Advent calendar activities: Week One

As promised, I'm recapping the first week of our Advent activities calendar. The photos are a mix of phone and camera, whatever I had within reach at the time. I record the kids watching the video every time so that Steve can see their reactions.

(Let's be real- Sam is the only one reacting. Molly just does her incredible lunge towards the lit screen that's juuuuuuust out of her reach. Odie stares at the screen and tries to will Steve home with her most pitiful stare. Seriously. I feel bad for her for approximately three and a half seconds... until I catch a whiff of her fart and then I'm ready to kick her out the back door.)

Day One:
The Clarksville Christmas Parade. Behold.

(top to bottom) 1) Sarah explains the finer points of the parade to Sam (confined to a stroller for obvious reasons). 2) A float with a giant roll of toilet paper attached. Hrm. 3) A rare photo where Sam smiled on-demand, even though there is a random finger is in his mouth. Whatever. I'll take it. 4) Molly being all-around awesome. 5) Obligatory blurry family photo. Molly wedged her arms in there to appear smushed and neglected. Sam apparently needs snacks at all times, lest his blood sugar dip the slightest bit and he becomes a raging lunatic.

Day Two:
Set up the nativity scene.

I'm pretty sure it's in their contract somewhere to never look at the camera simultaneously. And didn't you know that Christmas storage tubs make the best backdrops?

I never thought the day would come where I would seriously shout, "Do NOT put Baby Jesus in your mouth again. I'm not kidding."

Day Three:
Decorate the Christmas tree.

Obviously we did not go with a real tree this year. Please refer back to the pine needles and barf that I had to clean up last year. I'm not doing that again, alone. So a felt tree it is! I remembered this activity the night before and might have cursed up a holy storm while cutting the tree out on my hands and knees about felt's amazing ability to magnetize every last piece of dog hair within a 57 mile radius of itself. I surprisingly bought command strips well in advance and smugly opened the packaging expecting it to just *click* right up on my wall like that stupid lady does in the commercials with all of her pictures and decorations. (Indecisive much, lady?) But apparently I'm an idiot and threw in the towel approximately 14 seconds after opening and just went with what I knew- duck tape. And I'm happy to report that it's still holding strong. ("It'll fix anything, Cletus.")

Day Four:
Make an ornament.

The set-up. Molly helped me make and bake the ornaments while Sam was napping. Sam "helped" me "paint" them while Molly was napping.

I know this looks so cute. So picture-perfect. He even whapped himself upside the head (and inside his mouth wtf) with his paintbrush. Even looking at it now, days later, I think he looks so peaceful and not-whiny. But at the moment I took this picture? I was thisclose to ripping all the hair out of my head. I can recognize and admit that I am not made to do crafts with toddlers. I just don't have it in me.

And who wastes time with a third party (the paintbrush) anymore? Just smush that thing around directly in the paint. It'll get the job done.

Day Five:
Make hot chocolate.

Yeah we made "fake" hot chocolate. So what?

I drank out of this when I was a wee tot. (Little hands just can't have any patience for Mommy to photograph these things for the blog Daddy.)

A little excited. Spilled most of it.

This worked out much better. Except for that whole part where I have to bend over and hold it for him the entire time.

Day Six:
Go to the Division Tree Lighting and open gifts from St. Nick.

Someone woke up fighting mad from his nap, so we lucked out and had Sarah's company (and extra arms) to wrangle his beastly attitude. We also met up with Stephanie and her cute family.

They couldn't tear their eyes off of the tree.

It was a bit different from last year's tree lighting, (um, last year it was actually cold, and SNOWING) but I still enjoyed getting to hang out with friends and doing something Christmas-y. Afterwards, we enjoyed a dinner with the lovely Sarah INSIDE Chick-fil-A. (We don't go inside anywhere. Ever. Everrrrrrrrrr.)

Molly was allowed to sample her first waffle fry (to stop the whining). I'd say she enjoyed it. And then threw it on the floor.

Sam snaps out of his funk more easily when Sarah is around. Obviously.

After dinner (and a SUPER WHINY drive home), I gave the kids their gifts from St. Nick.

Molly wasted no time opening hers. Sam is doing this new thing now where he puts his entire hand inside his mouth just to drive me bonkers. He refused to continue opening his present.

In the past (meaning: last year), I thought it was a cute idea to give new Christmas pajamas on Christmas Eve. But then I only get to see them in Christmas cuteness for a night (during the Christmas season- we don't discriminate when it comes to wearing pajamas out of season around here). So I switched it up and decided that that will be their gift from St. Nick. And I'm so glad I did.

Look at the cute I get to stare at all month!!!

Day Seven:
Bake sugar cookies.

Not gonna lie. In my head, this was going to be grander. But as I stood in the commissary (the day of this activity oops), I realized that this doesn't need to be hard on me. If I made special egg-free, gluten-free sugar cookies for Sam, he probably wouldn't even touch them. (This is based on the reoccuring trend where I make the god-awful "special" food and he promptly decides he's never going to eat something so vile. Don't blame him, I wouldn't either.) And then I went to all that trouble for nothing. And I hate baking cookies. And I hate cookie cutters. And I hate washing that entire mess. So that is how we arrived at this.

Best. decision. ever.

See? He didn't even care that I didn't make them from scratch. He loves to stack. That would have been one massive cookie. Also, seriously, who bakes with clothes on anymore.

And voila. He didn't get to eat any (eggs.... ugh), but he had some of his own special cookies and didn't seem to care too much about the sugar cookies.

So there you have it. Week One of Advent activities: complete. Until next week, friends...