Silly faces

This past week for advent we made some Christmas cards, baking, and played with the nativity set.  We've been enjoying spending lots of family time together and had some friends come for a play date.  Sorry but we were having so much fun together that I forgot to take pictures.  I'll look around for some though.

I love building memories.  I think my favourite thing is baking with the boys. They are learning to take turns and work together.  The boys love to use the apple machine (it cores, peals and slices the apples) and the chopper (sort of like a slap-chop).  Of course they also enjoy scooping flour and measuring ingredients.

TJ has discovered the Photobooth application on my computer.  Here are some fun smiles for you!

Nature wreaths

Awhile back I posted about our plans for nature crafts.  I finally got a chance to make a nature wreath I have been searching all night for the original blog I got the idea from, but alas I can not remember who it was or find it.  Who ever made some beautiful nature wreaths for the side entry of their house, I loved it!!

I'm quite please how these came out.  I'm going to hang the big one at the side door.  This smaller one is in the kitchen.

Advent activities: Easy ornaments

This week our advent activities included:
Game night - in which we played with trucks instead
Wise men story and craft -  the boys leapt around while I read and rushed through decorating a star
Movie - we were out last night so we watching one during lunch today
Christmas ornaments - that is for after nap today

Supplies:
styrofoam balls
sequins
sewing pins
ribbon

Directions:
Use the pins to hold sequins onto the ball. Cut a length of ribbon and hold in place with a pin or glue.
You can cover the whole ball with sequins or even wrap ribbon around the ball too.

I am loving all the home-made decorations we have this year. What have you been making?

Advent activities days 3 to 5

We had a very nice weekend.

On Saturday we went to Main Street Christmas at a local church.

This is TJ dancing to the God Rocks concert.  He preferred the volume in the hall.  It worked for me because MJ kept running up on stage.

waiting for the wagon ride

inflatable slide

inflatable toddler area

The boys made crafts, cookies, played games and watched a concert.  There were more things to do, but keeping up with MJ was very exhausting.

On Sunday the boys were with my parents so they didn't open their stocking.  The plan was to donate.  We have a bag of things that the boys helped me to collect from around the house.  We'll drop that off soon.

Sunday night TJ and I had a sleep over.  He had been asking for a while and since we weren't busy  I agreed.  He sure does talk a lot and he needs a lot of "friends" in bed.  But we had a good night and a great sleep in (thanks MJ!!!)

Today we were going to make treats, but we'd done enough of that on the weekend.  So we made a garland made from old christmas cards instead.

To make the garland.  Just cut circles from old greeting cards and attach them to some thread using a sticker!

Christmas Sneak Peek - Gifts For the Boys part 2

Oh how I love looking at the inspirational ideas from different blogs.  Unfortunately the more I look the more ideas I get.  My list keeps getting longer and longer.
Who couldn't want some of these incredible treats by Dana from Made

I began to look around for more felt food  and made a huge shopping list.  I only made a few things on the list, but I'll keep making more if the boys enjoy playing with these fun treats for Christmas.

Here is MJ's Christmas present

Breakfast: Bacon, eggs, pancakes

Bologna sandwich and hotdogs

Mushrooms, carrot, pear, banana, fish

Treats: cookies, lollipop, popsicle chocolate bar

Adorable small tote from Value Village on sale.

 I think I'll work on more food for Easter or Valentines.  I have this super cute material from Ikea that I want to make a shopping bag.

If you are interested in making some felt food here are some great blogs to get you started
Playing with your food
Free Play Food Patterns
Helping Little Hands
Felt-o-rama

Christmas Sneak Peek - Gifts For the Boys part 1

Warning!  If you do not want to see what I am giving the boys for Christmas then read no further. 

Mom this is for you!!

For a long time now TJ has been using our fabric roads but gets frustrated because they wrinkle.  This year I made TJ a car mat!  I am so excited to give TJ this gift.  There are many different blogs who have inspired this idea and unfortunately I didn't write them all down.  I do encourage you to do a quick search for car mats to give you some ideas.  I have even found some cute ones for girls.

Rolls up for easy travel.

Pockets for "parking" cars

Farm, construction site, places that TJ loves to go

Down town

Love this idea from Soule Mama for gift bags.  I'd like to have ours all coordinated too so I'm waiting until after Christmas this year in hopes of a good sale.

I'm very pleased at how this turned out.  I got the green material from Value Village as an old blanket that I cut in two pieces.  The rest was made of felt and material from my stash.  I'm a little annoyed that the velcro ribbon is not centred at all.  I'm tempted to move it, but I know TJ won't mind.

Stay tuned for more sneak peeks coming soon.

Going Wild with Jello

These pictures are a bit old because I forgot to publish this post.

I aquired a large amount of Jello packages.  Although I do enjoy eatting Jello my boys aren't really into it.  So I decided it might be fun for them to play with their food....

These photos were taken before the boys undressed, used the tarp as a Jello slip n' slide, and flung Jello onto the walls and such.

I have decided to keep these super fun messy activities for outdoors in the summer.  Although I'm all about sensory activities, I don't think I can handle the stress of making such a huge mess again.