Advent Calendar Activities

This is the first year that I’ve put together a list of advent activities to help the kids count down to Christmas.  We’re about halfway in and I’m loving how this list has helped us slow down to truly enjoy this magical season.

So, here’s my list.  I left the numbers jumbled up so the kids can make a game of finding our next activity.  I had grand plans of placing the activities into some kind of advent calendar but I simply ran out of time.  Maybe next year I’ll make something like this.  Until then, a plain printed list will have to do.

13- Watch a Christmas movie as a family

22- Drive around to look at lights

5- Make hot chocolate

25- Light a fire in the firepit

4- Listen to Christmas music during dinner

9- Make our own ornaments

6- Wildman’s School Program!

8- Christmas paint by number kit

22- Have Christmas dinner party with friends

1- Put Christmas Lego set together

21- Decorate cookies

19- Take treats to neighbors

23-Walk Verbenia Ct.

16- Cutie Pie’s School Program!

7- Write a letter to Santa

15- Watch Santa come by on fire truck!

24- Have Yaya, Nana, Papa and Uncle Chris over, sprinkle Reindeer food on lawn

18- Make fudge with mom

11- Family game night

17-Participate in the holiday boat parade

10- Buy a gift for someone in need

20- Read a Christmas book

2- Go in the hot tub

3- Plant Poinsettas in front flower bed

12- Make candy cane reindeer

I snapped a few photos of the boys (and J) working on their Christmas paint-by-numbers:

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Cooperative Painting

Keeping the boys entertained and engaged in doing more than watching television is sometimes difficult this summer.  Last week I decided to surprise them by setting up colorful paint palettes, various fun painting instruments and a huge piece of craft paper on the back porch bar.  They were thrilled to begin their creative endeavor!  Once the t.v. had been turned off…

I loved how they jumped right into working together to create a painting.  It was fun to watch their ideas take shape.

Here’s what the final product looked like.  So colorful and interesting.  I think I need to make painting a weekly project…

I’m writing the post during a few unexpected quiet moments on Sunday evening.  My mom took the boys to dinner followed by a visit to the park and J has gone fishing in the Keys with Big Red.  I have to admit that I’m really enjoying this time alone 🙂

Preschool Museum of Art

Cutie Pie’s preschool art and music program was this morning.  In true creative style, the mom who usually plans the event outdid herself.  It was truly a thing to behold.  I have lots of pictures to share but they simply don’t do justice to how cool it was.  I don’t know what could possibly be done to top it next year…

The show began at 11 AM in the church sanctuary where the children assembled to sing lots of fun springtime/Mother’s Day/Father’s Day songs.

The preciousness was almost too much to handle.  *sigh*

After the music portion was complete we met up with Cutie Pie at his class table in the fellowship hall.  There waiting for us were lots of fun Mother’s Day and Father’s Day gifts that Cutie Pie had made.

We made our way out into the hall to see Cutie Pie’s class art display in the art gallery.  Each class had an 8′ table and an 8′ x 4′ board on which to display all of their artistic treasures.  It was amazing to see what all of the children have made over the school year!

This year, the food was set up outside on the breezeway between the chapel and the church administration building.  Each snack was staged to look like famous paintings.  Ingenious, I say!

There was a photo op for the girls and a photo op for the boys set up on the lawn near the iced coffee and punch table.

One of the newest features of this year’s art show was the sculpture garden.  I take credit for this idea and I also took a lot of crap from some very stressed out teachers who did not want to participate.  In the end, everyone managed came up with a class sculpture for the garden.  I was amazed by how lovely and different all the pieces turned out!!!  For all of their complaining, the teachers ended up thinking the garden was a nice addition to the art show.

Cutie Pie’s class worked with a local artist (who happens to also be one of the student’s grandmother) to create Tilly the sea turtle.  It took the class many work sessions over a couple of months to create the sculpture from paper mache and I think it turned out beautifully!!!

In the end, I managed to survive not one but two heartwarming/heart wrenching performances this week.  My little boys are growing up in the blink of an eye.  What can I do to slow this down?  I simply don’t like this brutal march of time.