Advent Day 12...13....AND 14....

We had a decent week over at the Aneed home, but Thursday and Friday were hilariously exhausting for MOMMY- therefore no blogging;)  I agreed to be at Parents Club at school (it's like the board for fundraising and such) and at meeting one, I somehow became the Treasurer.  Which is fine, I love numbers, but has been a HUGE time commitment.  At the first fall meeting, I agreed to be coordinator for our SCRIP program, which again I really enjoy, but is a HUGE time commitment...and I mean HUGE.  Really between the two commitments, I feel like I have a part time job....and should never have done BOTH of them, but I had no idea the time involved until I was....involved;)  TH and FRI this little part time job ran into my mom's group commitment and I was literally RUNNING between commitments....the perfect storm of busyness.  Thankfully it was only two days and I knew it would be crazy so I planned very simple Advent Days...they key to making the activity oriented Advent calendar to work, in my mind, is lining up activities that will match up with your energy level;)  My kids are still young enough to get excited about everything- Thank you, Jesus;)

Advent 12- C- is for COOOOKIES;)
"Today is one of Mommy's favorite days.  We get to make Christmas Cookies!  We'll cut out and decorate cookies and read the book, "Christmas Cookies"

 Have a little frosting, buddy.

Ava was meticulous with cookie decorating, but we're in the "I'm thinking too hard about how to smile for pictures" stage;)  

Tasty;)....and after all the finger licks, they are for our consumption only;)

Cute little Book that has little explanations of big words for little kids...my favorite pages are:  "Disappointed- because it didn't turn out the way I planned."

and
"Moderation means at the party not having twenty cookies, and not having zero cookies, but having just enough cookies."

Advent Day 13

"What are some smells that make you think of Christmas?  Let's go find some and then I have a special 'smelly' activity!

We went around the house, smelled cinnamon, cookies, candles, the wreath...anything they could think of.  It was kind of hilarious and I wish I'd taken pictures;)  Then I got out this little scratch and sniff art book that I had ordered from scholastic.  The pages are all black and when you draw on them with a little wood syllus, it reveals a color underneath....and a yummy Christmas smells.

 My little guy does like art activities unlike some other boys I'm told, but this one became, scratch as many papers as I can to see what they smell like;)

Side note:)  Marc dressed Chloe and usually he does a great job.  She came down in this shirt and I said, "does that look a little big to you?"  He said, "maybe a little?"  It's Ava's shirt- a size 7....Chloe wears a 3T;)  But then Chloe was crushed at the suggestion to take it off....so we spent the day rolling up sleeves over and over and over;) 

I love how Chloe is closely studying the book with suggested activities as if she can read or actually do any of them- she's adorable;)

Our little creative one, figured out how to make her picture bigger;)

Advent Day 14-

"Do you see any shapes in Christmas things?  What are they?  Let's have some fun with shapes!  What shape is the Christmas tree?  What about the manger? What shapes make up a santa hat?  a snow man?"

We marched around calling out shapes...and then I got out a Wiki Stick Christmas book...and used them to make shapes on paper.  I forgot to take pictures;P so we'll borrow one from Amazon.

on todays Advent Activity...it's Saturday, so it's a big one- can't wait;)