~neglectful :-(

I have been very neglectful in my blogging these days. I am finding it hard to get back in the groove of things after the holidays. Kids are settled back into the swing of things and Mom & Dad have been a little scatter-brained, to say the least!

But slowly I feel it all coming together again. I have started thinking about Valentine's crafts and hope to have some started soon. I will share my creations when I do!

January has been a busy month of Birthdays. Way to many to list in separate posts, so I will do a mass listing here.

Big Birthday Wishes to:

My Sis in Australia ~ January 5th

My niece, Sarah ~ January 11th - Happy 17th!

My niece, Chelsea ~ January 13th - Happy 7th Birthday!(card & gift are in the mail-sorry it's late!)

And upcoming Birthday Wishes to:

My niece, Ashley ~ January 30th - 18! Wow!

Love you all!

Here's to getting back into the swing of things...I will update again soon!

~Treats for School~

I've been busy making Christmas treats for the kids to take to school.

I made these little treats with a tag attached for Caleb's classmates. I think they turned out really cute.

I started again, by making tags.

Then I used the same type of treats that I used for the advent calendar.

Finally, I attached the tags with a single staple to the top of the little bags.

Remember these? We decorated them with Christmas colours and they too turned out oh so cute! Avery will be taking these in to share with her classmates.

Loving the little Christmas pails that I picked up at Michael's.

For Madison, she wanted me to make my nacho dip for her to take in for the class party. She also only gave gifts to her 3 best friends. She wasn't into giving to the whole class this year.

And last but not least, Caleb and I made some Magic Reindeer Food for him to share with his classmates. When both the girls were in JK we also made this for their classes. It is wonderful to see how excited they get to help make this. He can't wait to hand this out to his little friends!

Hope everyone is doing well and ready for the holidays!

~O Christmas Tree...~

This is one of Colin's collector cars. For days every time I would pass by it, I would think: 'Something is missing'. Then the other day I was at the dollar store and came across this little tree that is meant for a Christmas village and an idea was born!

I think it is too cute for words!

~Happy Advent~

So here it is! The Advent calendar that I made for the kids. They are thrilled with it and can't wait to open a new tin every day!


I started by printing out some tags for each day. They are for a variety of things. Some are for a treat, others are for a family outing and then a few for an advent surprise that they have to go and find.

These are the advent treats, that I packaged in to 3's. One candy for each child.

Each day they get to open a tin.

Here are some of the advent surprises that will eventually get hidden and they have to go find based on the clue.

Here is a pic of it on the wall.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by!

~A Winter Craft~

The other night we created these cute little snowmen. Avery and Caleb loved making these and they were so easy and fast. No messy glue was required and clean up was a snap.
Everyone in our house is getting excited for Christmas and the kids have just finishing writing their letters to Santa tonight. They can't wait!

~Other Advent Calendars~

So besides making Advent calendars in the past I have also bought a few. We have this Play Mobil one pictured below. The kids like it but I think that they are getting bored with it now.

The picture on the box

There are small boxes that hang on this board, each day one box gets opened to reveal a play mobil accessory

This is the backdrop for all the accessories At the end of the 24 days you have a play scene that looks like this.

The kids loved opening a box each day to find out how it fit in.

I then considered buying a new calendar this year and was looking at this one:

I know that the boy would have loved it as he is into lego right now (& playing Lego Indiana Jones on the Xbox!) but decided to save getting this one til next year.


Now onto to my new creation! I know in my last post that I said I would reveal which calendar I was going to create, but I have decided that I will do the big reveal on Dec 1st. So for now, here are some pics(hints) of my work in progress.

~The Countdown is On...~

So now that Halloween is over, everywhere we go we are bombarded with Christmas. And for some reason this year, I am falling into its trap! Usually, I avoid anything Christmas-like until about the first week of December but this year I find I am anticipating and planning more than I have in a long time now.

Also, I have been feeling idle. I need to create something. Now that the Girls' birthdays are over, I need a new project. The last thing I created was a circle birthday banner for Avery (see the pic in that post) and now I need to do more.

So what is on my mind, you ask? An Advent Calendar!

I have been scouring all my fave online blogs and sites searching for something new. And I think that I may have found what I was looking for.

Below are some pics of my faves, a few of them I have done in the past.

I have done an envelope one before (not the one pictured above but something similar)

I like the look of this one but don't think it would be as appealing to the kids

I have made this matchbox one before also (mine is almost identical to the one in the above pic)

This matchbox one is cute too

This one is very creative in the numbering

The ones below are my absolute faves:

oh so cute!

This one & the next 2 are made with small round metal tins

Which ones are your fave? What one would you choose?

I will reveal which one I am going to do in the next couple of days.

~Happy Halloween!~

Hope everyone had a nice Halloween! We sure did!

~Avery turns 9!~

Another birthday is being celebrated in the Hendry household. Our Avery turns 9 years old today. Once again, I marvel at the time and wonder where it has gone. Avery helps to make our lives so bright with her infectious smile and sweet disposition.
Happy Birthday Avery! I Love You!

~Happy Fall!~

This pic was actually taken on Thanksgiving Day. The wind was bitingly cold that day but I still made everyone trek outside so I could get a pic!

~A Birthday message for Down Under~

Hope your 8th Birthday is great!
Lots of Love from Canada!

~Madison turns 12!~

Wow! Where does the time go? At 8:22pm this evening Madison officially turned 12 years old. So many memories and so many more to come. I absolutely love every moment we have together.

Happy Birthday my beautiful girl! I love you so very much!

~Caleb's 1st 'official' day of school~

He was so excited this morning to finally be going off to the same school as 'his girls' (that's what he calls Madison & Avery, either 'my girls' or 'the sisters' - he is too funny!).
He looks like such a little man in these pics. He picked that outfit out himself at the store. You can't really tell in the pic but the shirt is checkered purple. His fave colour!
My baby is growing up much too fast! *sniff, sniff*

~First Day of School 2009~

So it is that time of year again. Back to school. Time to get back to some sort of routine and hopefully not be too rushed.
This year Avery is entering Grade 4 French Immersion. I am excited and nervous for her at the same time. But I am confident that she will do well. And so is she.
Madison is entering Grade 7 French Immersion. WoW! Where does the time go? Just seems like yesterday she was going into JK.
& speaking of JK, Caleb will officially start in 2 weeks. Today we have to go to his classroom for a JK orientation and then one more day this and next week he will go one day each and then start on Sept 21st. They call this a staggered start, to help the transition to JK go more smoothly. He is so looking forward to it.
Lots of preparation went in to today. First Madi wanted me to straigthen her hair, which turned out nicely. Then lots of hemming and hawing over what to wear and last of all this is the first time ever the girls have taken the bus to school.

So there you have it, I am a Mom to 3 school age children. Someone please pass the tissues...

Caleb's pics will be up on his official first day!

~My Family~

Create your own here.