the kids had fall break last week...
(i'm convinced fall break was thought up by someone who does not have children. "yah, let's have a week of school off, go back for 15 days and then get 3 weeks off! that would be fun!" yah, not so much when your kids are driving you crazy and you're 9 months pregnant).
anywho, i digress.
i tried to a do a couple fun things with the kids...trying to inspire a little turkey day excitement.
my first attempt was to make their lunch cute and fun.
i took some inspiration from amy, who transforms her kids' lunch into masterpieces, all the time.
here was my turkey lunch.
please note, all 5 of their lunches took me an hour to make.
i will not be doing this again anytime soon.
and to top it all off, the kids thought it was a chicken.
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the second thing we did was make thanksgiving turkey place cards:
and everybody wrote on the back, what they were thankful for.
this one was hadley's:
my daughter, the holy one.
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and i finally got around to finishing my advent calendar up...just in time for december!
i was inspired by this pin...
and made this:
each number card has a christmas activity on the back for us to do as a family.
i am always wanting to make the season more memorable, so i'm hoping this helps.
here is the list i created:
(i knew i might have a new baby at any point, so i tried to keep it simple)
1. drink some hot chocolate
2. make a christmas card for someone
3. read christmas books with the family
4. make festive rice krispie treats and hand them out to neighbors
5. turn christmas music up real loud and have a dance party
6. watch a christmas show together
7. write letters to santa
8. go on a walk and look at the christmas lights
9. go to daddy's work for his christmas party
10. make a christmas card to send to a soldier
11. have french toast and hot chocolate for dinner
12. read the christmas story before bedtime
13. drink some hot apple cider
14. make a christmas card for your teacher
15. color christmas pictures
16. watch a christmas show and eat ice cream
17. put on a christmas play about baby jesus (kids do the play for mommy and daddy)
18. make sugar cookies and decorate
19. put money in the salvation army bucket at the grocery store
20. make gingerbread houses
21. wrap your gifts for each other
22. take a drive and look at all the christmas lights
23. have a sleepover with the family in the living room
24. open our christmas eve presents (jammies, books)
i've learned with kids that it's not about the extravagant or material things---it's about the memorable moments.
the things i remember most from my childhood were not the material things i was given, but the moments i got to spend with my family.
my goal with this list is to make memories that become traditions...ones that our kids want to do with their families when they are older.
we have to be intentional about making the seasons special.
even if it means making turkeys that end up looking more like chickens.
Love your chicken, place cards, and your advent is fabulous. I'm all about starting our own traditions too. You provided a great list to start with.
ReplyDeletelots of fun stuff, your advent calendar is adorable!
ReplyDeleteOkay, adorable place cards. If you used a template or got inspired by a site, please share! And the Advent calendar is fantastic! I got inspired by this pin: http://pinterest.com/pin/9851692904463540/ but I think I like yours better. :( I might steal a couple of your activities... I've been running short! I agree, we have to purposefully put meaning back into holidays for our littles, sad, but true and I'm up for the challenge!
ReplyDeleteMy daughter just walked in as I was reading your blog and saw the sandwich and said, "That's a cool owl"!!!! And on another crazy note, I had a dream the other night that I flew to FL to visit your family and it was a little awkward because I don't really know you all and your husband said, "why is that random woman here to visit?" Then you went into labor and I was left alone with your kids while you were in the hospital. Hmmmmm bloggy world is getting into my head!
ReplyDeleteThose are the most adorable turkey placecards! Such a fun way to get the kiddos involved. And I pinned your Christmas calendar. I can't believe you are crafting at 9 months pregnant!
ReplyDeleteOh I love your list, I am going to borrow some of your ideas! I'm with you, the kids really enjoy doing fun things and it doesn't have to cost a lot of money to do it! Enjoy the holiday season!
ReplyDeleteYour advent calendar is so pretty. Love it!
ReplyDeleteI love your advent calendar so much it brought tears to my eyes! I'm going to make one for next year!!! You go, preggo mama :)
ReplyDeleteWell Done. Loved your list.
ReplyDeleteDana
I love your advent calendar! It's my favorite I have seen all season. Your 'ideas' are great too! Simple, yet meaningful. Maybe one will be replaced with, meet your new sibling!
ReplyDeleteI love the advent calendar!! And your 'chicken' lunch looks totally cute :)
ReplyDeleteLOVE Your ideas !!
ReplyDeletecute! and definitely turkeys :)
ReplyDeleteCorban called ours "chicken" all week too
absolutely love your advent calendar...do you have a certain paper-cutter that you use?
ReplyDeletelove this! you are such a great mother...a great example to me.
ReplyDeleteWow Em, you calendar looks amazing!! So pretty & festive! And I've seen a bunch of different ones on blogs this year. I have never been into advent calendars mostly because I don't know that much about them... Are they supposed to be spiritual?? Is it just a fun way to countdown to Christmas?? I don't know... And I'm lazy and can't find the drive to make one.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't ya know that I was at Michael's today and there just so happened to be a huge scallop punch. And wouldn't ya know I just so happened to have a 50% off coupon so score!!! Thanks for the tip, lady!
ReplyDeleteSo many things I want to comment on here: 1st off - serious props for taking an hour to prep 5 turkey sandwiches which prob took your littles like 5 minutes to eat - errr should I say waste? 2nd - I'm swooning over Milo's locks. D's used to look EXACTLY like that until his Daddy insisted on a shorter "more grown up boy cut." 3rd - we did a thankful for tree this year and some of G's cards consisted of the cross, church, AWANA, her siblings, etc. Yep, our girls love Jesus! 4th - I L to the O to the V to the E your advent calendar. A LOT! Hoping your sweet new little one comes soon. I know you are anxious to meet him/her.
ReplyDeleteWow! Amazed!
ReplyDeleteLove the advent calender! :)
ReplyDeleteLoved this post! Especially that last part about the important things. :) Merry Christmas Season to the Anderson family! I am pinning your advent calendar because I love your list and would like to file it away for when I have littles to share Christmas with.
ReplyDeleteI have "borrowed" your advent and list :)
ReplyDeleteAnd those kids are crazy, those sandwiches SCREAM turkey. 5 hours on those pregger feet, good job Momma.
xo
Your calendar is so cute!! And even a lot of your "simple" advent activities are way more exciting than ours - and I'm only two months pregnant!! Go you!
ReplyDeleteYour advent calendar is just too cute! Love it!
ReplyDeletei'm totally doing the "activity" advent calendar this year instead of stale chocolate haha. i saw it on pinterest a few months ago and figure it's such a better way to remember the Christmas season and so far day 1 & 2 have gone great! it's simple things really, but setting aside a specific day to do it makes it seem special.
ReplyDeleteI pray your baby comes soon for you, you're such a trooper, i'm excited for you though, i figure those spirits that snuck in at the last minute must be pretty special if they needed to be here so badly (my last #4 was like that). Merry Christmas!
xo
hillary
p.s. my captcha is "bellys" which is true, you have an impressive one. ;D
i told myself i was not going to crafting anything this christmas for the sake of staying sane. but i am a sucker for advent calendars and I LOVE THIS ONE!!!!! starting on mine...now!!!
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