Third Weekend of Advent

It was finally the third weekend of Advent, and Aidan was thrilled that we lit the pink candle on the Advent wreath! This week, Tony volunteered us to shop for the Rotary's Christmas Angels. On Wednesday evening, we took three children to the mall to shop for six angels. It did not go well. Three shopping carts, two screaming children and a partridge in a pear tree. We decided to shop for the last two on Friday evening, and bribed the boys with dinner out and a trip to Bass Pro's "Winter Wonderland" if they behaved. Here are the boys at the North Pole:

Bass Pro had free pictures with Santa, crafts, and games. Andrew enjoyed shooting the nerf gun at the targets - just like Papa!

Saturday was non-stop. Aidan had a soccer game at 9, and Andrew had two birthday parties to go to - from 12-2 and 2-4. In the evening, Mom and I went shopping at a local kids' consignment shop. They were clearing out inventory and had 80% off for one hour. Mom and I managed to get uniform pants for Andrew and tons of clothes for Sophie - some with the tags still on. It was $200 worth of clothes for $40. Amazing.

This morning, I dressed Miss Sophie in her candy cane attire for church and just had to take some pictures. She didn't cooperate - she just wanted to crawl away.

Then I brought in reinforcements - Grandma to hold Sophie and Andrew to hold the sheet. It's a cute shot of the dress, but not as "clean" as I was hoping.

After church, we went to Erin's graduation party. When we got home, I let the boys fix hot cocoa with a kit they had. It was so cute, that we had to take a few more pictures!

I'll be posting more pictures on Tuesday - Andrew has his Christmas program at school where he will be dressed as a German child. It's a big stretch of the imagination. Stay tuned!