I really wanted us to soak up as much as we could this Christmas. I've been wanting to do an advent calendar for a few years now, and thanks to the help of Pinterest (my new bff), I finally got around to making an advent calendar this year.
It's not the most creative, intricate, or pretty--but, the girls are enjoying pulling the daily envelope to see what's in store for the day.
Day 1--fingerprint snowman ornaments. We all made one of these and I love how differently they turned out. After this picture was taken, I added ribbon to make it an ornament and they're hanging on the kid tree now.
Day 2--movie and popcorn night. Day 2 happened to fall on a Friday, so we curled up on the couch together and watched a Christmas movie (It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas).
Day 3--pinecone Christmas trees. Very simple project. The girls glued colored pom poms (the ornaments....or lights) to pinecones.
Day 4--Christmas Cantata concert at our church. I don't have an actual picture of us there, but I did get a picture of Korley's adorned hand of three of the biggest rings ever. She went to church looking like Mrs. Roper.
Day 5--Jeff's birthday celebration. How do I not have ONE picture from his birthday?!? We went to dinner at Genghis Grill (Jeff's favorite) for his birthday and came home and had delicious peanut butter cream cheese brownies! Yum!
Day 6--cards to send to US Troops.
Landry's card on the left, Korley's on the right
inside of Landry's card
inside of Korley's card
Day 7--handprint three wise man craft.
As usual, our resident artist spent more time working on hers.
She was adding grass and a stable to hers.
Day 8--Ice skating!! The girls had early release this day, so we took them for their first time ice skating! Actually, I was just a spectator since I'm fairly pregnant, but Jeff did a good job helping them. They clung to the wall for the first few minutes, but it wasn't long before they felt comfortable enough to let go. They were doing great on their own by the time we were about to leave!
Day 9--Korley's field trip and Landry went to a birthday party. Kind of lame to put on the advent card, I know, but Korley had a busy day on her field trip and Landry got picked up by her friend's mom to go to the Gaylord to spend the night for a birthday party, so we didn't have time to plan anything else! (Plus, Jeff and I were leaving early the next morning for Costa Rica. :)
Day 10--crafting with Gigi. My mom took over Advent duty since we were out of town. She came prepared with FUN crafts for the kids. On this day, they made yarn Christmas trees with "bling". Landry's is green, Korley's is pink--they turned out SO cute!!
Day 11--more crafting with Gigi. On this day they made these ADORABLE stacked paper Christmas trees. My mom put way more effort into her planned art projects than I did--and it shows! :) Each girl made one, but they both look pretty much like this.
Day 12--baking yummy treats with Gigi. They made pretzels with rolos! So yummy! No pictures of these! They were gone by the time we got back to town! :)
Day 13--new ornaments! They opened and hung on the tree new ornaments from Gigi.
Day 14--new jammies! The girls got to open new Christmas jammies and wear them to bed that night.
Day 15--new books! Landry and Korley each got a new Christmas book to unwrap and read.
Day 16--another movie & popcorn night. We watched "Elf". It was the girls first time to see it and they LOVED it! I know it will become a family tradition! :)
Day 17--Aledo Bearcat game! Both girls got to invite friends to come to the state championship game. Korley's friend is quite shy, though, and she decided not to come. But, instead, Korley got to go to her house and play, which I'm pretty sure she enjoyed better anyway. So, we took Landry and her friend to the game and had a great time!
Day 18--Santa Claus, the musical. We took the girls to the Santa Claus musical at Casa Manana. Fortunately, it wasn't a very long musical....because it really wasn't that great. Bummer.
Days 19-20--the girls were at Jeff's parents' house so we didn't do our typical Advent activities. However, getting to be with their grandparents and cousins is more fun for them than anything I could come up with!!
Day 21--Six Flags with our friends, the Andersons! We did this last year, too, and the girls have been asking all month if and when we were going to go back this year. Today was the day and everyone had a great time.....especially me since I'm 6 months pregnant and didn't have to get on any roller coasters! :)
Day 22--decorating Christmas cookies. The girls have been going non-stop since they got out of school for the Christmas break last Friday. I decided today that we would be holed up inside so they could catch up on relaxing! We had a leisurely day at home and decorated Christmas cookies after dinner. (Side note--I AM NOT a baker! I don't know why but when I cut cookies with a cookie cutter and bake them, they NEVER come out the shape they were cut in!)
Day 23--we haven't done it yet, but the plan is to do the Christmas Express (see link).
Day 24--haven't done yet, either, but it will be special and I will be back to update! :)
