Christmas Countdown Week 2

We've had to change stuff around this week. We still haven't moved, and everything is in boxes so supplies are limited. But we're having fun.

Week 2 Activities:

December 8th--Activities from The Friend

This activity from the friend is a countdown as well. You can do one question and put one ornament on the tree each day. We did it in one day, which was fun. It would make a great FHE activity as well.

December 9th--Star Watching

We went out and looked at the stars for a minute, but we also went out to dinner with family and went to Grandma and Papa Finlay's house to help decorate the tree.

December 10th--Ice-cream floats

Can I just say strawberry lemonade from Fresh and Easy is AMAZING. Add that to Costco vanilla ice-cream and it is quite a treat.

I asked Brielle if she wanted a strawberry lemonade float or a root beer float. I think she thought we could just pick anything. She wanted pineapple root beer. We didn't try that combination, but she was still happy.

Saturday 11th--Christmas Is

We weren't able to make it to our ward Christmas party. We did get to move some stuff over to our house and while we did that Grandma Finlay took Brielle and Gavin to a special Christmas show that Ellie loved! She was very excited about getting to see the fairies and elves and Santa.

Sunday 12th--Brush Christmas Openhouse

Hoped to set up our Christmas Tree, but since we are not yet closed on the house and not allowed in yet, well it didn't happen. But we DID get to go to an amazing party.

The kids were in dessert heaven. So many choices.

Santa came! Brielle and Ethan were very nervous about going to say hi, but they did it. Brielle told Santa she wants a 'colored clock', and then asked what kind of cookies he wanted. Ethan just wanted the candy cane and then got back to mom as fast as he could.

December 13th--Read Christmas Stories

Since we didn't have access to our Christmas books that are boxed away, but we've gotten some from the library and have enjoyed reading the books and also listening to Christmas music. Brielle can sing Jingle Bells, Rudolph and Frosty (those are the favorites that she wants repeated over and over). I'm still working on getting her to like other songs as well.

December 14th--Decorate Cookies

Okay so our table is in the garage of the new house. Our rolling pin is packed. Our cookie cutters were packed, but we borrowed Grandma's. We got on the floor, pressed the dough with our (washed) hands and it worked out just fine.

Ethan and Lissy enjoyed eating the dough more then using the cookie cutters and licking the frosting more then decorating.

Brielle liked the decorating and the eating.

Christmas Countdown Week 1

Having the advent activity chain has helped force me to take time to play on some busy days this week. We've been having fun, and I enjoy listening to Brielle tell me about Christmas story. She is very fascinated with the new star that appeared in the sky. She is also very excited for the day when we get to move into the new house so we can put up a Christmas tree. Me Too.

So, Week 1 Activities:

December 2nd-- Paper Snowflakes
we made paper snowflakes using coffee filters (so easy!). Brielle loves cutting, so that was a huge it. Ethan also enjoyed it, which is why I didn't take pictures. I was busy watching the scissors to make sure we didn't have any catastrophes. I have some of our snowflakes though still, I'll need to get pictures of the finished product.

December 3rd-- Candy Cane Cookies
I've seen this idea before, and we've made playdoh cookies, but this was the first time for candy cane cookies. They were cookies, so the kids of course loved them. I think I ended up rolling them all while the kids ate the dough. One of Ethan's favorite words to say is cookie. He is a fan.

December 4th-Papa's Christmas Concert

It was a fantastic concert. We got to go to dinner with James' Grandparent's first. Ethan loves his Papa Finlay and loves music, so it was a great combination. After every song he had a huge grin on his face as he clapped as loud as he could.

December 5th-First Presidency Christmas Devotional

I switched and made hot chocolate (rather than the treat we had planned), making sure we had plenty of marshmallows for Brielle. I loved President Uchtdorf's smile as he talked about the Grinch. We need to read that story.

December 6th-FHE and Treat

We gave the kids an early present to have our FHE lesson about the story of the birth of Christ. Even Ethan, who usually can't sit still for more than 3 seconds was excited about it. They've been playing with the toys this week retelling the nativity story. I love it.

Treat was supposed to be Christmas Chex mix. I had my mind set on making muddy buddys and adding Christmas M&Ms. I didn't have any Chex cereal and the stores by my house don't sell it. We ended up making peanut butter cookies and they were yummy.

December 7th-Christmas Ornaments

We made salt dough ornaments. The texture of the dough is really fun to play with just as a playdoh. I debated on having the kids paint them, but decided it would be worth it, so I unpacked the paint.

I'm so glad we have non-toxic paint. Ethan seems to think it tastes good.

I didn't realize until we made the handprints that Ethan's hands are so big. His is the hand on the right in this picture. Brielle's is on the left. I tried tracing their hands right on the dough, but it was too hard to have them hold still and not smash the dough, so I traced their hands on paper, cut it out and retraced it on the dough.

Advent

We're Moving! (Just to a neighboring city)

Because of this big event, I've decided to cancel anything and everything I can. My (semi) organized preschool is being put off until January as my supplies are being packed away, but I did want to make sure I am doing at least one thing a day to focus my energy on the kids and making Christmas fun.
We did an advent activity calendar last year, but Brielle was too young to really understand the concept. This year though I think she is going to love it.

Here and Here are some great ideas for advent activities, or think of some of your own. My goal is to focus more on the real meaning of Christmas and time together than crafts (since I won't have supplies on hand for part of the month).

Our Plans: (subject to change)

1-W-Paper Chain Countdown with Advent Activities
2-Th-Paper Snowflakes
3-F-Candy Cane Cookies
4-Sa-go to Papa's Christmas Choir Concert as a Family
5-Su-make chex mix to eat while watching First Presidency Christmas Devotional
6-M-FHE-have hot chocolate with marshmallows
7-T-Salad Spinner Christmas Ornaments or Salt Dough
8-W-Activities from The Friend
9-Th-Star Watching
10-F-(Moving Day)-Have ice-cream floats (rootbeer for those that like it, but I'm thinking Strawberry lemonade would be tasty and more christmasy)
11-Sa-(Moving Day)-Ward Christmas Party
12-Su-Set up Christmas Tree (Finally!!) and attend the annual Brush Christmas Openhouse
13-M-FHE-Decorate Christmas Cookies-give some to a new neighbor
14-T-Read Christmas Stories
15-W-Write a letter to Santa
16-Th-Wrap Presents
17-F-Duarte Library Storytime-making gingerbread houses
18-Sa-Christmas Movie/Popcorn Night
19-Su-Make Christmas Cards
20-M-FHE Drive to see Christmas Lights
21-T-Arboretum
22-W-Indoor Snowman treat and Craft
23-Th-Road Trip
24-F-Christmas Eve at Grandma's House!
25-Sa-Christmas Day!

I was talking to Brielle about Christmas being a celebration of Christ's birth. She asked how old He is turning. I explained He lives in heaven, but I guess He is 2010? She wanted to know how old Heavenly Father is. Try explaining infinity to a 3 year old!

letter r

Rainbows

I told Ellie we were going to make a rainbow. She said "and then we can put it up in the sky!"

We put in the food coloring and then added some dish soap and watched as the colors started moving.

The window in our bathroom lets the sun hit the glass just right to make the rainbows show up. The kids love to watch them.

Recipes

The kids helped me to make some cookies for a Relief Society activity. They also came up with their own recipes. If anyone tries them out, let me know. They sound pretty good to me! :)

Gavin's recipe for Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake

A lot of Chocolate Chips
Spoon to stir
little kids knife to cut up a thing that's small
a lot of salt
strawberry shortcake
a lot of cups of flour
a lot of sugar
a lot of vanilla
5 eggs
lots of strawberries
cook it on the stove a lot

Brielle's recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies

10 Butterscotch Chips
something to stir
1/2 tsp salt
a couple cups of butter
11 eggs
10 Cups flour
10 Cups sugar
11 Cups vanilla
Cook in microwave for 10 seconds

Rabbit

The kids love playing hide and seek. We changed it up a bit and played where's the rabbit.

They are not good at keeping secrets yet, so Brielle was telling Gavin where to find the rabbit.

The kitchen was the favorite hiding place. It's not so hard to find it if they hide it in the same place over and over and over again.

Rocks

We went on a rock hunt to find the perfect rocks to paint.

letter q

It was a little bit hard to get pictures of the q words we focused on this week.  We played more games then doing actual crafts.  I tried to at least get a couple so it wasn't only a word post.

Quick

We talked about the difference between running quickly and walking slowly.  

The little kids LOVED the rhyme that I remember from my childhood.

Slowly, Slowly
Slowly, slowly, very slowly creeps the garden snail
Slowly, slowly, very slowly up the garden rail
Quickly, quickly, very quickly, runs the little mouse
Quickly, quickly, very quickly to his little house.

you creep up their leg and end up tickling them.  They both asked for me to do it again, and again and again.

Quiet

I taught the kids how to 'play' the quiet game.  They thought it was pretty funny.  They can be quiet for almost 3 seconds at a time, and even that is hard. :)

Questions

we talked about questions and question marks.  Brielle is currently at the stage where she LOVES asking questions.  Why are they doing that?  What will happen?  Why can't I go in the Boys bathroom?

Quilt

Queen

 We read a book about the lifecycle of a Queen Bee that was very interesting.  We also played a letter 'q' game.
The Queen looked under the Quilt and what did she see....?
the kids would pretend to be animals and the Queen would have to get the animals to go back to the castle.  Very random, but they loved it of course.

Quills

 We also had a field trip to the zoo.  This is related to the letter Q because a docent had a baby hedgehog to show us.  She showed us the difference between hedgehog spikes and porcupine quills.  It was fascinating.
However, I didn't get pictures of that so here are some other random zoo pictures instead.

letter p

letter 'p' food

have you every thought about how many foods start with the letter p?  It seemed like everything we were eating just happened to be a p food.  Some of that was on purpose, but not always.

Honestly, here are just some of our meals this week:
Potato soup with Potato Bread
Pasta, Peas and Plums
Peanut butter sandwich (on potato bread) and Pears
Poppyseed Muffins and Peach yogurt
Pancakes (w/ plums again)

(That is suppose to be a smile, not a grimace.) 

and snacks:
Pineapple
Pomegranate
Popcorn

So, besides food there is also A LOT of other 'p' words to focus on.

playdoh

we made some fresh playdoh with a monster theme for halloween time.  I love googly eyes.  They just make everything more fun.

puzzles

painting

we made some fingerpaint, which we havent' done for a while.  Gavin doesn't like to get his fingers dirty, so he improvised and used his napkin to paint with. 

polar bears

(we went to free day at the Natural History Museum)

pink polish

Ethan wanted his feet in the picture, but his did not get painted

pumpkins

yes, it was halloween, so this was a major focus this week 

Brielle still obsessed with sad pumpkins

writing practice

we made these yarn pumpkins and used them to practice counting and also for throwing

Planes

we went to pick up James from the airport and stopped to watch the airplanes flying over head.  Ethan still loves airplanes and yelled every time he saw one.

Still more p words we talked about

penguins

pet store (we used the same game we did when we learned about 'm' for money)