Day 21

Today's Advent Activity was going out for ice cream! We have probably only gone out, just for ice cream, once since having the kids. That's mostly because they are much like their father and like plain vanilla--no mix-ins or toppings. It's not really worth the trip. However, when they have gotten to have ice cream out, they love doing it. Occasionally we will go to Culver's after church and ice cream comes free with their kids meals. Rori, in particular loves ice cream. She could probably eat a half gallon of it by herself in one sitting. I'm not sure where she puts it, but I envy her!

She can't get enough!

So, I thought, to make their boring (to me) vanilla ice cream trip more exciting, we would go BEFORE dinner! That's right, Grandma Casey, we are spoiling their dinner :)

Brendan mushed his to get to the bottom 

Then finished Liam's cone...he looks a little intoxicated by ice cream

Since this is kind of a non-exciting post, and the next three days are going to be super busy, I wanted to give a shout-out to my friend, Leslie, for sharing the whole Home-made Advent Calendar idea with me. Without her, we would've missed out on the wonderful month of building memories and traditions! She is also doing these kinds of activities--I wish she had a blog that I could direct you to, but she's posting pictures on facebook and she has had some wonderful ideas! Leslie and I have just become good friends this year. She and I have several mutual friends, but hadn't ever spent time together, and unbeknownst to us, we live less than a mile apart!  Earlier in the year, she came to Karen's Twi-Night and then we became facebook friends. Then we learned we both had Legoland passes and decided to meet up there and an instant friendship was born!

Leslie is someone that, while I haven't known her for years, I feel like I have. She, like me, is an open book. She shares, openly and honestly, her joys and struggles with motherhood (she has 4 boys 5 and under!). She's always willing to share tips and ideas and is one of my favorite bargain finders! She knows who she is, and I can tell has always known--she's not wishy washy about her faith. It's clear she loves Jesus and she walks the walk and talks the talk. Sometimes I think she and I grew up in the same house (and I mean that in a good way--our parents both did an excellent job of raising us)--we've seen the same movies as children, we had similar high school experiences, and have the same appreciation for butter! She has an amazing amount of energy--if you could see all the things she does with her boys (you really need a blog, Leslie) you would wonder when she sleeps. I have decided that she doesn't. You're a great mom, Leslie, and I'm so glad to call you a friend! Thank you for inviting me to Legoland, and thank you for letting me steal your Advent Calendar!