The 12 Days of Christmas

This year, we thought it would be fun to celebrate the 12 days leading up to Christmas with fun, holiday activities for the kids. Yes, I do realize that this is probably what led to my finally succumbing to the Christmas crazies (why do you think this is the very next post?), but we had so much fun that it was worth it.

The kids loved waking up each morning to find an envelope containing a note about the day’s activities. For me, the hardest part was keeping it all a surprise since I usually talk to them constantly about what we’re doing that week. Here’s how it all played out:

Day 1: Trip to EPCOT to learn about holidays around the world
Day 2: Decorated Christmas tree cookies with friends
Day 3: Nighttime bike ride to see holiday lights
Day 4: Bake Grandma B’s famous Christmas cookies
Day 5: See the lights at Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Day 6: The Little Drummer Boy at Pinocchio’s Marionette Theater
Day 7: Nighttime drive to see holiday lights
Day 8: Ice skating in Winter Park
Day 9: Watch a Christmas movie on the garage door
Day 10: Trip to the movie theater to see The Princess and the Frog
Day 11: Celebrate Christmas with Pata Sam & Miss Annie
Day 12: Christmas – presents, brunch, bike ride, playtime and dinner with Grandma!

And on days 13 and 14, Mommy slept!

So Close But Yet So Far

So when I wrote those words, a few months ago, about staying stress-free this holiday season, I knew there was a fairly good chance they’d come back to bite me one day. I have to admit that I finally succumbed to the holiday craziness, but I’m trying to look at the positives.

First, I held out much longer than usual. Normally by the time October rolls around, I’m so busy that I start worrying that I’m going to wake up the next day and have it be mid-January already! But this year, I managed to keep it together until Thanksgiving and recover just a few days after Christmas.

Also, I seem to have stumbled across a planning technique that works well for me. In case there was any question, let me first say that I’m – by nature – a planner, so you can be fairly certain I’ve tried out most planning methods over the years. But I finally realized that I spent way too much time planning, especially around the holidays. I felt like I spent every spare moment planning and would even lie in bed for what seemed like hours each night, planning in my head before falling asleep. Doesn’t it seem like eventually the plan should be complete?

Then I realized that planning had become a habit that was taking up way to much time. So I decided to try (please don’t laugh) planning time to plan. Yes, I know it sounds ridiculous, but it really did work. I allotted certain times each week for planning and tried really hard not to think about it the rest of the time. Instead, I played with my kids, caught up around the house, danced or (gasp!) sat down and relaxed. And you know what? Everything still got done!

I also tried to focus on one thing at a time when planning. Rather than trying to plan Halloween, Thanksgiving, Noah’s birthday and Christmas all at the same time, I refused to think about the next task until the previous one was complete – and I found it to be much less overwhelming that way.

So I feel like I came close to my goal of de-stressing the holidays - but at the same time I still feel like I have a way to go. Should I just write off December as my crazy (but really fun) month? Or is it really possible to stay stress-free the whole way through?

Cake - Take Two

This was definitely cake week, as we celebrated Noah's birthday with family on Tuesday and with friends over the weekend. We woke up to a cold rainy morning - not great for an outdoor party. Fortunately, the weather broke in time for the kids to enjoy ZoomAir, the aerial adventure course at the zoo and a ropes-course themed cake.

Happy Birthday, Grandma

Today was my mom's birthday, and even though we're having a celebration on Sunday, we wanted to make sure we got to see her on her big day. So, we met for lunch after our hula hooping workshop to give her a gift and the cards the kids had made.

We're big card "makers" (as opposed to card "buyers"), and I've learned a fun little trick for this. Both kids love to create lots of wonderful art - and they can't bear to part with any of it. So, I've started pulling our their completed projects to make our cards - fold it in half, write a message inside and you're done!

The card-making process has definitely been simplified, and I know the kids' masterpieces will definitely be enjoyed so much more this way than they will at the bottom of the artwork stack. This also keeps "the stack" much smaller, which is always an added bonus!

Preserving and Displaying Family Photos

We bought our first digital camera before the kids were born and purchased our first SLR after Noah started walking (I quickly grew tired of having pictures of the back of his head!) I love the instant gratification of seeing my pictures right away, as well as being able to snap a bunch of photos in hopes of getting "just the right one". However, for the longest time, my photos went from my camera to my computer to . . . nowhere.

Then, I stumbled upon a system that worked for me - and has been for the past four years. Here's what I do each month:

• Edit and print my favorite photos for the month, then hang them on the photo board in the kitchen (see picture).

• Take down the old photos, and put them in an envelope labeled with the month and year. In theory, this makes it easy to scrapbook, but since I've switched to digital scrapbooking, it doesn't really help in that area. But, I do make a separate folder for all my edited photos each month, so when I am ready to scrapbook, my favorites are easy to find. For example, in my "Family" folder, I have a sub-folder for "2009", a sub-folder for each month and (inside each of those) a sub-folder with my favorites.

• Write a quickie newsletter for our family each month with highlights of our activities, updates on each of the kids and, of course, our favorite photos.

• Mail the newsletters and my favorite six photos to each family member.

The monthly newsletters and photos to go into albums I make for our families each Christmas. The albums have 12 plastic inserts (8 1/2" x 11") for the newsletters and another 12 inserts for photos (each holds three 4" x 6" photos on each side).

Often Jim asks why I go through all the trouble, and I always tell him that while I love sharing it with our family, I really do it for myself. It's so nice at the end of the year to be able to look back at our favorite memories . . . which is especially nice since I'm three years behind on my scrapbooking!

Happy Independence Day!

I'm feeling like I missed a major learning opportunity with the passing of the 4th of July holiday. My intention was to have my USA unit completed by late June, so we could dive in before the 4th. Instead, the month of June flew by, packed with birthdays, holidays, teaching and work, and here I sit on July 5th with my USA unit being no more than a good intention.

Since I'm trying to go easy on myself and go with the flow a little more these days, I'm trying to make this the only time I beat myself up about not getting this done. Instead, I'm planning to embrace summer, since that's what seems to be coming our way. We have a trip planned later this week (a long weekend in South Carolina for my brother-in-law's graduation party), and Noah is signed up for two weeks of camp when we get back. So despite that fact that I have another month of curriculum planned, I think I'm officially giving over to summer fun - and hey, one week IS a science camp!

So instead of kicking off a new unit study, this 4th of July kicked our summer, which I imagine will consist of lots of learning - just unscheduled and outside the classroom. It was a fun, full day, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the summer being the same.

Father's Day Collage Frames

Typically, we only go to class at My Art Studio once a month. But even though we went last week for our "human body" art project, I couldn't resist taking the kids today to make picture frames for Father's Day.

The kids first painted the plain wooden frames, then cut and ripped paper strips to use for their collages. The studio provided hole punches to make fun shapes like hearts and spirals, along with flowers and jewels to use in gluing, layering and decorating the frames. The finished frames are adorable, and I can't wait to see them with pictures in them!

Father's Day Gifts That Keep on Giving

When it comes to gifts, we're more "experience" people than "object" people - at least Jim and I are (the kids, of course, want it all). But while making a wonderful memory is our favorite way to spend a holiday, it's always nice to have a little something to remember it by.

Last year for Father's Day, I set out looking for ideas on really nice gifts the kids could make - something more than a rock paperweight. And I'm pretty happy with what I decided on.

For Noah, we decided to start an album to record pictures of him through the years. I dressed him in Jim's cycling uniform - from helmet to shoes - and stood him in front of Jim's bike. We took an identical picture today and will continue to do it every year. I can't wait to see how he grows into Jim's clothes over the years.

For Ava, I bought an 8x10 canvas, painted the background and let her paint the rest. Again, we'll do the same every year and once we get a few, we'll be able to display them as a collection.

Finally, I videotaped the kids wishing Jim a Happy Father's Day and telling him all the things they love about him. Each year, they'll record a new message and we'll be able to watch it from the beginning. Even with just the one year we have (two as of tomorrow), it's wonderful to watch.

Here are Noah's first two photos filling Daddy's shoes:

Father's Day 2008

















Father's Day 2009