Wordless Wednesday - A Tale of Two Gingerbread Houses

Linked up at A Lot of Loves, 5 Minutes for Mom and My Organized Chaos!

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A Relaxing Trip to the Mall....No Really! Day 12 of the 25 Days of Christmas

After last weeks trip to the ER and a Christmas party on Saturday by the time Sunday rolled around we wanted to do something fun with Evan.  His only request was that we go eat Pannenkoken at our favorite Dutch pancake house.  As we were leaving after breakfast, I suggested we could go to the mall.

After Dewey stopped crying, he agreed that we could go to the mall.  You could tell he was really "taking one for the team".  I knew that we probably wouldn't get much shopping done but I figured we could look around, let Evan look around and then go home.    Well, it ended up being an awesome day.....

First we visited all the living statues.  They creeped Evan out a bit at first but then he loved them.  He kept saying "More statues please!"

Then he got to ride the carousel.

Some of the horses even had antlers!

He got a rudolph nose when he got off the carousel.

Then we went to look through the North Pole telescope.

We finished up this wonderful day by seeing Tangled which Evan loved.  It is a very cute movie & worth the trip to the movies.

What a great way to celebrate the 12th Day of Christmas!

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Gingerbread House Construction! - Day 10 in the 25 Days of Christmas

I have never built or decorated a gingerbread house.

Ever.

Weird, huh?  I figured....what the heck...no time like the present to remedy the situation!  I bought a gingerbread house kit because though I try, I am no Martha Stewart!

I must say the pile of parts was a bit daunting but the kit raved about the "EZ build tray". 

So far so good.  I decided to build the house without Evan's "help" so that we both might live through this experiment.

We have a roof!

Candies do not like to cling to vertical surfaces especially when they are heavy and round.  Those stinking gumballs were the bane of my existence.  Even with the help of a cork, the gumball had to go.  We replaced with a flat candy instead.

Just in case you thought I build this whole thing myself.  Evan actually helped decorate quite a bit.  He also taste tested all of the candies for me.

The final product.  Pretty good if I may say so myself.  That snowman insists on leaning but what can you do?

Evan was super excited about how well it turned out.  I think we will be doing another gingerbread house next year.  

Do you decorate a gingerbread house at your house?  Do you buy a kit or do you go all Martha Stewart and bake it from scratch?

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25 Days of Christmas Update - Days 8-10

I took a bit of a break from blogging about our 25 Days of Christmas activities every day.  I had other things to blog about & honestly I didn't want to bore you completely to death.

Evan got the stomach virus on Day 9 so we had to be a bit "flexible" with our activities.  Kevin the Elf has told us to go see Christmas lights twice and we still haven't made it.  Here's hoping that we manage to fit it in before Christmas!

Our paper snowflakes from Day 7

Collage for Day 8.  Evan got an Elmo Christmas Activity book for his Christmas Activity

Collage for Day 9 - Evan opened his advent but then it went downhill from there.  A call from his preschool teacher after he puked everywhere 3 times during class (in the first 10 minutes), stained living room carpet & a trip to the ER at the Children's Hospital was NOT really what I had in mind to celebrate Christmas!!!

Day 10:  I stayed home with Evan for most of the day (like my snowflake flannel pants?)

Dewey and Evan constructed a foam Gingerbread house for his 25 Days of Christmas activity (though Kevin had told us to try to see the Christmas lights again.  It was -17 so we decided to skip it yet again.)

The finished gingerbread house.  Cute, no?  Both Dewey and Evan were COVERED in glitter.  I am so happy that Dewey got to "experience" doing crafts with Evan.  Hee hee!

If you are celebrating the 25 Days of Christmas, have you had to skip any of your activities?

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Wordless Wednesday - Days 5, 6 & 7 of Christmas Collages

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

This post is linked up at My Organized Chaos!

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On the Fifth Day of Christmas.....

We went to a Christmas Party and met Santa!  Big day for sure!

Mad Science show!

Nicole with her besties...Madeliene, Camron & Nicole

Evan was a bit freaked out by the tree (my friend Jolene) so I got in the picture too.  

Tired boy waiting to see Santa.

Such a big boy! He had a great conversation with Santa.

Such a cool Gingerbread House....In the lobby of the Westin in Calgary

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The Fourth Day of Christmas

Today is the Fourth Day of Christmas and Kevin the elf told Evan that we should watch a Christmas movie today.  Dewey and Nicole went to watch a play tonight so Will, Evan and I stayed home and watched Elf. Evan was quite excited to watch a movie about Kevin's friends!

Evan's preschool is going to have a Christmas program in mid-December so he is constantly breaking out into song or rhyme but then shutting up like a clam if you mention it.  Amazingly enough he let me catch him on camera BUT he decided to take some "creative license" with the poem half way through.  I promise to repost if I can catch the "real" version on video!



Today I also got to do something fun!  My friend, Shawna, and I went to a painting "class" through Girltalk.  Honestly, we didn't really even remember what the class was all about because we signed up so long ago.  We had a great chat driving out to Bragg Creek where it was held even though we had a bit of trouble figuring out where we were supposed to go.

Even though we both thought we were lacking in creative talent, we were able to make some great paintings.  The lady who taught the class is going to make one  of our projects into 6 greeting cards as well which is kind of cool.

Clockwise from top left: My owl picture, Shawna working on her masterpieces, my messy work space, my abstract Christmas tree.

Painting class was definitely out of my comfort zone....What have you done lately that was out of your comfort zone but you ended up enjoying it more than you thought you would?

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The Third Day of Christmas

7:15 am *Pop* went my eyelids

7:16 am "OH NO! I forgot to move Kevin!" went my brain.  

We had a retirement party last night so we got home late and a little *ahem* tipsy so I totally forgot about Kevin.  Thankfully I remembered before Evan got up!

Clockwise from top left: Santa craft Evan made at preschool, Evan's note from Kevin, shy Evan hiding from the camera, Evan's Playmobil toy from his advent calendar

This morning Kevin left Evan a note that tonight he should have some hot cocoa to celebrate the third day of Christmas.  When I got home this afternoon, the first thing Evan said was "It's time for hot cocoa, Mama!"  I convinced him to wait until after supper (which he ate 3 helpings of.....unheard of!).  Everyone enjoyed a nice cup of Christmas cheer!

Evan was so excited to tell Will & Nicole about Kevin & all the things we're doing for Christmas this year.

First he had to show Will his advent calendar and then....

Nicole helped him put snowman clings on the patio doors.

Are you celebrating the 25 Days of Christmas or advent?  Come on....talk to me!

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Day 1 & 2 of The 25 Days of Christmas

One day down....only 24 to go.  Here's hoping I make it through this!  I love the premise behind The 25 Days of Christmas started by Andrea at a peek inside the fishbowl BUT I am stressing a bit over fitting it all in.  Oh well.....I will give it my best and see how it goes.  I'm combining the 25 Days of Christmas with our Elf on the Shelf.

Day 1

Today our Elf on the Shelf arrived direct from Santa's workshop.  He appeared on our fireplace mantel.  Evan had a tough time finding him so I had to help him out.  Today our 25 Days of Christmas activity was to welcome our Elf, read the Elf on the Shelf book and name our Elf.  Evan couldn't decide what his name was until right before bed.  He dubbed our Elf Kevin.  Not an overly "elf-ish" name but it will do.

Evan also got to open Day 1 of his Playmobil Pirate Advent Calendar (cuz nothing says Christmas like pirates....argh!).  All he got today was a palm tree but he was still excited.  We had to hide it on top of the refrigerator to keep him from opening more days.

Day 2:

Dewey and I have a retirement party to go to tomorrow night so we won't see Evan after we leave for work.  We occasionally (okay....often) have work commitments that keep us both away on the same evenings.  I couldn't let this take away from Evan's fun though! So.....

Kevin left Evan a stack of Christmas coloring pages to color tomorrow with Cherry.  (Wow! Kevin's handwriting sure is girly!)  Hopefully there won't be too many days where we won't be there to do his activity with him.  We will let him open Day 2 of his Advent Calendar before we leave for work.

Want to follow more 25 Days of Christmas blogs?  Here are some to check out!

Tales of the Fairy Blogmother

a peek inside the fishbowl

A Little Bit of Momsense

Are you celebrating the 25 Days of Christmas or Advent?  How?  I would love to hear about your family's traditions!

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Wordless Wednesday - December is HERE!

Stay tuned for posts about our new Elf on the Shelf (bottom left) and our celebration of the 25 Days of Christmas!

Pictures above were taken with my iPod Touch using Hipstamatic app (for funky film look) and the Diptich app (to make collage).

Linked up for Wordless Wednesday at A Lot of Loves and My Organized Chaos

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Christmas Time is Coming!!!!!

I know, I know, it's still November but thanks to Shan and her mention of the 25 Days of Christmas Challenge I am now officially in the Christmas spirit!  I will be figuring out 25 days of activities for my little family to do starting Dec 1.  Stay tuned for "all Christmas all the Time" once December 1 hits.  You have been warned.  :)

This year I would like to do things a bit differently though.  I want to focus on "doing" and "giving" instead of "getting".  I have no delusions that we won't have a big case of the "gimmes" around here since Evan is 3 and all.  We get a small dose of that each and every morning watching YTV.  "I want that.  Can I have that?  I want that!"

Some ideas I've come up with to focus on "doing" and "giving" are:

• Make cookies and then deliver to the neighbors as holiday gifts.
• Make gifts for Evan's preschool teachers.
• Pack a Christmas box for Samaritan's purse (tho do this one soon b/c it ends in mid Nov). You can even "pack" one online this year.
• Give out charitable gift certificates in addition or instead of gifts.  Kiva, WorldVision, etc all have ways to do this.
• Adopt a family through Angel Tree or other organizations.  
• Volunteer to make cards/presents or even better....visit....local nursing homes/lodges.

There are so many great ways to get involved & to show your children that Christmas isn't just about getting.

What are your favorite "doing" and "giving" family activities?

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