December is full of activities, crafts, singing, and a whole lot of family together. This time goes by so fast that I hope to never forget the little details that are involved. Although I wish I could save all the little cards that we left in the kids' advent calendars, I know that I will only lose them within a year. I already lost one or two and it's only been a few days. So I love that I have this space to write down to remember.
This past week, the first week of December, has been an especially good one. The elf came out {E named him happy}, Christmas decorations went up, and the tree got decorated with a whole lot of "Oooohs and ahhhs."
We kicked off December 1st by attending our town's big holiday parade. It was the first time for us so we were definite newbies. We did get a great spot, and we chatted it up with the folks next to us. That's when I noticed their kids had plastic bags. I instantly thought hmm...wonder what those are for. In no time, I found my answer. The people in the parade passed out candy to the kids! Of course E thought this was the coolest thing ever, and thankfully her coat had pockets, so she found herself stuffing as much as possible in them. Then we took over mama's pockets. It didn't matter that she still has only eaten two of those pieces of candy, the thrill of getting the candy is what seems to get her the most.
The 1st of the month also meant that would start our advent calendars and our scripture chain. I was not sure how much E would enjoy these things at age three, but I was thoroughly surprised. It's something she looks forward to everyday, and even the scripture chain she gets excited about. We talk about what we learned about Jesus from the previous days and onto the next. We allow her to tell the story of Jesus, and that is pretty amazing. To hear your child recall what you are teaching them, and to explain what Christmas is about. Amazing.
Everyday of the week has consisted of massive amounts of Christmas music. Pretty much the whole time we are awake. E has always enjoyed this the most and will stop whatever she is doing in order to breakdown into a dance. As does G. He pretty much just watches us make complete fools of ourselves, but that's okay, because he's learning a dance trick or two.
Tons of Christmas movies as well. I mean it's ridiculous how many we have watched. This week we have watched: Elf on the shelf {multiple times}, Polar Express, Frosty, Rudolph, Charlie Brown Christmas.
Speaking on Elf on the Shelf--- "Happy" made his appearance this past week as well. E named him happy, and that well makes me happy. Happy happy happy. That's what we wanted her to take out of this whole elf on the shelf business. Although we do tell her that Happy says she needs to listen to mama and papa, we do not say that she won't get presents. Instead, our happy simply is "magical" and flies around from one spot to the next {multiple times during the day, because we are rule breakers}. He also delivers little notes or surprises.
On the 5th we started our daily crafts and Happy brings a "bucket" of supplies for us to do.
We had our first snowfall on Friday, and while G man napped, E got to go out and have at it. He will go out in the snow this weekend for the first time while papa man is home. For E though, she enjoyed it much more than the previous years. Still very cautious with it and wants me to hold her when we are in ankle deep in snow, but she actually started throwing it at me and playing in it. And definitely didn't want to leave when it was time to go get G man. Success I call this.
On Friday, the 6th, Happy delivered the kids new Christmas jammies and tickets to the polar express, the train ride with Santa and Mrs. Claus. I have actually been looking forward to this for a year now, since last year it was sold out and we were unable to go. People had told me that you had to buy the tickets in August, and so this year I set a reminder to myself and literally bought the tickets the minute they went on sale.
And it was so worth it. We had a blast. Although we were out past the kids bedtime. There were carols sung, cookies and hot chocolate inhaled, and a whole lot of snuggles had. Some crying from the baby as well. I think I was amazed by how much Graham enjoyed it actually. For a while there, we could not get him off of the edge looking out the window. And E? E had her mouth dropped open the whole time. Needless to say, we will definitely be doing this again next year.
The weekend had chilling cold weather, so we stayed in doing crafts, watching more Christmas movies, and enjoying each others company. Not to mention mama had to work all weekend.
Happy Monday, welcome second week of December!
This past week, the first week of December, has been an especially good one. The elf came out {E named him happy}, Christmas decorations went up, and the tree got decorated with a whole lot of "Oooohs and ahhhs."
We kicked off December 1st by attending our town's big holiday parade. It was the first time for us so we were definite newbies. We did get a great spot, and we chatted it up with the folks next to us. That's when I noticed their kids had plastic bags. I instantly thought hmm...wonder what those are for. In no time, I found my answer. The people in the parade passed out candy to the kids! Of course E thought this was the coolest thing ever, and thankfully her coat had pockets, so she found herself stuffing as much as possible in them. Then we took over mama's pockets. It didn't matter that she still has only eaten two of those pieces of candy, the thrill of getting the candy is what seems to get her the most.
The 1st of the month also meant that would start our advent calendars and our scripture chain. I was not sure how much E would enjoy these things at age three, but I was thoroughly surprised. It's something she looks forward to everyday, and even the scripture chain she gets excited about. We talk about what we learned about Jesus from the previous days and onto the next. We allow her to tell the story of Jesus, and that is pretty amazing. To hear your child recall what you are teaching them, and to explain what Christmas is about. Amazing.
Everyday of the week has consisted of massive amounts of Christmas music. Pretty much the whole time we are awake. E has always enjoyed this the most and will stop whatever she is doing in order to breakdown into a dance. As does G. He pretty much just watches us make complete fools of ourselves, but that's okay, because he's learning a dance trick or two.
Tons of Christmas movies as well. I mean it's ridiculous how many we have watched. This week we have watched: Elf on the shelf {multiple times}, Polar Express, Frosty, Rudolph, Charlie Brown Christmas.
Speaking on Elf on the Shelf--- "Happy" made his appearance this past week as well. E named him happy, and that well makes me happy. Happy happy happy. That's what we wanted her to take out of this whole elf on the shelf business. Although we do tell her that Happy says she needs to listen to mama and papa, we do not say that she won't get presents. Instead, our happy simply is "magical" and flies around from one spot to the next {multiple times during the day, because we are rule breakers}. He also delivers little notes or surprises.
On the 5th we started our daily crafts and Happy brings a "bucket" of supplies for us to do.
We had our first snowfall on Friday, and while G man napped, E got to go out and have at it. He will go out in the snow this weekend for the first time while papa man is home. For E though, she enjoyed it much more than the previous years. Still very cautious with it and wants me to hold her when we are in ankle deep in snow, but she actually started throwing it at me and playing in it. And definitely didn't want to leave when it was time to go get G man. Success I call this.
On Friday, the 6th, Happy delivered the kids new Christmas jammies and tickets to the polar express, the train ride with Santa and Mrs. Claus. I have actually been looking forward to this for a year now, since last year it was sold out and we were unable to go. People had told me that you had to buy the tickets in August, and so this year I set a reminder to myself and literally bought the tickets the minute they went on sale.
And it was so worth it. We had a blast. Although we were out past the kids bedtime. There were carols sung, cookies and hot chocolate inhaled, and a whole lot of snuggles had. Some crying from the baby as well. I think I was amazed by how much Graham enjoyed it actually. For a while there, we could not get him off of the edge looking out the window. And E? E had her mouth dropped open the whole time. Needless to say, we will definitely be doing this again next year.
The weekend had chilling cold weather, so we stayed in doing crafts, watching more Christmas movies, and enjoying each others company. Not to mention mama had to work all weekend.
Happy Monday, welcome second week of December!
E in that hat and sunglasses and G sitting next to her....needs to be on a postcard! Absolutely adorable!
ReplyDeleteWe just went on a polar express ride here in Iowa too for the first time and the kids loved it!! I had been trying to buy tickets the last couple years and had the same problem. They went on sale nov 1st and I made sure to buy them THAT DAY this yr. And I thought that was bad, but nothing compared to August, holy cow!!
ReplyDeleteYour kids are just so dang cute.
ReplyDeleteThis is adorable! The polar express trip looks awesome. Wish we had something like that around here. Looking forward on seeing more of your activities :)
ReplyDelete