The boys were in a musical mood tonight, and we did a lot of singing. Here's a trio of videos of us all performing!
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Thursday, December 19, 2013
25 Days of Christmas, Days 10-19
December is flying by, how is it the 20th already?? We have continued with our 25 days of Christmas, here's a quick recap of what we've been up to:
Day 10 brought another new book, Olive the Other Reindeer. Simon surprised us by knowing the story well from reading it at school!
Day 11 was another one for Matt to handle, and he and the boys checked out Santa's home and global route on Google Earth!
Day 12 we made some Christmas cards and other crafts...
Day 13 the boys got some special Christmas treats (ummm...I may have forgotten to put a hint in and just gave them cookies to make up for it)
Day 14 we went to our pharmacy and chose 2 kids off of the "giving tree" to buy presents for. Simon chose a 4 year old boy, just like him, and we chose a boy Nate's age as well. We headed over to the toy store around the corner and bought new gifts for these boys for Christmas.
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Day 10 brought another new book, Olive the Other Reindeer. Simon surprised us by knowing the story well from reading it at school!
Day 11 was another one for Matt to handle, and he and the boys checked out Santa's home and global route on Google Earth!
Day 12 we made some Christmas cards and other crafts...
Day 13 the boys got some special Christmas treats (ummm...I may have forgotten to put a hint in and just gave them cookies to make up for it)
Day 14 we went to our pharmacy and chose 2 kids off of the "giving tree" to buy presents for. Simon chose a 4 year old boy, just like him, and we chose a boy Nate's age as well. We headed over to the toy store around the corner and bought new gifts for these boys for Christmas.
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Day 15 we got our TREE! The boys both really enjoyed helping with the lights, the ornaments, the whole thing.
Day 16 we did another ornament craft, check out our beautiful work!
Day 17 we watched a new Christmas movie again, the Grinch with Jim Carrey.
Day 18 we had special hot chocolate night, everyone got to make their own. Simon's included a bowl of marshmallows on the side and whipped cream in his hot chocolate, while Nate refused it altogether!
And tonight, on day 19, we went for a drive through two of the neighborhoods near us that go all out with lights. The hint was fun today, a little row of decorated houses propped up on the advent tree.
During all of this fun, Kenny the Elf has been getting into all kinds of trouble. He got stuck in the cereal box, took a nap in Simon's stocking and tried to go for a ride on Thomas the train, among other things:
Monday, December 16, 2013
Visit from Nana and Papa!
Nana and Papa came out from Atlanta to celebrate an early Christmas with us last weekend. We had a busy weekend, starting with a pizza dinner on Friday night. On Saturday, Matt, Nana and Papa took the boys to Nate's very first soccer class! After that, they all headed over to watch Simon in his new "big boy" gymnastics class. Both boys were great!
That afternoon we played around the house, and we even had a dance party.
We also exchanged gifts, much to Simon's delight! Both boys got some cute clothes, and Matt and I got some great gifts too. Simon was really excited to receive a super cool Batcave that he's been talking about, which prompted him asking to wear his Batman costume for the rest of the weekend.
Nate got a really cute set of wooden food that he can "cut" with a wooden knife, and he spent much of the afternoon immersed in that. Later that evening, the boys had their Christmas sensory bath in preparation for meeting Santa the next day!
On Sunday, we headed over to Swanson's Nursery to see Santa. The wait was pretty long, so we checked out the trains, reindeer, fish and cafe while we waited.
After all that waiting, it was our turn! Simon was thrilled to talk with Santa and tell him what he wanted for Christmas.
Nate? Well, he wasn't as thrilled. Ok, he was terrified.
That afternoon we played around the house, and we even had a dance party.
We also exchanged gifts, much to Simon's delight! Both boys got some cute clothes, and Matt and I got some great gifts too. Simon was really excited to receive a super cool Batcave that he's been talking about, which prompted him asking to wear his Batman costume for the rest of the weekend.
Nate got a really cute set of wooden food that he can "cut" with a wooden knife, and he spent much of the afternoon immersed in that. Later that evening, the boys had their Christmas sensory bath in preparation for meeting Santa the next day!
On Sunday, we headed over to Swanson's Nursery to see Santa. The wait was pretty long, so we checked out the trains, reindeer, fish and cafe while we waited.
After all that waiting, it was our turn! Simon was thrilled to talk with Santa and tell him what he wanted for Christmas.
Nate? Well, he wasn't as thrilled. Ok, he was terrified.
After that, Nana and Matt took Simon to the movies during Nate's nap and of course Simon wore his Batman costume! We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing at home and capped off a fun weekend with a hectic but yummy dinner out.
Thanks for a wonderful visit and all of the great gifts, Nana and Papa, have a merry Christmas!
Monday, December 9, 2013
25 Days of Christmas
We started our 25 days of Christmas activities on 12/1, and while I don't think I quite have the time to go through each activity individually like last year, I'll try to do quick recaps.
The advent tree came out on the first, and each day the boys will find a hint for that day's activity. The tree itself was exciting, and Nate managed to pull the whole thing down on himself twice in about 30 minutes.
We started with a really fun activity on day one: we went over to the eastside, to Bellevue's Garden d'Lights. The boys loved it, we walked through two times.
Day 2 and Day 3 were on Matt, as I had to travel for work. They had a lot of fun: they made and decorated paper snowflakes and on the second day, made a gingerbread cake!
Day 4, the day I got back from McLean, we took it easy and the boys got a new Christmas book called Snowmen at Christmas. Day 5 we made handprint ornaments, although I think there were more white paint handprints on clothes and furniture than on the ornaments themselves.
Day 6 was exciting as Nana and Papa came in from Atlanta (more on that in a couple of days), and the Christmas activity was watching a favorite Christmas movie...The Polar Express!
On Day 7, we set up a Christmas sensory bath--we scented the water with vanilla and peppermint, colored it green and added some cranberries to the water to make it super festive. We set up foam shapes on the tile and let the boys have fun decorating with stickers and paint!
Day 8 was a big one...SANTA!!! Everyone was very excited (and patient, with a nearly 2 hour wait), but when it came time to sit on the big man's lap, Nate lost it. We are waiting for the digital disc to arrive, but it's not going to be pretty. Classic, yes, but not pretty.
Finally, Day 9 we saw the arrival of our Elf friend, dubbed Kenny by Simon last year. He started his season with us by pulling out all of the drawers from the advent tree.
More to come!!
The advent tree came out on the first, and each day the boys will find a hint for that day's activity. The tree itself was exciting, and Nate managed to pull the whole thing down on himself twice in about 30 minutes.
We started with a really fun activity on day one: we went over to the eastside, to Bellevue's Garden d'Lights. The boys loved it, we walked through two times.
Day 2 and Day 3 were on Matt, as I had to travel for work. They had a lot of fun: they made and decorated paper snowflakes and on the second day, made a gingerbread cake!
Day 6 was exciting as Nana and Papa came in from Atlanta (more on that in a couple of days), and the Christmas activity was watching a favorite Christmas movie...The Polar Express!
On Day 7, we set up a Christmas sensory bath--we scented the water with vanilla and peppermint, colored it green and added some cranberries to the water to make it super festive. We set up foam shapes on the tile and let the boys have fun decorating with stickers and paint!
Day 8 was a big one...SANTA!!! Everyone was very excited (and patient, with a nearly 2 hour wait), but when it came time to sit on the big man's lap, Nate lost it. We are waiting for the digital disc to arrive, but it's not going to be pretty. Classic, yes, but not pretty.
Finally, Day 9 we saw the arrival of our Elf friend, dubbed Kenny by Simon last year. He started his season with us by pulling out all of the drawers from the advent tree.
More to come!!
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