adventures of the wonder twins: 2008

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

home decorating 101

Preparations:

Before:

During:

Kissing Marshmallow Snowmen:

After:

Elijah: "I love this beautiful, beautiful house"

This holiday season I've been really searching to create holiday traditions that will make this time of year even more special for my family. My latest idea comes from following my dear friend Nancy's lead with her 12 days of Christmas, and combining it with my own love of advent calendars. I have decided that I am going to make an activity advent calendar with a different seasonal and fun activity for each day in December leading up to Christmas.

As with most things these days, I'm getting a late start, so this years goal is to get everything set up and ready to go for next year.

Here are some photos for inspiration:

hand knit advent calendar with pockets for treats

advent calendar jar

felted advent calendar with ornaments to hang each day

paper advent calendar

tree advent calendar

tree made out of boxes advent calendar

baby sock advent calendar

advent stick filled with natural objects

paper advent calendar

I love each of these for different reasons, but I especially love the ones that can hold both a piece of paper with an activity on it, and a piece of candy or some other little treasure.

Here are some of the ideas for activities I've come up with:
(many of them are Chicagocentric... sorry!)
-Ride the Holiday El Train
-Visit the Christkindelmarket
-Drive through the Sauganash neighborhood to see the elaborately decorated houses
-Build a Snowman
-Go Sledding
-Go Ice Skating
-Build and decorate a gingerbread house
-Make paper snowflakes
-Make ornaments for the christmas tree
-Go caroling
-Have a classic Christmas movie night
-Go to the library and check out Holiday books to read
-Check out the Christmas Around the World and Holidays of Light exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry
-Attend a holiday performance (play or choral performance)
-See the Zoolights at Lincoln Park Zoo
-Write in the snow with liquid watercolour paints
-Do something kind for someone in need
-Go on a carriage ride in the city
-Visit Santa
-Have a holiday music dance party
-Camp out by the Christmas tree
-Drive through the light show at the Cuneo Museum
-Choose and decorate a Christmas Tree
-Have a family game night
-Enjoy a home cooked dinner including one dish chosen by each person (dress very fancy!)
-Name 5 things you're thankful for
-Make and decorate sugar cookies
-Write letters to Santa
-Celebrate St. Nicholas' day
-Go out for cupcakes / gelato / some other special treat
-Colour Christmas pictures
-Make holiday cards
-Have a scavenger hunt (ideally on Christmas Eve, leading the kids to discover their big shared christmas gift!)

Trinkets and treasures to hide inside advent calendars:
-coins to give to charity
-jingle bells
-notes to each child telling them what you like about them
-marbles or bouncy balls
-interesting rocks / gemstones
-jokes
-natural objects (seeds, acorns, pinecones, shells, leaves, feathers, etc.)
-origami animals (or the paper to make them)
-stickers
-beads
-puzzle pieces (one per day until you can complete the puzzle)
-chocolates
-marzipan
-ornaments
-cookie cutters or cookie decorations (with the promise of making cookies that day)
-peppermints
-candies from around the world with holiday traditions from their respective countries
-tiny notebooks
-crayons
-art / craft supplies (googley eyes, glue sticks, scissors, beautiful papers, ribbon, felt, glitter, paper punches, stamps & stamp pads, etc.)
-finger puppets
-riddles
-photographs

If you guys have any other ideas (either for holiday related activities or for things to put in the advent calendar), please share!

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Okay, so I've a few questions lately on how I get Elijah's curls to look the way they do. (Sorry I don't have a better picture) Here's the deal with the twins' latest haircare routine:

1. I *never* shampoo either of the twins' hair unless there is sand or dirt (from the garden) in it. I only wash it with conditioner, and I let the conditioner sit on their hair for several minutes each time.

2. I just started using a new conditioner with them. After trying all the expensive brands, I grabbed a bottle of Citre Shine for about $2. I love it.

3. I comb through their hair when it's full of conditioner. This is the comb we use:

4. After rinsing the conditioner out, I finger comb their hair, and then squeeze out as much water as I can.

5. (Here's the magic touch) With their heads soaking wet, I tell them to shake their heads side to side as fast as they can. They love doing this, and it creates perfect spiral curls.

6. I do not touch it after they've shaken their heads. not to comb it, not to dry it with a towel, not to put product in it. I just let it air dry, and that's that!