Advent Calendar

The morning after we decorated our Christmas tree I woke up at 5am to my 3-year old yelling to his brother to get up because Santa had been to our house. My 4-year old didn't get up, so my 3-year old came to our bed to tell us Santa had left Christmas presents for us to open. I explained that it wasn't Christmas, so Santa hadn't visited our house. This made me realize that we really needed to teach the boys a sense of time.

I've used a calendar before to cross off days of the week for a countdown to something, but advent calendars take it to another level with treats or little presents. It's a great visual representation too. This year we created an advent calendar with brown paper bags.

I drew Christmas, holiday, religious, and random things on the baggies with a Sharpie. Then the boys colored everything in like in their coloring books. My husband and I helped color a little. I couldn't resist coloring the leg lamp, and my husband enjoyed coloring my version of a Cardinal into a chicken pooping. It was fun for all of us.

After the boys went to bed we stuffed the baggies and taped them up. Every year we have traditions that we scramble to do because we didn't plan ahead, so this year we organized everything into the advent calendar. For example, we will go to the zoo to see Santa on the 10th, so I wrote that on a slip of paper and put it in the number 10 baggie. I did easy ones for during the week because we don't have a lot of time. Some of our activities are as follows:

Coloring contest (my husband is the judge)
Treats

Write letters to Santa

Popcorn garland making

Cookie making

Going to the movies

Ornament making

Hot chocolate night (with all the fixings)

Popcorn ball making and eating

Holiday movie camp out in the living room

Holiday book reading marathon

Holiday light show

Preschool Christmas Program

Birthday party (our baby girl turns 1)

Open 1 gift

St. Nick's day

A letter from Santa on Christmas morning

We will open a baggie each morning at breakfast, and then we will talk about when we will do our activity or event. I also wrote all the activities on a calendar we see everyday, so we can be a step ahead. Thank goodness the boys can't read yet.

It seemed like a lot of work and time, but my husband rationalized it by saying that it's not much time when it's divided out through 25 days. We also scheduled 2 birthday parties, Christmas programs, traveling for Christmas, and Santa visits. I feel better just knowing it's all written down.

12 Days of Thanksgiving: Day 12

Happy Thanksgiving Eve! I'm so proud of my family for completing this Thanksgiving project. The original goal was to teach our children kindness, but I think it has gone beyond that. I know it has changed my attitude towards others, and instead of being indifferent I look for ways to be nice. I even said Happy Thanksgiving to the TSA.

Pictures that my mom
sent to us while we
were away

The last five days my husband and I have been in Las Vegas celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary. We didn't share our vacation on social media because we didn't want people to go to our empty house and steal our crap, which is why I didn't mention that in previous posts. Our children stayed with the grandparents. So to continue this project, I put all the supplies and instructions into brown bags for each day. We received pictures of the boys doing their project with some details of how it went. 

We are very grateful that the grandparents were willing to watch our children, so we could take a trip. I'm happy that this project could spill over into the grandparents, but more grateful to them for helping to complete it. It's definitely extra responsibilities. 

This last day of  the 12 Days of Thanksgiving we are celebrating our family. We sent post cards from Las Vegas to our children, and brought back treats for everyone. After all, Thanksgiving is about friends and family. 

12 Days of Thanksgiving: Day 11

Getting letters in the mail is the best. My toddlers confirmed this statement when they tore into an envelope like a hyena. I know I love it when the mail isn't an advertisement or a bill, so we are spreading the love of mail to others.

This is the first Thanksgiving that my boys have been able to make hand turkeys by themselves, so we decided to send Happy Thanksgiving cards using their hand turkeys. My 3-year old wasn't too excited to make them. He liked to trace his hand, but more because he "accidentally" colored his own hand. My 4-year old really liked it, and made turkey after turkey. He told us not to look at his until it was finished because each turkey was special with all different colors. He didn't mind making as many turkeys as we needed for their cousins and great grandparents.

Nothing says Happy Thanksgiving like a hand made turkey card in the mail.

12 Days of Thanksgiving: Day 10

My son with Annie

My senior year of high school I went to the local animal shelter and adopted a dog. She was the first dog I saw, and she was very excited. Annie is a white rat terrier mix, and she became mine that day. Now it's time to teach my sons about animal shelters.

The boys and I bought some dog treats and dog food. My 4-year old asked if the treats were for Annie or Maddie, my in-laws dog. I explained that they were for animals that needed homes. They were a little confused because in the eyes of a toddler, who wouldn't want a cat or a dog. I explained it further by saying that this is the place people go to pick out their pets like Annie or Maddie.

At the animal shelter

At the animal shelter, the first room you walk into had all the cages for the cats. So when the boys delivered the treats and food they were lucky enough to play with some of the cats. One of the cats made fast friends with my 4-year old. He wanted to take it to my parent's house not our house, which I thought was interesting. It makes me wonder if he thinks that most pets should live in the country. After all, Annie and Maddie do.

My 4-year old did not want to leave his new cat friend, so much so that he had silent tears. Maybe we'll have to start considering having a pet. We should start with a Goldfish.

They didn't get a chance to see the dogs, but the treats and food were well received.

Like Bob Barker said, "Help control the pet population. Have your pet spayed or neutered." We love our pets, and are so thankful animal shelters take care of future pets.

12 Days of Thanksgiving: Day 9

When I was pregnant with my oldest child, I read multiple parenting books. One of the main concepts that stuck with me was that praising your child will promote positive behavior. Before I had children I thought this was common sense and easy to do. However, I have found that it's much easier to focus on our children's negative behavior, so at the end of the day I find a few things to praise our children for. With that in mind we decided to try positive words with strangers.

I wrote some positive messages on Post-it notes. Some of these messages included: smile, Happy Thanksgiving, and have a good day. The boys taped the Post-it messages to driver's windows in a grocery store parking lot. The Post-its weren't sticky enough to stay on the window without a little tape, especially in the wind and cold. My first idea was to put the messages under the windshield wipers; however, the boys couldn't reach the wipers. I also thought it was best to keep the boys from touching stranger's vehicles.

The boys were so anxious to give out the messages that they just handed them to people getting in and out of their vehicles. Some of the messages went on the vehicle windows, but it was more fun to have them hand delivered. The boys were cautious and a little shy, but they eventually got the hang of it. All the messages were well received. A kind word is enough to change someone's day.

12 Days of Thanksgiving: Day 8

Our parents do a lot for us, and one of those things is watching our kids. I'm able to be a substitute teacher because one of our moms volunteers to drive two hours one way to our house to watch our kids. They change diapers, fix meals, and pick up from preschool. They do all this and more without any complaint or refusal. So we decided to help out the grandparents and give them a big thank you.

We made survival kits with the following items:
Nuts: because the kids will drive you nuts
Glow sticks: to distract the kids with glowing things
Coins: to bride the kids
Balloons: because everyday is a party with you
Tootsie rolls: so you remember to roll with it
Chocolate: to give yourself a time out with a treat
Turkey drawings: to say thank you

We are very lucky to have our children's grandparents so willing to help. We are even luckier that they taught us how to be parents. We are so grateful that they are apart of our lives. Thank you Grandparents. You mean the world to us.

12 Days of Thanksgiving: Day 7

When we had a play date at the park, we noticed one of the swings was broken. One of the links was broken. So we fixed it.

We went to the hardware store to buy a replacement link. The boys were very helpful and good because they knew they were going to play at the park as a treat.

My husband is a giant, so he is the one that actually fixed the swing because he could easily reach it. However, the boys tried to help.

It turned out to be a great little project because the boys loved playing on the new swing. They also helped other children play by fixing the swing.