It's probably about time for an update, right?

Figured the suspense of waiting to hear if Willy had a new job or not would be almost exciting for you as it is for us. Which is, y'know, not really exciting at all. But the update? We're surviving!

It's been nearly a month since Willy was laid off and it took about 3 weeks for the first unemployment check to finally arrive in our mailbox so those first three weeks were pretty frightening and nerve-wracking as we watched our bank account having stuff going out but nothing coming back in. But now that we even have that fraction of Willy's previous income arriving weekly in our mailbox we feel like we can stay afloat. That and the generosity of friends who've treated us to an evening out for sweet treats, friends who invited our family over for dinner one Sunday night, a friend who bought goggles for my boys so their eyes wouldn't have to suffer from the over-chlorination of the pool where they're taking swim lessons (yay for free Parks & Recs programs!!), a dance teacher who generously offered to allow Brady to continue coming to class but froze our account so we wouldn't have to make payments for now, a church welfare program unmatched by any that I've ever heard of that is keeping food on our table, and above all else? A massive amount of praying going on! We feel so supported and comforted because of all the prayers our family and friends are offering on our behalf. Despite the stress that you can imagine, we mostly feel very well looked-after and cared for and we know that Heavenly Father is aware of our needs and is blessing us.

Willy has impressed a lot of people over the years and has done some great networking at various industry events and through work in general. He's got contacts all over the country and has felt a lot of support from his colleagues. While we haven't aggressively sought employment on the mainland yet, Willy has been blessed through his contacts with a few bits of freelance type work and has some potential short-term contract work coming up as well. 

He also has one very solid potential employment opportunity here locally that we're hoping to hear more about in the next couple of weeks. The position they're hiring for is a new one at the company and because a major part of their work is a large government project they have a lot of hoops to jump through before they can offer anyone the job. So the interviewing and hiring process is a little slow going and there's still a bit of unknown as far as whether the job would provide an income adequate for our family here in Hawaii, but we're pretty confident that because Willy is the perfectly matched candidate for the position there's a very real chance an offer will be made in the next couple of weeks. If that opportunity doesn't become a reality Willy will start aggressively seeking employment on the mainland, and any decisions we have will be approached with a lot of prayer because we know Heavenly Father has a plan for us, whether it's for us to stay put at least a while longer or for us to move on to the next adventure.

I have a lot of mixed feelings about the idea of leaving Hawaii. I'm sure it's clear that I've pretty much given Hawaii my heart. I feel like after those first few months of adjusting to life in the islands, the islands got inside me and have just become a part of who I am. I know I was meant to be here, at least for this short time (if not longer). I don't want to leave Hawaii and each time I think about it too seriously I get pretty emotional. When I imagine flying away from the islands with a one-way ticket it makes me want to just curl up and cry. BUT! I've had moments of imagining what new adventures might lie in store for our family and I've felt peaceful and even a bit excited about experiencing something entirely new to us in a new location. The only thing I've told Willy is that if we have to leave Hawaii I want it to be with a destination full of new exciting experiences for us. A place that will feel sort of adventurous the way coming to Hawaii felt for us when we came here. 

We're trying hard to just keep some semblance of normalcy during this crazy time. The kids are all in school, Brady and Toby just started swim lessons again through the Parks & Rec department and Molly and I started back up in the Parents & Tots program (also through Parks & Rec). Molly and I continue to dance hula. Willy is still making his bike riding a priority despite not doing it to commute right now. He even just did the killer 40+ mile ride from Laie to home in Ewa Beach after we went to the temple last week. He's a machine :)

In addition to the routine things we've had a few fun diversions and experiences in the last few weeks. I turned 39 on the 12th of January and have been diligently working on my fitness and health as I start what will surely be a speedy year as I approach 40 (gulp). I participated in my first official 5K experience (which was technically a 5+ K since they had to reroute us slightly due to construction so it was about 1/2 mile longer than normal LOL). It was on the Marine Corps Base in Kaneohe and was called "King of the Hill" due to the humongous radar hill we had to climb in the middle of the race. It was an amazing experience (I blogged about it HERE on my weight loss blog and would love for you to read about it if you haven't already) and I'm getting really excited for my February race experience which will be the Great Aloha Run (thanks to my amazing friend Michelle for encouraging me to run a race with her each month and another amazing friend Kristi who "sponsored" me and paid my race entrance fee!!!). I'm also hosting a fun weight loss competition on my weight loss blog which is proving to be an AWESOME experience! It's keeping me busy, for sure!

Willy and I took a lovely morning trip to Hanauma Bay during his "time off" and as a family we've had considerably more time to spend together. Most of the time that's a great thing hehehe. Like today? Today we skateboarded, biked and played together after school as an entire family for a good while. It was awesome. 

Life in general? Pretty darn awesome. 

So we're surviving! And even thriving in some aspects. It will be a HUGE relief to have a consistent income again of course and we're hopeful that that will arrive sooner than later, but our update at this point is that life is absolutely a-okay. We're a-okay. We're being watched over and protected and we feel the prayers of love and support. We're hopeful that we'll have good news to share on the job front in the near future. Thank you for continuing to pray for us! It means more to us than I can express in words! Mahalo!

Happy New Ye... Whoa. What just happened?

2012. We're officially two weeks in and wheeeeee! What a ride already!

Mid-afternoon on Friday January 6th I got the call that I'm all too familiar with.

"Guess what? Maybe the fourth times the charm?"

Willy was laid off. We can't say we were totally shocked, although the timing was a bit of a blind side. Willy works in an industry that rides the economic roller coaster and when the economy is in the toilet, work disappears. Sometimes they'll have a project already in the works and it will continue for a while and layoffs are avoided. Other times they'll have projects lined up and suddenly the funding goes *poof* and consequently so do the jobs. This is what happened this time. Willy has known for several months that things were getting worse and that cut-backs and lay-offs were probably inevitable. We banked some hope on the fact that Willy has a unique skill set that no one else at the company has and we crossed our fingers that his job could be spared. Unfortunately, Willy's job was also strictly overhead - not at all billable to projects - so when it came time to "cut the fat", Willy's job was the fattest job to cut.

While on the phone, with my heart in my throat and my mind racing from the shock of the sudden loss of income and employment, I asked Willy "How are you feeling?" and he said "Better than I probably should." And that's pretty much how we've felt ever since. When I hung up with Willy my gut instinct was to call my best friend here and ask for her family to pray for us. Her kids are prayer warriors and our families are so close that I just knew that their prayers would lift us up. Next I immediately called my mom who  jumped right into Mom action and declared the following Sunday a day for family fasting (my youngest brother is also out of work right now, so Mom decided it was time to gather all the family together in purpose and prayer that both Jed and Willy would find employment.) Then I did what any typical girl in this day and age does... I updated my Facebook status. "We've asked for your prayers before, and we're finding ourselves in a position of needing to ask for them again. Willy was just laid off this afternoon. The company he has worked for is simply running out of projects and work to be done and they can't justify his position any more. Please keep us in your prayers. We've been through this before and we know well get through it, but the unknown is so scary and frankly right now we have NO IDEA what the future holds. Thanks in advance. Love to all." And next I went to my Scrap Girls "family" and solicited their prayers. Throughout the afternoon and evening the emails poured in. With literally hundreds of people praying for us, we felt lifted up and hopeful and surprisingly, unafraid. We've been through three previous unemployment stints ranging from roughly 48 hours to nearly 6 months. When we look back we can easily see Heavenly Father's hand in the resulting life changes following each stretch of unemployment. We've experienced new places, made new friends, grown in our faith and strengthened our family each time we get through the trial. We have no doubts Heavenly Father will see us through this experience as well, and we've been so grateful for the prayers of family and friends during the process.

We had a lot of time to reflect and wonder and ponder on our situation over the following weekend. Willy could do very little aggressive job-hunting since it was the weekend. So we did a lot of talking. A lot of "what if" discussing. We imagined life on the island without employment and how difficult it would be to survive the Hawaiian cost of living without steady, sufficient funds coming in (Molly is the only one who is very interested in living in a tent on the beach, in case you were wondering). We tried to imagine moving back to the mainland if the right job presented itself. Where might we move? Texas? New Hampshire? Washington D.C.? Back to Cali? Back to Utah?? We discussed our immediate needs. We talked about the kids. We talked. And we talked. And we talked.

And for the most part we were calm. There has been very little panic. Only a few tears have been shed. We KNOW that Heavenly Father will guide us through this!

On Sunday as I fasted from a distance with my family, I felt comforted by the Spirit. When we were at church and I sat at the piano to play prelude music prior to our main worship service, I turned to a hymn that has typically had a calming influence on me during times of trial. That hymn is "Where Can I Turn for Peace?". But I was drawn to the hymn on the opposite page. I played it as prelude music instead and read the words in my mind as I played:

I will not doubt, I will not fear;
God's love and strength are always near.
His promised gift helps me to find 
An inner strength and peace of mind.
I give the Father willingly
My trust, my prayers, humility.
His Spirit guides, his love assures
That fear departs when faith endures.
When Faith Endures Hymn #128 

It was exactly what I needed to hear. And as member after member of the congregation came up to Willy and I to offer support and prayer and love throughout our Sunday church meetings that day, we truly felt like there was no reason to fear!

On Monday Willy had a lunch interview with a potential employer. He met with that same gentleman on Friday and was introduced to others at the company and got to sit in on a project planning meeting to contribute what he could. The possibility of a position at this company being created to utilize Willy's abilities and skills is very real and we're hopeful that we'll hear more by the end of this coming week.

Willy has also had several other solid leads come his way. Some would keep us here locally. Some would require a relocation. Some are for short-term projects. Some are in his field and some are not. We feel blessed to know that there will probably be some options available to us. There are no concrete offers on the table at this time. But we have hope that offers will start coming. We just pray that our hearts and minds will be open so we know what the best plan for our family is!

In the meanwhile, we're enjoying a little extra time as a family having Willy home. We're fortunate to have great weather and lots of free outdoor activities we can enjoy together. We did the 5.5 mile round trip hike to Kaena Point as a family the day after Willy was laid off and it was wonderful. We saw albatross, monk seals and breaching humpback whales and it was a GREAT diversion from the focus on work. And on my birthday it was awfully nice to have Willy home to get the kids ready for school in the morning and send them on their way while I slept in a bit. We're finding blessings in the trial, and certainly the greatest blessing is additional time together here at home.

So there's how our 2012 started off with a bang! Here's hoping for some solid plans, not just speculations, very soon! Thank you so sincerely for all the positive thoughts and prayers you've said on our behalf. We feel it! We feel strengthened and lifted up. We appreciate it all more than we can even express. Mahalo!

Fantasy fulfilled...

Apparently a fantasy was fulfilled in our house recently. Not one of our family members' dreams come true. No, it was the fantasy of Ben's new best friend. He's an only child with an immaculately clean mother, apparently. He's never been allowed to leave his room messy. Now Ben is pretty tidy and he's reached that age where he likes things in order in his own personal space, so his room is clean the majority of the time. Brady's room on the other hand? Utter chaos. And I know this sounds ridiculous but it's in a spot of the house where I simply don't have to wander very often so the room doesn't get my attention very often so it gets worse and worse and worse until we have a disaster zone of epic proportions. Well Ben's friend came to stay the night a few nights ago and caught sight of Brady's room. One might think he'd recoil in horror, having been raised in a spotless home. But nope. He saw the Toy-splosion and Carpet O' Clothing (clean or dirty? who knows!) and he actually asked "Can I roll around in it?" Brady, slightly weirded out responded "No!" but Ben gave his friend permission and the next thing the boys knew, Ben's friend was sprawled out on his back in the middle of Brady's bedroom filth in what the boys could only describe as "swimming through the piles of laundry".

Fantasy fulfilled for Tim.

Nightmare initiated for poor Brady. No t.v. or xbox until his floor can be seen and the mountain of mayhem has been obliterated.

In similar news, my holiday dishes have almost all been washed.

Yeah. That's how we roll.

Top 20 pics of 2011... Campbell family style

I'm going to do it. I'm going to try to pick just 20 pictures from 2011 that best sum up our year. I tried 11 to be hokey (y'know... 2011 so 11 pics) but that was hopelessly impossible. Twenty was ever so slightly more doable. So here we go!

1. 2011 started with a bang. A whole lot of bangs actually. New Years Eve in Hawaii
is unlike anything I've experienced anywhere else. The fireworks start early in the afternoon
and keep booming... and booming... and booming until the MASSIVE explosion the island
experiences at midnight. It's kind of surreal. I LOVED it! Unfortunately the law went into effect
that fireworks are no longer allowed on the island. The occasional popping and booming
I'm hearing this evening indicate that we'll still be treated to a loud NYE, but I suspect due
to the new illegal nature of fireworks, it won't be quite as spectacular as in years past.
I'm glad we got to experience it in it's prime :) (That's the clean-up effort after the fireworks party,
pictured above, by the way. And the hazy nature of the photo? That's because of all
the smoke in the air... not because I'm a lousy photographer LOL.) 

2. This year we went on a lot of outings as a family. It feels so good to get out of the house
and explore together! This picture represents a few favorites of ours. It shows Willy in an
extremely typical pose... camera held to his eye snapping shots of the beauty around us.
It shows the family on a hiking adventure. It shows us exploring a new-to-us location on the
island (Kaena Point), which I love to see in the picture. We do NOT take this place for granted
and we're doing everything we can to explore it to it's fullest! 

3. Speaking of exploring and not taking island life for granted... Willy is the master
at getting out there! He's in the water as often as possible and loves getting his
"hydro-solar recharge". We go to the beach frequently as a family, but Willy
can be found in the water almost weekly.

4. 2011 was a Year of the Bumps and Bruises (and cuts, and breaks, and stitches...)
One major event this year was poor Brady losing a permanent tooth and taking a hefty
sized chunk out of his lower lip in a skateboarding accident. He's got a gap in his smile
and a scar on his lip to show for the experience.

5. Not to be outdone, Toby spent some time in the ER this year as well. A couple weeks
after Brady's accident, Toby had one of his own. He was playing on the pogo stick, slipped
and fell forward and couldn't get his hands off the handles in front of him fast enough to
stop his fall, so he caught himself with his face... on the garage floor. One broken nose,
one fat lip and several bruises later, his pic makes the top 20 of the Campbell family year.

6. Sometime around July the planking craze hit the Campbell family  with gusto. Toby
was the most die hard, and could be planking randomly and without warning everywhere
we went. My favorite planking photo was Dinner Time with Guests Planking.

7. Ours is a reading family. We read, and read, and read. Ben read the Hunger Games
trilogy this year... twice. Brady read the Harry Potter series. I have no idea how many
books Willy and I have read cumulatively this year but it's got to be somewhere near
100 between the two of us. I love this picture of Willy and I on perhaps the most
romantic date ever, sitting in one of my favorite spots on the island (Kukaniloko) and
reading individually, but together.

8. We spent a lot of time at one of our favorite places this year, the Polynesian Cultural Center.
This happens to be one of my favorite pics of Toby... ever.

9. I like this picture because it represents EVERY SINGLE TIME I ask the kids to pose
for pictures. There always has to be the final "funny faces shot".

10. To go along with the funny faces... we spent a lot of time this year laughing together.
Willy makes me laugh every single day. I love him for it!

11. We moved this year. We stayed in the same neighborhood but found a place with
an additional bedroom, had central air and was a significant chunk of change cheaper
than the rent in our old house. It was a no brainer! Moving sucks in general, but this
has definitely been a good move for our family! And we got so much help from
friends and church ohana that the move itself was *nearly* painless.

12. 2011 was the year of the skateboard in our family. We've explored half a dozen
skate parks on the island and the kids are mastering their skills constantly. Willy gets right
out there with them and has a blast. He even built me a skateboard and painted it with
"Chicks rule" on the bottom of the deck. I love it... but I'm kind of a klutz on it. I don't want
to lose a permanent tooth like another little sk8er boi I know...

13. One thing I managed to do right in 2011 was take better care of myself and
claim control of my body and weight. I've got a long way to go, but I started the
journey to drop the plus from my size and nothing is stopping me now.

14. This year was filled with lots and lots of hula! I continued taking dance lessons
with Akala Studios and Molly began taking hula lessons this year as well! She and I
have performed at several performances together and it's a great mommy/daughter
experience! And the boys are relatively willing to come cheer us on hehehe. (Ben moreso
than any others, probably. Coconut bras, y'know...)

15. Speaking of Molly. She's a diva princess. In a big way. She's found her
demanding, diva ways this year and really polished them to princess perfection.

16. We managed to pull off one more year of coordinated Halloween costumes in 2011.
I'm not sure I can even hope for another year of cooperation from the older kids, but
at least we had one more fun family costume photo for the books!

17. Something happened in 2011 that quite frankly disturbs me more than anything else.
Ben became a giant of a man-child now. It freaks me out thoroughly each time I give him
a hug or find myself standing next to him. Freaks. Me. Out.

18. This year we didn't have a lot of extended family visitors like we have in years past.
We haven't had any visitors, actually, since January! We miss spending time with our "real" family,
but we've managed to spend a whole lot of time with our Hawaiian ohana as they've had a pretty
magnificent year (finalizing the adoption of their now 2 1/2 year old son and being sealed
together as a family in the Laie Temple!) It's good to have "family" to spend time with!

19. Willy and I celebrated our 15th anniversary this year and took the most amazing little
island hop vacation to Kauai to celebrate! It was a magical weekend experiencing one of the
most beautiful places I've ever seen!

20. Hey look! We got our family photo taken professionally!  There's a first for everything LOL.
This is our family near the end of 2011. This is us! This is what life is all about!

 2011 was a wonderful year. 

I'm excited for what 2012 has in store!

Happy New Year from our ohana to yours!!

Update on our advent activities

We've been having a BLAST as a family this month! Thanks to our little advent garland full of activities to do each day leading up to Christmas, we've been really prioritizing some family fun and I wanted to share just a few of the activities we've participated in so far.

Day 1 - The activity was "Make hot cocoa and stir it with candy canes." But I already had hot cocoa with peppermint candy cane bits in the mix, so we just used that instead. The kids were in heaven. A great way to kick off our month of family fun.

Day 2 - The activity was "Have a family talent show." My kids are suckers for talent shows. I can't imagine where they got that *insert eyeroll*. My mom and dad love to remind me of how responsive I was whenever they would say "And now all the way from Sandy, Utah with blond hair and blue eyes... it's Angie Romig!!!" and I would strut my stuff and put on a show of sorts. Singing, dancing, piano. You name it I'd perform it! My kids are exactly the same. Molly didn't even have to think when I said it was time for a talent show. She demanded her hula song "That's the Hawaiian in Me" and she did the whole dance for us! Toby did a little break "dancing" to the oh-so-catchy "I'm Sexy and I Know It" song and was wowing us with his mad skillz until he got a little (ahem) inappropriate in his movements (Toby is in a bit of a pull-down-his-pants stage. Ugh ugh ugh. We caught the glimpse of his tighty whities and had to shut him down.) Brady was going to break dance also until he almost took out the Christmas tree with one of his tricks and we had to put an end to the dancing for the night. Instead he sang along with Bruno Mars to "Grenade". Then Ben showed us what he's been learning so far by playing the XBox game Rocksmith where your game controller is an actual electric guitar. He's learning and LOVING playing the guitar! I played a song on the piano. Willy showed us a few recent pictures he's taken to show us his photography talent. It was SUCH a fun night! 

 

Day 5 was "Have a Christmas music dance party." This was one of our favorite activities so far. We happened to have the Mormon missionaries over for dinner that night so they enjoyed a dance party with such favorites as Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree, Jingle Bell Rock and Here Comes Santa Claus. We had a blast. Willy busted out the Sprinkler, The Running Man AND the Cabbage Patch! He was on fire. We knew we had arrived at maximum fun when everyone lined up for a Rockettes-esque kick!

I'm pretty sure Elder Paulsen was going to pee himself he
was laughing so hard at Willy's sweet moves.
I love that Toby is trying to follow everything Willy did.

My husband danced with me! My husband danced with me!
Did I mention? My husband danced with me!!

Ben danced with me strictly to show off how
much taller than me he is.

Least flattering shirt in the history of
horribly unflattering shirts. But an
extremely awesome dance partner on my arm!

Day 8 we had the activity "Go to a Christmas concert or play." Fortunately that night we had Brady's Performing Arts Christmas show to attend at Ala Moana's Center Stage! Awesome venue, kids did an amazing job! I love Christmas performances that involve hula, ukuleles, ancient chanting and awesomely tropical Christmas songs. Probably my favorite was Hawaiian Santa.

Awwwww. They all cooperated. Sorta...

Here is where I insert a plea.... anyone who is blogger-smart: how the heck do you arrange your photos and videos in this stupid interface? I feel like I'm totally hit or miss on how my pictures line up and it drives me crazy.

Day 10 we got the activity card that said "Have a snowball fight." Hmmm.... Okay!!! It was island snow day at Pearl Highlands and we were all really excited to have a little snow fun in the Hawaiian sun this year!! They bring in 40 tons of snow and the kids have a blast making snowmen and snow castles and getting cold... all while wearing slippers and shorts hehehe. We even busted out a boogie board and went "sledding". It was a great day!

Yes. Willy is barefoot in the snow.

Molly was ruthless! She was tossing snowballs right and left!

There were a LOT of snow-down-the-shirt shenanigans going on.

No way was Willy missing out on the
"sledding" action!

Day something-or-other (I've lost track at this point...) our activity was to drive around and see the holiday lights. See the lights we did! There's a house near us with music coordinated with excessive amounts of dancing lights, etc. It was great fun and I think we'll go back and watch more of the show before the season is over!

You'll hear Molly saying "Bouncy bouncy bouncy bouncy" over and over again through the whole song as she watches the lights bounce on those half circles at the front of the yard. She was hilarious! 

No, Ben didn't know I was taking a picture. Why would you think that?

So the holiday activities have been a big hit so far and we've got some fun ones left to do, still! Kids haven't lost interest in this and I think it's safe to say that a new tradition that everyone is excited to participate in has been born for the Campbell family. Yay!!

Other December updates coming soon.

Thirty Days of Thankful - Day 30

I haven't run out of things to be thankful for. I really haven't! But I can't remember what all I've expressed gratitude for already this month so I'm not sure what's left to mention! So here's a recap to help me, and give you a chance to read any you may have missed. (All of the days are clickable and link to the entry for that day.)

Day 1 - Willy
Day 2 - Ben
Day 3 - Brady
Day 4 - Toby
Day 5 - Molly
Day 6 - Ohana (in all it's forms)
Day 7 - My stupid smart phone
Day 8 - Hawaii
Day 9 - Craigslist (and my $40 recliner and matching reclining loveseat)
Day 10 - Payday
Day 11 - Ability to make good choices (specifically health and fitness related)
Day 12 - The fact that my good choices are paying off
Day 13 - Humor (which coincidentally benefited me the following day...)
Day 14 - Cleaning supplies, cleaning wipes and Marjorie Pay Hinckley
Day 15 - Books
Day 16 - Music
Day 17 - Girls Nights Out
Day 18 - Sleep
Day 19 - Having our family portraits professionally taken
Day 20 - Naps
Day 21 - A little life lesson about patience and attitude
Day 22 - The change in the weather
Day 23 - Rubber gloves
Day 24 - Tradition
Day 25 - God's hand in my life
Day 26 - Reconnecting with my hubby
Day 27 - Leftovers
Day 28 - A merciful scale after the holidays and vacation
Day 29 - Friends

And that brings me to Day 30. What could I possibly end this list with?

My Savior, Jesus Christ? How did I not include Him on my list?

My faith and my membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints?

My talents?

How about the sound and smell of rain, followed by rainbows that take my breath away?

Or even cool sheets, freshly swept floors or good quality wrapping paper. Pens that write smoothly, my camera, or good fitting running shoes. TV shows that make me laugh, my Sonicare toothbrush or movie theater popcorn.

I guess for my last day I'll just say that I'm thankful to recognize that there are more blessings in my life than I could every quantify. Everything I have is a blessing. From the obvious to the random. Even the really sucktacular times in my life bless me with learning and experience. I'm grateful for all that I have, all that I know and all that I am. I'm so very thankful!

Countdown to the holidays with this garland of activities!

Interrupting the thirty days of thankfuls to share a quick idea I had and posted on the Scrap Girls blog this week. I'm really excited with how the project turned out and the kids are ecstatic to get started by opening the first little wrapped up activity tonight before bed so we can be ready to enjoy the activity tomorrow! You can find the details of the project HERE on the Scrap Girls Blog but I wanted to share a few pics of the project here as well and let you know about it in case you want to play along too, and enjoy some daily family fun through the holidays!

The idea is to simply wrap up 24 small activities that can be done as a family throughout the month of December leading up to Christmas. Then open one activity a day and enjoy a little family fun time doing what the activity card tells you to do. Some of the activities I wrapped up include: Call someone far away and sing a Christmas carol to them, Go on a holiday-themed photo scavenger hunt, Gather up old toys to donate, Color a picture using only red and green crayons and Have a Christmas music dance party. We're going to have a VERY fun month! (If you don't have time or desire to come up with 24 activity ideas or decorate activity cards, you can find some easy to assemble Assemble Your Own: Holiday Countdown Activities product in the Scrap Girls boutique. There are 56 activities included in that product that you can choose from - many of them are winter-themed, service-related or generic and could be done for any winter holidays - not only Christmas.)

I wrapped the activity cards and strung them on a pine garland and wrapped that around the stairway handrail so we see it often and won't forget to do our daily activities :) I'm SO excited for this holiday season!!