lights!

christmas lights are so merry and bright! one of our family advent activities was to drive around town and look at christmas lights. we chose the oh so popular street in rocklin, the happenin' place. most people drive the circle, but some walk. kyri really wanted to walk so we bundled up for the chilly night out! all of the houses were covered in lights...from their roof to their front lawn. kyri and kaden loved all of the disney character cut-outs. so creative and perfect for families with little ones. all of the sights to see filled us with holiday cheer! we ended our evening with something hot to drink at starbucks. it was quite a treat for kyri to get her very own mini starbucks cup of hot chocolate. she was a happy girl! love being out with my precious family. celebrating christmas time with them is my favorite!

away in a manger.

cozy and warm.

a charlie brown christmas.

oh little town of bethlehem.

their entire lawn was covered in little lights...so pretty.

full of wonder.

jessie and woody.
kyri said, "they look kinda different."

my beautiful boys.

family advent activities.

a new christmas tradition is born. this advent season, we decided to do a family activity every day leading up to christmas. my friend sandie has been doing it with her family for years and i've always loved the idea. this christmas was the perfect christmas to start! i made an advent "tree" out of tree branches, hung numbers 1-25, and inside each number was an activity for that day. kyri couldn't wait to get started! every morning she woke up and said, "mommy, can we see what our activity is for today?" i am so glad we decided to make this a new family tradition. some days, we kept it simple. on a few days, we had to move things around because events like...the power going out. no matter what the activity, it was special because we were doing it as a family. i didn't capture each moment with a photo, but here are a few to remember. there are many more christmas photos to come too!

sharing a christmas advent tree with your family is a wonderful way to celebrate the holiday season. so many precious memories.

the hornacek family advent activity tree.

day 2: build a fort!

day 8: attend kyri's preschool christmas program.

get slurpee's with mom to celebrate!

day 12: open a christmas gift together.

whatever could it be?

little people nativity set.
i've been wanting to buy this for years. target had it on sale, 50% off, but they were all out. got a raincheck and after searching many target stores...we were able to get our hands on one for kyri and kaden!

day 15: silly holiday dress-up!

christmas memories with my baby boy.

silly faces too.

kaden isn't a huge fan of family photo time.
can you tell?