two more advents...

Tonight the draw was:



Except, we (or Daddy that is...) proclaimed it too difficult to play the drum to Christmas music, so he organized a play list of our favorite songs instead.

I was really expecting this to be a hit. We like music, drums, and are eager dancers. We had fun, but the gal beat on the drums about four times and was done with them.



Poor Doug was hanging around to do this with us - before heading off for a night with his friends.



When the drums didn't do it, we turned to dancing and being silly. Kenzie drug out her gallons of plastic animals and started organizing them into her typical follow-the-leader parades. Mom & dad drank a beer and danced, and it was still fun despite being far-off from the original activity. (again we just adjusted our expectations). Kenzie sporadically danced around and at a late point in the activity she ran over and plunked this hat on my head. Daddy managed to have the camera handy, and Mama got lucky with a few cute shots. {The camera isn't typically too nice to me....}



Tomorrow, the grand finale of advent:



We're so incredibly blessed to have such a bright and spunky gal to share the holidays with. We can't wait for the next stage of all this fun. It's gonna be a merry holiday!!

Advent: art

As we are nearing the end, I'm finally experiencing some positive adjustments to my own Advent expectations. Just go with the flow Mama!

Some days we don't get to the activity named on the link. Most days we do. Some activities are a poor match for the day we selected it on (i.e. too cold for star-gazing). So we improvise. Somehow we even got a day ahead on our link removal. Now we've got to slow down! Next year, I'll stockpile some Christmas craft ideas and utilize those most frequently in our advent chain/calendar, whichever we do. We both love art projects, and they are a perfect reminder to slow down and calm yourself amongst the hustle and bustle of the holiday season.

Yesterday, we drew:



Obviously, I handed Kenzie another magic wand of a glue stick, cut out some body pieces and she glued them down. She named the colors and the body parts for me to create:



She enjoyed the elf so much, that she proceeded on to naming the components of these creations. A snow man complete with a magic hat and bunnies jumping out:



Our house, complete with us and several neighbors playing outside:



Today, after drawing the following:



We decided to convert our previous art pieces into something further with some glitter glue and markers. LOTS of glitter glue.







We also made some crazy looking ornaments out of a kit I picked up at the dollar store. We're going to attach these to blank cards, mail with the artwork shown above...and send them along with our "thank you's" for all the gifts she's received.





Santa got a bit of a make-over. He's wearing blue this year...

The advent of: Paperwhites

Today, we drew this link from the chain:



I was horribly nervous that this might be a disaster. I'd collected three tin cans and had seen an idea for embellishing them into vases using fabrics and notions. I pre-cut the fabric and ribbons and then brought Kenzie in on the project to wrap them up. I let her do the gluing. Handling a toddler a tub of fabric glue is a daunting thing. But, she's gonna be the next Martha Stewart! Aside from A LOT of extra glue stuck to my counter tops and my bare arm - this project was a breeze! She held things in place as I wrapped them. Her job, as she proclaimed was: "Make it STICK -all- over." And boy did she!!! She also robbed my collection of Christmasy collage & ephemera bits of nearly all I had stockpiled. She's a "more is more" kinda gal when it comes to embellishing. I cut her off when she started trying to add mauve butterflies.



Her favorite part was making the "dirt." I'd bought a Narcissus Bulb kit that included planting mix that came in a disk. Add warm water, stir...and presto - you have "dirt." Her other favorite part was taking pictures of me...taking pictures of her. *giggle*

My shot:

Her shot:


She found the bulbs fascinating. She, however, kept asking: "????THIS is a flower????"



I was truly expecting the end result of this project to be a messy toddler disaster. Kenzie made it extra pretty. We yet get to nurture it, watch it grow, and become even prettier.



Now we'll be celebrating the advent of paperwhites. An occasion to be realized in 3 to 5 weeks.

Advent: Home stretch!

With the Christmas celebration this past weekend, we let our advent activities fall by the wayside. I've therefore scrapped a few links off of the chain. Kenzie is getting excited now for the real Christmas. I think she's eager with anticipation of the gifts (after the little taster she got this past weekend). I do think however, that she gets just as excited about "giving" as she does in the "getting." I was proud that she was hunting for her wrapped artwork gifts for her grandparents rather than selfishly searching for another package for herself. She was so cute & proud to pass on her little gifts to everyone.

We have completed the following links:


A week-or-so ago, while shopping - Kenzie spontaneously saw a dog toy at a store and asked if we could get it for Zoey for Christmas. We did. It did not make it to the stage of wrapping, nor did it go under the tree. She immediately presented it to our dog, and we've played many a games with it since. The ball is already in shreds. Zoey goes through balls rather quickly.

Tonight, however, we debut our Christmas toes. We officially elevate ourselves to the ugliest of family feet on the web. Go ahead and nominate us if such a prestigious award exists. Doug's feet are just a horror. My feet are weathered from years of going barefoot in California - and although it's winter here...I'm still barefoot most days. Kenzie got her dad's feet...and my preference for walking barefoot. Poor girl has some expensive pedicure bills in her future.



My toes were already red, so I just gave the gal some sparkles to embellish them with. She excitedly applied the "sprinkles" as she kept calling them.



And, well..you just have to love a man who'll do this without complaining. He'll really do anything for that little girl of his. Anything.



There you have it. Christmas toes. Red, green, and "sprinkles." I don't think I've ever seen merrier ugly toes.

And yet another photographer in the family:

We've just wrapped up an early Christmas celebration with my parents and brothers, and it was a most lucrative experience for Ms. Kenzie. A bike, a circus, a MP3 player, a new "friend," a whole lotta fun stuff. She even got her very own kid-friendly digital camera.

I'm sure I don't have to verbalize my excitement about the camera! The below photos were taken by Kenzie, so this is Christmas in her "eyes" (minus a whole bunch of shots of her toes, a few crotch shots (sorry Nana!), etc. She's getting to "know" her camera just as quickly as I did when I got my new Canon Digital Rebel SLR. :)










Kenzie mimicked mommy's style of picture taking - thoughtful close-ups, with several repeat photos - just in case you missed what you were looking for the first time. We also witnessed the wonderfully creative mind of a toddler as she announced taking pictures of an "owl." What an elightening perspective. Upon close view of this wall-hanging, you can {almost} see what she's thinking... She sees an owl.



I can hardly wait to take this little photographer out on photo-shoots and see the world more clearly through her eyes. I'll be looking for a venue where I can store her photos, perhaps another blog, her own flickr account... and, maybe, just maybe...she'll award me with taking a nice picture of her Mama! (since no one else seems to be able to accomplish this!)

More Advent

Well, we've accomplished these - but didn't take pictures of the toy delivery, nor are the ones I took dancing wildly crazy to holiday music of anything worth sharing. Mama's rear was always in the wrong place at the wrong time, it seems.

Today's draw was: Put peanut butter & birdseed pinecones out for the birds. Instead we're gonna make pretzel rolo pecan treats for our early Christmas celebration with my side of the family - to occur this weekend. Sorry birdies, but it's nice warm weather outside (no jackets required), so I think you'll be okay.

I chose this recipe as it's toddler perfect, and she can be proud of her accomplishment when she shares it with her Nana, Grandpa, parents & uncles tomorrow.

Pretzel Rolo Pecan Treats:
Bag of Rolos
Bag of Mini Pretzels
Bag of pecan halves

Preheat the oven to 250 and line a baking sheet with tin foil.
Spread out pretzels, add a rolo to each one.

Bake four minutes.
Add pecan and squish down.

Chill in fridge and then store in sealed container.

**you'll note that your ingredients may deplete rather quickly..as well as the final product.

Advent: something like Day 12??

Today, I received a really nice email which said the following: "I can't even imagine how you have time to be such an amazing and creative mom - I have been following the advent adventure and am just simply captivated - it looks like you are creating such a fun tradition. I am hoping if I have a kiddo some day I can pick up some great mom ideas from your blog!" (Thanks Alysia!!!) It was such a nice thing to read as I feel like I'm failing..big time..at this advent thing.

Tonight, Kenzie removed the following link:



Um. It's cold outside. Really cold.

{Alysia - if I can offer a word of wisdom. When your child can't read: Run with it!!! With a high-pitched squeaky exciting voice yell out: "Kenzie we get to drink hot chocolate with marshmallows and candy cane stirs!!! OH WOW!"
So, we did that instead.
And, Kenzie...when you're old enough to read this. I'm sorry. I really am. But, I'm a big. fat. liar.



This little treat was so yummy. But, really how can a warm cup of chocolate sugar water, with a sugar stir stick, topped with little puffs of sugar go bad???



These pictures depict the moments before Kenzie launched like a rocket, of course. There is a reason why I don't usually support dosing that girl with sugar. Maybe all that extra energy was karma for the wee little lie I told?



...oh, if only we'd had these reindeer antlers yesterday. Perhaps, we could have made a bit more sense out of all that "crazy!"

Playing catch-up Advent style

Today was an advent extravaganza, but we're still behind. Kenzie thrives on structured activities though and got a kick out of both of these. Mid-afternoon we did this one:



We didn't have a full collection of holiday cards just yet, and I couldn't dismantle those that were of the family photo variety, so we made some art out of the slim pickings. No worries, Kenzie's just like her mama and can make something out of nothing. I figure we'll add more embellishments to this as new holiday cards roll in via the mail.



Secondly, after Kenzie's nap, we completed this activity:



Well, in argument of my face painting abilities...it's exceptionally difficult to paint a wriggling child. Especially when using paint left over from Halloween. The leftover paints tend to be a bit...ahem...hard.



Here's Kenzie comparing herself to Rudolph, in the mirror:



After studying herself very carefully at angles, head-on, and the comparison...She exclaimed:



"I look kinda CrAzY!!!!"

I started laughing hysterically... and pretty soon we both were. I guess you can't fool a 2.5 year old. She's wise beyond her years.