Light The World

It’s here! It’s here! The most wonderful time of the year is here! 

I have a confession to make. Let’s just keep it real tonight. There have been years as a single mom that I have drug my tired self into December almost kicking and screaming. There have been years of ok let’s just go thru the motions and get this over with. And then there are years, like this one, where my excitement and anticipation has been building for this beautiful season to make memories with my precious girls, our friends and family, and celebrate the birth of my Savior Jesus Christ. Yep, Christmas 2017 is gonna be a good one! 

Something that makes a HUGE difference in the kind of holiday season I’m going to have is my focus. Tonight my girls and I sat down to set our focus for the month of December. We are all determined to try our darndest to make that focus be on our Savior Jesus Christ. The way we are going to accomplish that is by joining and following a wonderful world wide movement called #lighttheworld. In all its beauty, this is an advent calendar that can help us all focus on Christ at Christmas. This is the opportunity for 25 days of December to follow Christ’s example, straight out of the scriptures, and help spread His light thru Christ like service. We were able to do it last year and can’t wait for Friday to come to start 25 ways in 25 Days to Light the World! 

As our prophet has taught us, I believe that “As we follow the example of the Savior, that light will burn within us and will light the way for others.” My hope is that 25 small acts of service performed by three Kikuchi girls in Spring, Texas may just bring a little joy, a little light to someone, somewhere! And even if that joy and light is the Kikuchi girls ourselves, well that’s success! 

You too would be greatly blessed if you join us to #lighttheworld! You can find a daily scripture, video and service ideas here: 

#lightheworld 

I am also using this really great adapted for childrens version from this site that you will love! 

a year of fhe

Riley is ready to do this! 

But obviously we haven’t been waiting til December 1st to dive head first into all things Christmas! Of course the day after Thanksgiving was the day for pie for breakfast! FYI Thanksgiving leftovers complete me. But we were also determined to get our tree up so we could enjoy it as long as possible! That Friday wasn’t the smoothest with some tired and grumpy little girls AND their momma. So after two long and sweaty trips to the storage unit to get all the Christmas goods back home, and lots of whining and tears, we were incredibly blessed by the wonderful Miss Taryn! Not only did she whisk the children off to the bookstore while I decorated the front yard and then Nana and I set up the tree. But she also brought dinner and then totally helped Keagan and Riley hang all the ornaments on the tree that Nana was unwrapping while my exhausted hiney “supervised” from the floor! Quite the unusual tree trimming memory but it’s definitely one we all laughed thru and will never forget! 

On Saturday Campbell came over to play because not only are cousins the best, but that gave me time to finish decorating the rest of the house and get everything cleaned up. Funny enough the girls talked me into a water balloon fight which lead to serious water fun on the slide. I had to lift Riley up to the slide at least 67 times but the constant giggles were totally worth it! Plus it amazes me that it’s almost December and these cute girls were totally comfortable in their swimsuits outside. Cause you know, Texas. 

Since the tree went up that means that our elf Elmer is back! He always instigates a serious amount of excitement around here! On his first day back Miss Keagan folded up some Barbie blankets to gift him with a love note and all! Darling! 

Every night since Thanksgiving we have visited our favorite lights display on Rose Dawn. This is one of the easier special traditions the girls and I’ve got going and we just all absolutely love the incredible show set to music! 

And you know it’s a non stop party around here because who cares about the serious to do list (me! me!). So we have also had lots of other fun. Playing outside has been great minus those stinkin mosquito bites we are all covered with! 

I used chore bribery when the girls wanted to build and paint their bird houses. 

Miss obsessed with costumes Riley has flip flopped back and forth between reindeer antlers and her Mary veil all weekend. 

And who doesn’t love begging Santa for a teddy bear bigger then you will ever be?!

So as the sun went down tonight on another day I am feeling so grateful for the season ahead and especially for our plan to enhance it by trying to Light the World! Hopefully there will be several blog posts to come on the great experiences we had doing just that! And I’m sure a post or two will follow that elf Elmer! Speaking of Elmer, it’s gettin pretty late around here. I better go check if he has moved! Goodnight! 

Thankful, Grateful, Blessed!

To be quite honest, I set the bar pretty low for Thanksgiving this year. My expectations for turkey day 2017 weren’t very good. In recent years my whole family (minus when Sami was on her mission and obviously Pakka) has been together and we have gone somewhere fun and stayed all together. Unfortunately this year it didn’t work out for the Chicago Ginn’s to come. Thankfully we saw them in September but without them and Sami who is at school now, I just knew it wouldn’t be the same. And it wasn’t the same by any means, and those six plus Pakka of course were missed tremendously! But the day really turned out MUCH better then I had prepared myself for and I am feeling so thankful, grateful, blessed! 

The girls and I really had an easy, fun day before everyone came over to our house. And by everyone I mean the Fosters, the Houston Ginns and the Frenchs. All the prep work for the big feast went great! Todd came over to help me get the tables all out and Keagan and I had fun working together to make a massive amount of rolls, 106 to be exact which left over 6 rolls per person! We were shooting for leftovers. Otherwise, Keagan taught herself how to throw popcorn in the air and catch it in her mouth, a skill everyone should learn! And both girls played nicely together for hours making all their stuffed animals “repel” over the balcony! I LOVED the sisters playing and the giggles!

This years feast was pretty spectacular! Kari did her turkey again and the Fosters did the honey baked ham. We also had alot of other traditions, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes soufflé, raspberry pretzel salad, veggie tray, fruit, and obviously rolls. We all definitely gobbled til we wobbled! And we definitely laughed too! Hard! We played a homemade version of headbands that Taryn brought, a failed minute to win it game and some others before we cracked out dessert. Lots of pies and Nanas famous hot fudge over Blue Bell was all worth the serious stomach ache from eating too much! Keagan and Campbell performed a darling puppet show partly to “Beauty and the Beast” songs after they had played hard inside and outside all night with Riley. After we all worked together and laughed and reminisced a little more, we all gathered back together in the family room to each say what we are most thankful for and close a fantastic day with a family prayer of gratitude. See? Pretty dang good! 

I have a tremendous amount of blessings to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving and all year long! I talk about that so often on my blog and I proudly sported my new “thankful, grateful, blessed” T-shirt today! When I had my turn tonight to say what I was most thankful it was sure easy. For me it all boils down to 3 items. Keagan, Riley and my Savior. There is no question that’s what I am most thankful for, but the rest of the list is miles long. And a fabulous thanksgiving day 2017 has now been added to the list! One more reason to feel thankful, grateful, blessed! 

It’s Begining

The girls and I are out of school all week long and man are we thankful for that! We have been able to get lots done AND make memories! That may just be my favorite combination of things after peanut butter and chocolate! On Monday we were doing some errands when I realized it totally felt like the holiday season all of a sudden. You know, there is a spirit about town this time of year that I love. Plus decorations are going up all over the place and the over achievers have their lights shining as we drive around the neighborhood or their trees posted on Facebook. Yep, it’s begining to look a lot like Christmas! 

On Monday I gave the girls their comfy Christmasy jammies for the year after we cleaned, ran errands and had a fun night with the Frenchs. On Tuesday we actually did some baking and cooking, shocking for me I know! I taught Keagan how to make her Grandma Debbie’s sweet party mix and her Aunty Kim’s chicken and broccoli casserole. Today we got some SERIOUS cleaning and organizing done as we get ready for a garage sale next week and then we went out for a good dinner with Nana, Sa and Todd. It has felt so great to check these long avoided things of the to do list! 

But definitely the highlight of the last couple of days, and where we full on dove straight into all things Christmas, was last night at Santa’s Wonderland in College Station. We had a smashing great time at the biggest Christmas attraction in Texas with the Lake family! We enjoyed a little bit of the cooler weather and even the 1.25 hour drive in Harriet the Chariot’s first mini road trip! She did great! And Santa’s Wonderland was even more fun then I had anticipated and worth every penny!

Besides the incredible hay ride through the most spectacular and extensive light displays ever, there was a lot of fun to be had! We rode ponies and the choo choo train. We listened to live music and Keagan, Riley and Avery were even called up to sing “Here Comes Santa Clause” on one of the stages. We played in the “snow” falling from the sky, slid down the “icy mountain” and even went sledding! We watched a little bit of  “Elf” on the big screen and ate a funnel cake of course! And if all of that wasn’t fun enough we saw a Texas Santa with a black ten gallon hat on and both girls rode a mechanical bull! The girls were exhausted but thrilled to have been with their friends for such a magical night! I was grinning ear to ear as I drove home listening to both girls sleep in the car since all the excitement wore them out and it was way past their bed time. 

Last night was definitely for memories to be made, and ones that we will all cherish! We love the Lake family and all things Christmas so an amazing night was a given! And it was just the start of the season where we’ve got lots of fun things planned. But now it’s time for Thanksgiving and my thankful list is a mile long! Last nights memories and even cleaning and running errands this week with my girls is on it! Now bring on the turkey!