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.