Charlie Brown's Christmas

For O's 8th day advent activity we all watched Charlie Brown's Christmas together. This was a special treat since O only watches tv on special occasions. She was very excited, and she enjoyed the show. Elliott and I weren't thrilled by the kids on the show calling each other "stupid," hitting, and just acting mean. Hopefully, O didn't notice those parts of the story :)

Baking with Mama and Daddy

For the 7th day advent activity, Elliott, O, and I baked sugar cookies. This was a lot of fun since we rarely all bake together. O's grandparents left a bowl of sugar cookie dough at our house, so that made this activity so much easier :) We had a great time making the cookies, and then Elliott and O had fun dunking the cookies in milk (like Santa Claus!) before they ate them (I was out in the garage painting O's doll cradle while they ate the cookies).

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Snowflake Window Clings

Our 6th advent activity was to make snowflake window clings using glitter glue. This activity was a dismal failure! The *idea* came from Family Fun magazine, but I didn't follow the directions :( I usually prefer to make up my own directions, and this time it backfired :) To make the window clings I spread out my version of wax paper (an unfolded, washed cereal box bag. I use this every time anything calls for wax paper!), and we squeezed the glitter glue onto the sheet in different designs. O was curious about the activity and helped make the designs for the first minute or so. Then she had a VERY unpleasant look on her face, and her nose was scrunched up. She declared that the glue "stinks!" She stood behind me holding her nose and wanted nothing more to do with the activity. O has an extremely keen sense of smell, so I figured I'd be able to smell the glue in 10 minutes or so. I was right, and so was she. It REALLY stank! I was a little shocked by the horrible smell, and Elliott was horrified :)

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I was able to convince O to come back to the table briefly, and I traced her hand with the glue. She'll usually participate in anything if it involves tracing or painting her hands :)

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You might can tell that the snowflakes turned hard and do not stick to the window at all. However, she can play with them since the smell is gone :) I know I read somewhere that you can use glue to make window clings, but evidently I used the wrong kind! I guess I'll follow the directions next time :)

Sometimes Blogs are Stressful...

Writing my own blog is nothing but fun for me. It takes very little time (about 15 minutes a day), and it's really just an extension of what I love to do anyway (documentation). I can't remember a time that I haven't had a camera in my hand and a pen ready to write in my journal. So writing a blog is the obviously a perfect fit for me. It's so much easier than writing in a traditional daily journal or making a traditional scrapbook. So... MY blog doesn't stress me. It's all the other wonderful blogs out there that cause me anxiety :) There are SO MANY fantastic ideas out here in blogland, and I want to do ALL of them. Obviously, there's not enough time for that. I'm really thankful for google reader since it enables me to star blog posts and go back to them later. So...thanks to all of you wonderful bloggers out there (even though your great ideas cause me stress!).

Just a Reminder...

If you ask me a question in the comments section, then I answer it in the comments section...so don't forget to check back! I read ALL comments, and I try to answer all questions. However, every few weeks, I'll notice that a comment has been sent to my junk mail, so it's possible that I don't get all of them (I only read them through email, not on the blog...I don't read my own blog :) Also, I am often in a hurry when I read my email, and if I don't respond immediately, I sometimes forget to respond at all. If I never respond to your question, PLEASE ask again! My lack of response was unintentional, I promise :) Thanks, everyone, for reading and commenting! I'm still constantly surprised and thrilled that people are actually reading this blog and using some of the ideas/activities that we've enjoyed :)

Our Simple Christmas Tree

Elliott and I are not very enthusiastic decorators for holidays, which makes things much simpler and,for us, more enjoyable (since we don't enjoy decorating). We have a 4 foot hand-me-down pre-lit (with colored lights) tree that we LOVE. It's easy to store and super quick and easy to set up. O was excited, and she loves the tree, too. I started to feel a little guilty that we don't go all out with decorations, but then I remembered that O's Guh-guh and Granpa decorate enough for all of us, so I don't have to feel guilty at all :) She (and we) can enjoy their decorations, and we can also enjoy our simplicity! Since our tree is so small and our storage space is so limited, we are simplifying even more. As we were decorating the tree, I was culling ornaments from our stash. We kept the handmade ornaments, ornaments from our travels, ornaments with special significance, and the ones that we just really like. All of the rest have to go! I think that about half of the ornaments that we own went in the donate box :) Hurray! We're also getting rid of most of the decorations that we own unless we absolutely love them. I really want the vast majority of our decorations to be handmade, so the first step is getting rid of the store bought stuff. Then I've got to get to work!

Elliott was at the computer trying to find Christmas music to play when O requested "ap" music. Ell put on "you dropped the bomb on me" (not "ap" but still danceable) and cranked up the volume. O loved every second of it (and hopefully our neighbors also like 80s music!). They danced and danced and our decorating was a bit delayed :)

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She's a nonstop dancer!

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Ummm...did somebody teach her to break dance?

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Still dancing! O was much more interested in dancing and then popping the bubbles on bubble wrap than in decorating the tree :)

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Gingerbread Playdough

For O's day 5 advent activity, she and my mom made gingerbread playdough (I was at work again). It smells delicious, and they added food coloring and glitter, so it's very pretty. We LOVE homemade playdough!


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After making the playdough, Guh-guh had to go home,so O and Elliott took the kayak out for a spin on the lake :) I was not happy when I called to check on them, and Elliott told me that they had gotten close to a mama alligator and her babies!!! When he realized how upset I was, he quickly changed his story and said they weren't really close at all. I believed him after he showed me the pictures (from his phone). You couldn't even tell they were alligators. But I'd still rather my child not be ANYWHERE near alligators!


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Baking Cookies

For O's 4th advent activity, she and Guh-guh baked cookies (I was at work). They planned on baking gingerbread cookies, but they realized at the last minute that I didn't have the ingredients they needed. They improvised and baked peanut butter cookies. They had fun, and the cookies are yummy :)

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I Think She's Taking it a Bit Too Far...

All week I've been casually talking to O (no pressure) about how it will be nice to give some toys that she doesn't play with anymore and books she doesn't read to children that don't have toys and books. She usually is not very happy about this idea and says that she doesn't want to do it. Today I was going through her books and found several that we should donate. At first O said she didn't want to, but she thought a minute and changed her tune. She wanted to give the books I chose and a lot more (that I didn't want to give away!) to the "other children." Tonight while we were getting ready for bed, I asked if she had any dolls that she wanted to give the children who didn't have toys. She said no, but then I asked her about a doll that she rarely plays with. She smiled and said "O not ike that doll. Let's give her to the other children!" THEN she looked on her shelf and said "Let's give THAT doll to the other children. O not ont (want) her." Ummm, not an option. She was talking about the doll that my Granny made for me when I was 6 years old. This doll also shares O's name, and she is one of my most precious possessions (since she's handmade by my Granny). I explained to O why baby doll O is precious to us and she's not going anywhere. THEN she looked at the dolls on her top shelf and said "Those dolls not special. Let's give those dolls to the children!" Umm, again, not an option, but thanks for feeling so generous :) She was talking about the mama, daddy, and O dolls that I made for her in the Spring. Obviously, I wasn't very excited about her choices, but I am glad that she's feeling generous :)

Color Matching and Patterns

This is another activity that O hasn't been very interested in yet :( It's simple and easy to make. I cut a strip of cardstock, laminated it, and put stickers on it. The goal is for O to match the corresponding color bear to the dot.

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Color Matching with Clips

Since this is supposed to be a Montessori blog, I guess I should post a few activities :) I've thought about this activity for a while, and finally found the time to put it together this week. I was waiting because I didn't think O could manage the clips. Then she started taking them off the refrigerator, telling me "be still, Mama!", and then clipping them to the back of my shirt :) To do this activity, O just matches the clip to the corresponding color dot on the cup. She REALLY liked the activity when I demonstrated it for her, but she wasn't interested in doing it herself :( Maybe next week...

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More Handmade Gifts for O

Here are a couple more things for O's doll diaper bag! I made the changing pad (except for the top stitching), and my mom made the bib.

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Here is the changing pad again, and the bib is reversible. I think she'll like the blue side the best :)

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A Book a Day

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We have LOTS of Christmas books, and we keep them in storage all year except for the month of December. That makes them new and exciting for all of us. This year I decided to wrap 24 books in newspaper and write a number on each one. Then O gets to open one each night, and that is so much fun!
I decided to use newspaper primarily because it is easily recyclable, but also because it's free and wrapping the books is fairly easy to do. However, I really don't like wrapping, and I can't stand to touch newspaper :( My original plan was to make a bunch of bags for the books using Christmas fabric that I bought last year (at 75% off), but I never got around to it. Hopefully, I'll get the bags made before next year :)

Painted Glass Ornaments

For our 3rd day of activities, we painted glass ornaments. This idea came from Parenting magazine. Although our ornaments don't look anything like theirs! To make these ornaments, we used empty glass balls and took the tops off. We then squeezed acrylic craft paint into the balls. O chose the colors, and we squeezed the paint into the ball together. I tried to get her to swirl and shake the balls, but she wasn't interested. She was ready to move to the next color! This was a good lesson in being very careful since these ornaments are VERY breakable (I broke a tiny piece of glass off of the top of one of the ornaments when I put the top back on).

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We are very proud of our little works of art!

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The ornaments continued to change as the paint moved through them overnight. I'm looking forward to seeing them when I get home today :)

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Gumdrop Tree

For our 2nd day of advent activities, we made a gumdrop tree. To make this tree, we used a styrofoam tree form, toothpicks, and gumdrops. O had difficulty pushing the toothpicks into the tree, so that was my job :) We really had a good time making this tree while listening to Christmas music :) The whole time we were making the tree, I kept thinking that it would be so much easier if the toothpicks were cut in half. For some reason, I didn't break them, but just kept using the whole toothpicks. We had to stop working to eat supper (and O had lost interest), so we finished it the next morning. I broke the toothpicks in half, and it was 1000 times easier!!! I don't know why I didn't do it earlier. Obviously, my brain was turned off :) We also enjoyed tasting the gumdrops. O tasted a few and said "O not like it. It's ucky!" Then she'd try another one... More than anything she enjoyed feeding me red gumdrops!

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O is VERY proud of our finished gumdrop tree!

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