Hot Chocolate

I think that hot chocolate and movie night has been O's favorite advent activity so far! She thoroughly enjoyed her hot chocolate that she drank while watching Charlie Brown's Christmas and Prep and Landing.

Advent Snowflake Activity

Edit to add: A couple of readers pointed out that borax may be a dangerous substance. I had no idea, and I'm so disappointed because this was such a fun and easy activity. Luckily, O didn't actually touch the borax. Although she did touch the snowflake after it was finished. I guess we won't be making silly putty anymore because I think that it has borax in it, too :( Here is the link to read more about this.

I really like the idea of linking O's daily advent book with her daily advent activity, and Snowflake Bentley was the perfect book with which to start this new tradition. After reading the book, O, Elliott, and I made a crystallized snowflake ornament.

First, I made the snowflake using a white pipe cleaner. Then Elliott took over while I nursed and rocked the baby. He helped O measure and pour 4 and a half tablespoons of borax into a glass bowl. He then boiled a cup and a half of water in the microwave and poured it in the glass bowl and stirred. O put blue food coloring in the mixture. Elliott put a jar lid at the bottom of the bowl and balanced the snowflake on top of the lid. (Use 3 tablespoons of borax for every cup of boiling water. Our container needed 1.5 cups of water to completely cover the snowflake, so we used 4.5 tablespoons of borax.)

We let it sit for 24 hours before removing the snowflake from the water. We were all very impressed with our beautiful snowflake ornament, and I think we'll make more of these to give as gifts.

This was a great activity that combined arts and crafts, science, and fun!

Christmas Sorting

O had fun sorting these Christmas erasers using chopsticks. After she finished sorting the erasers, I showed her how to make a pattern using them. I started a pattern, and she finished it. She then created her own pattern (or "patterin" as she says). She really enjoyed teaching Baby Sister all about patterns. It's so much fun to include E in on our activities, and she enjoys all of the attention O showers her with :)

The erasers are from the Dollar Tree, the tray is from Walmart, and you can find the chopsticks at Let's Explore.

Christmas Number Sequencing

Can you tell that I really like Holiday themed counting activities? O really enjoys these activities, and they are easy to put together. For this activity I used foam shapes (from a pin making kit) and wrote the numbers on them. O used the number line to help her put them in order. We counted in English and Spanish. Baby sister participated in this activity, and O was thrilled to "teach" baby sister!

Wee Squeak Shoes and a Giveaway!!!

Cara from Wee Squeak Shoes contacted me a couple of months ago about reviewing a pair of Wee Squeak Shoes. Wee Squeak shoes are adorable shoes for kids that squeak when they walk. (Luckily, the squeakers are removable!)

O and I chose the shoes that she liked, and she was SO excited to receive them in the mail. She put them on and took off! She ran in circles through our kitchen and den for a LOOOOOONG time. I told her to slow down, and she said "I can't! The shoes won't let me!" I had no idea that a child could/would be SO excited about shoes. She loves to dance, and she thought it was just wonderful that she squeaked as she danced.

The shoes were also a great diversion for E when she cried. O puts them on and dances in front of E, and E just stares and stares :) O has been wearing the shoes constantly for about 3 weeks, and they still look brand new. They are very well made, and she is able to easily take them on and off independently.

We get lots of smiles and questions when O wears the shoes when we are out and about. They are great if you are trying to encourage your child to walk on their heels. O tends to tiptoe when she walks, so we tell her to make sure she squeaks when she walks so she has to use her heels.

These shoes have been so much fun, and I can't wait until E starts walking...she'll definitely be getting a pair :) Post a comment on this post to be entered into a giveaway for a pair of Wee Squeak shoes of your choice. Make sure to leave your email address, so I can contact you if you win. The winner's name and address along with your shoe choice will be sent to Cara at Wee Squeak shoes, and she will send the shoes directly to you.

I'll let O choose a number on Friday night, so you have until then to comment. Spread the word :) The giveaway is for US residents only...sorry about that :(

Winter Wonderland Sensory Box

I introduced the Christmas/winter sensory box to O today, and she was very excited. The box is filled cotton balls and dollhouse Christmas decorations (bought from Hearthsong this summer...deeply discounted). O had a great time decorating the Christmas trees and playing with this box. I'm sure that her peg doll family and other toys will be migrating into the box soon. The idea for a winter wonderland box came from Pink and Green Mama.

Decisions, Decisions

Should I sleep, knit, or make necklaces? Sometimes I really wish that I didn't insist on making most of our Christmas gifts, especially when I'm SO tired. Next year I really will finish making our gifts before Thanksgiving!

Puzzle Fun

O has really been enjoying these jigsaw tray puzzles lately. She especially likes this map puzzle (I bought this puzzle from the dollar section at Target a few months ago), and she almost always does the puzzle at least 3 times in a row. She likes to do it the right way a couple of times and then "mix it up" and do it the "nonsense way" (her words). She pretends to be the teacher and shows her baby dolls how to do things the wrong way, and they have to figure out what to do by asking questions. She likes for me to "talk" the baby dolls and have them ask questions. After she completes the puzzle, we have fun pointing to each continent while we sing the continents song.

I'm Hooked...

E is looking cozy in the Beco while wearing her new mama knitted hat (knitted on a circle loom). I've made 4 infant hats, 2 child sized hats, 1 adult hat, and 1 scarf. I'm hooked! Next on my list is another scarf (I hope my teenaged nieces appreciate the many, many hours of work that are going in to their Christmas gifts!) and probably a few more hats for my girls. I've gotten quite good at nursing while knitting. It's so nice to knit while watching E's beautiful and peaceful face while she drinks her milkies :)

Advent Activities- Day 2

For today's advent activity O made a snowman puppet using a Martha Stewart craft kit (bought last year after Christmas for about a dollar). These craft kits don't leave a lot of room for creativity, but they are great for learning to follow directions, and O REALLY enjoys making the puppets. This puppet kit was a little nicer than the Halloween puppets...the bag is made of cloth and the paper is thick and fuzzy.

For each day of December O opens a "new" Christmas book (they aren't actually new, but we pack up the books on January 1 each year, so they seem new each Christmas). Since we are on vacation, the opening of the books won't really start until Saturday, but I did bring one book with us, Franklin's Christmas Gift.

This is a wonderful book to introduce the concept of donating gifts to needy children. This was a perfect book for us to read this week since O just chose gifts to donate to Toys for Tots. She really enjoyed choosing the gifts, and she understood completely that the toys weren't for her. However, I'm not sure that she completely understood what was going on since she said that she hoped that the little girl who received the gifts she bought would share with her :)

After reading the book, we talked about how O will choose several of her toys and books to donate to needy children. She's not at all excited about giving her own toys away, and she was very excited when she thought of the idea of giving the children money instead of her toys. She said "I have a lot of money in my piggy bank that I can give them!" We're going to talk about this a bit more because I would like for her to choose several of her own toys and books to donate to The Salvation Army.

Just For Fun Gift Packs 50% Off...Today Only!!!

Just for Fun Gift Packs by the National Wildlife Federation are 50% off for today only. Your child will receive 4 gift packs per year, and each gift pack has 44 pages filled with puzzles, games, riddles, and comics. My mom just ordered the Just for Fun gift packs for O and my niece for Christmas. They are going to be so excited to receive these special gifts in the mail throughout the year!

"A Disaster of Beads"

For our 1st advent activity O and I made a winter beaded bracelet (using snowman beads and silver Christmas trees) and beaded necklaces (more on that later). We poured all of the beads onto the floor, and O said "we have a DISASTER of beads!" She had a great time making her bracelet and sorting the beads by color. I'm excited that she is enjoying beading so much, and I know it's something that we'll do more often now that she is older

On Vacation

We've been on vacation since the day after Thanksgiving, and we're having a wonderful time. O has enjoyed flying her kite on the beach, digging in the sand, writing her name in the sand, playing on the treehouse playground, swimming in the heated pools, and hanging out in the apartment.

We've taken her on 2 Mama, Daddy, & O dates, and she's thoroughly enjoyed herself. She tried lots of new foods at the Japanese Buffet (sushi rolls, crawfish, blue crab, seaweed, etc.). She said she didn't like the texture of the seaweed :) She enjoyed the Christmas Show and didn't hesitate to go on stage when they called for the children to join them for a song.
Tonight we took her to see The Polar Express at the IMAX3d...bad idea! It was extremely loud, intense, and scary. She hid her head and even cried a little. Luckily, we were on either side of her, and she took turns cuddling in our arms during the scary parts. After it was over she said it was "great," but then she said she didn't have a favorite part because it was too scary :(
We started our advent activities today, and I'll be posting about our daily advent activities as well as our daily work on handmade gifts soon.

Sweet Feet

I have a weakness for baby shoes, and I was excited to find these sweet shoes at the 2nd hand shop for about a dollar. O was even more excited since they look a little like ballet shoes, and O LOVES to dance (which means that "baby sister" loves to dance, too, of course!).

Another Handmade Gift For Grandparents

We try to make all of the gifts for O and E's grandparents since handmade gifts are the best, especially for grandparents :) Canvases painted by O are much loved gifts that are easy to make, and O is always so proud to give the gift of her artwork.

O used washable tempera paint (the paint she uses at her easel) and painted on a 5 X 7 canvas.