Christmas Advent Calendar, Day 7: Go to the Luck Holiday Experience

We spent another weekend at the cabin, relaxing by the fire and hanging out as a family of four. It was absolutely beautiful there with freshly fallen snow sticking to the tree caps like glue, but the temperatures left some to be desired. High of 2 degrees on Saturday? You've got to be kidding me. All Andi and I wanted to do was take a walk in the woods, but it's hard to justify outdoor activities for little kids when it's that cold. Obviously, there's no way Aden can be outside in that weather, so I'm basically stuck indoors no matter what. Andi did Take Tory on a quick Ranger ride through the woods by our cabin on Saturday. The Ranger ATV has a windshield and heated seats so it's not as barbaric as it sounds, but it was still really cold. Crazy that we live in a place where dressing our kid up like this is required.

Even crazier that Andi had to wear bright orange so wouldn't be shot at on the trails. (It was muzzleloader deer hunting this weekend).

Meanwhile, Aden and I stayed inside the toasty cabin and I watched him do this:

Little man loves to be warm. I've never seen him so comfortable.

Saturday morning, we drove to the nearby town of Luck, Wisconsin for their Holiday Experience. It was all very low-key which was perfect for Tory and our day's agenda. Santa Claus made an appearance at the local library where there were also free treats and a large "Santa train" display. Tory wasn't interested in sitting on Santa's lap and we didn't pressure her, but she loved the train. I really want to buy one that runs under our own tree at the cabin.  

There were also free horse-drawn sleigh rides taking place outside the library. Andi and Tory went for a ride while Aden and I stayed inside the library. It was bitterly cold Saturday with a daily high temperature of -2 below. Andi said Tory loved the first few minutes of the sleigh ride but asked for "covers" at the end because she was so cold, so the sleigh ride operator gave her a blanket to use. I was a little bummed I missed seeing Tory on her first sleigh ride. Next year, maybe we'll all be able to go together.

This event was the perfect thing to do on a Saturday during the holiday season. It was simple and free. Perfect for little ones like Tory to enjoy.

Christmas Advent Calendar, Day 5: Visit Santa Claus

I recommend having a baby during winter for the following reasons:

1) It's super easy to hide a post-partum belly under warm, cozy sweatshirts, [maternity] jeans and hoodies. You look so great for having a baby two weeks ago! Well, yes, one might think so until he/she saw the wiggly-jiggliness hiding beneath here.

2) Water-retention during pregnancy is kept to a minimum (unlike having a baby in late August. I wouldn't wish that swolleness on my worst enemy).

3) If you're a homebody like me, you can stay indoors for days and no one says a thing. So sorry! Can't leave the house! New baby! I barely stepped foot into our attached garage this week. Of course, I did because I needed Diet Coke.

What's this randomness have to do with Santa Claus? Well, after hiding from the freshly fallen snow and cold temperatures for two solid days, I decided last-minute Thursday afternoon to bundle up the kids and take them to see Santa Claus at a local mall. Believe me, I was very on the fence about this outing because A) leaving the house with two kids is a lot of work, B) this was my first time taking the kids out in public by myself, C) Brrrr. The roads were still pretty snowy / icy and we'd be driving back home during rush-hour traffic.

But, it'd been two days since we left the house and Tory was starting to get antsy. I thought a trip to the mall to burn off some energy at the indoor play park might be good for her. And, we could see Santa at the same time. Win/win. Also? Andi drove to the cabin Thursday night after work to meet the sauna installation guy so I was solo-parenting for 36 hours straight (also my first overnight alone with both kids). I figured we needed some sort of activity to eat up our evening.

Aden screamed from his car seat the entire drive to the mall, so we were off to a good start. (Just kidding, OMG. Thankfully, this is not the norm for him and the mall is only a few minutes away). Tory was cute in the backseat trying to reassure him. "Almost there, Baby Aden, almost there," on repeat for 15 minutes.

I'm nuts and require my kids to wear their Christmas outfits in their yearly Santa pictures, so I brought along Tory's dress, tights and shoes in a separate bag and dressed Aden in his button-up shirt, argyle sweater and red corduroy pants before we left. I also brought the stroller and car seat for Aden and the Baby Bjorn for back-up. Add in the diaper bag and, phew, kids are a lot of work.

When we arrived at the mall, I high-tailed it to the family bathroom suite to change Tory into her Christmas dress. (It was far too cold outside for her to wear the dress to the mall). After I changed Tory, Aden started to cry, so I fed him while simultaneously ignoring the fact Tory was now crawling around on the dirty floor in her new dress.

Luckily, there was no line at Santa Claus (unlike the first year we took Tory), so we walked right up to the Big Guy. Tory was nervous immediately and grabbed onto my pant leg. It didn't matter that Aden was snuggled into Santa's arms, Tory didn't want anything to do with him. I guess I don't blame her. He's a stranger with a long white beard and it's a unfamiliar set-up all together. The photographer suggested I sit on the wooden stool beside Santa and Tory could sit on my lap. We had to do this last year, too, but this time the photographer said she'd Photoshop me out of the photo. For real?! Santa got high-tech this year! I like it.

Excuse the picture of a picture

Tory didn't want to talk to Santa Claus, so I guess he'll never know what presents she'd like to receive this Christmas. He did give Tory a little coloring book and she was pretty excited about that. Afterwards, we stopped by the indoor play park and Tory ran around like a crazy-lady for 20 minutes with her "friends." (That's what she called the other kids there when we were packing up to leave. Too funny).

Later that night as I was giving Tory a bath, we were discussing our trip to see Santa. I told her he'll be coming to visit on Christmas Eve to bring her presents and she shot me the strangest look like, "um that guy's not coming to my house." Ha! Oh, toddlers.

Christmas Advent Calendar, Day 4: Make a Holiday Craft

Day 4's original advent calendar activity was "visit Santa Claus" at a local mall. But, we woke up to a real winter wonderland outdoors with 3-7 inches of snow falling in the Twin Cities and I did not feel like dragging two little kids into bad weather for no (valid) reason. Our trip to see St. Nick will have to be rescheduled. On snowy days, I'm thankful to be a stay-at-home-mom with the ability to stay home all day as needed.

In regards to Santa Claus, I am curious how Tory will react to sitting on his lap this year. She shoots me a puzzled expression every time I mention him in conversation, so more Santa education may be needed before we pay him a visit anyway. Last year, Tory's near meltdown forced me into the obligatory Santa photo and that's not something I'm interested in repeating. Maybe sitting on Santa's lap with Aden this year will be enough to convince her to get the shot? We shall see ....

Anyway, in place of a Santa visit, Tory and I made holiday crafts. I'm loving the flexibility of our advent calendar activities this year because it allows us to do things when we're in the right mood for them. Just as I pulled out all the craft supplies, Baby Brother started to fuss so I busted out the Moby Wrap for the first time. At two-weeks old, Aden's sleepy newborn-ness is wearing off and now when he's tired, he fusses for me to bounce him to sleep. What happened to falling asleep by yourself in the swing, little guy? As soon as I snuggled him up in the Moby, he was fast asleep and Tory and I continued on with our crafting.

First, we made a construction paper reindeer hat. I measured a piece of brown construction paper around Tory's head, traced her hands using the same sheet of paper and taped it all together using Popsicle sticks to hold the hand cut-outs in position. Then, we glued googly eyes and a red pom-pom nose onto the front. Easy peasy.

Then, Tory decided Mommy should wear the reindeer hat instead. 

We were having so much fun, why stop there? I decided to hot-glue Popsicle sticks together to make snowflake shapes. I gave Tory some washable finger paint and let her decorate the sticks. After the paint dried, I hot-glued fishing line to the back of each one and hung them in our kitchen window. Honestly, the snowflakes are a little on the ugly side. A few sequins or glitter would have dressed them up nicely, but I didn't have any on hand.

This was one of those really good parenting days. You know the ones that come out of nowhere and make you smile with wonder because your kid is just so cool to be around? It was a perfect snow day with my little girl, making crafts, listening to Christmas music and spending time together.

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By the way, Tory has been doing an awesome job of sleeping in her big-girl bed lately. When Aden was born, Andi's started putting Tory to bed and now she hardly has any wake-ups anymore (maybe one or two a night and usually falls right back to sleep). Because she's been such a good girl, our Elf on the Shelf friend, Elfie, brought Tory a special present on this day -- elf tutu's. Tory was so excited about Elfie's new skirts, she put on her own "beautiful dress" over her pajamas and twirled around the living room with Elfie. It's was super cute. As I suspected, Tory still doesn't seem to grasp the concept of Elf on the Shelf (doing right vs. wrong and Elfie reporting back to Santa), but she's enjoying finding Elfie every morning.

The holidays are just a million times more fun with little kids. I love it.

Nana and Papa's Visit

One of the things stressing me out before Aden's birth was a week-long visit from my parents. I was beyond excited to have my parents here, don't get me wrong, but I was way too focused on maximizing their assistance after the baby. I remember the second week of post-partum being a highly emotional time for me after Tory was born, and I wanted to do everything in my power to avoid feeling like that again. With Aden, Andi planned to take the week of Aden's birth off work and I'd asked my parents to visit the following week (week two), so I'd have assistance with both kids for two solid weeks. Unfortunately, life never turns out exactly as you plan and the combination of Aden's late arrival and the Thanksgiving holiday forced my parent's visit to overlap with Andi's paternity leave.

Everything worked out in the end and my parents were able to visit Aden just hours after his birth. This was something very important to them, so I'm happy things worked out like they did. My parents stuck around for six days afterwards to help us at home.

I think I'm always a little anxious before my parents visit because I want my house and our life here to be just perfect for them. They could probably care less if my floors are swept or the pantry's organized, but since they don't have a chance to see our life in Minnesota all that often, it's important to me that I put my best foot forward. (I'm nuts, I know).

Rarely do we get to spend uninterrupted days together without a lot of other family members around. I cherish all the holidays and family get-togethers but for once, it was a nice treat to have my parents stay with us here in Minnesota with no big activities planned. We spent most of Aden's first week at home playing with Tory, snuggling the new babe, lounging around, talking and eating. My dad was a serious laundry terminator and did countless loads of wash for us. My mom cooked meals, kept the house in order and snuggled my baby boy so I could treat myself to much-needed showers in peace. It was such a luxury to hand Aden over to my mom and lay down for a few minutes knowing he was in perfectly capable hands.

It was awesome to see Tory interact with my parents during their stay as well. It's always taken her a few days to warm up when she sees them, mostly because our time together is usually in Nebraska and she's outside her comfort zone and regular routine. Tory was so excited to have my parents here, to show them all her toys, and to have their undivided attention. They played with her new doctor kit, ate pretend food from Tory's kitchen, dressed up baby dolls, and colored on Tory's chalkboard. The morning my parents left, Tory crawled into my dad's lap with a puppy-dog face and snuggled against him for 20 minutes because she was so sad they were leaving. I'm always so envious of the relationship my sister's girls have with my parents. My parents see Brooke and Neeley near-daily and are like second parents to them. Distance puts my kids at a disadvantage so it warmed my heart to see Nana and Papa with their Minnesota babies.

I'm always sad to see my parents pull out of my drive-way on their return home, but their departure wasn't nearly as tramatic as I feared. I've felt 100 times more sane this post-partum round and I'm not sure if it's to do with being a second-time parent, a different mix of hormones, or all the great help I've been blessed with. It also helps my family and I will be reunited again in three short weeks for Christmas, and a month later for Aden's baptism. There's plenty of family quality time ahead.

I'm thankful for both sets of our parents who've been so good to Andi and I. I can't forget Andi's mom who's clocked numerous hours of playtime with Tory so I could have some time to myself or bond with Aden. Counting my many blessings this year. 

Christmas Advent Calendar, Day 3: Make Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments

Dang, I really pre-loaded the big "make and bake" advent calendar activities all in one week. Yesterday, Day 3, was "make cinnamon applesauce ornaments" and truth be told, I wasn't really feeling it. Tory had toddler preschool in the morning, Aden had his two-week doctor's check-up, and by the time we got home from all of that I was pooped. Somehow though, I achieved the elusive triple nap that afternoon which was the saving grace of the day. Tory and I were reading books in my bed while Aden slept on my chest. I must have dozed off and when I woke up an hour later, both kids were still conked out on/beside me. Parenting badge achieved! Hooray!

After our naps, I was feeling much more festive so Tory and I busted out the supplies to make cinnamon applesauce ornaments. Last year we made these and I tied the finished ornaments onto all our Christmas presents as decor. They were really cute. Tory was even more interested in making the process this year and was able to pour and mix the ingredients together herself. We dumped the dough onto parchment paper and rolled it flat.

Tory was a little too excited about cutting shapes into the dough and kept wrecking them pressing shapes faster than I could pick them up and place them on a cookie sheet. Then, Aden started crying because he pooped his pants and I said forget it. Cinnamon applesauce ornaments transformed into heavily-scented Play-doh. I just let Tory play with the dough while I tended to the baby. Not surprisingly, she still had a fabulous time.

While we have no ornaments to show for our afternoon's effort, Day 3's advent calendar activity did bring my little girl and I together in the kitchen for a fun activity. I'm confident that's what the holiday season is all about anyway.

Christmas Advent Calendar, Day 2: Make Chocolate Pretzel Buttons

Our advent calendar is loaded with activities for December and I'm as excited to complete each one with Tory, Aden and Andi. This is the second year we've had an advent calendar (a list of last year's activities here). Not knowing how life would be with two kids, I kept my personal expectations low this year. I remember having the hardest time getting back into the kitchen after Tory was born so I was worried about taking on too much, but so far life with Aden seems easier. I think the solid difference is he actually lets me put him down. Baby Tory? Not so much. Just in case things go sideways, I filled the calendar with plenty of cheater days to allow myself some wiggle room if/when I need it.

Sunday, December 1 (Advent Calendar Day 1) was one of those days. The activity was suppose to be "open a special Christmas present" and I botched it. We were at the cabin in the morning and our afternoon was consumed with Aden's newborn baby photo shoot. I purchased this Story of Christmas book for Tory months prior, but I never wrapped it. With the day's events, I never did find the time. The old Heather would've beaten myself up about it, but new mom-to-two-kids Heather just let it go.  We started our Elf on the Shelf tradition instead and it was perfectly fine. 

Yesterday, Day 2, of our advent calendar was the total opposite. Originally, I'd planned another low-key activity - decorate a felt Christmas tree - but Tory wasn't interested in playing with it when I asked her. Aden was sleeping in the swing and I was feeling ambitious, so Tory and I made chocolate pretzel buttons. This was seriously the easiest Christmas treat to make and the perfect activity for a two-year-old. I used this Valentine's Day recipe and customized it for Christmas by using red and green M&Ms. 

Tory helped with every step and she had so much fun. I asked her to lay out all the pretzels on a cookie sheet and together we unwrapped two bags of Hershey's Hugs chocolates. She kept sticking the chocolates in her mouth to eat and after the fourth one I told her no more or we might not have enough for our treats. "Okay! I sorry, Mom" she said with a somewhat bashful grin. That girl. She is just too cute for words. 

After each pretzel square was topped with a Hershey's chocolate, we popped the trays in the oven for 4-5 minutes, then topped each one with a holiday-colored M&M. Lucky for us, we live in frigid Minnesota so I set the trays out on the three-season porch to cool and harden. It was snowing all afternoon, so it made the perfect backdrop for our holiday baking session. Jamming out to Neil Diamond Christmas on Pandora was icing on the cake.

Can't forget to give a shout-out to my little man who slept in his swing while Tory and I baked our treats. When I was pregnant, I worried how I'd find enough time in the day to give Tory one-on-one affection while also caring for a newborn baby. So far, things seems to be working out just fine.

 

... on this day, at least.

Elf on a Shelf Ideas for Toddlers

Two years ago, my mother-in-law bought Tory an Elf on a Shelf book for Christmas. Our little Elf has been sitting on the shelf (ha!) ever since because I thought Tory was just a little too young to start the tradition. I *think* she'll understand the concept at Age 2 (maybe? at least the hiding/finding part?), so I'm busting out our little Elf for the first time this year.

With a newborn baby in the mix, I tried to set myself up for success by pulling together a list of "toddler friendly" Elf on the Shelf ideas ahead of time. The last thing I want to be doing is brainstorming Elf hiding spots when I'm dog-tired at the end of each day. Pinterest is bursting with Elf placement ideas, but a lot of them are "naughty" (and a bit gross, actually -- the one where he's squatting over a Hershey's kiss? Disgusting, people). Others are too complex for a two-year-old to even understand. Why put myself through the trouble of creating a mess only to have to clean it up later? I actually think some of the Elf antics are better suited for adults.

So, without further audiu, here's my list of "toddler friendly" Elf on the Shelf ideas. Some of these I borrowed from Pinterest and others I came up with on my own. Andi and I read the Elf on the Shelf book to Tory last night before bedtime and she appropriately named our little guy "Elfie."

Elf on the Shelf Ideas for Toddlers
December 2013

1 - Elf filling up a drink of water in the refrigerator door
2 - Elf's head buried in a bag of M&Ms candy
3 - Elf "fishing" in the bathroom sink
4 - Elf sitting in the Little People's nativity scene
5 - Elf cooking at Tory's play kitchen
6 - Elf coloring a picture with Tory's markers
7 - Elf hiding in Tory's shoe by the front door
8 - Elf sleeping in the baby's swing
9 - Elf hiding in a bowl of marshmallows on the table
10 - Elf reading himself a Christmas storybook
11 - Elf hanging out in the Christmas tree
12 - Elf riding in the Little People's school bus
13 - Elf brushing his teeth with Tory's toothbrush
14 - Elf making a Fruit Loop cereal necklace
15 - Elf having a tea party in Tory's room
16 - Elf eating a Christmas cookie on the counter
17 - Elf hiding amongst Tory's plates and cups in the kitchen
18 - Elf sitting on top of our suitcases

Tory, Aden and I are traveling to Nebraska on the 18th to celebrate Christmas with my family (Andi will join up with us later) and unfortunately for Elfie, he won't be making the trip. Therefore, our little Elf on the Shelf adventures will end a few days before Christmas. I'm not too worried about it as I doubt Tory will realize something is missing from our daily routine on December 19th when Elfie hasn't randomly appeared at my parent's house. I do hope she gets a kick out of finding his location throughout our house everyday! It'll be fun to witness her first reaction to one of many new (to her) holiday traditions.