Advent Box Activities

Each year in December, we set out an Advent calendar in our home that has a box to open for each day leading up to Christmas. Inside each box is a special treat for the day-- candy, coins, or an activity idea. The calendar serves a couple purposes: a fun way to count down to Christmas and a way we can build in intentional family time during a busy season. The boys really look forward to opening their box each day, and we've loved creating many Advent memories together each year! I didn't take pics of many of our standard box ideas, like going out for donuts, looking at Christmas lights, breakfast in bed, or movie night. Instead, I just have photos of some of the bigger, unique events that we did in 2018.

A "Grinchy" Christmas

I was so excited to see that our public library was hosting this fun, free event for Christmas-- a showing of the old cartoon version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Jaden and Cody had yet to see this short movie that I grew up loving, so I couldn't wait for them to see it too. 

The library gave out free snacks too (popcorn and candy) before the show. Look at Cody waiting for the "all clear" to get his treat! ha!

After the movie (which Cody and Jaden enjoyed almost as much as Mommy!), the boys got to make a grinch ornament. They stuffed green pom-poms into a clear plastic ornament and stuck a heart on the outside. It was a cute little keepsake from a fun event!

Half-Birthday Treat

For the boys' half birthday on December 2nd, they brought in birthday desserts to share with their class-- frosted brownies with sprinkles for Cody and scotcheroos for Jaden. As part of their Advent box treat, Daddy also brought in a McDonalds lunch for them to enjoy.

Home Depot Build

The December kids' workshop at Home Depot was a Christmas sleigh. We figured these sleighs would make festive decorations in the boys' room for Christmas. The boys were excited for another building project.

The kit even came with a reindeer to steer the sleigh.

Both boys were eager to paint their sleigh after they were done building.

They were very proud of their final products and each wanted a special pose next to their sleigh. :)

German Festival

Attending this semi-annual festival in our area has become a December tradition for our family. We bought a set (small) number of tickets for the kids and let them each pick out 3 or 4 rides to go on. Adley was thrilled about the carousel!

The boys' favorite was this random spinning dog ride that they enjoyed last year too. They got it spinning quite fast!

Mommy joined the boys on this ferris wheel ride. We got a beautiful view of the night lights. It was a bit chilly for us up high though!

We let the kids pick a special treat to eat too. They ended up trying Dippin' Dots for the first time. Not surprisingly, it was a hit for all three kids!

While we ate, we listened to this local German band perform a few songs. We especially loved hearing the yodeling and the rendition of Edelweiss on the musical saw (see videos below). Amazing!

The chilly evening had rain in the forecast, so we brought along our umbrellas. We ended up not needing them (for rain anyway), but Adley didn't want to let go of hers! She screamed when we tried to take it away for the picture, so we settled on an umbrella + happy toddler picture rather than a tantrum picture sans umbrella. Good choice, I think. :)

Little Beakers

Jason and I thought that having a Mommy/Daddy date with the boys would be a fun new Advent box activity idea for this year. We decided that Daddy would take the boys to go play tennis one day, and Mommy would visit Little Beakers (a kids' science lab) with them. I've been wanting to take Jaden and Cody to this place ever since my sister told me about it a few years ago! It ended up being so much fun! We paid for a full hour's time in the lab, during which the boys could  choose to complete as many science experiments as they wanted. The boys' first pick was to make slime. We had to gather all our supplies and then follow the step-by-step directions carefully.

The above pictures were of a beach-sand type of slime that was very wet and gooey. The boys chose immediately to make a second type of slime which was made with shaving cream. This one was very puffy and much less messy to play with.

Then, we moved on to a new lab station and watched pepper "dance" with static electricity.

Our next experiment was probably the boys' favorite-- watching Coke fizz and erupt out of the bottle after dropping in a Mentos mint.

For our next experiment, we poured oil and water into a large flask and then observed what happened when we dropped in some food coloring. It was amazing watching the food coloring pass right through the oil and then only disperse once it hit the water!

Our last experiment was using a mortar and pestle to grind cereal into fine powder and then trying to pull out iron with a magnet. I didn't get any pictures of this last one since the boys lost interest with it fairly quickly. Overall, though, Cody and Jaden really seemed to enjoy their time here. I was excited about all that they learned too, not just about the experiment results, but simply about the process of conducting an experiment and following step-by-step directions. This will definitely be a place to visit again!

21 Months Old

The beginning of December marked our little girl's 21 month milestone. Her month leading up to this was a stretch of huge extremes. At times, she can give us the sweetest smile, tightest hugs, and say the funniest things. Then only moments later, she can throw the largest tantrum if we don't let her have her way. She is definitely becoming more independent and opinionated. 

Adley has amazed us this past month with all she can say and do. She watches others carefully and closely imitates what she sees. We love seeing all that Adley is learning, and we are so thankful for her health and growth!

Other Notes about Adley at 21 Months:

PHYSICAL

• Can slide down the large twisty slide at the playground independently
• Brings out a diaper and the changing pad when she needs a diaper change
• Takes off her shoes and socks in the car between every stop, often chucking her socks and shoes to the far corner of the van!

LANGUAGE

• Sings/shouts out random words along with songs (like TOWN at the end of The Wheels on the Bus)
• Says color words, but does not yet correctly connect the words to the right color
• Can count to three, especially when she wants someone to swing her
• Says "Bless you, Mommy" when we sneeze or "Thank you, Daddy" when we give her something
• Can correctly distinguish her twin brothers "Co-wa" and "Jay-na" both in person and in pictures!
• Learned a few new animal sounds (gobble gobble and cock-a-doodle-doo)
• Will regularly say "Adley turn" or "Adley help" or "Adley push" when she wants to do something

PLAYTIME/OTHER

• Has become VERY antsy on errands with Mommy and regularly refuses to sit in the shopping cart. She asks to "help push" or tries to ride on the front of the cart
• Best way to entertain her in the car is by having her recite her animal sounds and point out various body parts
• Loves dancing along to music, sometimes putting pillows on the ground and "jumping" on them or running around the room while flailing her arms around
• Loves listening to her toddler songs in the car, especially BINGO and Farmer Grover
• Likes bouncing or jumping on her poor brothers when they are lying on the floor trying to read (which does NOT make them very happy!)
• Enjoys exploring with dot painters, and is often entertained just as long by screwing off and on the caps

A video of Adley dancing and singing along to her current favorite Christian radio song:

Nov Misc

Here are some miscellaneous happenings in our family from November (still slowly trying to play catch-up with my photos!).

Art Playdate

Adley's little toddler playgroup continues to meet a couple times each month. Adley and I LOVE our regular time with these friends. This month, we met at Aunt Sarah's house for an art-themed playdate. The first project we did was bubble print paintings. Ben and Saige got some awesome bubbles going for their project!

Adley, however, kept wanting to suck in rather than blow out through her straw. And, in her typical almost-2-year-old fashion, she refused to let me use the straw and blow bubbles for her! So Adley had fun with just the straw and no bubbles. :)

The second project was marble painting. Our first step was to squeeze paint onto a piece of paper inside the box. Adley got this step down pat!

Then we added marbles to the box, closed the top, and started shaking. The kids loved this part! Their pictures at the end looked great too.

Both in-between and after the art projects, the kids enjoyed simply playing outside. It was a beautiful weather day and a great overall playdate!

Little Bookworms

In the middle of the month, Cody and Jaden read their first-ever chapter book (a Magic Tree House book) independently at home. In our household, this accomplishment meant that the boys had earned the privilege of getting their own library cards. Both boys were SO proud!

Ever since getting their own library cards, Cody and Jaden have turned into quite the little bookworms! Their favorite times to read are in the morning when they get up, just after getting home from school, right after bathtime, and often anytime we're in the car too. The boys LOVE selecting their own books from the library and will eagerly devour these books when they get home. Cody's favorite books to check out are from the Captain Awesome series, while Jaden enjoys Magic Tree House. Mommy LOVES seeing her boys soak up their books!

Often when the boys lie down to read, Adley will pull her own books off the shelf and join right in. So cute!

Sibling Playtime

One day I walked up the stairs and happened to catch Jaden right in the middle of reading a story to Adley. She was listening so intently, and he was doing a great job of capturing her interest, showing her the pictures and asking her questions. It was such a precious moment!

Another day when we had stopped by the donut shop for a special treat, Cody entertained Adley by playing peek-a-boo. What a wonderful big brother! :)

Church Pics

One of the ladies who does photography for our church services is a friend of ours. Occasionally on Sunday mornings she will snap some pics of Adley after church and send them to us

Thanksgiving

At the beginning of November, I put up this "thankful tree" in our home, just like I did last year. The boys remembered it right away and immediately wanted to fill out multiple leaves that listed what they were thankful for.

Each day they added more and more thankful leaves. It was fun that they could complete this project independently this year! We loved reading what was on their little minds.

We celebrated Thanksgiving as a large family group this year by attending Trinity's morning church service and then going to Grammy and Papa's house for a Thanksgiving lunch. Everything was SOO delicious!! It was quite relaxing to put the littlest ones down for a nap and then just play games or play outside with family members. We were having so much fun with everyone that I didn't pause to take any pictures of our time together! I did snap this photo of the turkey brownies I made for the kids' dessert. 

Aunt Sarah got this photo of our family group just after church. We feel blessed to live close to this entire crew and have an opportunity to spend many holidays together!