December 21-22

Finishing up the school week right before such a major holiday is a bit of a task but amazingly enough all the kids woke up Friday morning as ready and willing as I was to get things done. Before noon we had ALL our paper work finished up, pictures sorted, words printed… Talk about a surprise – BOTH twins got 100% on their spelling tests!!!

100%!!

Emanuel and his number line

We didn’t make it to BAKING cookies… but we did make dough… from scratch, in Nana’s mixer (yup Ken is drooling over that one)… the kids loved watching that work.

Working together

Reading the recipe

BUT amazingly enough I FINALLY figured out how to use the timer on the camera (one year later) and so the kids and I played around a bit with that after we did up their carols! It was a little crazy, somewhat silly and totally THEM!

Post concert picture (Gavin in red)

And then with Daddy when he got home from errands

Ken and the kids also finally found the time and supplies to make a pin hole camera… well two actually. Here are the instructions we used off of Activity Village.

the image inside one of our cameras. We made one with the lid in the middle and one without. Both work!

Our cameras

We got a package from Canada as well…  from the Bleau family – with COFFEE CRISP chocolate bars! Oh and Puss in Boots the movie among other things. BUT Sharon and Ken have conspired to ration my chocolate bars for me… hopefully Ken will be kind! Of course we had to watch Puss in Boots before bed! 

Guilty Pleasure

There was tons to get done on Saturday, well for the adults at least. Ken and his parents worked on a family tradition – home made cabbage rolls. Ken is writing out the recipe for future holidays!

Working with his parents

Putting them in the portable oven

The kids and Nana put up the window clings together. Even Echo got in on the decorating. 

Window Clings

The rest

Of course we had to kick the kids out into the sunshine to play in the snow for a while.

SNOW

I put the boys in charge of making most of the cookies from our nicely chilled cookie dough. I love watching them work together. 

Bakers

We are really getting to the end of the Christmas preparation. There are TWO trees full of presents, refrigerators filled right up and the kids are beyond excited! And tomorrow we get to DECORATE the cookies! Butter icing for the win! OH and a success on the reading – we were watching Gnomeo and Juliet with Nana and Baba before bed. There was a spot where a character talks “like a samurai” and a short line was printed on the bottom of the screen… THE TWINS READ IT!!! Without struggles or problems!!!! WOOOOOO!!!!

Dressed for singing

December 17-18

What can be better on a Monday than videos… and one of them a CRAFT video? My loyal fellow crafter Gavin and I were right on top of that! I like this project as it gave him a start at braiding with something that holds the shape. He got a little frustrated but did a GREAT job! And the supplies – pipe cleaners, SIMPLE! then I folded two he twisted together to make our bow and attach it and BANG tree ornament and proud crafter!

My crafting buddy

Our second video was a Trinity favourite and I think another that Activity Village (both of our videos are from the site) posted LAST year. It really is short but soooo cute!

Gavin continued his artistic trend with the newest Art for Kids instructions – BABY JESUS! Absolutely ADORABLE!

A beautiful Baby Jesus with artist (Gavin)

The close up

Trinity and Emanuel channeled some artistic talent as they worked on what we are calling our “gingerbread house” since we started our gingerbread man unit with the traditional story and some workbooks. We figured foam would be easier (though this kit not much!).

Working on the house

With gingerbread men comes many many printable pictures… Trinity was all over that!

Colour by numbers thanks to Activity Village – link on right for the site

We also read the boardbook we have for gingerbread men… coloured our Advent stuff, worked on finishing any unfinished previous week sheets and of course practiced our songs. I am hoping to do up the video by Friday and post it on youTube!

The Gingerbread Man

I had a special evening OUT of the house. We had all miss remembered Joe and Faith’s flight return (thinking it Tuesday when it was Monday) so Nana and Baba and cousins headed to the airport after I left leaving Ken solo. But yours truly was out for the evening with Shandai (a besty from my high school days in Canada) and her roommate Emily. Both of them are SUPER crafty ladies and an inspiration.

We went to Applebee’s for dinner (thanks again Shandai) and the 5.00 burger and sat and chatted forever. Then we went to JoAnn’s and shopped for ages, just trolling the aisles talking craft and seeing what there is to see. I picked up some super soft purple yarn for a special project and since I had coupons got a couple dollar Christmas items for the kids to craft with and TRACING paper for a project for later this week.

New yarn!!

Poor Ken finally succumbed to the cold that has been kicking ALL our bottoms on Tuesday. Sore throat, sore body, you name it… so our errands consisted of the two of us heading out late afternoon with Ken driving and me doing the rest. I think I am finally done sending what packages I can before Christmas. Oh and a run to Target to ALMOST finish the random items. I REALLY need to find that Christmas dress for Echo…

So much to do we are tired out!

I had that new package of pipe cleaners so Gavin and I created wreaths of many shiny colours. I love the braiding practice. Gavin even got EXTRA fancy with his bow piece!

More wreaths

The tracing paper has come in handy AGAIN… a method learned from their cousin Gabriella of tracing pictures is VERY popular around here. Gavin decided to go with a page out of our Christmas colouring book. With the Pringles I picked up at Target we can make our pin hole cameras this week as well… Probably by Thursday since we still have a tube to eat.

Tracing paper!

The gingerbread men pages continue as does our book reading. We had an advanced copy of the Christmas themed Scaredy Squirrel book – Scaredy Squirrel Prepares for Christmas… you can find our family review HERE. We absolutely adore this series and are so blessed to have a signed copy of one of the books thanks to Karyn. Our binder is filling up.

Hard at work