Advent Activity Day 8 took us to the library for a Gingerbread House Making Workshop :)
Way to decorate those "oh so sturdy" gingerbread houses... hope they tasted as cute as they looked :)
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Advent -- Days 7 & 8
Advent Day 7 happened to be the day of my Daybreak Staff Christmas Party...so while I was celebrating the season with some of my colleagues in ministry (aka... favorite people on this planet)...the girls got to hang out at the "babysitting house" with many of their closest Daybreak friends...I've had to get creative a few times this month with what I was calling their activity for the day, but this definitely qualified as a fun advent activity for them.
Advent Activity Day 8 took us to the library for a Gingerbread House Making Workshop :)
Way to decorate those "oh so sturdy" gingerbread houses... hope they tasted as cute as they looked :)
Advent Activity Day 8 took us to the library for a Gingerbread House Making Workshop :)
Way to decorate those "oh so sturdy" gingerbread houses... hope they tasted as cute as they looked :)
More Advent Fun - Days 3-6
We have been having so much fun this month with all of our advent activities that I've not had time to document them....so, here are the highlights so far:
I have loved the girls excitement each day as they have gone to the calendar to open the door and read their secret message:
Advent Activity Day 3: The girls helped me with putting up the rest of the Christmas Decorations around the house ~ Here are some of the final results of our decorating extravaganza :)
Nice Work Girls :) Daddy even commented what a nice job we did on the decorating and that he thought the house looks really nice for Christmas!
Advent Activity Day 4 was for me to take Megan on a special mother-daughter date, while Alexia and Daddy had some special time at home. I had to prep Alexia for this in advance so that she didn't freak out and Megan could actually enjoy the anticipation of having her night with Mommy. I assured Alexia her night out with me was coming... :)
For my night out with Megan, we went to McDonalds for a quick dinner, then I surprised her by taking her to the ECC's Christmas Program. Megan has been asking to go back to the ECC to visit teachers and friends who still go there, so she was very excited. Plus, her best buddy Grady was in the Christmas program for the first time, so she enjoyed watching him perform (especially because she didn't have the pressure on herself this year to be in the program).
Have to say it was strange not have one of the girls in the program this year...bittersweet!
We got home just in time for all of us to snuggle up on the couches with warm blankets and watch a holiday classic, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer !!!!
Advent Activity Day 5 was to go with the girls to the Wednesday night Children's Scrimmage Program for their Christmas Party. Alexia sang on the worship team that night and there were many fun activities scheduled throughout the night.
The first activity involved them making ornaments for some kids who were living in a local homeless shelter... The girls made their ornament for a 7 year old girl named Jewel.
After ornament making, there was sugar cookie decorating. The girls decorated two sugar cookies each; one to eat and one to give away. They both thoroughly enjoyed their cookie and wanted to give their "give away cookie" to Jerry & Lois who live across the street from us.
Advent Day 6: It was Alexia's turn :) We also did a quick dinner at Subway (one of her favorite places to eat) and then we drove to the Hershey Theatre...she had no idea where we were going, but was very excited because Daddy told her she was going to LOVE IT!!! And, she definitely did have a great time. The only bummer was how late it went as she got pretty tired, but we had so much fun together!
LOOKING FORWARD TO MANY MORE ONE-ON-ONE Nights with the girls in the years to come!!
I have loved the girls excitement each day as they have gone to the calendar to open the door and read their secret message:
Advent Activity Day 3: The girls helped me with putting up the rest of the Christmas Decorations around the house ~ Here are some of the final results of our decorating extravaganza :)
Nice Work Girls :) Daddy even commented what a nice job we did on the decorating and that he thought the house looks really nice for Christmas!
Advent Activity Day 4 was for me to take Megan on a special mother-daughter date, while Alexia and Daddy had some special time at home. I had to prep Alexia for this in advance so that she didn't freak out and Megan could actually enjoy the anticipation of having her night with Mommy. I assured Alexia her night out with me was coming... :)
For my night out with Megan, we went to McDonalds for a quick dinner, then I surprised her by taking her to the ECC's Christmas Program. Megan has been asking to go back to the ECC to visit teachers and friends who still go there, so she was very excited. Plus, her best buddy Grady was in the Christmas program for the first time, so she enjoyed watching him perform (especially because she didn't have the pressure on herself this year to be in the program).
Have to say it was strange not have one of the girls in the program this year...bittersweet!
We got home just in time for all of us to snuggle up on the couches with warm blankets and watch a holiday classic, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer !!!!
Advent Activity Day 5 was to go with the girls to the Wednesday night Children's Scrimmage Program for their Christmas Party. Alexia sang on the worship team that night and there were many fun activities scheduled throughout the night.
The first activity involved them making ornaments for some kids who were living in a local homeless shelter... The girls made their ornament for a 7 year old girl named Jewel.
Advent Day 6: It was Alexia's turn :) We also did a quick dinner at Subway (one of her favorite places to eat) and then we drove to the Hershey Theatre...she had no idea where we were going, but was very excited because Daddy told her she was going to LOVE IT!!! And, she definitely did have a great time. The only bummer was how late it went as she got pretty tired, but we had so much fun together!
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| It was an absolutely FANTASTIC SHOW!!! |
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Advent -- Day 2
Today was Day 2 and I think the kids already knew what their little paper was going to say, but nonetheless, they were excited to check it out...
Megan has become really interested in reading, so she asked if she could read today's activity and she did great reading it (with a little help from her big sis) :)
"We are going to decorate the Christmas Tree."
After church, I got the lights on the tree...we've been using larger lights , which we think are fun for something different, but they do make taking decent pictures a challenge, due to the glare.
The girls helped with the rest of the decorating, although they seemed to get tuckered out pretty quickly, so our tree is very simple this year, which really is fine with me...I kind like it that way :)
So, Daddy's contribution to the tree decorating is picking up Megan to put the star on top of the tree...unfortunately, I had not trimmed the top branch yet...so we had some star challenges. Megan took it in stride, let me trim the tree and then we put it back on.
Megan insisted on taking the final picture of the tree...notice the star did not make the cut in her picture...too funny!
Megan has become really interested in reading, so she asked if she could read today's activity and she did great reading it (with a little help from her big sis) :)
"We are going to decorate the Christmas Tree."
After church, I got the lights on the tree...we've been using larger lights , which we think are fun for something different, but they do make taking decent pictures a challenge, due to the glare.
The girls helped with the rest of the decorating, although they seemed to get tuckered out pretty quickly, so our tree is very simple this year, which really is fine with me...I kind like it that way :)
So, Daddy's contribution to the tree decorating is picking up Megan to put the star on top of the tree...unfortunately, I had not trimmed the top branch yet...so we had some star challenges. Megan took it in stride, let me trim the tree and then we put it back on.
Megan insisted on taking the final picture of the tree...notice the star did not make the cut in her picture...too funny!
Advent Activities Begin -- Day 1
This year I decided that I wanted to do an Advent Calendar of activities with the girls...a special activity each day during the month of December, leading up to Christmas. It's an opportunity to focus a little more on the meaning of Christmas and to make some fun memories together :)
Alexia and Megan have been so excited about this...so they were definitely ready to open door #1 to see what was planned for the day. They jumped out of bed, woke me up and went straight to the advent calendar house...
Megan got to open the door and Alexia read the note:
"Go get dressed and ready to leave...we are going to the School Holiday Breakfast and meeting up with our good friends the Williams and Bitz Families."
As soon as we arrived, we ran into the Evans Family, whom we haven't seen in a long time. Terri, their mom and I were talking about how strong of a connection these girls have with each other...no matter how much time passes between their play dates, they continue to be the best of friends with each other.
The Kaplins and the Williams...lifelong friends!
After breakfast, they had a few different activities for the kids to do...singing carols with the middle school choir, arts and crafts and even pictures with Santa!
They, of course sang "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and Alexia was assigned to be "Two Turtle Doves" along with a friend from school.
Megan and Grady...these two crack me up!!
The even begged us to sit on Santa's lap...so we agreed. Alexia asked Santa for a guitar and Megan asked Santa for an art kit (like Alexia's since Alexia won't share with her)...that girl certainly isn't afraid to say it like it is!
After the breakfast, we stopped to get our Christmas Tree and then came home for some cookies and punch!
This is going to be one very fun month!!
Alexia and Megan have been so excited about this...so they were definitely ready to open door #1 to see what was planned for the day. They jumped out of bed, woke me up and went straight to the advent calendar house...
Megan got to open the door and Alexia read the note:
"Go get dressed and ready to leave...we are going to the School Holiday Breakfast and meeting up with our good friends the Williams and Bitz Families."
The Kaplins and the Williams...lifelong friends!
After breakfast, they had a few different activities for the kids to do...singing carols with the middle school choir, arts and crafts and even pictures with Santa!
Megan and Grady...these two crack me up!!
The even begged us to sit on Santa's lap...so we agreed. Alexia asked Santa for a guitar and Megan asked Santa for an art kit (like Alexia's since Alexia won't share with her)...that girl certainly isn't afraid to say it like it is!
After the breakfast, we stopped to get our Christmas Tree and then came home for some cookies and punch!
This is going to be one very fun month!!
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