Christmas Card 2017

We sent out every last Christmas Card this year and didn't have one to keep, so I want to save the digital copy here for our memory book!

{Daily Moments} Christmas Mugs

Garrett and I decorated mugs with ceramic markers for eachother for an "at home" Date Night. I made the one on the left, and Garrett made the two on the right. We did this last year with Halloween mugs and loved it so we wanted to do it again with Christmas Mugs!

Polar Express

Last weekend we drove to Grapevine for a mini-vacation. We went on the Polar Express Train, stayed at a hotel and the next morning went to the aquarium.

The Grapevine Vintage Railroad grounds were decorated beautifully and there was so much to see.

Landon taking it all in

It felt so fun. The atmosphere, PJ clad riders, etc felt so festive.

The boys were 100 percent immersed in the magic.

The train was so beautifully decorated with lights, garlands, ornaments and a Christmas Tree.

Mrs. Claus got on the train at our first stop and passed out "We believe" Christmas Bells to all the children. They also got to mail letters to Santa and we sang Christmas Carols.

Our next stop was the North Pole and Santa's Workshop

Ethan said that Magic North Pole Snow tastes like soap!

Next we had a show and afterwards everyone got frosty Chocolate Milk in souvenir cups

Then they met Santa! Ethan declared it the NEW best day of his entire life! Landon enjoyed himself too but was a bit less poetic about it. ;-) It was a pretty magical night.

Oh and a little proof from my phone that I was there too ;-)

Ice-Skating at the Community Park

On the third advent we decided to go to the community park in the evening as a surprise for the kids. The park had been lit up and decorated and an ice skating pavilion setup. Ethan and Garrett decided to go ice skating and Landon opted to climb on the playground and explore it at night.

Ethan said ice skating was magical and lovely. He enjoyed it so much that he said he didn't mind it when he fell down a couple times. He can't wait to do it again. 

 

The park was uncrowded and we had so much fun enjoying the festive atmosphere in a low-key way. It was the perfect ending to our weekend!

Santa's Light Up Workshop and Snowball Fight

Saturday we decided to stay in and have a family day at home. No chores or work, just family fun together celebrating the season. 

We had peppermint coffee lattes, listened to Christmas music,  made a lightup Santa's workshop, baked pumpkin bread and delivered Christmas goodies to the neighbors. Then we had an indooor "snowball" fight and finished off the evening with a family movie. It was a fun day!

Drinking Bird

December excitement has been hard on our homeschool routine so we decided to go for a more fun Art and Science emphasis for the month. Today's lesson utilized this Thermodynamic drinking bird. The boys thought it was neat that it was invented 95 years ago and is still fascinating. We talked about how the evaporation of the water on the red felt cools the methylene chloride vapor, condensing it, decreasing the pressure and pushing the liquid up into the neck of the bird. 

Before we talked over the science of it though, they made lots of guesses and had to experiment to get the balance just right so that the bird, which they named Dunce (it may have been called a stupid bird in both laughter and frustration), would tip over the correct direction. They counted the number of swings before it tipped, fiddled with it, got frustrated, came back to it, and eventually got it to work. Landon thought it was funnier when his head tipped backwards instead of forwards, but Ethan was very relieved to finally get it setup just right.

I won't say that today's lesson really ended up being easier but they definitely enjoyed it in the end!

He's BACK!

"Dear Ethan and Landon,

I'm back! And I hope you two enjoy the breakfast I made for you! Guess what! Santa gave me a special enchantment so I won't lose my Christmas Magic if I'm ACCIDENTALLY touched. Woo-hoo! BUT don't go around touching me on purpose, okay? Also, I have brought a helper this year- his job is to help me watch you boys for Santa, and he needs a name. Try to pick a great name for him!

Your VERY watchful elf,

Cupcake Stocking"

The boys were excited to see our elf return on December 1st and they were especially suprised and happy to have a new elf arrive this year! Since Ethan named the first one, Landon named the second. At first he named him teleporting cupcake but then we decided we couldn't call them both cupcake for short, and he changed his name to Ronald the teleporting elf. Why teleporting? Well, Landon says that's the only way he can figure that they got in the door!

As for their special breakfast, Mama made some toast to go along with it. After all, Mama would NEVER choose marshmellows, chocolate, pretzels and carrots for breakfast. Ethan said "I think I know what happened. Cupcake must have confused elf breakfast for human breakfast and elf breakfast must be pretty unhealthy. Well, it's probably healthy for an elf."

Human or elf breakfast aside, they were both very excited about the special treat and all too happy to eat it!