Day 5-8, Lately, and Food Swap

Day 5--Monday night we brought out the Little People nativity set and before they could play with it I used the people to tell the story.  I was so proud of how well they both listened and Lilly is really getting good at helping me tell the story! 

 Showing me baby Jesus.  She is very excited for his birthday. 

 She also has learned the word "stable".  Random fact but now you know.  (:

 I just think this picture is funny. 

 Now let me just level with you right now and tell you that we did days 6, 7, and 8 all on day 8.  Anyway, "Day 6"--We made these handprint/footprint angels to put with our Christmas card to a soldier and our Christmas card to Aunt Jan (my uncle Tom's who passed away--his wife).  They saw "God will command His angels to protect you wherever you go.  Psalm 90:11."  I explained to Lilly who we were making our angels for and why.  Reid was excited because they were blue. (This idea came from a combination of the advent book we are reading and the angel I saw on Pinterest.)

 "Day 7"--you know all of that artwork that comes home that looks like this?  They are so proud of it!  But other than hanging on the fridge for a couple weeks, what are you supposed to do with it??  Make Christmas cards!!!  I used cookie cutters to trace shapes on them and cut them out.

 Then we assembled some cards.  We are still working on these but I think they are adorable.  (This idea came from Parent's magazine.)

 Day 8--A Christmas craft.  Making a banner. 

 We used the kids hands and feet, the bottom of a water bottle, and some bubble wrap to decorate some craft paper squares I cut out. 

 Some of the work.

 Then I assembled them to make this banner.  I tried hanging it with tape last night but it fell down so I am going to hang it with some nails tonight. 

 Some other things that have been going on this week...

 We got our first snow. 

 My sweet friend Trina brought Lilly this Barbie doll from when she was little.  I thought that was so sweet and thoughtful.  Lilly loves it and that is really her first Barbie doll. 

 It is food swap time again.  There were 6 of us this time and we each made 2 meals (times 6) so we all ended up with 12 yummy meals.  There is something about having a stocked freezer that makes me more productive!!  Ha!  My awesome hubby met me at Wal-Mart Tuesday during his lunch and we rushed and shopped.  I was still not full energy after being sick so this was SO helpful.  He also got up early and put it in the crock pot for me (we had it going in two different crock pots). 

 We made pulled pork. The recipe is below.

INGREDIENTS: 1 tablespoon butter 2 pounds boneless pork roast 1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning 1 medium onion, chopped 4 cloves garlic, crushed 4 cups water 1 tablespoon liquid smoke flavoring

DIRECTIONS: Cut the pork roast into large chunks. Season generously with the Cajun seasoning. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork, and brown on all sides. Remove from the skillet, and transfer to a slow cooker. Add the onion and garlic to the skillet, and cook for a few minutes until tender. Stir in the water scraping the bottom to include all of the browned pork bits from the bottom of the pan, then pour the whole mixture into the slow cooker with the pork. Stir in liquid smoke flavoring. Cover, and cook on High for 6 hours, or until meat is falling apart when pierced with a fork. Remove pieces of pork from the slow cooker, and shred. Return to the slow cooker to keep warm while serving. Mix with favorite bar-b-que sauce and enjoy!

 I also made Oven-Baked Chimichangas.  I pretty much followed the recipe except I used shredded chicken and didn't add green onions.  These are SO good and taste just as good as fried ones.  I will try to link the rest of the girl's recipes on here tomorrow.

Then, apparently Reid is training for minute to win it because he was able to do this is under 5 seconds.  Hope you all are having a great week!