Friday, December 18, 2009

Advent Activites: Day 2

For day 2 of our Advent activities we made a star. First I read to them the story of the Magi in Matthew. Then I had them trace stars onto thin cardboard and cut them out. To decorate the stars, the girls painted them gold and sprinkled gold glitter on them. I then put magnet strips on the back and put them on the fridge. One of the stars I taped to the wall above our manger scene.



Lori wanted to do more tracing so we made snowmen next. She traced and cut circles out of construction paper to make hers. Audrey traced cirlces on paper and then painted them. We have a very festive refridgerator.


Advent Activites

I've been wanting to get one of those advent activity books that have readings and activities to do every day until Christmas. Well this year I decided to do my own thing. I looked up the meanings of the different symbols for Christmas and then I made up crafts to go with each one I wanted to focus on. I put them each in numbered bags along with a scripture and the meaning of the symbol. Each day the kids pick a new bag and we do the new actvity each day.


The first symbol we did was the angel. We read in Luke about the angels visiting Zecharia, Mary, and the shepherds. We then talked about how we are now God's messengers, bringing his tidings of great joy to all the people.



To make the angels, we used two coffee filters, pipe cleaner, glue, construction paper, and glitter. We folded one coffee filter in half for the wings. We stuck our finger in the middle of the other filter to form a skirt. We glued the two together and taped the pipe cleaner to the back. We used the construction paper for the face.


Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Christmas Time is Here



Oh how I love Christmas! I love the traditions that come with it, especially now that we have kids to share them with. We took the kids to the mall on Black Friday to get out of the house and do something fun. Fortunatley we got there after the crowds had died down. When the kids saw the train they immediately commensed begging to ride it. John shot them down at first cause he didn't want to "spend $3 on a train ride!" (and he says I'm the tight wad!) Fortunately for them the train ride was free that day. They were delighted!
That night we put ornaments on our new tree that John's parents gave us. It's prelight and rotates. The kids were very impressed. Since John hates decorating the tree, it was up to the girls and I to do the deed. Audrey had been begging us for 2 days to decorate the tree, but when it came down to it, she pooped out after putting up 2 whole ornaments. So it was left to Lori and I to decorate the 7 foot monster. We had fun though, and the tree looks great!


Holiday Fun





John and I had 2 firsts this year: hosting Thanksgiving and roasting a big honkin turkey. I was a little nervous about roasting a turkey as I had heard many a horror story about burnt and tasteless turkeys. John took charge of the roasting as he is less likely to burn food than I am (burning meat seems to be my lot in life). I found a good roast turkey recipe in the recent version of Cooking Light magazine, and we gave it a shot. Getting the turkey prepped was one messy job, but boy was the finished product tastey! Everyone ooed and ahhed over its mositness and flavor.
Hosting was fun too. The kids helped me make name cards for the table so everyone knew where to sit. We had lots of good conversation and lots to be thankful for. All in all, our first time hosting and roasting was a great success!

Learning to Sew



Ever since Lori could talk, she has been begging me to teach her to sew. She is always very interested in what I'm doing and wants to do it too. I attempted teaching her last year but she didn't have the patience for it. Or maybe it was me....Anyways, this year I made an extra effort to sit down and show her how to sew. We started with some homemade lacing cards and yarn, and then moved up to a felt square and embroidery thread. She is catching on quick. I may be raising a fellow sewing nut.