Week Thirteen Recap!

Tuesday:

Whew. After having a week plus off and being completely apart from each other, I thought this morning was going to be a tough one. But it went freakishly well! So well that I even managed to do some pre-Christmas decorating toy purges without the kids even realizing I was moving some toys far far away. We started Elf on the Shelf with Lily last week, so the first thing we did when Lily woke up was go on a hunt for Holly. I let Lily explain to Tristan who she was and what she is doing here. After we got dressed, we had a good amount of free play time. They were playing so nicely together and sharing so well that I did not want to interrupt. I even heard a big smooch at one point, some giggling, and Lily saying “syrup kisses!” When we started to whine, we changed it up and had some snack while listening to some Christmas music. After we scrubbed the cheeseball residue off our fingers, we painted some paper plates green that will eventually become Christmas trees! At first I handed them the wire bottle brushes to use, but after their hands became smeared with green paint, it became a finger painting project!

Wednesday:

Another cold and gray day. We stuck to our usual plan of attack, but after we got dressed, we did some yoga and danced to some of our favorite Greg and Steve songs. Today’s project of the day was turning a toilet paper roll into a snowman! In the morning, I gave each kid a TP roll and a foam brush and let them have at it. I used tempera paint so we will need to apply another coat of paint after lunch. When we were finished painting, snacking, and listening to Christmas songs, I pulled out the parachute and we played with that for a little bit. That extra 2 feet of room from toys being moved elsewhere yesterday really opened the room up for so many activities. Too bad we can’t loft the couch and chair, dorm room style! We made a fort with the parachute and hung out in there for a little bit, reading Christmas books and singing songs until someone broke the golden rule of forts—no farts (or poop) so we had to open it up and air it out!

Thursday:

We got a lot accomplished today after breakfast and getting dressed! We crumpled up red tissue paper to make decorations for our paper plate trees. This is a great fine motor activity but it also gave me some time to prep other projects! After we glued on our ‘ornaments’, we glued faces on our toilet paper roll snowmen! Our last project of the day was making Christmas ball ornaments using their handprints. Ash bought little kits that came with an ornament, white paint, a makeup sponge, a chunk of orange crayon for the carrot nose, and a black marker. You paint one hand and have them hold the ornament from the bottom, and their fingers look like snowmen! Since their hands are so tiny, I was able to do each hand and make ten snowmen!

Friday:

Jordan was home sick today so our schedule was slightly different! We had our breakfast and got dressed and then headed out to the grocery store for some treats we need to make for holiday parties this weekend. I had planned on making sugar cookies with the kids today anyway, so it was nice to have an extra set of hands handy if needed! They really liked rolling out the dough with me and then using tiny cookie cutters to make some different shapes. Halfway through I had the “why did I do this thought?!?” moment but it was actually fun. The both helped to wipe the table off and sweep the floor too! And the best part was trying what we made!

Sidenote---Michael’s sells decorated toilet paper rolls. Huh?!? I mean I admit I waste money on stupid things but if I can make it at home or use something I have I try to do that first. They also sell kits to make snowmen out of paper plates. Instead, go grab a pack of 100 plates from the Dollar Store and make your own fun projects! But steal borrow your ideas from pre-packed stuff! hehe

Enjoy your weekends!