Activities Advent

This Christmas season, I came across an idea to do an Activities Advent Calendar.  I thought it would be fun to do a new Christmas-themed activity every day with the kids -- and it was!!  Here's a recap of our month:

1. I don't feel up to the task of elves on shelves, but we're starting a new tradition this year: activities advent! Our little moose (reindeer, more likely, but I keep calling him a moose) holds a little paper with the day's activity. Today was homemade hot chocolate! Happy December!

2. Reindeer and sleigh rides and elves, oh my! There was magical snow (thankfully not quite cold enough for the real thing), reindeer, goats, sheep, a donkey, chickens and ducks to feed and pet, Christmas carols sung by madrigals, free popcorn, and a horse-drawn sleigh ride.

3. Gingerbread house decorating. (There was also a fair amount of sampling.)

4. We have our first real Christmas tree! Oliver picked it because it had a pinecone sitting in the branches.

5. Do you wanna build a snowman? (Somehow our Magic Moose knew today would be a great day to play in the snow!)

6. Our magic moose suggested handprint reindeer for today's activity. I may regret introducing glitter to the house... 

7. Christmas music dance party! Even Chloe got into it.

8. I can't post pictures of today's actual adventure here, because we went Christmas shopping! So here is our pre-shopping peppermint hot chocolate. I ordered one to share, plus an extra cup (and a latte for me) and she gave us a second hot chocolate free! (Hazel's mostly ended up down the front of her shirt.)
As for the shopping, Oliver thought everyone would like something Paw Patrol, and Hazel gravitated to "Anna!" from Frozen, but (spoiler) we managed to find non-themed gifts.

9. I wasn't actually home for today's activity, but it was holiday movie night! There were special movie snacks and a little Miracle on 34th Street. (I really debated over which version to go with, but decided this one might hold the kids' interest better.)

10. We met Santa today!  Oliver was really excited about it, and even asked him for a "big kid kitchen", but Hazel and Jackson... Not so much. 

11. After shoveling, snow blowing, shoveling, snow blowing, and shoveling AGAIN (and it's still snowing!), we popped in It's A Wonderful Life and finally decorated our tree! Or, Oliver decorated, Hazel un-decorated. We'll see how long it lasts.  (I'm missing a box of Christmas stuff, including the tree topper, icicles, and tree skirt, so it looks unfinished.) Cute tidbit: the picture I used for today's activity showed wrapped gifts under the tree. Since we don't have any wrapped gifts yet, Oliver decided to put some of his favorite toys under the tree, instead. 

12. We read this book every year growing up! In preparation for Christmas cookies later this week (spoiler), today's activity was a bedtime reading of the Gingerbears' First Christmas. (Tip: don't Google image search "ginger bear" when gathering pictures for your activity cards.)

13. Today, the kids shopped for our Angel Tree gifts with Grandma! They were very thoughtful when choosing each item, so hopefully the recipients love their gifts as much as Oliver and Hazel did.

14. Another Grandma afternoon: Christmas cookie dough making! Hazel was obsessed with the salt and only spilled a LITTLE bit into the bowl (which Grandma did her best to rescue). I think it was a little chaotic with both kids wanting to help (and only one of them able to help mostly unsupervised), but it sounds like everyone had fun, and we can't wait to bake and decorate them tomorrow!

15. Our Magic Moose stretched the fun of Christmas cookies over two days. We baked and decorated them today! (Grandma came back over to help.) There was lots of dough- and frosting-sampling (especially by Hazel), but the cookies turned out GREAT!

16. While I was helping Santa in his workshop on the kids' Christmas gift, Grandma helped the Magic Moose with today's activity: a handprint Christmas tree. Three hands are Oliver's and five are Hazel's. If we're feeling ambitious, maybe Steve and I will add ours!

17. Well, today's activity was a bit of a fail. We thought we were driving 20 minutes to sit in our car and watch a 15-minute-ish Christmas light show projected on the side of a hotel. The hotel (and light show) turned out to be in the middle of an outdoor mall (freezing) and all of 5 minutes long. Since we had to park and walk to the location, we missed 3 of those minutes. But! We had hot chocolate and Christmas cookies in the car afterwards, with Christmas music playing and the heat blasting.

18. My mom's 30-year-old ornament-making kit made its appearance today! Oliver made a moose (reindeer) and Hazel made a teddy bear. She also ended up with (thankfully nontoxic) paint in her hair, mouth, and almost in her eye, so it was quite the project! (Mess = success?)

19. This evening, we borrowed Grandma and Grandpa's fireplace to roast marshmallows! Nothing better than s'mores in front of a warm fire on a chilly evening!

20. Today, we made homemade spiced applesauce. Yes, our house does smell amaaaaazing! And it (the applesauce, not the house) tastes as good as it smells.

21. We made red (pink) and green play doh today, and scented them "Christmas Spirit" and peppermint. It was super easy! Recipe:  Easiest Ever 5 Minute Microwave Play Doh

22. We had a red and green scavenger hunt (in red and green PJ's) this morning. We found a lot of red and green items!

23. I can't believe Christmas is in two days! Today we prepared for Christmas Eve with some Polar Express. We watched the movie version this morning (a little scary) and read the book tonight (much better). 

24.  Merry Christmas Eve! When we were kids, there was always a Christmas Eve treasure hunt, during the Christmas Eve party at my mom's. It was Oliver and Hazel's turn!

25. Aaaaaand... Christmas! I don't have a single photo of gift-opening (I did manage to take a video of the discovery of Santa's gifts, at least), but we had a wonderful day with family. And a wonderful month of fun! The Magic Moose finally met up with his buddy, who has been waiting patiently in Stocking #25. Until next year, Magic Moose!

It was great to have something planned to do every day, and we had a lot of fun doing our activities!  We'll definitely do this again next year.

Sock Hands and Thumb Minutes: Little Stories

A few weeks ago, we had a few pretty cold days.  When we went out to walk Chloe, I put mittens on Hazel's hands, possibly for the first time ever. 

Since then, she's been putting socks on her hands.  She'll go into her sock drawer and take out pairs of socks to wear on her hands.  Socks are her new favorite toys, and I'm finding them all over the house.  I'll go to take her out of her carseat after the 11-minute drive to Oliver's school (or, really, any time she's in the car) and find that she has taken off her shoes and socks, and put her socks on her hands.  It's an everyday occurrence!

Not the best photo, but this is typical.

***

Back in California, there was no clock at our pool.  We'd give Oliver a five-minute warning until it was time to go, and pretty much just count down from there.  One of us, usually Steve, would hold up a hand.  "Five minutes!"  Five fingers.  Thumb down.  "Four minutes!"  And so on.  The first time Steve did this, Oliver hadn't noticed all five fingers, so when Steve got down to just his pointer, Oliver asked for one extra minute, a "thumb minute" because he hadn't seen the thumb be used.

Now, he gets five minutes of snuggles before he's on his own at bedtime, plus one thumb minute.

***

I took the kids with me to Trader Joe's, and they happened to have tiny carts.  Now, the promise of a trip to Trader Joe's is, like, up there in excitement levels with a prospective Disneyland trip!  (Not... that we'll be going to Disneyland anytime soon, so I'm glad TJ's is so awesome.)

***

Most mornings, before we head out the door to school or wherever, we have to swing "one time".  Usually, I stick each kid in a swing and push them while counting to 10 or 20.  Lately, I push Oliver in Spanish and then Hazel in English.  "Uno!" Push Oliver.  "One!" Push Hazel.  Much like Trader Joe's, the promise of "one swing" before getting into the car is usually enough to get shoes and coats on without much argument.  Now, getting from the swing into the car is sometimes another story...

This day, Oliver did the pushing.

I just love these kids.

Fall in "Chicago": A Picture Post (Mostly)

A lot is different here in "Chicago".  (It's in quotes because we do not live in Chicago, but for the last three years we've referred to where Grandma and Bapa live as Chicago.  It's easier shorthand when you live across the country.  But now that we're here, we maybe should get a little more specific with it!)

Anyway.  A lot is different here in Chicago.  I, for one, am not working.  Officially, as of yesterday, I am a stay at home mom.  That part is a little trippy.  I've been working - sometimes several jobs (during college) - since I was seventeen.  I've been working full-time outside of the house for my kids' entire lives, save for maternity leave.  I wrote a proposal to my company for a part-time remote position, and I found out last week, after many people tried very hard to make it work, that it was not approved.  Yesterday, my Leave of Absence to retain my years of service (almost 14) expired.  So today was my first day as officially unemployed.

That's not the only different thing.  Steve is working from home!  Or, from Grandma's home, anyway.  Instead of an almost-three-hour daily commute of over 140 miles (round trip), every day, he walks next door and up the stairs.  He can open the window next to his desk, poke his head out, and wave goodbye to us as we head out to take Oliver to school.

Instead of full-day daycare, Oliver is now in a three-mornings-a-week preschool.  Instead of full-day daycare, Hazel is home with me.

Like I said, a lot is different in Chicago.

Also, Chicago has seasons.  Have some pictures of the one we're enjoying right now!