on Ft. Myers Beach!   

One more thing about the church and then I will move on.  We also learned there is a cloistered monastery next door.  I am hoping to visit on the next trip!   We weren't sure if it was allowed when we were there this time.

The rest of the day was spent:


On the beach...

At the Pool...

And watching the sunset!

After sunset, we thought we would venture to the north end of the island to check out all the little shops and restaurants.  It only took us 45 minutes to drive 3 miles.  That's about all I have to say about that adventure.  Unless you would also like to hear about how there was nowhere to park once we got there.  

Day 3's weather was cool in the morning, warm throughout the day, and downright cold (to me) that night.  

Here's the fun from:  Day 1, Day 2, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8,  Day 9

Ft. Myers Trip: Day 2...I'm a Little Nuts...This is a LOOOONG Day...Paradise!

 RECAP:  My husband and I both grew up on the river.  Literally.  The river was just footsteps outside of both of our front doors.  We love the water.  We love the beach.  So when we decided to start venturing further than a day's drive away from our home for a family vacation, we chose the beach.  Ft. Myers Beach, FL, to be exact.  Here's what we did on:

Day 2:

Rise and Shine!

     Day number two was our big travel day.  We woke up around 3:30 and got on the shuttle bus to the airport around 4:30.  Surprisingly, the kids were wide awake.  The little boys seemed especially pumped up to be riding on a bus with just their regular seat belts (something that would NEVER happen at home)!  The eyes of our three year old, who is addicted to Dinosaur Train and who makes time tunnels and trains out of EVERYTHING, lit up like a Christmas tree when the shuttle bus traveled through a bit of a tunnel on the way to the airport.  He broke his shy silence then and in a whisper laced with excitement and eyes as big as saucers, announced to all the passengers on the bus, "Time Tunnel."  I could see this was going to be a big day for our little homebodies!   

The Airport/Flight

Isn't this just a cool photo my husband took of the panhandle?

     My husband and I had not flown since March 2002 and our children had never flown.  We were all very excited and a little apprehensive.  Okay, I was a little more than a little apprehensive.  I was TOTALLY FREAKING OUT!  I had really not slept at all the night before.  I was rolling around certain that we had packed things that shouldn't be packed.  They would find all sorts of contraband in our luggage, pockets, shoes, etc., and we'd never be able to leave Milwaukee.  I had packed food and gluten-free cookware and I was certain this was NOT going to be okay.  So, while I was excited to fly and get to some warmer weather, I was a ball of nerves worrying that I may have mistakenly broken a TSA rule!  As usual, my worrying was pointless.  Check-in and boarding went very smoothly.  All the carry-ons fit in the overhead compartment.  None of our suitcases were over the weight limit.  No one arrested me for packing a forbidden liquid or blessed salt.

     We flew on Southwest Airlines and their seating is not reserved so the earlier you board, the better the chance you will get to sit where you want.  Having our children spread throughout the plane was another fear I had, but we all got to sit close to one another.  We had paid a little extra to try to ensure early boarding positions.  We had also purchased car seats specifically for the flight.  The reviews I read before purchasing proclaimed they were inexpensive, narrow, and lightweight.  All of this proved to be true and they fit without any problems at all.  So finally I relaxed...until I started worrying about one of the children getting sick, even though they had taken their Dramamine.  I was worried, but I was able to relax enough to start to get excited and enjoy the flight.  I used to love flying and flew at least couple times a year when my husband and I were dating long distance and I always enjoyed looking out the tiny windows wondering what was below me.  So you can imagine my amazement and utter delight in using Southwest's Flight Tracker on the ipad for the whole trip!  I think my excitement over this little feature rivaled our three year old's excitement over the "Time Tunnel" that the shuttle bus traveled through.  I was also pretty pumped up about how decent the ipad pictures turned out from the air, and to have a general idea of what I was taking pictures of was just the icing on the cake!

Mountains in Georgia (if my Flight Tracker was accurate)

Welcome to Ft. Myers!

View of Ft. Myers Beach taken by my husband!

     We were on a nonstop flight and everything was perfectly on schedule.  We landed and our luggage came around the carousel in record time.  We could feel the warmth and couldn't wait to get the rental van, grab a bite to eat, and hit the beach.  Except all the speediness and perfect timing of the day came to a screeching halt when we saw the line for the rental cars, and by the end of the day we would learn that Ft. Myers is an excellent place to go if you are looking to grow in the virtue of patience.  Quite some time later we had the keys to our "new van" as the boys called it, and were heading to the parking garage.  Unfortunately for us we learned that the back of a Honda Odyssey holds a whole lot more than the back of a Dodge Grand Caravan and we had to squeeze luggage in all sorts of creative places in order to make everything fit.  I won't go into the details, but we then spent about an hour driving in circles while we waited for our navigation technology to actually work and get us to an Outback for lunch.  I will say there were some tense moments in that hour and I may or may not have muttered, or snarled, or growled, an "I told you so!" approximately every 5 minutes.

     We did finally find the Outback and I have to say it was the absolute best Outback food I have ever tasted.  It probably helped that it felt amazing to sit outside eating in the warm sun, in the middle of February, knowing that we had just been in sub-zero temperatures just hours before.  After lunch we found a Walmart and stocked up on food and supplies for the week.  We had read that traffic on and off Estero Island, where we were staying, was horrendous and so we wanted to make sure we did not need to make any unnecessary trips off the island.  Our cart was overflowing when we left Walmart and we literally had to buckle everyone in and then pile the groceries on top of ourselves.  There were bags in every nook and cranny.  The traffic descriptions we had read were no exaggeration and it took us a very long time to get onto the island, and to our rental home, but finally around 4:30 we made it.  We had been up since 3:30 and traveling since 4:30, and 12 hours later we were at our final destination!

The House

Back side of the house (this is what faces the Gulf)

     We rented a house, 2nd row, on the ocean side of the island.  It was in the perfect location for us, because it was away from all the businesses, crowds, and action on the north end of the island.  There was a Publix (grocery store) a little over a block away, which carried everything we could possibly need, including tons of gluten-free foods, all very reasonably priced.  Had we known this we would have skipped the Walmart trip (we did know there was a Publix, but did not know how many gluten-free products they would carry and we assumed since people were sort of stuck on the island that the prices would be outrageous).  The house itself was in our minds the perfect beach house.  Even though we were not front row, we had a few great ocean views.  

View from south side of Master Balcony

View from the north side of the Master Balcony

The kitchen was perfect, bedrooms and bathrooms, great, and the garage was full of beach supplies, chairs, toys, bikes, etc.  Quite a few of the items were in need of repair, but we had no expectations of having these items so even if they needed a bit of work, it was still a treat to have them in the first place.  My husband was able to get one of the two bikes working so that made one less bike for us to have to rent for the week!  After our trip to the Outback we did not eat out again for the remainder of our stay in Florida.  The house became our home for the week and it was business as usual in terms of eating, laundry, and bedtime.  It just happened to be business as usual...in paradise.  Perfect!

First Night

     It took quite awhile for us to settle in and we did not do much that first night.  We made it down to the beach as quickly as we could and I loved seeing the kids see the beach and ocean for the first time.  Our three year old stood laughing hysterically while throwing handful after handful of sand into the waves and yelling (we don't know what) at the Gulf of Mexico.  It had gotten pretty cool and the water felt like ice to me, but he did not care.  He stood there shivering, throwing, and laughing.  The older kids started what would become their week-long search for seashells and shark teeth, and we all knew this was a place that was going to stay in our hearts forever.

Letting loose after being cooped up all day!

View from the pool area, walking back to the house on the first night!

Other days of our trip: Day 1, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8,  Day 9

Ft. Myer's Trip: Day 1 (The Basilica of St. Josaphat)

     My husband and I both grew up on the river.  Literally.  The river was just footsteps outside of both of our front doors.  We love the water.  We love the beach.  So when we decided to start venturing further than a day's drive away from our home for a family vacation, we chose the beach.  Ft. Myer's Beach, FL, to be exact.  Here's what we did on:

Day 1:

We started our trip in Milwaukee.  We didn't have too much time to explore, so we chose:

 The Basilica of St. Josaphat.  

This was by far the most beautiful church I have ever seen. Not that I have been many places, but still.  It was breathtakingly beautiful.  Every movement of my eyes was rewarded with a new visual treat.  We did not have enough in our group for a personal tour, which would have just been over the top fantastic, but we were grateful to at least have the opportunity to walk through on our own.  

We took loads of pictures, but none of them even come close to capturing the beauty.  All I can say is if you are ever in the area...GO!

We use Seton English in our homeschool and the third grade text details the life of St. Josaphat throughout the year, so this was an added bonus for us (or at least I thought it was pretty cool)!

One of the most touching things for me...

On a side table next to the Our Lady of Guadalupe shrine they had roses in different colors.  A card explaining the different colors invited visitors to place a rose in the vase in front of the picture of OLG with their intentions.  There were cards attached to the roses and if you filled out the card, parishioners would pray for your intentions (basically the cards corresponded with the issue and you just filled out the questions about the issue).  I waited too long to write this and I cannot remember exactly which color represented which issue, BUT I do remember one color was for couples who were currently pregnant, one was for couples who were struggling with infertility, one (the white) was for miscarriage/loss, and the final one was for healing from abortion.  We placed a white rose in the vase in memory of our Michael Maximilian.  My heart swelled in this reminder of how BIG our Church is.  Strangers all over the world are praying daily for one another.  It just blows me away.  

I was also pretty pumped up right away when we entered.  We came in a back entrance and the second thing I saw was a giant painting of St. Maximilian Kolbe.

I could go on and on about this place, but the truth is, without a guide, and with a three year old who all too quickly made himself at home (and was starting to run the long aisles) we didn't have enough time to really delve into figuring out what everything was. All I knew was it was the most beautiful church I had ever been in, and I wished we could stay much longer, AND have a guided tour.  Maybe next time!

After touring the basilica we drove to a frozen over park to show the kids Lake Michigan.  We snapped a couple photos in the cold, marveled over the city skyline, and loaded back into the van to find the nearest Red Robin for some yummy gluten-free food!!!

Here's what we did on:  Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8,  Day 9

The Good, the Bad, and the Imminent Poopy Explosion

The Good:

On New Year's Eve day our 3 year old finally decided to join the ranks of official "potty trainers."  We've periodically tried for many, many months and he has consistently ended up wet if I am not setting a timer and dashing to the pot every 30 minutes.  My potty training philosophy has therefore been, to try for a couple hours, and when he has an accident we're done for a few weeks.  Well, on December 31, 2013, the hours kept passing, and he remained dry.  He wore a diaper on that day and switched to undies the next.  He's been proudly sporting undies ever since, with only a few pee pee accidents.

The Bad:

As great as it would be to continue filling this post with brag after brag about how genius my boy is on the pot, it's not the end of the story.  Unfortunately, he appears to be certain that pooping on the pot is going to be a nightmarish experience.  No surprise here.  This is par for the course with our kids.  They've all avoided the pot like the plague when number 2 time is calling.  We spent the first week reminding him that we are here to help and that we will even get him a diaper to poop in if he is afraid.  He just has to ask us.  He doesn't though.  He has made it clear he can hear us though.  He just likes to do things his own way.

The Imminent Poopy Explosion:

He's a smart boy.  He's a stubborn boy.  He knows pooping in his super cool undies is going to disappoint Mommy, AND if he poops on the dinosaurs he might get stuck in some plain old boring undies.  So, he does the only logical thing.  He waits until nap time.  I don't know if it's the beginning, the middle, or the end, but it's nap time, when he's out of his undies and in his nap time diaper, and he poops.  Not a big deal, right?  One might even suggest this is convenient for Mom and Boy.  Except, he doesn't stop at just pooping.  He goes one step further and takes it off.  The first day it happened I was heading to his room after nap and he was screaming, "Let me out of here!  This poop stinks!"  My step got a little quicker and panic struck when I opened the door and saw him.  The stench was indeed pretty intense and there he stood, not in his poopy diaper, but naked.  "Where IS the poop?" I inquired.  He response, "In the closet."  I imagined all sorts of terrible things as I approached the closet.  Would it be on the walls?  Would it be smeared into the carpet?  I expected the worst.  Phew.  There on the closet floor was the poop, still fully contained in the open diaper.  We talked about just leaving the diaper on if he poops.  I not so calmly reminded him that I will change him, and that he is not to change himself.   The following day you could pretty much just hit repeat, minus the closet.  It was right next to him and this time, unlike the day before, his bottom was full of evidence.  Today is day three.  It's only a matter of time before this gets very, very, ugly and everyone in this house knows there is an imminent poopy explosion coming our way, because as he himself proclaims, "I potty trainer, Mom.  I not poopy trainer."

Advent 2013

I have already written about quite a few of our family's Advent traditions in another post, but this year we tried a couple of new ideas that I would like to share.   

Hearts for Jesus:

 The Idea:

A good friend has her kids craft hearts to give to Jesus (I think on Christmas Eve).  I really loved this idea.  I had also read somewhere about a sacrifice chart during Advent, which I also wanted to try.  We ended up combining the two ideas and came up with these:

The Details:

     We drew hearts on construction paper and hung them on the bedroom doors at the beginning of Advent.  The kids were reminded that Advent is a time to prepare our hearts for Jesus, and that these paper hearts which we can see, would represent our real hearts.  We talked about how plain the hearts were and how wonderful it would be to decorate them and make them beautiful for Jesus.  But how could we decorate them and make them beautiful???  By making sacrifices and doing good deeds of course!!!   The children were instructed to place a sticker on their heart every time they made a sacrifice or did something good for Jesus during Advent. 

     Now, I AM lazy and Advent is already busy enough so I had to make sure they could follow through with this without much help from me.   I gathered all the stickers in the house and placed them in an easy to access location for the kids.  Each time they made a sacrifice for Jesus during Advent they were responsible for putting a sticker on their heart for Jesus.  If they asked me if something had earned Jesus a sticker I reminded them that this was something between only Jesus and themselves.  There were lots of conversations about how only they and Jesus knew what was in their hearts and whether or not they should put a sticker on.  I did guide them with ideas of things I thought Jesus would consider to be sacrifices. 

      On Christmas Eve after the baby Jesus was placed in His Crib under our tree, the children took down their hearts and laid them next to the statue, giving their hearts to Jesus.  After Christmas Day we taped them on the wall, next to the tree.

Problems:

     Overall, everything went quite well.  However, there were a couple of bumps in the road.  First, the very young three year old obviously wasn't old enough to figure this all out and so we pretty  much just let him run and put stickers on as often as he pleased.  He happened to really like the stickers though and more often than not as soon as he put one on, he tore another one off for his own pleasure.  You can see his heart is quite empty (above).  I was fine with this.  Seeds are being planted for future years and I just did not have the energy to help him do things the right way this year.  Besides, I am certain that Jesus LOVED his little heart!

     A real problem did surface about halfway through.  One morning the boys were playing some version of indoor football.  My oldest son kept joyfully saying, "That's a cheap shot!" to my middle son.  He would then  put a tally mark on a sheet.  I naively thought this was all part of a score system for their made up game.  However, at the end the oldest son counted tallies and shouted, "Yes!"  "That's 28 stickers for my heart."  This got  my attention and he informed me that since he did not lose his temper each time his brother "cheap shotted" him that that earned him a sticker for every cheap shot!!!!  ACK!  I had watched the whole thing and now it was clear why he was sooooo joyful each time he declared, "That's another cheap shot!"  We had a good talk about true sacrifices again, which was laced with loads of "Only Jesus knows what is REALLY in our hearts," and I kept my ears and eyes a little more open to any future cheating!

Final Verdict:

I loved this and we will definitely be doing it again in the future!

Addition to the Advent Angels

     We also draw names for Advent Angels every year.  This year I decided to fill a box with little gifts for the angels to place in stockings throughout Advent.  I purchased things like Hershey's kisses, candy canes, and small dollar toys.  The limit was one piece of candy per day and one small non-candy item per week.  I placed the box in an easy to reach location and that was it.  It worked pretty well, although all the daily treats seemed to make Advent a little too celebratory and I think next year I will keep the box, but fill it with paper notes that say nice things, instead of all the treats/toys.  Or better yet, maybe paper notes with ideas of ways to do something nice for the person they have.

Jesse Tree

     Last year I purchased the Jesse Tree activities from Holy Heroes.  If I remember correctly the idea was to watch the dvd daily and then color an ornament for the Jesse tree.  It was a great activity and the kids enjoyed the dvd.  The problem was my own lack of consistency.  We were supposed to watch a section of the dvd daily.  We wound up watching 5-10 at a time because I would forget so many days.  We did not do it this year and read the book below instead, which surprisingly, our 4 year old loved it and would remind me to read the Jesse Tree story!  I am hoping to try Holy Heroes again next year and with the help of the older kids, to actually remember to do it daily!!!!

The 12 Days of Christmas...Something for Next Year???

     As hard as I tried to get all the shopping done early this year so I could really be at peace and have the proper focus on Advent, I failed.  I failed, maybe worse than ever.  I decided before Advent even began that the cause of my troubles was our 3 gift policy and declared that this year I was just going to buy what I wanted and be "free".  What a joke!  It was worse than ever.  I could never remember what I bought and for whom and every time I went out I found something someone would like even better than what I had already purchased!  So, along with vowing to shop for Christmas this summer (a vow I seem to make every January and forget every June), I am trying to talk my family into 12 gifts total.  One to open each day of Christmas. So far, I think I'm the only one sold, and the reality is it may not solve any shopping problems, BUT I think it would be beautiful. Info/Idea