Advent Calendar - Week 2

Here's this week's recap:

Day 4 - Make Christmas Goodies with Mom

I forgot to take a picture of him helping me, but I chose a simple one - Pretzel Hugs.  He did okay, but the only part he really enjoyed was setting the hugs on the pretzels, and once I put them in the oven he disappeared.

Day 5 - Buy a Gift to Give Away

We went and bought our Angel Tree gifts, and today we brought them back to church so they could be delivered.  No picture of that, but here's some colored ice he made with Grandma:

Day 6 - Visit Great-Grandpa DG and Great-Grandpa VV

 

Both Henry and Great-Grandpa were impressed by the three Hubers Lumber hats.

Day 7: Have Grandpa & Grandma H and Grandpa & Grandma VM Over for Supper

This was one of the highlights last year, and this year was no different.  I had Henry make the phone calls to invite them over when we got home at noon (I had arranged the date in advance!), and the calls were short and to the point. :)

 He got to lick out the bowl of whipped cream, which is never disappointing.

And Henry made sure they played down stairs with him after supper.

Day 8: Visit the Nursing Home and Hand out Treats

We had made extra candy cane reindeer and went to pass them out.  Henry did pretty good - only two really wanted us to stay and sit down (which wasn't an option with Henry!).  One guy was pretty interesting, but the last one we stopped by was where we ran into problems.  Henry was ready to go, and I had said this was our last one, but the poor lady was confused and thought we were someone she knew and REALLY wanted Henry to come say hi and sit by her.  Not much I could do about that, though.

Day 9: Make a Snowman Ornament

We actually did this the next day, because Friday we went shopping with Rachel.

This was kind of fun - because I gave up my plan!  I enjoy crafts, but I want them to turn out and therefore have a hard time letting Henry do his own thing.  So instead of making an ornament where I would want them to look "just right," I got out the construction paper and let him paint however he wanted.  He thought it was hilarious that I painted his hand.

Day 10: Make Treats for Friends

We skipped this - we did the snowman painting instead, and we have the candy cane reindeer done.  I had an idea to go with it, but it just wasn't necessary and didn't sound fun at the time.

While we were shopping with Rachel, we drove through Falls Park to look at the lights before heading home.  Henry saw a "raining tree" and we had to park the car so he could get out and look at it closer.  We ended up running all over and he had to touch some lights, and he wanted to roll down a big hill - I was freezing and it was pretty close to the water so I put a nix on that idea.

Advent Calendar, Year 2

I'll never be a dependable blogger - sometimes it just doesn't fit in my life.  So you'll just have to bear with me on the random posts and unannounced breaks.

Henry and I really enjoyed our Advent Calendar and all the activities last year, so I think it will always be one of our traditions.  The activities will change from year to year as I figure out what some favorites are and what isn't that enjoyable.  And while I think something like this would be fun for every family, some of our activities may be "way over the top" for others.  But I have the time and the enjoyment for baking and crafting.

One thing I learned last year was to be flexible.  If Henry wasn't in the mood to do something, trying to convince him it would be fun was never successful.  And that defeats the reason I wanted to do this - to make this a season of fun and serving others so it doesn't become a season wrapped around one day of presents.

On to the calendar.  Here is this year's version:

While I found tons of cute ideas, I needed something simple so that I would actually get it made before December 1.  I had squares of cardstock that I folded over a little to make a pocket in the back, and stuck a piece of paper in it with our activity on it (which makes it easy to switch activities if something unexpected comes up one day).  Then I printed numbers on paper, cut them out and glued them on the fronts of the cards.  Then I taped a piece of twine onto our mantel and used mini clothespins to hang the cards up.  A little effort, but pretty simple (and reusable next year).


Day 1: Put up the Christmas Tree and Decorate:

This went about the same as last year, but I planned for him to have some hot chocolate while I "un-smooshed" the branches (which is where he lost interest last year.  He also decided that he wanted a popcorn string on the tree because of the book, If You Take a Mouse to the Movies. 

It may not have been my best decision, but I agreed and even thought, "Hey, I have a bag of cranberries still setting in the fridge.  And I'm stubborn enough to finish what I started even though I keep wondering why I'm doing it.  So we have cranberry and popcorn garlands on our tree.  For about the only time in my life.

Day 2: Make Candy Cane Reindeer for Great-Grandparents

I thought this would be something he had fun doing.  I thought the eyes, and the noses, and the bells would be fun for him to put on.

He only wanted to be in charge of the glue, which was fine.  I just had to remind myself it was better if I didn't watch.

Day 3: Decorate Wrapping Paper with Finger Paint.

This hasn't happened, maybe in part because I don't want paint all over clothes and he refuses to wear one of Doug's old shirts.  Oh well. 

Instead we played in the fresh-fallen snow and Doug hooked the sled up to the back of the 4-wheeler and we were the crazy neighbors going up and down our road.  We had fun, and thankfully we were about done when the sled broke in half.  It wasn't quite made for that!

Not sure if I'll try to update daily, otherwise I'll have a weekly summary next Saturday.

Do you have any special Christmas traditions?

While Mom Mowed...

I seriously should have a separate folder for pictures of things that went on while I was busy mowing.

Henry usually hangs out by me, riding bike while I mow the front or in the sandbox while I mow the back.  He'll disappear sometimes, but since he's good about not playing out front by the sidewalk without me, I usually don't worry and just go check on him a few times. 

Because he's almost always just playing in the car and loading it up with tools and the scraps of wood we keep for the fireplace.

Except sometimes he's not.

Sometimes he's enjoying unsupervised time in the house.

This is what I found last week after mowing, and I did have to laugh because I didn't find either of the messes until several hours later.

His bedroom:

He helped himself to about half a block of cheese.  And ate off of every edge.

The office:

My stack of post its was in about a hundred pieces, papers had random "H"s on them, and several post its were stapled.

He also emptied out some of my hanging folders so his toolbox would fit in the drawer.  Because every toolbox needs a drawer, you know.

I Love Photoshop

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(He wasn't too sure about the ferris wheel at first)

And some of the other highlights from our visit to the Tulip Festival:

Sitting with Grandpa and Grandma after we all got covered in powdered sugar from our funnel cakes.

He saw some kids across the street hugging the other cup, and he wanted in on the action.

Watching Dad drive our town's float, and catching a golf ball (with Mom's help) from him.

Cozumel, Mexico

Earlier this year Doug and I got to get away on a peaceful, relaxing vacation that involved a lot of sitting.

And I got to use my 7-year-old passport for the very first time.  :)  Although we had to renew Doug's since it expired 2 months before our trip (at least his had been used a few times!).

And this is where we spent almost every day.

I didn't take enough books along - apparently I'm not used to having that much uninterrupted time to read!

We saw some Mayan Ruins.

Lots of iguanas.

A few crocodiles.

And even some dolphins, crabs and pelicans.

Around 5:00 we'd be sitting at the snack bar,

watching the sun set as we waited for the dining area to open for supper.

We had a good time, relaxed, and had some time to sit and talk.

I have no desire to be one of those couples who go every year, where 10 days still isn't long enough for them.

But then again, we were the ones sitting in the shade without our own insulated mugs for beer.

How uncool of us.

Hard Work

Medicine is not fun.

Sometimes you put it off so long you fall asleep...

Birthday Party

This year's birthday party was a big change from last year.

Last year we couldn't even have it at our house!

Henry got to help me - I decorated the cake and he decorated a piece of wax paper.  If only the camera could have captured how hard he was working to squeeze out the icing, because his little arms would start shaking as he tried to squirt it out.

I can bake a cake just fine, but I'm not going to pretend I'm awesome at decorating.  I had lofty ideas, but common sense dominated and I am very thankful for the internet and contact paper so we could have our Dinosaur Train cake.

We squeezed all the cousins in at our wrap-around counter top.

And it's a little hard to see, but we had cool curly candles from aunt "Joni in Nicu-agua."

Thank you to our wonderful families who love to come celebrate with us!  (And those who celebrated with us even though you couldn't be there)

Monsters and Snow

We've been enjoying the warm weather again.  Funny how negative (or single-digit) temps can make you appreciate even a 15 degree day.  But now it's so warm it feels like spring!

We burned off some energy and ended up burying each other in the snow.  Although it took quite a while to bury my legs as Henry made progress fistful-by-fistful.  I tried to show him how to scoop up a bunch with his arms, but he stuck to the fistfuls, even though his progress was as slow as shoveling out a driveway with an ice cream scoop.

But we had fun.  And our walk to the school's soup supper was a warm one for maybe the first time since we moved here.

Since we've had a fascination with monsters at our house for a while, I thought these cupcakes I saw at Annie's Eats would be perfect to take to daycare for his birthday treats.

I even had all the Dum Dums and Peach-Os in the cupboard.  But as I was putting the frosting on (which was quite fun, and probably faster than actually frosting a cupcake, even though Doug told me I was an over-achiever), I was second guessing the "eyeballs." 

First,  that was a lot of suckers to unwrap.  Second, that was a lot of sugar, and what three-year-old is going to let you throw away candy, let alone a sucker?  I really didn't want to get the kids on a major sugar high because I'm not the one that has to deal with a room-full of them!

I opened the cupboard, and there were mini marshmallows and mini chocolate chips.  Perfect.

Extra perfect that Henry had picked blue.

Because they looked like Cookie Monster without me setting out to create him.  I love happy accidents!

The daycare ladies told me the kids had so much fun with them, which made me happy.

Because I don't do things like this to try and out-do other moms.  I have fun doing this with hopes that the kids get to have a little extra fun (and sugar).

Silly Boy

We've enjoyed the warmer weather this week, and even got to build a not-so-big snowman.  Henry walked around with a little stick saying "my carrot nose" while I rolled the snowballs around.  And once we got it built?  He admired it for half a second and then asked if he could kick it over.

It hasn't taken me long to learn with Henry that most of the joy in building something is the destruction of it seconds later.

Friday I took Henry out for a treat.

Ice Cream!

I knew he couldn't eat the whole thing, but share with Mom?  Phht.  We're too big for that.

So we took the rest home and stuck it in the freezer.

This morning, while I was mopping upstairs, Henry went down to get the ice pack (after walking into the door frame of his room), and came back up quite a while later.  "I ate ice cream.  I was hungry."

At least he put it back.

Final Christmas Countdown Update

I know this is a little after the fact, but even though our last week was hit or miss with the activities, I'm still happy with how the project turned out.

Day 17: Watch a Christmas Movie
This almost didn't happen because I needed to get a movie from the library, and good Christmas movies were always checked out from our public library and the local college library.  That morning I looked online and the Muppet's Christmas Carol was in, so I left work at 8:59 to go get it. We had our movie night, ate homemade pizza on the couch, and later had hot chocolate but skipped the popcorn since none of us were hungry.  The downside - it's not "Cars" and barely held Henry's attention.  He kept asking where Kermit was, which was almost constant since Kermit does NOT have a leading role.  How the Grinch stole Christmas may have been better, but we own it on VHS and no longer have a VCR connected to our TV.  Oh well.

Day 18: Go Sledding

This was fun.  We went on a tiny little hill behind the school just down the block from us, which was perfect because Henry could climb back up all by himself even carrying the sled.  He had a blast, and Mom and Dad were there just to push him down the hill.  He even tipped back in the sled and went down the hill with his head bouncing off the ground and came up laughing.  Crazy kid.  And then he and Dad tried to sled down the road home.  That didn't work so well.

Day 19: Bake Surprise Meringues
This went pretty much the same as our other baking days: I did it by myself with him popping in every once in a while, mostly to snoop chocolate chips.

Day 20: Bring Treats to Neighbors
We actually brought a few plates of treats to a few local businesses we deal with instead, and Henry came home with a pocket full of suckers and tootsie rolls  I'm not sure who came out ahead on that deal!

Day 21: Look at Christmas Lights
Henry had in his mind he wanted to be doing something else and kept asking to go home, the chauffeur began the trip by saying there's nothing real impressive to look at in town, and Mom was getting frustrated because apparently she's the only one who wants to have fun.  Not the most successful night. :)

Day 22: Wrap Presents and Stuff Stockings
Actually, our stockings never got hung, again.  I started by wrapping Henry's presents when he was supposed to be having some quiet time, and barely got done before he showed up in the office.  He helped some, mostly putting on tape, but then he got sent out of the room when he started using the wrapped presents as step stools.

Day 23: Sleep by the Christmas Tree

This was one of the most successful things, even though none of us got a great night's sleep.  But we didn't have to go to work in the morning so it wasn't a big deal.

Day 24: Make Christingle Candles for Tomorrow's Breakfast
(Chrstingle Candles are the oranges with the cloves and cranberries with a hole for a candle)  Didn't happen.  Not only that but my "special" Christmas breakfast never happened either.  But we left early afternoon for our Christmas party with Doug's side of the family and had lots of fun sledding and eating and sharing gifts.

Day 25: Read Luke 2 After Breakfast
We did have a good breakfast, although I forget what we had.  Probably waffles since that's what Doug usually requests and I rarely make.  We read Luke 2 and then the rest of the day flew by. 

We got ready for church then packed up food, presents, snow clothes, games, toys, extra clothes.  We opened our presents as a family, went to church, came home, changed clothes, piled in the car, went to an extended family Christmas dinner, went straight to Christmas with my side of the family and went sledding again, ate, exchanged gifts, and got home late and exhausted.

Which pretty much sums up my reasons for wanting to do this countdown calendar.  So much emphasis (and pressure) is put on a single day and for parents of young children, this day can often be less than enjoyable with the busyness it brings before it comes to a screeching halt.  It's supposed to be a season of joy celebrating the fact that our Savior came to earth to save us, and doing this helped us slow down a little and enjoy doing some things together and do a little more giving.

What I would change?
Having the grandparents over and sleeping by the tree were definitely the most talked about (therefore most enjoyed) by our 2 year old.
I had a lot of activities, partly because I wanted to do a lot, and partly because the only alternative seemed to be treats.  Next year I'm going to cut back a little - this year I easily got away with skipping activities if it was getting too busy, but I may not always be that lucky.
With the right activities, this can be a great teaching tool as Henry grows.
We will definitely be making this a tradition!