11th Anniversary Age of Adaline Date September 30, 2015

In this post: All the details on our Age of Adaline date plus anniversary pictures, and chalkboard door art.

Hello dear ones! I know it’s been a good while since my last post. I promise I haven’t forgotten you. I have so much to share with you and a lot of catching up to do. I wanted to skip ahead and share this extra special date. I hope it inspires you. Here’s how we celebrated our 11th anniversary, our Age of Adaline date (based on the movie).

Lover’s silhouette chalkboard art~ I used the silhouette from a picture of Chris and I. You’ll see the picture on the collage poster board I made. It’s in the middle

Anniversary Collage Poster Board~ I printed out black and white pictures of us throughout the years. I glued pieces of old wall paper I found at Goodwill, onto poster board from The Dollar Tree. I put a poem I had written in the middle.

Here is the poem. You may link to this post, but don’t copy it. Thanks!

The Story of Us” by Amber Dover

“Let everyone see, the rhythm and rhyme of you and me. As we grow old, every storm we can weather. Let us never go cold, because we’re better together. Every kiss is a song, of the sweetest pain. The roses and the thorns; we two remain. I love you.”

My first set for our date.

The set after we went antique shopping.

My Vintage Look

I did as many finger curls on my head as I could. I used a peach lipstick. I added a peach belt to a dress I had to give me that 1940’s style. The big necklace Chris bought me the night before from a street vendor, a lady handmade it.

The Agenda

The night before our Adaline date we got in the vintage mood by listening to jazz live at The Loft in down town. I attempted to put victory curls in my hair but it didn’t turn out quite right.

Me reading to the kids when we got back.

Age of Adaline Date (what I got pictures of)

• Antique shopping

The guys and I went antique “window” shopping (meaning we didn’t buy anything at this place).

Messing around…

We did pay to check out the lunchbox museum.

We finished with lunch at Steak n Shake because it always has a vintage feel. Then my parents got Michael so Chris and I could have some romance.

Here’s my anniversary present: a vintage type writer from either the 1930’s or 1940’s. It works too. We got it at a thrift store.

• Read Braille

• Gigi’s cupcakes~ Wedding Cake is an amazing flavor!

• chili dogs and cream soda

• Romantic photos

• Star gazing

We used the star app on my tablet.

• Speak Portuguese ~We looked up “I love you” and I wrote it on the type writer

• Poetry and slow dancing I didn’t get pictures of

Random funny pic of Leeland partying with us.

God bless and remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

Age of Adaline on Pinterest:

More of our Date Nights:

Date ideas on Pinterest:

 

Downtown Date Night August 10, 2015

Date Night Challenge: Tour your downtown and tell me about your experience in the comments.

Hello dear ones! Chris and I have lived in this area for almost eleven years, but recently had our first date in downtown. It was magical.

We walked the streets and listened to different musicians.

Here’s a talented band playing outside of Iron Bank Coffee.

We went inside my favorite writing spot for some pictures…

and some sweets.

We ran into our music minister playing at Picasso’s Pizza.

Then we took a carriage ride with a guy who looks like Apollo from Brain Games. He shared some of the history of the downtown buildings…like how the Springer Opera House is supposed to be haunted.

This was our last date in Chris’ Jeep. Sadly, he had to trade it in. My hubby’s knees were making it hard for him to drive stick. Now he has a truck. Someone bought the Jeep already. Hopefully they will take care of “Sponge Bob” for us.

Last wash…

God bless and remember the High King lives! ~ Amber Dover

Other dates on this blog:

Date ideas on Pinterest:

Miss Congeniality & Fun with Dick and Jane Date Nights July 2, 2015

Hello dear ones! Chris and I had a couple of awesome movie themed dates recently. Enjoy these original dates: Miss Congeniality and Fun with Dick and Jane. Here’s how it went down.

Date Night Disclaimer: These dates are intended for married couples. You may not like my movie choices based upon your own convictions. If that’s the case, then I encourage you to adapt these ideas for the movies of your choice. Ultimately my goal is to inspire others to have a fun marriage.

Miss Congeniality Date Night

We rented the movie Miss Congeniality. It’s about an agent that goes undercover as a beauty pageant contestant. So I set a table fit for a beauty queen.

First we got in the spirit of things by watching funny pageant videos on youtube. World peace! Just sayin’.

 

I found everything at the Dollar Tree. I have trophies, ribbons, and medals for our contests later. I have a tiara and bouquet of flowers for the winner. I used crepe paper for the banners.

The hubby and I enjoyed a nice dinner. Then we prepared to compete. I’ll admit…the competition was rigged, especially the Evening Gown competition, since my hubby didn’t compete. Ha! I made sure this date was guy friendly. I found a couple of fun things at the Dollar Tree.

“Talent” Competition

Chris was killin’ it on the paddle ball. Once he got the hang of it he was a pro!

I was embarrassingly hilarious as a ribbon twirler. We each chose a song for the other to use. Chris chose an upbeat dance song for me. I know he had to be laughing inside.

Chris won most athletic. He also won Best Kisser, but that’s besides the point. Leeland helped hold the trophy. He’s a pretty good kisser too! 🙂

Then we each tried to play the recorder. I had an advantage since I play the flute, but it was still harder than it looks.

I won most musical.

Interview

I found a site that helps contestants prepare for the interview section. First, Chris and I made up funny platforms. Mine was “Save the snails’ Then we asked each other questions.

Here’s the link for questions: http://thepageantplanet.com/233-practice-pageant-questions/

Evening Gown Competition

My evening gowns competed :). The pink evening gown won!

I won Miss Date Night!

Fun with Dick and Jane Date Night

(This is the movie from 2005 not 1977. I haven’t seen the older one.)

You can watch the preview here:

Fun with Dick and Jane is about a middle class married couple. Dick has a great job and he and the wife prepare to live extravagantly when Dick is promoted. Unfortunately Dick is being set up to take the fall as his company crashes, and the owner gets away with the money. Dick and thousands of others in the company are now competing for jobs. This is actually a comedy :). Dick and Jane go through all kinds of crazy scenarios as they try to find work. I have listed activities that go along with the movie.

First I gave my hubby this invite. The front is a quote from the movie, just in case I freaked you out a bit. The joke is that the couple is so busy that they don’t have time to be together when they are in the mood. They schedule to have sex on Saturday. Again, this date is for married people. Any married couple with kids can understand the quote.

Inside

 

Activities (we only did the first three):

• Learn some Spanish ~ Dick and Jane’s little boy spends so much time with his Spanish nanny, that he speaks in Spanish all the time. This causes a predicament when Dick gets mistaken for an illegal alien. I love that part of the movie.
• Sing “I Believe I Can Fly” as loud as you can~ Dick sings this in the elevator when he believes he’s being promoted.
• Find the best disguises~ When Dick and Jane find themselves on the verge of losing everything despite their honest efforts, they resort to being partners in crime. I do not endorse stealing, but they do have some funny outfits. They get into some crazy situations.
• Play in the sprinkler~ Dick, Jane, and their son become so poor that they bathe in the neighbor’s sprinkler.
• Find a distortion machine and make funny voices~ Dick and Jane steal from a rude business man that did Dick wrong. They act silly with a voice distortion device.
• Walmart Bingo~ Dick doesn’t do so well at being a greeter. You can find this fun game at my favorite dating site: http://www.thedatingdivas.com/just-the-two-of-us/walmart-bingo/
• Have Slushees (make sure to pay!)~ The first thing Dick steals is a Slushee. That is the beginning of his slippery slope into crime.

We watched the movie in our van. Our treats were popcorn, cream sodas, and chocolate.

 

Our disguises 

 

I think we’d make poor thieves, but that’s a good thing :).

 

Well, I hope you enjoyed these ideas and they will inspire you to have your own fun date nights. Do you like themed dates? I’d love to hear about your own dates. Please leave me some comment love.

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

More dates on this blog:

Date ideas on my Pinterest:

 

Child like Date June 17, 2015

In this post: A review of Dating Divas’ Inner Child date and Book store scavenger hunt.

Hello dear ones! Chris and I had our second date since the baby was born. We decided to be like kids and try Dating Diva’s Inner Child date and book store date. I am a member of the Dating Divas club. So I got the Inner Child date printables for free. Paying for membership is worth all the benefits. I highly recommend joining. I’m a big fan of the Dating Divas, and we have used their date ideas plenty of times in the past. Here’s how our date went down:

• Happy Meals: I invited Chris to be a kid with me. We both got kids meals. We compared our toys and shot them at each other.

• The Park: Then we headed to the park. We caught tadpoles, and talked about childhood.

• Coloring: I made coloring pages from our family pictures. Later, we bought a Grumpy Cat coloring book that is awesome!

Link for the date:http://www.thedatingdivas.com/tara/sassy-suggestion-inner-child-date/

• Book store scavenger hunt: Then we went to Barnes and Nobles book store. We did this wacky scavenger hunt. The printables are free here: http://www.thedatingdivas.com/tara/the-bookstore-date/

We scoured the cook books for a recipe for our spouse.

Then we did a magazine survey. We found it in a little girls’ magazine. We sat at a table and whispered our answers. The survey was what kind of music star we’d be. Chris was a rock star. I was a rock and pop star. It’s funny because one of the questions asked if we liked wearing pink sparkly things. Chris was like “Heck no!”

Chris told me jokes in the joke section. He found a Grumpy Cat book.

I read Chris a children’s’ book in the children’s section.

Lastly, Chris found a poem and read it to me in the poetry section.

We didn’t get to the travel section to plan our dream vacation. We had to hurry home to the baby. This was a great date all around. It reminded me of when we were goofy teenagers. The Dating Divas always have the best ideas. I love mixing it up and making them my own. Have you ever tried on of their dates? If so, please let me know in the comments section.
God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover
Our other date nights:

Date ideas on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/doverette/date-ideas/

Valentine’s Weekend 2015 Plus 32 Weeks Prego Pics February 22, 2015

In this post: Our Valentine’s get away and The Vow date night, Miriam’s 1st birthday, a Valentine’s hunt, diy scratch offs, and date night bags for kids.

Hello dear ones! Valentine’s weekend started off with a bang. My best friend Hannah’s little girl Miriam, turned one. She had a little party with family and a couple friends. Look at this delicious cake from Publix.

Miriam had her first taste of cake and wasn’t sure if she liked it.

We finished our Valentine’s countdowns. Remember the heart chain and kisses countdown found here:

2015 Valentine’s Decor and Countdown

I also gave Michael and Chris Valentine jokes every other day.

Valentine jokes

Free Printable Valentine Jokes

I used these Valentine’s printables from the Dating Divas to set up a hunt for Michael. I found goodies at the Dollar Tree and hid them around his room.

Valentine’s Hunt
http://www.thedatingdivas.com/holidays/valentines-day/valentines-search-and-find/

I found this chalkboard coffee cup at Michael’s Craft Store, for Chris. Michael made this diy scratch off valentine for me with Chris’ help.

DIY Valentines Scratch Offs
http://www.yellowblissroad.com/the-ultimate-valentines-day-printable-pack-plus-a-coordinating-free-printable/

My mom and step dad kept Michael on Valentine’s. I sent this date night bag with Michael to open once we were on our date. It included the games “Don’t Eat Pete” and “Valentine’s Monster Bingo”. Links below. I was told they had lots of fun :).
Kid’s Date Night Bag
http://www.thedatingdivas.com/family-fun/kid-date-night-envelope/

Don’t Eat Pete game
The printable is included in the date night bag link above.

Valentine’s Monster Bingo
http://www.yellowblissroad.com/the-ultimate-valentines-day-printable-pack-plus-a-coordinating-free-printable/

Several weeks before, Chris and I had a date night at home. We did these couple quizes and interviews from the Dating Diva’s. It reminded me of Chris’ likes and dislikes. I used the info to plan our Valentine’s date night.
Couples’ Interviews & Quiz

http://www.thedatingdivas.com/just-the-two-of-us/couples-date-night-quiz-and-interview-printable-kit/

We reserved a hotel room with a hot tub. I decorated the room with Valentine’s decor from the Dollar Tree. I put the romantic candle holder I had made, on the tub. Remember it from this post:

Personalized Romantic Candle Holder

It went great with “The Vow” theme.

We arrived at the Olive Garden real early for dinner. The line was crazy, and we got on the waiting list. We were told it’d be an hour and a half wait. So we decided to go to the store across the parking lot while we waited. Bad idea. The restaurant pager messed up and kicked us off the waiting list. We found this out an hour later when we went back to Olive Garden. They tried to get us back in the system but couldn’t. We were told the wait would be longer, so we decided to just order online. We were told that would only take 20 minutes. Well, the pick up wait was over an hour. We were starved at this point so we got Mcdonalds to hold us over and went back to the hotel to start our movie.

When Chris went to pick up our food he had to wait in line for over 20 minutes. It was close to 9 pm when we finally ate supper.

We had planned on doing these mad libs and vow printables from The Dating Divas. It didn’t happen though. We both had headaches by the time we got our food. We did however watch The Vow which is a very inspiring movie.
Love Mad Libs
http://www.thedatingdivas.com/holidays/valentines-day/madly-in-love-mad-libs/

The Vow Date Night
http://www.thedatingdivas.com/theme-scene/the-vow-date/

We did try to do the chocolate tasting printables. We were both so sick at this point. This could’ve been a great date night but things just didn’t work out. Next year I don’t think we will make plans on the actual day of Valentine’s. Traffic was horrific and the hotel was filled with ummm…other people’s intimate sounds. I really didn’t want to hear all that. Thankfully the movie blocked the sounds out.

Chocolate Tasting

http://www.thedatingdivas.com/romantic-rendezvous/chocolate-tasting/

Well, if I’m going to have a bad night I’d rather have it with my hubby than all by myself. At least I had good company for Valentine’s :). This was supposed to be our last big bash together before Leeland is born. Oh well…

I almost want to try this date again on another night. I really want a do over! I hope you’re inspired anyways and maybe you’ll have better luck with your date if you use these ideas. I would recommend going out the weekend before or after Valentine’s but not of!

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

Date Night ideas:

Our Date Nights:

PS: Here are some extra pics for you :).

The guys painted my bedroom door with chalk paint. It was a lovely gift.

Here are my 32 weeks prego. pics.

Personalized Romantic Candle Holder February 10, 2015

Hello dear ones! A good while back I made this candle holder out of plaster of paris. It sat in my office for a long time. I finally decided to paint it for Valentine’s to go along with my date night plans.

I rented “The Vow” for me and Chris’ Valentine’s excursion. I was inspired by the Dating Diva’s Vow date night. Lord willing, I’ll share more on that after Valentine’s. I used paint, sharpies, and stamps to make my design. The roses are just silk roses from the Dollar Tree. I added them when I was making the candle holder. I personalized this by putting our names and our wedding date. It says “I vow to love you always”.

I found small red and white candles. This will add a romantic personal touch to our date night.

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

PS: Here are some date ideas for Valentine’s!

Christmas Date Ingredients December 15, 2014

Hello dear ones! I hope you’re having a lovely Christmas season. Chris and I had a big holiday date and I want to share the ingredients with you.

I made a list of fun couple activities. I’ll share the list and fonts I used. Also I’ll share links where I got certain ideas and printables. Heads up: most of this date is for married folk.

Christmas Date
Ingredients
*******************************
*Visit the mall
*Buy stocking stuffers for each other
*Couple pics in photo booth
*Buy ugly sweaters
*Eat at a restaurant
*Christmas light scavenger hunt
*Watch a Christmas movie and play scrabble
*Special treats under the tree
*Dance to Christmas music
*Mistletoe kissing

I used fonts #1 and #8 from this site to make my list look pretty: http://www.atypicalenglishhome.com/2012/12/best-free-christmas-fonts.html

I printed the list in green and red and then cut out the words and pasted them to a new paper. Unfortunately, I’m unable to attach the document so you’ll have to type it yourself.  You’ll probably want to customize the date anyways.

We used several ideas from The Dating Divas. I really love their site. A couple of these are for later in the season.

• Christmas Light Scavenger Hunt: http://www.thedatingdivas.com/you-me/show-him-the-love/christmas-lights-scavenger-hunt/
• Santa’s Cookies (a game for married folk): http://www.thedatingdivas.com/you-me/intimate-moments/santas-cookies-bedroom-game/
• Hot Cocoa Love Note (for married folk): http://www.thedatingdivas.com/romantic-rendezvous/hot-cocoa-love-note/
• 12 days of Christmas: http://www.thedatingdivas.com/just-the-two-of-us/12-days-of-christmas-countdown/
• 12 days of sexy Christmas (married folk): http://www.thedatingdivas.com/just-the-two-of-us/12-sexy-days-of-christmas/

You can see all the date ideas I find here: http://www.pinterest.com/doverette/date-ideas/

and all the dates we’ve tried (a few original to us) here: http://www.pinterest.com/doverette/ambers-date-nights/

 

We had to switch up a few things. None of the photo booths worked right so we decided to take our couple pic at home by the tree. I have an ornament that I’m going to put the picture in. We decided to get some cute Christmas t-shirts instead of ugly sweaters. I have Olaf and Chris has a minion. We found them in the mens’ section at Walmart (hey it’s comfortable and I am bigger from pregnancy! :P).

I left ornaments in the oven and we had to hurry home to make sure the house hadn’t caught fire (pregnancy brain!). Thankfully the house was fine. Praise God! We then got a box of Krispy Kremes because I had a craving and we drove around the city to look at lights. We found almost everything on the scavenger hunt list. I’m a little disappointed by the lack of spirit on my street. I think I should be the light police and leave notices (Hey, you have 24 hours to get lights up, even one cheap strand from the Dollar store!).

We don’t actually have Scrabble but we borrowed UpWords from my mom. It’s very similar to Scrabble except you can build words on top of one another. I think I like it better. I didn’t have mistletoe either but I hung fake holly in our bedroom (it’s close enough). Now our son uses it to give sloppy kisses to me, the cat, and the dog! Ha!

There are a few romantic and fun Christmas songs out there. Here are my favorites:

• Baby, It’s Cold Outside
• Christmas Cookies (from Duck the Halls cd)
• All I Want For Christmas is You (Mariah Carey)
• Santa Baby
• Winter Wonderland
• Let it Snow
• The Christmas Song
• Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree
• Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Hot chocolate and Christmas cookies are great for snuggling and Netflix has several cute romantic Christmas movies. There’s still plenty of time left for Christmas romance. The 12 days of Christmas start on Christmas Day and end on January 5th. There’s also time to make a special stocking for your spouse. Maybe next year I’ll make an Advent calendar just for my hubby. It’s a lil late for that now.

We had lots of fun and I hope you do too. It’s so easy to get caught up in the season and forget your spouse. There are so many family activities and if you have kids, it’s hard not to just focus on them. But spouses need attention too. Marriage is such a beautiful gift from God. So go ahead and show your soulmate some Christmas love ;)!

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

The Hunger Games Date Night March 25, 2014

Hello dear ones! Today I’m reviewing the Dating Diva’s Hunger Games date night. I gave it the “Amber touch”.  This date was perfect paired with Catching Fire, the second movie in the Hunger Games trilogy.  You can find all the printables here: http://www.thedatingdivas.com/just-the-two-of-us/hunger-games-catching-fire-dinner-and-a-movie/

I really liked the second movie because it felt truer to the books. Catching Fire showed the evil of the Capitol. The games weren’t as glamorous.  Okay, so this date night wasn’t anti-games at all. Chris and I went to war ;). But it was all in good fun.

First, I had to add my touch by putting together my Katniss outfit. It’s not quite like her’s but it works. I donned a leather jacket, boots, and I braided my hair.  I set the scene with a cornucopia in the arena. I didn’t have much to work with…literally a basket, a plastic cloth, and Annabelle’s baby pen. I filled the cornucopia with our “weapons” for the “games”. 

I met Chris at the door in my outift, with Hunger Games music, and said “Welcome to the 75th annual Hunger Games. May the odds ever be in your favor!”

We took the Hunger Games quiz and put our names in the reaping cup for every time we missed an answer. Our names were in the cup several times so we were destined to be in the games. We had a nice feast on the way to the “Capitol”. We started the movie then paused it half way to go to the “arena”.  The games included: Career Dodge Grenade, Tracker Jacker Tag, Camoflauge Cookies, Nerf Gun Wars, & a Knot Tying Competition. 

We had a blast. My favorite game was Tracker Jacker Tag. I don’t want to spoil anything for you but I will share this one game. We each had stickers for Tracker Jacker stings. We set a timer and played tag. Chris won for sure as you can see in the picture. We laughed so much. What a creative idea. Thank you Dating Divas for another awesome date!

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

Keep up with all my date posts:

Other Date ideas:

Valentine’s 2014 Inspired by The Dating Divas February 25, 2014

Hello dear ones! The title explains it all. We had a beautiful Valentine’s outing and http://www.thedatingdivas.com/ gave me the inspiration. I will make this short and sweet :). Disclaimer: This date is for married people ;).

Chocolate, romantic movies, candles, and bubble bath equal perfection…almost. Add in some Dating Divas ideas and voila! Perfecto! Not to mention the love of your life…yes that helps too lol ;).

This date didn’t cost too much. I was able to find Valentine’s decor at the Dollar Tree. Candles and rose petals are a must. The hotel room was the most expensive but I believe after almost ten years of marriage a Valentine’s out was needed. Note: Book a room with a Jacuzzi WAY ahead of time. Our date was actually the day after Valentine’s so miraculously we were able to get a great room in a hotel off the beaten path. I’m glad I didn’t give up on the Jacuzzi.

The hotel was nice enough to give us a DVD player to borrow, hence the movies. While I got the room ready I left Chris instructions for supper (I can’t do it all can I?). I went simple: Filet Mignon ready to throw in the oven, baked potatoes that you can microwave in the wrapper, and a salad.  Plastic champagne glasses and sparkling grape juice top it off. Romance doesn’t have to break the bank ;).

Dating Divas inspired me to make this awesome candy gram: http://www.thedatingdivas.com/tara/the-valentine-date/

Mine says: Babe, you’ve made my life EXTRA special! You’re the RIESEN for my smile. You always make me laugh. 🙂 Your KISSES are complete BLISS! xoxo Although we’re NERDS, we are a perfect fit, and our love is a beautiful SYMPHONY!!

I got these man approved Valentine’s here: http://www.thedatingdivas.com/holidays/valentines-day/man-approved-valentines/

These were so great. The themes are from big movies: Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and several action movies. I couldn’t decide which one to use so I turned them into a Valentine banner.

God bless and remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

Here’s the pics:

Keep up with all my date posts:

More date ideas:

Advent Week 1 December 15, 2013

In this Post: Several advent ideas (activities, food, and random acts of kindness). Also links to help you start your own advent fun! 🙂 Please come hang out.

*Note: Advent is a countdown to Christmas and for Christians it is a time to remember Christ’ birth and to look forward to his second coming (advent).  The wreathe and candles have special meanings. A Jesse tree helps tell the story of Jesus’ family tree while counting down to Christmas.

Hello dear ones! I hope you’re having a lovely holiday. I hope this holiday will be less stressful than the one before and that my family will learn to give and be content. So this year we decided only one gift per family member. So I only have two to shop for…easy peasy and one is already done.  Also I tried to focus our advent activities around random acts of kindness not just fun. I couldn’t get everything we did on camera but below are some pictures of week one.  Here’s a list of what they are and links for ideas! 🙂

1.  Get out the Jesse tree and start advent/Jesse tree devotions. We read these each night and lit the first candle which reminds us that Christ is King. Purple for royalty :).
2. Watch Frosty the Snowman and drink hot chocolate. (no pics 😦  )Also fixed the advent wreathe. Our Advent devo. had a neat activity where the guys tried to keep a balloon between them while moving. They had to stay close to keep the balloon from falling. It related to us staying close to God since we need His help. Pic bottom right.
3. Build a shoe box online with Si Robertson for Operation Christmas child. Also donate to World Vision in someones honor. Michael helped me pick how to donate and then WV sent cards to our family members we honored. There are so many options: donating nativity animals, helping the hungry, protecting girls from slavery. Seriously there is a world of good that can be done.             http://www.samaritanspurse.org/operation-christmas-child/pack-a-shoebox-with-uncle-si/     and   http://www.worldvision.org/
4.  Make gingerbread cookies, have a gingerbread man hunt, and decorate the window with gingerbread clings. Pics on the left. We also watched the Gingerbread man.  http://www.pinterest.com/doverette/christmas-units/
5.  Decorate Chris’ office tree and give out gingerbread cookies to his fellow employees.  (bottom right)
6. Send Christmas cards to heroes (soldiers) through Red Cross. We actually did this earlier. It’s too late to send them now but maybe you can do this next year.  Pic of Michael on the left.    http://www.redcross.org/support/get-involved/holiday-mail-for-heroes                                                                     Our friends came over for dinner. We ate gingerbread cookies and Michael played Noel for them. Pic in the middle. The best thing was feeling my BFF’s tummy and the lil one rolling around inside.
7. Read A Christmas Carol and see the play at the opera house. Pics on the left. We actually read the book the week before Thanksgiving. We dressed up fancy (pic to the left of title). I was able to get a picture of the carolers (actors) and the theater. It was a marvelous production.

You’ll probably have to click on the picture to see it well.

Even more Advent ideas here: http://www.pinterest.com/doverette/christmas-traditions/

and here: http://www.pinterest.com/doverette/christmas-crafts/

The cookie mix I use each year is here: http://www.dominosugar.com/cookiestarter/

The gingerbread man hunt was a fun addition. You take the cookie out of the oven and leave a note as if he ran away. Each note has a clue to the next spot but lo and behold the critter has out ran you again! Then the last clue leads to the oven and he’s “magically” back in the pan. I love the look on Michael’s face. We know it’s just make believe but what fun :).

We’ve seen The Nutcracker ballet each year but we might not be able to see it this one. I’ve gotta say…I like A Christmas Carol better. The animated movie with Jim Carey freaked Michael out but only one scene bothered him in the play. The scene with the ghost of Christmases yet to come is always a bit unsettling. I wish I had a picture of that ghost to show you. They were really creative. I hope Michael and I will have special Christmas dates even when he’s an adult. 

Well, more advent activities next time. There are so many neat ideas I can’t wait to share.  I’m too impatient. Here’s our list for you to download and get a sneak peek before I post them ;).

Advent 2013

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

Advent Week 2~ https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/12/24/advent-week-2/

Advent Week 3: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/12/24/advent-week-3/

Advent Week 4: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2014/01/01/advent-week-4/