December 3

On day three of our crafts, book advent and elf sightings, we are still merry and bright!  How about you?

Today, after dinner (still whole foods!) we cleaned up the kitchen table and got to work making it a mess again.  What a happy mess it is:

We made wrapping paper!  Fun, fun, fun.  All it takes is brown craft paper and cookie cutters dipped in acrylic paint.  Then step back and let the kiddos get into some stamping fun.  We only made one sheet, but now that we know how to do it, I get the feeling that this activity will resurface.

Then, the girls got into their new pj's from Carters (only $10 people!).  Luckily, we have a store down the street, but you can buy these online, too.  You can see from their matching outfits who sleeps "hot" and who sleeps "cold". 

I used to put Juli in footed pajamas when she was a baby and I would go it to get her out of her crib in the morning and she would be naked except for her diaper.  She does not like having her feet (or really even her body) covered when she sleeps.  Abby, however, could wrap herself up in a cocoon and be perfectly happy.  She begged for the footed pajamas - they are a size 6.  I did not know they made them that big.  Thank goodness for Carters!

You can see the advent book they opened in the picture, but here it is in case you want a closer shot. 

It's Christmas, David! by David Shannon

David Shannon's "No, David" books are very popular in our house.  If you have not read any of them, please do.  They are sooooooo real.

Here is a pic of the ornaments we made last night.

Sorry about the pic - I was playing around with saturation and the like.  I have said it before and I will say it again - I am using my iPhone for these pics and I am in no way good at it.  Anyway, this ornament is a Pinterest-inspired craft.  Basically, we painted the girls palms and fingers with white acrylic paint and had them hold the ornament.  Then, after the paint dried, we added the features with Sharpies (luuuuurve Sharpies!) and, voila!  Snowmen from handprints.  We added their name and the year on the bottom and filled the inside with red and green stuffing (?) paper. 

All supplies have been bought at Michaels.  I.love.Michaels.  Aaaaand, I just found out you can host birthday parties there.  Really????  That is sooooo gonna happen!

Mindi