Christmas Gift Review

Thinking back on this year's Christmas...it was interesting to me how some gifts were an immediate hit and others have taken time to connect with.  I thought I'd share a bit about the toys that were an instant hit with the kids.  The common theme with all of them was that they didn't need an adult to help them understand the toy.  It was instantly understandable to them.  

Our gift to K was a new train table. (We bought it at Costco.)  It required a lot of work to put together, about two hours, but worth the effort. He plays with it morning, noon & night!  Last night at 9:30, I found him in his room with a little lamp on happily pushing the trains around the track!

Our gift to M was a Fisher Price (FP) kitchen.  (Ordered on-line from Fisher Price) It was very easy to assemble and has been by far the favorite toy this year.  She also got a FP tea set from her grandparents and that has been well loved also.  We've had lots of tea parties; I love it!!

My sister- Katie- got each of the kids flashlights, and they love them! She bought them at Target, but the photo I "borrowed" from Amazon.  K's is a Lightning McQueen flashlight, and M has Disney princesses on hers.  Need a quick fix to keep the kids content for a while?  Give them each a flashlight!  I've tucked theirs away in the kitchen cupboard for times when they are bored and I need them to play while making a meal.    

Hooded towels and a new doll were also favorites of Miss M. The towel was from Grandma (purchased from Avon), the doll (by North American Bear Company) was from Aunt Kendra (purchased on Amazon).  We have finally found a name for her new doll: Asia!  So sweet.

What toys or gifts have your kids enjoyed this year?  

Salt Dough Ornaments *Updated*

One of our advent activities was to make Christmas ornaments, but I didn't have a clue what to make them out of.  My friend, Amy, suggested salt dough ornaments- thank you for the idea, Amy!!  The kids had fun and we made a variety of gifts from this project.  Sorry I can't share pictures of the finished products as the ornaments are going to be given to people who sometimes read this blog. **Update** Now that Christmas is over, I've posted a photo of our finished ornament at the bottom of the screen, so scroll down to see it. :)  

On the first day, we made the dough and cut out our shapes.  The kids had a blast working with the dough and making a mess.  While they played, I cut out the real ornaments that we'd give as gifts.  I used cookie cutters to make the shapes.  Some of the cut out shapes I also stamped with a rubber stamp to give the dough an interesting pattern.  I baked our creations and let the kids play with the excess dough.

On the second day, we painted the baked ornaments.  The kids love to paint and did a great job.  (Although, Miss M decided to paint her tongue yellow while my back was turned!  Ugh!!  Well, now she knows that paint doesn't taste good.)  Once the paint dried, I added some embellishments to the ornaments.  I discovered that a coat of Mod Podge is a good way to give our little creations a top coat.  While the Mod Podge was still wet, I sprinkled clear glitter on some of the ornaments.  They turned out quite nice.  Once everything was dry, I added ribbon as a finishing touch.   (If you visit Pintrest, just type in a search for salt dough ornaments and you'll find a wonderful variety of ideas to get your creative juices flowing.)

Recipe for Salt Dough Ornaments

(Makes about 12 small handprint ornaments)
Ingredients:
4 cups flour
1 cup salt
1 1/2 cups water
Note: Add more water if needed.

Directions:
Combine ingredients and knead dough for 15 to 20 minutes.

Bake at 300ºF about 20 to 25 minutes or until golden. 

You may have to bake considerably longer depending on how thick your items are. 

They may not feel hard right away but will harden as they cool.

(Ours never did harden even after baking for 40 minutes...guess I added too much water.)

Here's the finished product!  We made ornaments
for Grandpa, Grandma, & Aunt Katie.  I inked
the edges of the star with brown ink, adhered a photo
of the kiddos, and threaded a lovely ribbon through
the hole at the top to make it easy to hang on
the tree.  

It's a Wrap!

How are your advent activities going?  It's been so helpful for me to have something pre-planned for each day before Christmas.  It's sort of like a preschool program.  The kids have something new to look forward to each day, and many of the activities are actually helping me to get holiday stuff accomplished.  For example, they helped me wrap their cousin's gifts.  It was entertaining to see them try to figure things out.  K had tons of tape stuck to the paper, but none of it was helping to hold the paper together.  M was having a great time just ripping more and more tape out of the dispenser.  In the end, the gifts got wrapped, and we all had a good time.  

I wanted to share a quick tip too...We had an accident and about ten of our advent numbers tumbled off and the activities inside the muffin tin went everywhere.  Fortunately, I had written each day's activity on a separate calendar so it wasn't too hard to fix the mess.  Having the activities written out also helps me prepare in advance in case there are supplies I might need to purchase.  Sometimes because of unplanned events, we may need to switch the day's activity.  Having it all there at a quick glance, I can look ahead easily switch out the folded papers inside the muffin tins w/o a lot of fuss.

My master Advent Calendar planner, it makes things easy to prep for.

Advent Calendar

Last year, I posted about a cute advent calendar using a mini muffin tin.  I was packing my bags to head to China to meet our daughter, so the whole idea of making anything crafty was just not going to happen.  However, this year I was blessed to be a part of a ladies' Bible study/ craft group.  Guess what we made??  Yep, the muffin tin advent calendar.  I just -totally procrastinated!- filled each little cup with a slip of paper naming a Christmas activity for the day.  So tomorrow we'll get to remove #24 as we count down to Christmas and Jesus's birthday.  If you want to do a last minute calendar, even using 24 envelopes would work, here are some activities you could include in your count down, I listed more than 24 so pick what you like or make up your own...  Sorry I didn't post this sooner!

Our very own advent calendar; my kids are so excited.  Everything is attached by magnets.  

Read a Christmas story.

Memorize a Christmas verse.

Name 3 things you are grateful for.

Sing a favorite Christmas song.

Call your grandparents and tell them you love them.

Make a surprise for Daddy.

Have hot cocoa as a family.

   

Make a Christmas card and send it to your grandparents

     

Watch a Christmas movie.

 Color a picture of the nativity. (Look on-line for free color sheets to print out.)

   

Go on a drive to see Christmas lights.

Make a special Christmas treat. (I have a super easy recipe for peanut clusters on my blog!)

Deliver treats to neighbors.

  

Act out the nativity story and read Luke 2:1-20.

Make a gift for Grandma and Grandpa & wrap it.

Shop for a gift for a cousin, friend, or family member & wrap it.

Give a gift to a child in need.

Look at the stars if the sky is clear.

Play a game as a family: hide & seek…

Finger painting (which could potentially be a gift if framed.)

Build a snowman or make a snack for the birds to eat.

Go on a nature hike

Wrap a gift for Daddy

Memorize a Christmas song to sing for our family on Christmas day.

Help clean the house for company (my kids actually think it's fun to help clean!)

Open one gift on Christmas Eve

Remember that the greatest gift ever given was Jesus.  God loves you very much! (John 3:16)

Transition Times & Other Challenging Moments

I am a very slow learner when it comes to life lessons.  I wish it wasn't so, as I have to keep going through the same hard stuff over and over before finally...I get it!  Recently I had one of those moments where I realized a pattern that had been happening repeatedly for the past two and a half years.  Good grief, why didn't I notice this sooner??  It has to do with my kids and times when they are most likely to misbehave.  We all know that when our kids are tired, hungry, or bored they are more likely to be hard to get along with.  What I did not notice until a couple of weeks ago is transition times are also a major time for misbehavior.  You know, like stopping one activity to move on to another.  Perhaps it's getting on shoes and coats so we can go somewhere.  It might be time to stop playing and head to the dinner table.  A major one for us is pausing the movie so our son can go use the bathroom.  He often fights that one.  Or maybe it's the transition from being away to coming back home.  I have so many memories of standing at the coat closet trying to put away coats after an outing and having an all out battle with my kids about something inane.  "Why?!?" I pondered this after a particularly ugly confrontation in the hall next to the coat closet recently.  Then it dawned on me that these moments are all on the heels of something else.  We had a change in pace, change in location, change in activity and now there's a struggle to transition to something new.  Once I got it I started reminding myself in my head: "Ok, this is a transition time so be more patient.  Don't be surprised if there is noncompliance.  Remember they are still quite small and changes aren't easy for them."  All this self talk- when I remember to do it- has really helped me and I've often been able to see something brewing and ward it off.  I also pointed out what I'd learned to my husband.  The other day we shared a knowing look as we dealt with our daughter melting down at the end of a fun bike ride.  We just nodded and said to each other,  "Yep, it's a transition time..."  Then to the kids,  "Who wants a juice box??"  The meltdown subsided and we moved into the house for some juice.  Seriously, I wish I'd known this when they handed me my son!  Sorry, my sweet boy, that it took me so long to figure this out.  Thankfully, my dear daughter will have an easier go of it through ages two and three than my son did.

Some other moments when my kids are likely to be"difficult" are: when I'm on the phone, when I'm trying to do my hair and makeup in the morning, while I'm making dinner, when we are paying for something at the store...  Hey, parenting isn't easy!!

I'm trying a new game plan for when I'm on the phone.  If my kids are getting too crazy, loud, or doing naughty things on purpose (since I'm on the phone and they think I won't notice) I hold up fingers and count to five.  If I get to five fingers, that means there will be a consequence when I get off the phone.  It's still in the testing phase but worked well yesterday with my son.  I'm not sure that my daughter, at 21 months understands this yet.

Here's the biggie: when I'm making dinner... ugh!  This seems to be the time of day that tries moms' souls!  My goal is to start dinner at 4:30 so it's ready by 5:30.  When I start making dinner, I declare a work zone that is off limits to kids.  They know exactly where they can and can't roam in the kitchen.  That way we are all safe and nobody is literally underfoot while I'm cooking.  Usually, I have to reinforce the boundaries of the work zone at least twice while I'm preparing a meal.  If I'm desperate, I put on a video for the kids to watch.  (We have a one movie per day limit so I make sure to not use the video option up earlier in the day.)  Another method that works is putting miss M in her high chair with toys or a small snack.  Then I set up big brother K at the island with a drink and something to do that isn't normally available.  For example, I have white erase boards with activities that he can doodle on and feel like he's getting to do something special.   On the nights when my husband is working and it's just me and the kids, I rely on leftovers that can be prepared in a hurry so I can avoid blow ups, melt downs, and all the other miserable misdemeanors that seem to sneak up on us during the pre-dinner hour.  At least twice a month I just wave the white flag and we grab a pizza from Papa Murphy's.

My two angelic children: K & Miss M.  They never misbehave...Ha Ha!

What are some predictable times that your kids are likely to misbehave?  And what do you do to try and redirect them into positive behavior? Please share your ideas.  I love to hear from you all!!

Preschool at Home: Finger Painting

I discovered a great resource for doing preschool at home.  It's a book called: Slow and Steady Get Me Ready by June R. Oberlander.  It suggests age appropriate activities for each week of your child's life from birth to age 5.  I decided to try out the activity listed for M's age (almost 21 months old).  Personally, I'd never offer my less than two year old paint, but if the book said they could handle it then I was willing to give it a try.  My sister was visiting, so each kid had an adult nearby to keep things from going crazy.  I cut up some celery, carrots, and apples so we could use them for making prints on paper.  Eventually, it turned into finger painting and we got quite messy.  But everybody had fun and M actually enjoyed it the most.  She's quite the little artist!  

Our lovely Miss M jumped right in and started stamping away like a pro.  

Our little group: K (in Daddy's old shirt), Auntie, Miss M, and Mommy.

Celery seemed to work the best for little hands and made neat designs.

Big Brother K refused to smile while Daddy took pictures of our happy group.
Auntie knew how to make Mr. K smile though!  No faces were actually
painted in the the making of this smile.  :) 

Author Spotlight: Nancy Tillman

For K's 2nd birthday, he received a wonderful book called On the Night You Were Born by Nancy Tillman.  It's message is simple: you are a miracle!  The author never mentions God in any of her books, but there are hints that point you to Him as you read the text.  Each of her six picture books has a similar theme: we are all loved and each person has value.

I love that this book is applicable to adopted kids too!

Not only are Ms. Tillman's books uplifting, but the illustrations that she paints are fantastic too.  I don't know how she does it, but the pictures are very realistic and yet dream like at the same time.  There are often bits of fantasy and whimsy woven into beautiful scenes of nature.  Sometimes you will notice animals, instruments, or faces hidden in roots of an old tree or in the sparkle of the stars.  Her work is truly unique and beautiful.

Written by Eric Metaxas and illustrated by Nancy Tillman.

I happened to see four Nancy Tillman's books on display at Kohl's this week.  They are selling her books: On the Night You Were Born, It's Time to Sleep My Love (by Eric Metaxas), Wherever You Are, and The Spirit of Christmas.  Each book is hardback and on sale for only five dollars, yes that's $5!!  All the profits go to help local children; our Kohl's is donating the money to our local children's hospital.  Very cool, I think.  So now might be the time to grab a few books by Nancy Tillman to give as Christmas gifts.  At least, that's what I'm thinking of doing.  :)

Get four of Ms. Tillman's best selling titles at Kohl's for only $5 each!