Advent Days 14 and 15

Day 14 our activity was to decorate the Christmas tree. Micah loved helping us decorate. He kept picking up ornaments and saying, "ball." He even tried to put them on the tree. He's seen a lot of decorated Christmas trees so he knew that they go on the tree. He's still very curious about the tree and likes to walk over to it and touch the ornaments. He's pretty good about being nice, though, and not pulling them off. I can't wait for next year when he can help decorate even more!




Our activity for day 15 was to listen to fun Christmas music. We have Christmas music playing in our house pretty much 24/7, but I put on a new CD for this. Micah has a children's Christmas CD and we put it on and had a little dance party. I tried to video tape it, but every time I brought out the camera he stopped and smiled. He's such a ham and totally knows what the camera is for! Maybe we'll have another dance party when Daddy's home so he can distract him away from the camera and I can get a video of it. :)

Advent Days 11, 12, and 13

Since I'm a bit behind blogging I'm going to do three days of our advent calendar today. The first was to write a letter to a family member. My sister, Brittan, just recently moved out of my parents' house and into her own apartment. I know how much I love getting mail so I thought we should write to her. I got one of our Christmas cards out and wrote a little message from Micah. Then, I gave him a pen and the card and pushed him up to the table and let him scribble for a minute. He wasn't sure what to do at first, but then when he saw the pen writing he got really excited. I was slightly worried that he was going to write all over my table so it didn't last too long, but he still got some of his own writing in. :)



Day 12 our activity was to cut down our Christmas tree. This is a tradition Brad and I started two years ago, our second Christmas together. We went to Tammen Treeberry Farm and drove around for quite a while before finding our tree. Brad took us way out back and I thought for sure we were going to get stuck in the mud. We ended up finding our tree in the same spot we found it last year--pretty close to the front. Leave it to a man to have to drive out of the way! :) Anyway, we found a great tree and Micah loved walking around once we got out of the car. He really liked touching all the trees and kept saying, "Wow!"




Our activity for Day 13 was to go sledding or ice skating. Well, there wasn't enough snow for us to go sledding and Micah is obviously too young to go ice skating. However, we did go to Chicago Children's Museum this past weekend. And they have a special winter exhibit complete with an "ice rink." So, we took Micah's shoes off and let him go. Just so you know, there was no ice, it was just a slightly slipper floor. :) He had a blast. The big kids were throwing "snowballs" and Micah wanted to get in on the action! I think it was good for his first time ice skating, but I can't wait to take him to a real ice rink!

Advent Days 9 and 10

Our activity for day 9 was to watch a Christmas movie with a special treat. Brad waited patiently all day for this one. After dinner, we got Micah in his pajamas, then sat down on the couch to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas. Earlier we'd made peanut butter blossom cookies so we had those while watching the movie. Surprisingly, Micah sat through most of the movie--that might have had something to do with the special treat. ;) This is definitely a tradition that Brad and I hope will carry on.




Day 10's activity was Christmas pajamas. That pretty much speaks for itself. I bought Micah some Christmas pajamas and he got to wear them. I don't think he was too excited about it, but that's okay!

Advent Days 7 and 8

Sorry. I got a bit distracted this week because Brad is on vacation and we went away for a couple of days. But we've been doing our best to keep up with the advent calendar, and I'll continue to post what we've been doing.

It just so happened that we got a bit of snow on the ground last week. That day the activity was hot chocolate made special for you. So, Brad bundled Micah up and took him out in the snow. When they came back in we made "moderately warm" chocolate for Micah and hot chocolate for us. We even put marshmallows in it, which Micah really liked!




Day 8 was to read a new Christmas book. Luckily, we checked out some Christmas books from the library not too long ago. So, we picked out a book, sat on the couch and started reading. Micah usually loves being read to, but I think he was a little curious and so kept trying to get down. He wanted to take the book with him and we were worried he'd rip the pages. We don't often get to sit all three of us and just relax so that was really nice. And I'm sure we'll be reading lot of Christmas books in the days to come!

Advent Days 5 and 6

Day 5's activity was to wrap presents. Luckily, I already have plenty of presents to wrap. Micah helped me a bit, but really he was more interested in tearing the paper and opening the boxes!




Day 6 our activity was to go to the library and pick out some new Christmas books. Usually we walk to our library because it's only four blocks away, but we decided we were going to go to a different library because it's bigger and has a better children's section. It was so nice! Micah loved sitting at the tables and doing the puzzles (something our library doesn't even have). He also loved walking around the library, he thought he was big stuff. With a little help from him, we picked out a couple Christmas books and brought them home to read. I think we will definitely be going back to that library!

Advent Day 3 and 4

Day 3 for our advent calendar was to make an ornament or decoration. I found this really cute idea on Pinterest for how to hang your Christmas cards so I decided to try it. It was really easy to make. However, I'm not completely happy with mine. It will do for now, but I think I'd like to use stamps next time for the letters and maybe add some Christmas stickers (something I still plan on doing, but I have to get to a craft store). But here's what it looks like right now.

Oh, and Micah loved helping me with the ribbon.





Day 4 was a special Christmas treat. I made Rice Krispie treats and dyed them green. Micah wasn't much of a help, but he held on to my leg and whined while I was making them, so I guess that counts. I did take a picture, but it's not a good picture so I'll spare you.

Advent Day 1 and 2

Even though I haven't been writing about it, we have been opening our advent activities every day ang *trying* to do the activity. I'm a little bit behind, but we're still having fun.

The first day our activity was to take a wagon ride through the lights in Orland Park. As soon as Brad got home from work that night, we bundled up in the car and headed out to Orland. Micah decided he wanted to walk rather than ride in the wagon. That proved to be a bit of a challenge, as it does any time we let Micah walk free. But we made it to the end of the path nonetheless. And then we put him in the wagon for the walk back. He wasn't too happy about it, but we were tired of chasing him around. He was fascinated by the lights, however, and had to walk up to every single one and comment, "Ooooo! Wow!" It was so cute!






Day 2's activity was to decorate the windows in Micah's bedroom. I wanted to buy some Christmas window clings that he could put on the windows, knowing he would take them off every day. However, they only had the gel clings. Micah had a lot of fun trying to put them in his mouth. So, after about one minute we had to move the clings up to the top part of his window...and to the guest room window (once again up high as he tries to get them from that window, too).




Stay tuned for more of our advent activities!

Preparing for Christmas

I cannot believe it's been so long since I last posted. Having a one-year-old keeps me busy! But with my favorite time of year upon us I just had to get back in the swing of things.

Thanks to some friends I now have another addiction: pinterest. As if I didn't have enough things to keep me occupied while Micah takes his naps (cleaning the house being at the bottom of the list), now I like to spend hours on the computer looking at other people's fun, creative crafts, activities, decorations, recipes, etc. Seriously. I spend way too much time looking at pins. Anyway, I've seen a lot about advent calendars. Growing up we never had an advent calendar. I didn't really understand what they were. But the calendars I was finding on Pinterest were activity calendars. Instead of finding a chocolate inside, there's something fun to do. An activity that shares the spirit of the season.

I am determined to make Christmastime a fun, magical time at our house. I want every day to be special. I want the coming birth of Jesus to always be on our mind. I want to be excited about spending time together as a family, baking cookies, and making decorations. So, I was in search of the perfect activity advent calendar. I found it! I quickly found 24 activities that I thought we could do with Micah, even though he's so young. Then, I found a way to create the calendar that was creative and different. I have to admit, it's not quite done yet. I still have to hang it, but when it's done I'll post a picture. Oh, and I really like to make things by hand, not with the computer, but I don't have a lot of Christmas stickers/embellishments so it's not as cute as I'd like it to be. I'm hoping to keep the idea the same, but improve it's look as the years go on.

My goal is to take a picture of us doing every activity and then I'll post about it later that night. Right now Brad is out with Micah and they have the camera with them (the only downfall of keeping it in the diaper bag), so I'll have to post what we've done with pictures later.

In the meantime, what are you doing to prepare for Christmas? I'd love to hear about your traditions and what you're looking forward to!