Picture Perfect ... Almost!

Today's Advent activity was D's preschool party.  B was off and could come to the party with us.  D was beyond excited by the fact Daddy would be at the party! The theme for the day was Polar Express.  D wore her Frozen pajamas and slippers to school to match the theme of the party.  The kids listened to the story before the party began.  The party started with a train parade around the school.  All of the kids made train cars at home and brought them in today. Next was three activities for the kids to do. 1.  Make reindeer food using oatmeal and glitter.  We'll spread this around the yard on Christmas Eve so Rudolph knows where to land.  According to D, while Santa is leaving the gifts he and the other reindeer can eat food. 2.  Create a seek n find jar with rice and small winter and Christmas themed items. 3.  Draw the Polar Express with chalk, color it in, and smear it to m...

I've got 2 kids who are wishing for snow.  D asks everyday if it's going to snow.  We've had a couple of inches of nasty snow, followed by sleet and rain.  This made it impossible to play in!  So today we had an inside snowball fight for our activity countdown.  We used cotton balls and threw them all over the playroom, at each other, and at the toys.   Ready ... Set ... Throw! I even got in on the fun and threw snowballs at the kids!

Today's activity was to make gingerbread houses and cookies.  My mom spent the day with us to help with both the baking and the kids.   I'm not sure how anyone with 2 or more kids bakes with kids and without help.   We started by making cookies for friends and neighbors ...  1-2-3 drops, crinkle cookies, peppermint snickerdoodles, Funfetti sandwiches, and brown sugar cookies!   S enjoyed rolling the dough in powdered sugar and cutting out shapes.  D loved rolling the dough and cutting cookies.  You can imagine how my kitchen looked after 5 hours of cookie baking! After we cleaned up the cookie mess it was time to make gingerbread houses.  My mom found these plastic forms you snap together to make the house frame.  Then you cover it with frosting and add candy.  So much easier than graham crackers or kits with cookies.  The kids made one house together.  D was meticulous in her placement of ...

D's Christmas party at school is on Friday.  The theme for the party is "The Polar Express."  She has to make a train car from a cardboard box to take.  B helped her make the car over the weekend.  Today we used our activity time to decorate it and add people to the windows.  The car isn't completed yet but all of the pieces are.  Now it just needs to be glued together and have ribbon added so she can wear it. You'll notice S has on no shirt.  About an hour before this activity he took it off and cried whenever I tried to put it back on.  Sometimes it's just not worth the fight! Deciding which Mickey Mouse friend would sit with each person she drew. Looking at the stickers. Working together ... or at least not fighting! Such concentration as she draws. Showing how the windows will go on each side of the train car. Watching D color with colored pencils. Trying out the train car.

Have you ever seen the websites where people post their attempts to recreate crafts and food they find on Pinterest?  Something goes terribly wrong and they put "Nailed It" on the crazy way it turned out.  Today's activity belongs on one of those websites! On Pinterest it said to make Gingerbread Puffy Paint just mix equal parts shaving cream and glue.  Add some cinnamon to the mixture for good smell and food coloring for brown.  I didn't have food coloring so I used a bit of brown paint.   Then you paint the mixture onto a gingerbread man shape with a paintbrush.  It should make a smooth but puffy shape.  You add beads or buttons to make a face on the gingerbread person. Cute right? Here's how it turned out for D and I. Materials ... Check An interesting consistency when mixed together.  Not sure how this will paint or dry?!?! Painting it on was fun.  But it didn't puff up. ...

Growing up I always had a live Christmas tree.  Or as many friends called it a Christmas bush.  My family was known for having a tree that was wider than it was tall.  B and I used to get a live tree until we realized it made him stuffy and feel terrible around the holidays.  Then D was born and she felt the same way around a live tree in the house.  So we bought a fake tree.  But we still go with my parents to cut down a tree.  We did that today - in a lot of mud!  The kids had fun and got to use their boots for something other than parading through the house. Surveying the mud Even though we don't get a tree anymore this is why we go.  The kids have a blast and that's what Christmas is about - making memories with the family! We also made fringe Christmas trees this afternoon.  D cut fringe onto 4 triangles and glued them on paper to make a tree.  Then I mixed glue and food coloring for he...