Advent with little ones

Happy last day of November! Otherwise known as...the last chance to get your advent act together! Eeek!

Ok. Don't freak out, because that's the exact opposite of the point of advent- a season when we're supposed to be looking with hope, joy, and gratefulness for our coming Savior. But as a mom of toddlers, with a goal of celebrating the season, it can get a little stressful to feel like I have twenty five days to fill- and I better have some sort of special memory making plan. 

But great news...I do have a plan! And it's called: repeat last year's plan!

When I shared our Christmas tour last year, I showed our advent calendar which I just loved. It was super cute (thanks, Starbucks!) and filled with simple notes for daily activities. It was all pretty small stuff, just enough to be festive, but not so much that it stops being fun. 

My philosophy on advent with toddlers...or...anything with toddlers, is set your expectations low, and cut yourself some slack. (I went into this theory a bit more in depth in a Thrive Moms blog post: "How to do advent without losing your mind"), It can be a super fun time, but it can also be overly busy, and exhausting. But there's so much beauty in this season, and the best part about little kids is that they pretty much think anything is special...especially if you hype it up to them. So we had a blast last year, mostly doing regular stuff- but doing it with gusto! 

So as December 1st approached (quickly!) this year, I wasn't worried! I figured I'd set the whole thing on repeat...we're already ready to roll! Buuuuuuut....then I realized that I never actually recorded all of the activities we did last time. I still had most of the scraps of paper in my tins (a small miracle in itself), but most is by definition not all, so I had a little bit of work to do. Plus, I wanted to tweak things a little bit this time around to match up with our schedule and events we already had planned. So I took a look at our calendar, and typed out a list to use as a cheat sheet for this year's line up of activities.

None of my ideas are particularity unique (a quick google search will lead you to a ton of useful lists, most with very similar activities...This list has a ton of great ones!) but in case you find yourself wanting to make some Christmas-y fun, with minimal planning effort, feel free to copy our list!

Here's what's on the docket this year:

1. Eat a special snack
2. Set up your very own tree
3. Read a book together
4. Write a letter to Santa
5. Go get a Christmas tree
6. Visit Santa
7. Family game night
8. Draw a picture for a friend
9. Have a PJ dance party
10. Sing Christmas carols
11. Look at Christmas lights
12. Buy gifts for kids in need
13. Perform in a Christmas program
14. Make a Christmas card for your teacher
15. Color in a coloring book 
16. Santa bath (Psst...this is just bubbles and a little red & green food coloring!)
17. Facetime with Grandma and Grandpa
18. Movie night
19. Pancake breakfast
20. Make a craft
21. Bake something yummy
22. Recite our bible memory verses
23. Wrap a present
24. Go to church
25. Wish everyone you see a very Merry Christmas!

Fun, right? I know it's not rocket science (flying sleigh science?) but for a type-A planner like myself, making a list is a way to be a little bit more intentional about spending time together. I could probably fill a full year with fun things if I tried, and I certainly could do a better job of making our list more Christ-focused, and filled with opportunities to serve others. But there are still a ton of things we'll do over the next month that didn't make the "official" list, so this isn't meant to be an all encompassing view of our approach to the season. Likewise, there are probably a few entries on the list that just won't happen, but if it all doesn't work out as planned (if...ha!), I figure I'll just put "special snack" on repeat and call it a win. I can guarantee my kids won't mind!

P.s. In other "ghost of Christmas past" news, while I was doing some archive searching (hoping to find last year's list), I was reminded of an online advent calendar I made a few years ago (ok...SIX years ago. crazy talk!) with little activities for each day. So just for fun, I compiled it all into one post- which you can check out and click through for some fun this year (or the next, or the next...)

Soooooo....What are you all up to for the month? Anything we should make sure to squeeze into our plans?

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Costume Week: School Days

You've already seen my baby pics, and my college costumes...now it's time to fill in the gap with some elementary school memories.

Kindergarten: Black cat

Allegedly it's a cat anyway...It could be a dog. Or a bunny. Or any type of rodent. But my mom assures me it's a cat. Perhaps she's never seen real cat ears?

The lion next to me is Leo. He stood on my grandparents' neighbors' porch for years when I was a kid. My mom would take me over there every year to take a picture and mark my growth. And harass their neighbors, I assume.

I'm pretty sure my grandpa is just dressed as my grandpa. It was a little hard to be sure with him sometimes. But we'll wait for my mom to chime-in in the comments to be sure....

1st Grade: Minnie Mouse

There is a pretty clear dividing line here, from baby animal costumes, to mature, girl-about-town Disney selections. Well, that's how I remember it anyway. This is the first year I got to pick my own costume, and coincidentally (or not) the first non-handmade year as well. I really wanted to be Minnie, so my mom talked to a friend about borrowing her daughter's costume. I should have been grateful for the loan, but instead I remember being really upset that the dress had a picture of Minnie on it. The real Minnie Mouse doesn't wear a dress with her own face on it? What kind of impostor crap was this get-up? I was a mouse purist after all. If I'm going to go the extra mile and paint on a widow's peak, I'm going to expect the same level of effort from the wardrobe department.

My cousin Geoffrey is Splinter (in his real Tae Kwan Do outfit!)

How 90's-awesome is that?! Bonus points for the unibrow.

2nd Grade: Cleopatra

This is a phenomenon known as lamazing: An event in which something is so horrifically lame, that it somehow morphs into amazing.

Should we take it from the top? With the cheap wig barely even trying to cover my monstrous pasty forehead? Or from the bottom: where I might actually be wearing tights over my children's orthopedic sandals? The costume was my mom's actually, and I think I was jealous of how glamourous and worldly she looked and begged to wear it. Hmmmm...guess it didn't quite translate on a seven year old.

3rd Grade: Cinderella

Another Disney moment...This one thankfully devoid of an embroidery rendering of the character in question. Only thing that threatens to ruin my princess perfection (besides some dance recital level makeup) is my ace-bandaged wrapped sprained wrist.

Maybe I hurt myself stumbling around in the dark after my mom kept making me take off glasses for pictures?

4th Grade: 50's girl

This one was my go-to. I swear I wore it more than one year, and if not, I know it was at least repurposed from my birthday party the year before. (Yes, I had costume birthdays back then too...No surpise I'm sure.)

I'm pretty sure I had arms, but in my mom's turtleneck and cardigan, it's hard to say for sure.

The one thing I do know is that my dad's high-tops are cooler than I'll ever be.

What I really should have found was a photo of my cat in a matching skirt. 

Because that was most definitely a thing.

With my BFF's the Peters girls. Have you ever seen a sweeter set of little ladies? 

Nothing like these pussy-call-doll-cheetah-girl-hootchie-mamas I see parading around these days. Whatever happened to a nice prairie bonnet and clean white twinset?

5th Grade: Cow

Meredith Peters was the twin sister I never had and from first grade on, we did everything together: trick or treating, glasses-shopping...you name it. So if she was going to be a chef, I was going to be a cow. I'd lay down my costume-clad life for that girl.

Rockin' earrings she has, no? 

Well....it's almost the big day...Hopefully I inspired you to bright your costume A-game. And if not, call my mom. She probably has a wig you can borrow.

Costume Week: The Early Years

I was born a bit of a quirky kid...headstrong might be the most accurate way to say it. As soon as I could talk (and maybe before) I had some pretty firm opinions about the way I thought things should be done- my way, to be exact. But when it came to getting dressed- my mom held those reins tight. For at least the first five years of my life. I remember finally getting to express my budding-fashionista style later in elementary school, but before that I was a living doll, and my mom was all too happy to primp and pose me in frilly dresses, giant bows, and endless french braids. 

But where her skills really got to shine was on Halloween. My mom loves a costume. And loves a mother-daughter costume even more. So as the only child, I was the perfect sidekick for her dynamic duo dreams.

Check out our debut: my nine month old, still-bald head shoved into a wig made for a circus drag queen:

(I fully realize the ridiculousness of this, and yet, I don't blame her one bit.

I would kill for this outfit for Piper. White mary-janes? Striped TIGHTS?! Ab-so-lutely.)

The next year is tame by comparison, but still scores big in the cute department. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture that includes my mom...but we make up for it by featuring my eyepatch.  Yep. Eyepatch.  One of the only times of year you're jealous of my childhood disability because it makes my costume that much more heart melting...

And can we talk about my little limbs sticking out of the sweatsuit? Too good.

(Ps. I'm kind of the spitting image of Piper in this pic. But it may be 
because of the judging face of disbelief I'm rocking.)

Up next- 1986, akak, the year of the elephant:

Apparently me and my eyepatch were a lost cause, and my mom took to just covering up my face entirely. I've given up as well, and just stand with my arms out, hoping maybe someone will take pity on me and throw some candy in my bucket. Maybe the giant nose and huge ears are a cruel joke regarding my other senses overcompensating for my eyesight?

But check out my mom's getup- clearly she wanted to cover me up so she could garner the attention as a glamazon zookeeper.

But you have to give her credit...the feet- the TOENAILS. Holy attention to detail.

Please, fake old man. Take pity upon my big-eared blind self.

For my 4th Halloween, it was time to give the people what they want: Full-on matching mom and mini marsupials. 

I'm pretty sure she sewed those hats with her own hands. 

And picking out the panda print tights + saddles? Nailed it.

And last, in the parade of pre-k costumes...Is a literal pre-K parade of costumes: 

(I actually think this was my mom's class of first graders...

but some nice little girl held my hand, so let's not quibble about age.)

I was finally face-paint-free and looking glamorous, in my fairy-ballerina-princess-tap dancer ensemble...? 

...While my mom went a different route in some gussied up scrubs:

"Back up a little would you? I want to make sure the station wagon 

still fits in the frame when I awkwardly crop this later..."

Thanks mom for teaching me the pure joy a hand-stitched sweatsuit and homemade mask can bring. 

I look forward to forcing Piper into itchy, uncomfortable, stop-yanking-up-your-tights-and-stand-still-for-this-photo garb for years to come.

{31 Things} Day 3: Read

I'm a book worm…always have been. I think my mom is to thank for instilling a love of reading in me as a kid. We went to library constantly when I was little, especially on those long summer days that just begged for a good book. I still remember the bags they'd give you to tote your books home; I would stuff mine with as many volumes as I could fit, and the drawstrings would dig into my little hands as I lugged my treasures home.

I loved all types of reading- SSR (Sustained Silent Reading) period at school, curled up in the coat closet with my current volume of The Berenstein Bears; Teddy Ruxpin Storytime, cuddled up against my furry friend, following along with his adventures in Boggley Woods; Read Aloud, listening to my teacher telling tales of Narnia while I picked at the rubber label on the back of my Keds; Road trip reading, tearing through a Judy Bloom novel or two, glancing at the scenery whizzing by; Library Day, huddle up on beanbag chairs with my elementary school friends flipping through back issues of Cat Fancy magazine…But my favorite was probably at night, staying up way past my bedtime with a flashlight under the covers. I made a habit of falling asleep with a book in my hand as I challenged myself to get through just one more chapter for whichever Sweet Valley Twins editions I was currently obsessed with.

As I grew up, I maintained my appetite for reading, transitioning my focus mostly to required titles for school, or blowing through endless piles of magazines in my free time (In high school my closet was split about 50/50 between clothes, and Vogue). And though as an adult, it’s a bit tougher to fit in as much reading as I used to (that pesky job cuts into my page turning time) I do still love to read. Magazines are still a top choice- my desk houses a rotating tower of editions, stacked high enough to pose a danger to passers-by. I’m also in two bookclubs, which is proving to be too much at times- I only actually finish about half the books- but I like the encouragement to check out new books, and enjoy discussing them with friends. And Dustin will attest that I still like to read in bed…though he doesn’t love dealing with the glow of my book light.

There are a few aspects of my childhood that I desperately hope to recreate in Piper’s life, and one of them is definitely a fondness of reading. We designed her nursery around books, hopeful that the right environment will foster her literary love. We are already exposing her to the written word, flipping through board books, and aiming to read a story together every night. I can’t wait until we can snuggle up in her bed and listen to her sweet little voice narrate my old library loves back to me. What a happy ending...