New Years Eve

Well the craziness of Christmas is behind us and I am able to start relaxing again.  This year for the first time I'm going to have my girls try to stay up until midnight on New Years Eve.  I have fun family activities planned for every hour to celebrate.

I got a 6 pack of small blue canvas bags at Walmart for a dollar and wrote a time on each one in permanent marker.  Then I put a card in each one with an activity to do that hour and any small supplies to go along with it.

For example...
In the 1:00 bag, I wrote do a puzzle together and included a $1 puzzle.
For 2:00, I put in a few cookie cutters and a cookie recipe for us to make.
3:00 will have a winter craft inside the bag.
4:00 will have "snowballs" in it for an indoor snowball fight.
At 5:00 we will be making a dinner from another country (I'm thinking French crepes) and learning about how people in other countries celebrate the New Year.
For 6:00 I have hot chocolate packets and a note saying to read a book in front of the fire with a cup of hot chocolate.
In the 8:00 bag I have a New Year's Eve printable that I found on Pinterest for each of us to fill out about the best part of 2013, what we are looking forward to in 2014, etc.
9:00 will have watch a movie.
11:00 will be eating the cookies we made earlier and the bag will have noisemakers in it for using at 12:00.
And finally at Midnight we will ring in the New Year with the noisemakers and a sparkling apple cider toast (I put small plastic wine glasses in this bag).  I also found a small disco like silver ball at the Christmas Tree Shop that we will be using as the ball drop.

If we have any down time, I also have cards that say things like play Wii, play a board game, shoot balloons with a dart gun, play a CD and have a family dance party, dress up in fancy clothes for dinner, etc.

I had also considered celebrating New Year's when it is midnight in another country so that it will be earlier here and the kids will be able to stay up for it, but then I found this idea on Pinterest that I liked even better.  I'm not sure how long my girls will last though.

Winter bucket list

Since it's now officially winter it's time to make my Winter Bucket List.  If you remember, I did a fall one as well.
1. Indoor snowball fight.  Done!
2. Go ice skating.
3. Go sledding on the big hill in the park near our house.  Emma has been wanting to do this for the past couple years so this year we are definately going to do it! 

                                                           Did it!

4. Make snow paint and color the snow.
5. Set up a hot chocolate bar.  We did this last year as well.  Fix all the compartments of a muffin tin with different toppings (chocolate chips, marshmallows, sprinkles, etc.) and let the kids go crazy!  Don't forget the whipped cream!  We even make our own hot chocolate mix (lots of recipes on Pinterest).  Done!
6. I want to try making these hot chocolate truffles for our hot chocolate this year.
7. Make snowman crafts.  Not sure yet what kind but I'll be searching Pinterest for ideas.
8.  Play more Wii.
9. Make a fort inside for the girls

Hmmm I  have a short list this time.  I hope that means we can actually get them all done!

Elf on the Shelf

Ok I am going to post all the things are Elf (Lucy) does this month.  Hopefully I remember to take a picture of all of them.

Emma keeps saying, "that Lucy sure is a trouble maker."  She loves looking for Lucy every morning and can't wait to see where she turns up next.

                                                  The first night she came with a new book.

Sitting on the doll toilet reading a book.  The girls got a big kick out of this one.

Covering herself in stickers.

Taking a marshmallow bubble bath.

                                                      Going for a ride with Minnie.

Coloring.

                                                      Sleeping on the job in a doll crib.

Going horseback riding.

 

 

                                                              Gone fishing.

                                                     Give the puppy a ride.

 Bungee jumping.

 

Started a puzzle for the girls to finish and color.

                                                     Eating whipped cream

Riding in the baby doll stroller.

Left  message for the girls.

Beating dolls at a board game.

 

Christmas

 I can't believe it's been so long since my last post!  November just flew by and was busy with my daughter's 6th birthday on the 14th and then Thanksgiving, which I cooked for.

Now we are gearing up for the holiday season.  We spent the weekend decorating for Christmas.  We started doing Elf on the Shelf last year and Lucy made her return Sunday night (December 1st).  The first night she came back with a few new Christmas books for us to read.  This morning the girls found her on their doll's potty reading a book!  They loved that.  Who knows where they'll find her tomorrow morning. 

This was our Thanksgiving tree with leaves that said what we all were thankful for.  Now it's the girls Christmas tree that they are decorating with handmade ornaments.

The 25 mini stockings is the advent calender we are doing this year.  I will talk about it more below.  As you can see, I collect nutcrackers (see the new Mickey Mouse one I just got in Disney?!)

Every year I do some type of advent calender for the girls.  Last year I wrapped 24 Christmas books and they opened a new one each night.  This year we made (well Bob sewed them) mini stockings with little slips of paper in them that have activities, crafts, etc. on them.

Some of the ideas on them include:
Read a book in front of the fire with a cup of hot chocolate
Pick out a toy to donate to Toys for Tots (we do this every year)
Search the house for loose change to put in the Salvation Army bucket
Donate at least one toy each to the Goodwill
Drive around looking at Christmas lights
Bake and decorate cookies
Watch a Christmas movie
Decorate upside down sugar cookies to look like trees (found the idea from http://www.couponclippingcook.com/candy-cookie-cones/)
Sleep in front of the Christmas tree
Have an indoor snowball fight (we use large white pom poms)
Make something for your sister
Make gifts for the grandparents
Learn a new Christmas carol
Go to a Christmas event


Two other things I'm hoping to do this month I found on pinterest (of course).
I want to make the mistletoes from here: http://www.pinkieforpink.com/2012/11/kids-christmas-art-projects.html.
And I have already starting making an ornament memory book (http://www.iloveitallwithmonikawright.com/2010/12/ornaments-and-their-stories-mini-album.html) for each girl.  I love this idea!  Since I buy them each an ornament (or two, plus the ones they get from the grandmoms) every year that represents something they liked or we did that year this will be a great way to remember when they received each one and why.  Then when they leave home they will already have a box full of ornaments for their first trees.  This year Emma got a Rapunzel ornament (since we went to Disney and that is her favorite character) and Abby got a Minnie Mouse (also from Disney and that is who she was for Halloween).

This month I'm also planning to teach the girls how the holidays are celebrated in other countries. Maybe through food, music, and books.  I'm still looking for ideas for this. 

I will try very hard to blog more often this month with our families holiday traditions, Elf on the Shelf, educational activties, and more.