Painting a Nutcracker

One of O's recent advent activities was to paint an unfinished Nutcracker (bought from Michael's).  We read the Nutcracker book and played with paper Nutcracker figures to go along with this craft. 



O is a cherub in the Nutcracker Ballet next week, so this craft was especially meaningful for her.

Velcro Blocks

These velcro blocks have been "in progress" for more than a year, and I am SO glad to finally be done with them!  I started making them after seeing velcro blocks in a catalog (Lakeshore, I think). 

To make the blocks, I bought a set of table top blocks from a discount store.  I sanded the corners and edges since they were a little rough.  I then glued velcro to the blocks.  Simple, but for some reason, it took forever.  Thanks to my mom for helping me finish the blocks!



These blocks were supposed to be a Christmas gift to both of the girls, but I accidentally left them out after I took these pictures.  Oops!  They've had fun playing with them today :)

Straws, Beads, and Pipe Cleaner Stars

O and a friend had so much fun making star Christmas ornaments using pipe cleaners, beads, and straws as our 4th advent activity.

First, they cut the straws into little bits. 
 

They then threaded the straw bits and beads onto 5 pipe cleaners.


After they finished putting the beads and straws on the pipe cleaners, I laid the pipe cleaners in a star shape and twisted them together.  Then the girls proudly hung them on the Christmas tree.


Thanks to Pink and Green Mama for this fun idea!

Planting Christmas Tree Seeds

Since Friday was Arbor Day, we decided to plant Christmas tree seeds as our daily advent activity.  Luckily, I'd bought a miniature pot with seeds and a soil disk from the dollar section of Target a couple of weeks ago, so this worked out perfectly for us.


First, O opened her advent activity container.  She loves opening the containers to find out the activity.



Then we put the soil disk in a bowl with lukewarm water.  She put the soil in the pot.


She then pressed 5 seeds into the pot.



O was very proud of planting her Christmas tree seeds.  This was a great simple  and fun activity!

Crocheted Monkey Hat Review and a Giveaway

We love handmade knitted or crocheted hats, so I was very excited to find these adorable monkey hats on Etsy.  Tiffany from Luckeymade sent us a crocheted monkey hat for E, and I bought a matching hat from her for O.  These hats are absolutely adorable, and the girls look so cute in them!




The hats are crocheted with 100% cotton yarn.  They are very well made and very affordable...only 15 dollars!




The girls wore their monkey hats when we went on a recent shopping trip, and they received many compliments!




Tiffany is offering a custom shell stitch beanie to one lucky commenter.  In order to enter the giveaway, go to Luckeymade and take a look around at her items for sale as well as the items she has sold.  Come back here and leave a comment telling me which hat you like best.  I'll randomly choose a number on Wednesday, so make sure to leave a comment before then!

Our Pom Pom Garland

O and I recently made a pom pom garland for our Christmas tree.  We used a blunt tipped needle, embroidery thread, and pom poms to make the garland.




O has been learning to embroider at school (and occasionally at home), so she is very interested in sewing now.  We had fun taking turns threading the pom poms onto the thread.  We are both very happy with our garland!




Here is the garland with some of my favorite ornaments.















Our tree is only 4 feet tall...it's a hand-me down, it's fake, its pre-lit with colored lights, and we love it!  Almost all of our ornaments are either handmade or bought while on vacation, so they have stories behind them. It was so much fun to decorate the tree, and tell O and E the stories behind the ornaments as we decorated.

I'm not sure if our pom pom garland is going to survive Miss E...she's determined to pull it off and eat it!  She calls the pom poms "ball, ball," and she's determined to get them.  She was also determined to help us make the garland, so I let her string a few pom poms on the thread...she does not like to be left out of any activity!






Our first advent activity was setting up our Nativity scene.  We never actually set it up...




I'm really looking forward to our daily advent activities.  I'm going to try to relate the activities to the specific Christmas books that we read each day, but I haven't gotten everything organized yet.

Here's a list of some of our planned activities (in no particular order):

set up nativity
hang stockings
make and drink hot chocolate
watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas
make beaded candy cane ornaments
make beaded stars and Christmas trees
make painted gifts for grandparents
cut paper snowflakes
make chocolate and sugar cookie playdough (to play with and to give as handmade gifts)
make and decorate sugar cookies
decorate a gingerbread cottage
go see the lights at the zoo
go see our beautiful ballerina (O) perform in the Nutcracker Ballet
donate toys to Toys for Tots

I have a list of almost 30 activities, but I don't have it with me.  After meeting on 38 kids at work today, my brain is tired and I can't remember any more of the activities...I'll add the rest of the activities when I have a chance.

Personalized Color Blocks

I've finally finished a set of personalized color blocks for E for Christmas.  I'm glad to be done with them and happy with how they turned out.  I hope she likes them!





To make these blocks, I sanded the edges and corners of the blocks before painting them white (I bought the blocks from Casey's Wood Supply).  I then used scrapbook paper, pics of O and E, and numbers and the letters of E's name printed on photo paper to cover the sides of the blocks.  I used mod podge to glue the paper to the blocks and then coated them with a layer of protective mod podge to finish them. 








The pictures on the link are missing, but I will have them up soon (I hope).

Fun with a Parmesan Cheese Container

E had fun putting popsicle sticks into a parmesan cheese container last week.  She also really loved opening and closing the container. 






They also use this container in the rice pit and the bathtub...gotta love free toys!