More Advent Activities

I've gotten a little slack about blogging our daily advent activities, and I want to remember them for next year, so here they are:
Making a snow globe. Note to self: DON'T use hot glue. It doesn't work!

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Baking with Guh-guh

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More baking with Guh-guh

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Delivering the baked goods to our neighbors was the special activity for one day also. We also had a movie night and attended a couple of Christmas parties.
An unexpected highlight of one of the Christmas parties was a ride on this horse drawn buggy :)

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Doing all of these special activities has made this month so special and so much fun! I can't wait until next year :)

Jingle Bell Bracelets & Necklaces

When M (my niece)got home from school today, she wanted to know when we were doing our craft :) O and I had already built the church, but I had the materials ready to make jingle bell bracelets. You need pipe cleaners and bells. That's it! I quickly wrote a note with the craft idea written on it and put it in M's advent house. The girls weren't overly excited by the activity, but they enjoyed it once they got started :) O needed lots of help getting the bells on the pipe cleaner because the holes were VERY small. M also needed a little help when the pipe cleaner got stuck. M had the idea to also make necklaces and crowns. Thanks to Laura for this fun idea!

O has finished her bracelet and is choosing colors for her necklace.

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Working on her crown, which she later decided would make a great necklace!

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My little O was worn out and almost fell asleep at the counter. We finished the activity shortly after I took this picture, and we all laid down and read LOTS of Christmas books :)

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We Built a Miniature Church :)

For O's 16th day advent activity, she got to choose a craft kit to complete (I bought lots of foam craft kits last year after Christmas...super cheap!). She chose the church, and she was VERY excited about building it. I was surprised taht she chose the church over the castle and train, but she was very adamant that she wanted to build a church :)
1st she opened a door to get out her note. (We are using M's, my niece, advent calendar house since we are at G & G's house, and I forgot to bring O's advent boxes).

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She enjoyed punching the foam out of the holes on the church walls.

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Building the church.

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Putting on the roof.

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Decorating the church with a wreath, garlands, a tree, and birds. This was O's favorite part!

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Here is our finished church! O was VERY proud :) I was surprised and happy by how engaged she was in this activity. I expected it to be difficult for her, and I almost didn't get the craft kits out of the closet since I thought she might be too young. I was wrong :) She needed a lot of help, of course, but she was able to really help and participate, and we had a great time! I love the look of pride on her face when we finish a project :)

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Building a Gingerbread Cottage

For O's 15th advent activity we made a gingerbread cottage! I bought a kit last year after Christmas (50% off!), so we had everything we needed. (I decided that it didn't matter if the cookies and candy were old, since we won't be eating it anyway.) We had lots of fun, and we were excited that Elliott was here to help us.


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Elliott enjoyed making the gingerbread cottage much more than I anticipated :)

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Here's our finished cottage! (along with the messy table!)

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Making & Drinking Hot Chocolate with Marshmallows!

For O and M's 14th day advent activity, we made hot chocolate with marshmallows. O has never had hot chocolate, so she was THRILLED (the girl LOVES chocolate!). My sister had Godiva hot chocolate that she shared with us. Thanks, Mem! The girls were so excited to stir in the chocolate and then drop in the marshmallows. The hot chocolate was YUMMY!


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Mixing in the marshmallows.

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Delicious!

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The Nutcracker Ballet

For O's 13th day advent activity, we went to see The Nutcracker Ballet! O was enthralled! It was a family event (Guh-guh, my niece, my sister, my BIL, O, and I), and we had a wonderful time. After the ballet, we were allowed to walk on the stage, explore the scenery, and meet the dancers. This was a wonderful experience that we plan to make a yearly tradition. We hope our cousins and their little girls will be able to join us next year!

O is walking through the door of a gingerbread cottage. Sorry for the poor image quality...I don't like the look of pictures with flashes, so my pics are often blurry :)

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The fake fire was very neat! O was impressed!

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Guh-guh gave each girl this book as a souvenir of our theater experience :) This book is really great...it not only includes the story of the nutcracker, but it also has 2 fold out stages and paper dolls, so the girls can reinact the ballet :)

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