Christmas Crafts Galore and Mega Fun

I really researched Christmas this year and came up with lots of craft activities for us.  It has been so fun and we have been doing non-stop crafts and activities to squeeze the most fun out of Christmas possible.  Here are the highlights.

One of the neatest things we made were salt dough ornaments.  We used a really simple recipe that worked great and then we even cut holes and added beads in some to melt for extra bling.  Then after they baked low and slow for a while and cooled down, we painted and glittered them, they are bright and sparkly.  Everyone took turns painting and glittering, it was lots of fun.  They turned out really awesome and I hope we can do this again next year.

Next we made snow men.  Nanna made a big one and Sara made a little one.  We put them in Sara's room for decoration.

Brennan likes putting stickers on his head.

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Next up, we made sparkly sequin ball and a ornament necklace.

Then when Brennan was otherwise occupied, we made stained glass ornaments.  Sara had fun putting the pieces in but Nanna had to help a lot.  They turned out really cute after we baked them.

Sara, Nanna, and I made 40 reindeer candy canes to give as gifts to everyone in Sara's class, the office staff and principal at her school, as well as neighbors and friends.  We also made a fun candy jar decoration for our neighborhood party that we hosted at our house.

Sara also had a fun Christmas song program at her school that Nanna and Brennan and I went to.
She was wearing turquoise sleeves on the front row.  She wasn't doing any of the arm movements because she said she was very nervous. 

Also, one night we had a fun party for all our neighbors at our house.  Dan got out his chocolate fountain, which was a big hit with all the kids that showed up.  Also, we played Christmas songs on the family chimes.  It was a huge hit, everyone had tons of fun, even the teenagers that were there.

We gave Sara a break from making ornaments by taking her to the Nut Cracker in Salt Lake.  It was fun for Mommy and Daddy too.  Nanna was nice enough to watch Brennan would probably never would have made it through the ballet.  Sara really enjoyed it, she commented and the beautiful costumes. 

Sara has talked about wanting to see what she has called the "Nut Soldiers" for a long time and this was her first ballet. 

This is a photo Nanna took of us before going to the ballet that day:

Of course there has been lots of playing going on too.

Daddy built the kids a nice snow ramp in the front yard that they have been sledding down and playing on. 

The kids have really enjoyed having Nanna here for Christmas and the face that Daddy has 2 weeks off of work.  Tonight is Christmas Eve, we plan on making reindeer food and putting it out, and then sending the kids to bed early.  They are so excited for Christmas tomorrow.  We wish everyone we know a very merry Christmas!

Ginger Bread House

Our family holiday activity tonight, according to the punch calendar, was driving or walking around the neighborhood to look at Christmas lights.  However since it was snowing like crazy and 3 degrees tonight, we switched to making a ginger bread house, which was supposed to be a few nights later, but we already had all the supplies.

None of us had ever made a ginger bread house before.  Actually in truth, we bought the kit at Costco, so it's not like we made one, we just did the fun part of decorating it.  We vow that next year we'll try and make one from scratch, hopefully.

Anyway, the kids didn't complain.  Dan did most of the frosting and they helped affix and eat the candy pieces.  It was pretty easy and pretty enjoyable for everyone really.

Also, while they were doing this, I made a key lime cheesecake.  I've never made a cheesecake before.  It was pretty easy and turned out really tasty.

Christmas Fare

Sara loves Christmas, she gets really excited about it.  This year, we are making the whole month of December a Christmas celebration, not just one day.  I made the kids a punch calendar/advent calendar where they punch a new hole every day to reveal a small toy, candy, and a family activity.

So far we've punched days 1-4.  Sara got to do the first punch and the first night our family activity was driving to see the city's light show.  On the second punch, Brennan got to punch it and he scored more candy and they got to write a letter to Santa.   Here is Sara's letter that she wrote.  She says it says that she wants a doll and a Nutcracker Soldier

Here is a video I shot of the day 3 punch, it was Sara's turn again.  She was so excited that she had me call Daddy at work to see when he'd be home.  Then she hardly let us eat dinner.  She punched out a snowman pez dispenser and a Santa one for Bren and our activity for that night was singing Christmas songs.  We all took turns choosing a song, Brennan picked Jingle Bells every time, it's his favorite song (he played bells while we sang).  Sara got us all books to hold like song books.  It was fun and joyous.

On day 4, it was Brennan's turn to punch, he was a little bit afraid.  One of the toys that I put in the box in a spot they haven' t punched yet has been playing loud music and flashing lights, it has kid of scared him.  I thought it would be funny. 

He was pretty reticent to punch the hole tonight but we helped him some.  They got some more great candy and the family activity was making snowflakes.  Everyone really enjoyed this activity a lot.  Brennan just go to cut random scraps of paper and he was happy doing that.  Dan is a master snowflake cutter so he cut snowflakes for and and showed Sara how to do it.  Sara didn't have the dexterity to do the scissors very well so he let her draw patterns on the paper  or suggested various shapes that he then cut out for the snowflakes.  I mounted them on colored paper and we will hang them up in Sara's window and her wall to make it look festive.

I'm really excited to do the rest of the punch calendar.  I think it's really helping us focus on family time and the season and make the most of it and I'm glad that so far it has worked and the kids like it. 

Songs, flowers and pies

 Sara has learned some cute songs at school.  I like her "Days of the week" song and "Speckled Frogs" best.  I recorded her singing them and sadly she was suffering from a bit of a cough during the speckled frog song.

These kids are experts at doing beads and buttons.  We have been making Christmas bracelets for all the cousins and workin' overtime.

Sara beaded this necklace all by herself, with the repeating rainbow pattern :

More food art, I made them a kiwi snake with pomegranate tongue.  They were amused.  Brennan was going "Sssssss".

 This was supposed to be a butterfly but the mango slices weren't cooperating:

 
Mommies two little girls helping out with the chores.  A thing I like about Sara is she always does her chores and she is a super good house cleaner!

Sara was really proud of herself and super happy that we let her plant these pansies all by herself.  She did a mostly good job.  After she went down for a nap, I fixed them just a little bit.

Sara helped me make a sweet potato pie.  I made a bunch of extra pie dough so that she could cut out shapes and she had a blast.  We baked the extra dough and everyone had a good time eating it.

I guess we're just getting warmed up for Christmas.  The kids are super excited for the holidays, Grandpa Glade is visiting for T'giving and Nanna for Christmas and the kids love spend time with both of them, especially Sara.

Yoga, Dance, Daddy-Daughter night

Sara likes to do Yoga.  She watches when Daddy does yoga and when Mommy does Kundalini yoga.  She was showing Brennan how to do Yoga and then Daddy joined in.  The family that Yogas together stays together?  I think Sara will be really good at Yoga someday.  She has always been interested in it and she is pretty good already.

The kids are always doing some type of art or craft.  One day they were both sick so they couldn't go out and jump on the trampoline.  Instead we covered the island in paper and they painted for a long time.

I was enjoying some time to myself and that's when it quickly deteriorated to them painting themselves and each other.

We've also been doing playdoh, this is Sara's gingerbread men on a beach creation.

Sara is less busy than she used to be and I am too.  It's actually been kind of a relief.  Her swim lessons ended abruptly.  Her teacher said she wasn't teaching morning lessons any more and her afternoon lessons conflict with Sara's school hours, so that was that.  I guess we'll wait until she opens up more classes later or something.   Also, Sara said she wanted to quit ice skating.  I really wasn't sure about letting her quit.  I thought about just making her push through it but she seemed like she really didn't want to do it so I talked to Dan and we deiced that skating is up to her.   Maybe she will want to try it again later.

So instead we went back to dancing.  She loved taking dance classes before when she took a creative dance class and our neighbor recommended a really good dance academy that her friend from college runs.  Also, the dance class is less than a mile from our house and cheap.  When I called the lady, her creative dance class for 3-5 year olds was full but she made a spot for Sara anyway.  Her first day at her new creative dance class was on Halloween.  She was so excited and she had the time of her life.  She really likes to dance and it's a fun class, it's no pressure and low key.  

I like that her dance class is only one day a week and I drop her off for an hour and then pick her up.  It's the first drop-off activity she's ever had.   I hope she is able to take dance there for a long time and Brennan too, they have a superheroes boys class for 3 year olds.

Lastly, Sara had her first daddy-daughter activity at school last Friday night.  She was excited to have daddy all to herself and to go do fun activities with her friends from school and their dads.
 While there, Dan said Sara and another girl played really cute together so he asked the other dad fir his wife's number so I could call her for a play date.  Dan made a joke about how awkward it is to ask for another man's wife's number :)

We fixed her hair up fancy.