Advent Activity Day 6

Today we made hand print Christmas cards. This was a messy project and I HAD A BLAST doing. it. I think Collin enjoyed it too.


This time Dusty was home when we did it so he got to be my awesome photographer while I worked with Dart.

I gathered up the supplies:

Washable paint
Card Stock folded to be a card
News Paper for the floor
2 yr old for the hand print.

And we got to work.

At first I tried to make Christmas trees but the cards I made were too small for his hands. The first card attempt was done with green paint for the tree.

 But when that didn't work we moved on to brown paint and we made hand print reindeer instead.

When we finally got into a grove we cranked out those cards in no time.

Here are 2 examples we made.

When we were done I put them on the washing machine to dry. Once they finished drying I added a red sequence for the nose and used black marker to draw eyes, antlers, a smile and the hoofs.

Advent Activites Day 4 & 5

On day 4 we made paper snowflakes. We haven't gotten any real snow yet since we have still, in December, been experiencing 80 degree days  so I decided I would give the weather a little bit of encouragement.

I folded all the paper during nap time so that would be one less thing for me to have to worry about. We made 10 large snow flakes and 10 small snow flakes. I think I had more fun folding the paper than Dart did with the scissors.







When he woke up from his nap I let him open the envelope to see what the project was. It turned out, yet again, to a bit more advanced for him than I realized it would be so he spent some time watching cartoons while I did most of the actual cutting of the patterns. But that's ok. As long as fun was being had.

Once they were all cut out the fun part began. GLITTER!!! Yes folks that's right. We used glitter. I mean, come on, they had to look like REAL snow flakes and to me they have always sparkled a bit. So I added the glue and Dart got to sprinkle on the glitter.


Here is out end product:

Once they were dry I divided them up and taped them to our down stairs windows. Hopefully this will encourage the weather to be a bit more Christmasy.

Day 5 was just coloring Christmas coloring pages.


I decided that we would need a "down day" after all the fun activities we have been doing.

I picked up these coloring books at Walmart for $1.00 a piece. There were others but these were the three on top so I grabbed them. I have left them out where Dartanion can get to them in case his artistic side wants to color.













Here is Dart coloring his pictures:

This one didn't last very long. The action on the T.V. that I didn't turn off this time was just too much but hey, that is what happens sometimes right?

Advent Activity Day 3

Today our activity was to make a toilet paper roll nativity scene. This project, while fun and creative, I realized was just a little too time consuming and hands off  for Collin. But none the less we got it done, well more me than we, but its done.








I found the pictures I used this Nativity. 

I like the way the picture look and it was designed to go around toilet paper or paper towel tubes.

For the back drop I used an empty hot cocoa box. Its seemed easier to me than trying to follow what was done in the original blog.

 Collin did help with some of the coloring and then he lost interest in the project. I was fine with that just as long as he knew he could come back and help me when ever he wanted to.

He did want to get in on the scissor action but I told him that would have to wait until next year.

Here is our final product:

Advent Activity Day 2

Today we wrote our letter to Santa.

I found a site that says if I send in the letter with a self addressed stamped envelope and 5 dollars Dart can receive back a letter from Santa, a certificate saying he is on the nice list, and a photo of Santa. We are gonna try it. Even if its a scam at least he got to write his letter to Santa.

I started by writing on the lines for him what he was asking for. This year he asked for:
A new book
A new movie
A new Superman and
A new Batman.

Then he got to "write" on his own. He really likes writing and coloring so that part was fun.

Daddy was able to take a minute before he had to head off to work again to help with the letter writing. He is drawing a Superman and Batman symbol on the bottom of the letter.










And there it is. Dart's completed Santa letter. The first one he has ever done!

Advent Activity Day 1

Today we opened envelope number one of our Activity Advent Calendar.

Inside it said: Make Christmas Ornament. So that is what we did.

While the kids were napping I gathered up all the ingredients I would need.

Flour, Salt, Water, Cookie Cutters, Parchment Paper, a cookie sheet and a bowl to mix it all in. (The bowl was still dirty so it didn't make it into the picture.)


When Dart got up from his nap we went into the kitchen to get started. I let him help me by pouring the ingredients into the bowl. It was a process that needed 100% supervision so I didn't get any pictures of him helping me mix. Oh well, maybe next time.

Once the dough was ready he climbed up into his high chair so we could get to work.

I gave him a small ball of his own to work with and he was SO excited to get to play with it. And thanks to my time taking cake decorating classes I had on hand a rolling pin just his size. So for that I have to say, "Thanks Ma. For encouraging to take those classes."

Isn't he doing such a great job of rolling out that dough.

Ok, so it would have taken forever if I let him do that all by himself so finally after a bit I rolled it out the rest of the way for him.

 Next came making the actual ornaments. He picked out each one on his own as we went along. I helped a little with making sure they were completely cut but for the most part he did that all on his own.

 It was really neat to see how proud of him self he was when he would cut each ornament. I am amazed at how fast he is growing up.

From there we put them in the oven. The directions I have say to bake at about 325 for roughly an hour. However, my oven is smaller than most standard ovens so I planned to check mine at half an hour.













Our finished product. The got a bit darker than I wanted to but that is just fine because in a few days they will be getting a paint job anyway.

I really enjoyed today's activity. I hope that this can become a tradition that Dart and I can do for a long time to come. Check back tomorrow to see what we do on day 2.

Advent Activities Calendar

This year I decided I wanted to do something fun with Dart as we got closer to Christmas. While searching on Pinterest, (don't we all just love that place??) I found an idea for an activities advent calendar.

Its made up of 24 little envelopes. Inside each one is a special activity to be done that day leading up to Christmas. Today I put ours together. Most of the activities are crafts that I can do with Collin that will get hung up in the livingroom to go with our decorations but there are a few that are baking. There is also a day we get to see Santa and another day for us to go look at the Christmas lights.

I am really looking forward to this and I think that Dart will really enjoy it too.

Here are some pics of the Calendar all put together:

 Stay tuned to see how each day's project turns out.

Get this party started

2 days ago I was working on decorating the house for Christmas. I love this time of year when I can get out all sorts of extra decorations and really go wild with the house. In the process Dart was doing his best to help me out.

He would hand me things and try to tell me what looked best in his expert 2 year old opinion. And, to be honest, he was doing a pretty good job. On top of that he was helping to entertain baby sister, who has decided to become very verbal and interactive lately.

For several hours I would craft and place various things until I decided it was time to figure out where the lights needed to go up at. We don't have a tree but I still wanted lights up.  As I finished wrapping the final strand of lights around the bannister I looked down and smiled at Dart.

I said, "Well what do you think?"

He climed up into the recliner where he can reach the light switch and turned off the over head lights. Climbed back to the floor, looked around the room and said, in all seriousness, "Lets get this party started."

So there you have it. We are decorated for Christmas and its time to get this party started!

The Happy Meal Song

A few weeks ago I discovered that Dart now knows all the motions and words to the song "Itsy Bitsy Spider". I don't know if it was from Tuesday night child care or from Sunday School that he learned it but I was just excited to know that he had. So since then we have been singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" a lot.

3 days ago, while Dart was in the bathtub we started to sing our new favorite song once again. After the 4th time of the spider going up the water spout again I was ready to move on. So I decided to teach him some new songs. First we sang "The Wheels on the Bus". He had fun with that one. Especially the part where the people "Go up and down, up and down, up and down" and he could jump up and splash down in the bath water.

The last song we sang for the night before it was time to get out of the bath was Old MacDonald. I sang the song and Dart yelled out various farm animals to me. Finally, after Old MacDonald had 4 chickens, 3 moo cows, 2 horsey's, and a sheep it was time to get out of the bath. We got dressed, read a story and was off to bed.

Fast forward to yesterday in the car driving to church. Arielle was in her carseat crying because she was trapped and Dart was fussying for pretty much the same reason. I decided to try and distract at least Dart as we drove down the road.

I looked back at him and said, "Hey, Dart, lets sing wheels on the bus. We can show daddy what we learned."

2 versus into the song Dart yells out, "Mommy, sing the happy meal song! Sing the happy meal song."

"I don't know the happy meal song son. I'm sorry." I tell him

"Daddy, you sing Happy Meal Song!" He states trying to get someone to sing him the happy meal song

Dusty looks at me then proceeds to sing out the McDonalds Theme song.

"No! The happy meal song" Is the response from the back seat.

Luckly we are now at church and he is fully distraced with playing to remember what we were doing.

Fast forward again to this evening. It is yet again bath time and we are singing our songs. First the Itsy Bitys Spider, then we move on, again, to Wheels on the Bus.  Finally, it happened again.

"Sing the happy meal song, mommy." He asks very sweetly

"I don't know the happy meal song. Can you sing it for me?" As I'm making a mental note to ask his child care teacher tomorrow night what the heck the happy meal song might be.

Collin takes a minute, looks up at me and says, "The happy meal song. Farmer has a chicken"

I stop, look at him, and suddenly it clicked in my much slower brain. And we begin to sing about the Farmer having a chicken.


Any guesses as to what the "Happy Meal Song" is and why?

"Wow Mom, Thats Cool"

Today I was trying really hard to get my mind together. In the process of doing this I was talking to myself out loud.  When I got though with my statement I looked down at Dart. He looked up at me, rolled his eyes and said, "Wow mom, Thats so cool."

He then sighed and continued playing with his toys.

I was in shock. And then I laughed out loud. I realized just how often I seem to write him off. From now on I plan on spending more time listening and engaging with him. As amusing his response was, it was also a bit of a wake up call.

"I got this dad."

The house that we moved into is a two story town house. Kitchen and livingroom down stairs. Two bedrooms and a bathroom up stairs.  Need-less to say the kids and I have to go up and down the stairs a lot. At first I was thinking that I was immediately going to have to rush out and buy 2 baby gates to but and the top and bottom of the stairs. And then I started really watching Dart. He was going up and down them like a champ. He knew to hold on to the wall or the rail. He made sure that his feet were right in the middle of each step before he went on to the next one. And if for any reason he wasn't feeling comfortable he would just sit down and scoot down or get on his hands and knees and crawl up.

Well, one day about 2 weeks ago, my husband was playing with him in his room. At some point they decided the needed to come down stairs to see what sister and I were up to. Dusty made it down the stairs first and then turned around and began to be the worrier that he is.

He kept repeating," you be careful son." and "Slow down don't go so fast"

Finally, when Dart was about half way down the stairs he had enough of his dad babying him.  He stopped square in the middle of that step, put his hands on his little hips, looked down and his father and said, "I got this dad!"

I died laughing. The look on Dusty's face was priceless. It was a combination of shock, pride, and a little bit of sadness. He was shocked that Dart spoke to him like that (although I'm not sure why, Dart has always said exactly what was on his mind), proud of his son for being so grown up, and sad that Collin was beginning to not need him anymore. And all I could do was try to not laugh so hard that I hurt myself as I was cooking dinner.

It was a moment to remember. Now, two weeks later, Dusty still hovers over him as they go up and down the stairs but he keeps his comments to him self. I think I did catch him holding his breath as he watched Collin come down for breakfast this morning. But I could have been imaging thing.

County Fair

We took the kids to the fair tonight. Me, my mom and dad, and both of my brothers. It was great. As I drove down the road immediately Dart started screaming from the back seat, "Mom, mom look at that! Look at that!"  When we got to the gate I could barely hold onto his little backpack/leash thing. (Yes, I put my kid on a leash. Its just easier that way.) All he wanted to do was go. He saw all the games with the cool blow up toys, he saw all the bright lights of the rides, and he saw all the people walking around towering over him. 

He could hardly contain himself as we went on our number 1 mission, which was to find food. I hand't intended for him to ride any of the rides but grandpa had another idea. So after we found some food; Potato twisters and a brat for me, a rocket dog and roasted corn for my mom, and a bowl of green chili stew for my dad; we made our way to the rides.

The first thing we did was get on the merry-go-round. The entire ride Dart yelled, giddy up horsey, and yee haw, of course he had to have is rope going. He was just having so much fun. I on the other hand got a little dizzy having to stand there going in circles holding onto him as he rode up and down over and over agian.

From there we went to the car ride. He "drove" his little blue car with on of the most mischievious looks on his face that I have ever seen. I was getting a little worried about what kind of crazy thoughts might be going through his little head. But hey, he was having fun so thats all that really matters, right?

Next we were on to the mini-ferris wheel.  He was in a "cage" thing with another little boy and they were the only one's on the ride. I'm not sure what they were talking about but we did hear Collin say once or twice that they were really high up. He squealed with joy as he rode that ride. It was like music to my ears.

But, what would fair rides be without a little bit of trauma?  The next ride he insisted on going on was the dragon roller coaster. He DID NOT like that one. The minute the ride started he grabed onto the handle bar in front of him, burried his head between his arms looking down and the floor, and cried. Finnally about 2/3rd's of the way through the ride he looked up and saw me. He reached out everytime he came by and cried, "Help me mamma!" I felt like the worst mom in the world. How could I have put my poor baby on that ride? He was obviously too young for it. He just wansn't ready. So the ride ended and he got off. He came running to me with the biggest smile on his face and said, "Wow that was fun." I was shocked. He had just sat there and cried the whole time but did that stop him? Not at all.

Lastly, was the train ride. He sat in that train car with the biggest smile on his face. He went around that track just happy as could be. I was so proud of my baby boy. And then I thought to myself, "He isn't my "baby" boy anymore. He is growing up."  And with that I decided it was time to be done with the rides for the night. It was time for him to be my baby again.

Tomorrow he said he wants to go on the big ferris wheel. Ya, I don't see that happening. Not yet anyway.

What sounds do the animals make?

Recently I started asking Dart what sounds certian animals make. I was trying to be the good mom and work with him on learning these things. I asked him the basics of "What does a dog say?", "What does a cat say?", and so on. We went through dogs, cats, cow, horse, chicken, he could even tell me what a monkey sounds like.(I can thank Boots from Dora the Explore for that one). There I was a very proud mommy. My son is so smart! I was doing a great job.

Then my parents came for a visit. I decided I would show off how much Dart had been learning. I went though the regime of asking what sounds all the animals made. And he enjoyed being the center of attention as he answered all the quetions and we all cheered for how smart he is. Then it was time for a bit of a challenge. We started asking about some harder animals. A sheep, a rooster, even a lion, and a tiger. (Which for the record make the same sound, just the lion gets to be louder than the tiger.)
Finally, my mom asked him, "Collin, what sound does and elephant make?" Dart looked up at her, thought for a minute, and then replied with, "TRRRUUUUNNNNKKK!!" Then he smiled widely as we all just about fell on the floor laughing. How he figured that one out I will never know. But like I said, before, my kid is a genius.

So for future reference an elephant says,"TRRUUUNNNKKK!!"