Advent Calendar Idea

It's not too late to make a fun advent calendar for the kids. I have a 3-year-old who loves art projects, plus a 17-month-old who doesn't like being left out either. Every morning Benjamin asks me what fun thing we're going to do today. With this calendar and a little brainstorming, I've got an answer for him. The projects I chose had to meet two criteria: 1) very simple and 2) most must be possible with on-hand materials.

The calendar I made is not fancy at all. I used two file folders glued together for a stiff background. Then the kids and I went through old Christmas issues of home & garden magazines. They tore out pictures they thought looked nice, and I cut them out a bit cleaner. Benjamin used the glue stick to put them in place (with some supervision). Then I used cardstock to cut out the number cards. A really cool advent calendar would be interactive and you'd be able to open the cards, but I wasn't that creative. In retrospect I could have done folded number cards with the activity named inside. Ah well. As the days go by I'll cover up each number with a bit of wrapping paper. I hole-punched each card to add yarn (you could use ribbon) to make them look like gift tags. A super-simple advent calendar could be a paper chain with a number on each...you take one off each day.

The crafts:
1. Marshmallow snowman: use a chopstick or stick from the yard. Stick on marshmallows for the body and head. Add toothpick arms and cupcake sprinkle eyes. I used a rubber band for hair to make it a snowgirl. Stick on multiple marshmallows for a snow bug. Add toothpick antennae and arms, and sprinkles for eyes.

2. Window snowflakes: Have the kids color large sheets of tracing paper or regular paper with red and green crayons. (Tracing paper lets more light in from the window). Cut out the snowflakes and let older kids help you tape them to the window. They look surprisingly nice behind a sheer curtain.

3. Paint a wood ornament: Buy a cheap ornament from a craft store like Joann's. Mine were 50 cents each. Let the kids paint them, and hang them from magnets on the fridge. Or you could cut out circles from cardstock and hole punch in some pretty ribbon for a hanger.

4. Handprints wreath: Cut out a wreath shape from cardboard or stiff paper. Let the kids dip their hands in green finger paint and make prints all the way around the circle. Then dip their fingers in red paint so they can make berries. Hang it with ribbon.

5. Ornament and snowflake mobile: Cut out perfect circles by tracing cups of various sizes (older toddlers can help) for ornaments. Let the kids decorate them with crayons or paint, or even glue on scraps of holiday ribbon. Let smaller kids color on a large piece of paper which you will cut up into a snowflake. Hole punch the ornaments and hang them from a coat hanger with yarn. If you're extra crafty you can wind a padded coat hanger around with yarn so it matches your ornaments.

6. Pill bottle snowman: Cover an old pill bottle with glue. Tear apart cotton balls and stick them to the sides. Add a cotton ball on top for a head. Wrap a bit of yarn around the neck for a scarf, glue beads on for buttons, and cut out a little hat from black felt if you feel extra crafty.

7. Sparkly Christmas wreath: This one requires buying some sparkly pipe cleaners, so save it for a time you're going by the craft store anyway. Wrap the pipe cleaners around a circular ring and hang the wreath from the fridge.

8. Bottle cap ornament magnets: Save a couple juice bottle caps and let the kids pick out wrapping paper they like. Cut it out to fit inside the cap and glue it well. Glue a magnet to the back side and stick to the fridge.

9. Q-tip snowflakes: Lay down some wax paper, and get out the Elmer's glue and some Q-tips. Glue the cottony ends together to create snowflakes. Use lots of glue...it will dry translucent. These hold together surprisingly well, and you can hang them in a window or make a mobile. Decorate with glitter if you like.

10. Footprint reindeer: Trace your child's foot (with shoes on). Paint it in with brown paint. Then dip their hands in red paint and let them make two "antlers" coming out of the heel part of the shoe print. The toe end can be decorated with a red nose made from tissue paper or a pom pom. Add eyes and nostrils.

11. Christmas cards: Let the kids help you decorate Christmas cards and envelopes for close loved ones with stickers, markers and crayons.

12. Follow the yarn: Use yarn to make a trail to a special treat that you've wrapped up in multiple boxes. It can be as simple as a piece of candy. The multiple boxes make it more exciting and fun.

13. Make treats: Make gingerbread or another Christmas treat with your kids. If you have Christmas cookie cutters they especially love using those and decorating the cookies with sprinkles or candy.

14. Ok....I haven't finished but I"ll keep adding as I think of more!

Sweater

I used a very ordinary off-white yarn, nothing special about it. Next time I'll get more creative. For the first time making this sweater, though, I wanted a "skinny" yarn so it would be easy to see if I was getting the pattern right. I really like how it turned out though, and I think Lydia looks cute in it!

Lydda Sweater

I've almost finished a crochet sweater for Lydia. This is my first time following a pattern through to completion (almost completion, anyway). I don't like to figure out all the technical language, but this was a simple free pattern on lionbrand.com and I'm shocked and pleased that all the dimensions actually look right and the pieces all fit together.
It may be slightly small but we'll see. Can't wait to try it on. Pictures coming.

Room project

Jeff and I have been working on a mural for Benjamin's Big Kid Room. It turned into a lot bigger project than we originally envisioned, but I think it's going to be pretty cool when finished.

Books for 2009

This list is going to be a LOT shorter than last year's list! The pace of life has quickened with two kiddos, so my reading has suffered. Anymore I find crafting to be more relaxing than reading (tired brain I guess!), so that's becoming my way to unwind. I've actually started way more books than I finished. If it doesn't grab my attention right away, sorry, it's a tosser. The vagaries of mothering small children. :) Books I especially enjoyed are marked with an asterisk; books I loved, with two.

1. Finished reading the Bible in a year in late January last year

2. Leading with a Limp: Taking Advantage of Your Most Powerful Weakness by Dan B. Allender

*3. John Newton by Jonathan Aitken

4. Mommy Calls by Tanya Reimer Altman, M.D.

5. Why Johnny Can't Preach by T. David Gordon

*6. The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith by Tim Keller

**7. The Princess Bride by William Goldman

**8. A Praying Life by Paul Miller

*9. Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When the Stakes Are High by Kerry Patterson

**10. Conquistador: Hernan Cortes, Montezuma, and the Last Stand of the Aztecs by Buddy Levy

11. Happy Spouse, Happy House by Pat Williams and Ruth Williams

Best book I read this year, in terms of enjoyment: "Conquistador." I've been on a historical narrative kick ever since reading "1776." This book is much in that same vein, with not a boring moment. Cortes was brilliant leader and motivator, an audacious planner, and also a morally flawed man who was aided by circumstance (take the smallpox epidemic among the Aztecs, for example). I can't help but see Providence in this improbable, sometimes disgusting, action-packed story that taught me a lot about human nature. Man without God, or an imperfect understanding of Him, is still an amazing reflection of His God, though tragically so because he is fallen.

Best book, in terms of being helpful to me personally: a toss-up between "A Praying Life" and "Crucial Conversations." Miller's book on prayer dared me into the throne room. I saw myself in his description of reasons we don't pray: unbelief, guilt, wondering if God really wants to hear us anyhow. This book is like a good spring cleaning to get rid of the cobwebs and dust in your prayer life. "Crucial Conversations" was sometimes painful to read, and a lot of the information I was not yet ready to process, but it was self-revealing, and that is always helpful. The most helpful soundbyte I took from the book was "stop and think about the patterns of behavior you're exhibiting in pressured situations. Now take the time to put the brakes on the instant response of anger or blame or whatever it is you jump to, and choose a better response."

That's 2009 in terms of books. :)