Advent, week 3

 Quite a busy week for us!  I'll be happy when things quiet down a bit.  Wish I had some time to just sit at home and relax.  I did take Christmas Eve off, but I think the morning will be willed with last minute errands and wrapping presents and then Bennett will be home in the afternoon.

Monday's Advent activity was to watch Frosty the Snowman.  I don't think Bennett was very intersted.

On Tuesday we opened this magic growing Christmas Tree that was supposed to grow to 6x its size.  (May take up to 72 hours.)  It's now been over 6 days and it has barely grown at all.

Tuesday night we got lots of snow, so when we got home from work/school on Wednesday Bennett got to help shovel the snow.  I stayed inside where it was nice and warm and took horrible photos through the window.  :)

On Wednesday Bennett also got to make Santa's beard out of cotton balls.

Thursday we brought Brit to the vet.  She's been loosing a lot of weight and isn't eating.  (She now weighs only 5 lbs.)  The vet took some x-rays.  She's constipated and likely either has irritable bowel or a tumor, but without further testing he can't say which.  We switched her to some different food which she hungrily ate the first day and has now grown less interested in, and also gave us a laxative to give to her twice a day.

As a somewhat related question, how do you decide how much testing to do for a pet who is 13 years old?  We can't spend too much more on testing and treatment.   I don't think she's in pain, but we also know she isn't healthy. 

When we got home Bennett watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

On Friday Bennett got to color one of those $1 craft packs that comes with a little coloring book, some crayons, and stickers.  I think after about one minute he had lost interest in it.

Saturday was a busy day.

 And not the best video, but it does show Bennett standing up and marching on his own.  He had been doing a lot more marching just before this, but of course I was late getting the camera ready.

After skating we went to the mall for the official photo with Santa.  It was definitely a popular day for visiting Santa and we ended up having to wait in line for about an hour.  Luckily everyone seemed to be in good spirits about it.

And here's a collage of the past years.  I love that it's the same Santa/backdrop in all of the pictures.

And as if our Saturday wasn't busy enough, we had friends over in the afternoon for the annual graham cracker house decorating.  It was a smaller group than usual this year as a few friends couldn't make it and others got sick en route and had to cancel.

Sunday morning we ran some errands doing some grocery shopping, etc.  The afternoon was full of baking.  I made 3 batches of fudge and Bennett made some cookies with Daddy.  Then later I made some Chewy Noels.  Another batch of Chewy Noels and another batch of cookies are still planned.

And that wraps up our week!  I hope this week will be a bit more quiet, but we will see.  The elves are busy in our house trying to get some gifts finished up.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Lots of cute pictures this week, but not too many that I can share yet.  This week I made Bennett a costume to wear for our holiday card photo so there were a few fittings in the evening, and subsequent photos.  We took the photos on Sunday, so by this weekend we'll get the cards back and then they can quickly be signed and mailed.  Here are some pictures that I can share.

I made an advent calendar for Bennett (maybe next week I'll post a picture?) and each day there is a card with some sort of activity.  Some days it relates to what we were planning to do anyway (go to a party, take photos with Santa, etc) and other days it will be a craft, or on many occasions, it's a book to read.  Here's Daddy reading one of the new Christmas books

Thursday Bennett's school had a holiday party. Enrollment at his school is pretty low which works out well because he gets so much one-on-one attention.  They have had a number of new kids start recently though.  What was interesting though was that none of the new families came to the party.  But it was nice to see the kids and parents that we've known for a while now, and that are there every day.  I think there were only 4 families who came to the party (there were also a couple of older siblings) but it kept the whole thing to a manageable size and we were all able to talk.  And Bennett ate another new (to him) food at the party.  Spaghetti!  He also ate mango for the first time, but he hasn't found a fruit that he doesn't like, so that one doesn't surprise us very much.

Bennett decorating cookies (and eating M&Ms) at the holiday party.

On Saturday we set the tree up while Bennett was napping.  I think he was a little surprised to see a tree in the house when he came downstairs.  He helped us decorate and then Daddy picked him up to put the angel on the top.  Unfortunately as Chris leaned in, he got stabbed in the eye by the tree.

We also sat up this snowman that he received for his first Christmas.  He sings Jingle Bell Rock and dances.  Plus there's a little thing on the front of the package that he's holding that spins around and has LEDs that lights up and says Merry Christmas.  A little annoying to us, but Bennett just giggles like crazy.

Sunday afternoon we invited people over for gingerbread (graham cracker) house decorating.  To make things a bit easier I pre-made the houses the night before.  This is pretty helpful because the houses have a chance to completely set and are less likely to fall apart as you put candy on them.  I did end up making 3 houses too many since we weren't entirely  sure who would be able to make it and which adults would want to make their own houses.

Chris helped Bennett with his house, but I think Chris did most (if not all) of the work.  Bennett definitely enjoyed eating the candy though.  :)



Fun for all ages!

 And here are the finished houses.

Yes that's a TARDIS and a Dalek in the back.
We have a number of friends who are Dr. Who fans.

Licorice whip power line coming off one of the houses.

Is the Gingerbread Man a Shriner or just wearing a Santa hat?

My house, and Bennett's "wood shed".

I have to say, I love the way everyone uses the same materials in different ways. And also the way people think out of the box a bit to get materials to suit the need.  For instance, I used Golden Grahams as shingles on my house and Kristen broke them up to make stones for a pathway to lead to her house. Andes Mints got used as doors and shingles and also got cut up to make bricks for a chimney or a different style of shingle.

I do wonder though what people do with their finished gingerbread houses?  Do you just put them out to display and throw them away after a suitable amount of time?  Do you (or the kids) eat them?  It seems that it was a mix of the two options from those I asked.  Personally the idea of eating stale candy doesn't really appeal to me, and I have quite the sweet tooth.