2009 "Year" in Review

I've seen some fun posts on different blogs of their favourite posts or activities from the year. Since I just started this blog a few months ago, I don't have a year to draw from, but since the blog started, here are some of our favourite activities of 2009:


- Water Tub
- Typing & Starfall Games
- Library studies
- Go Fish Feelings Card Game Print Out
- Saltdough Ornaments- Stuffed Snowman
- Advent Calendar
- Playing in the Snow
- Homemade Bubble Wrapping Paper

A Sewing Machine!

Remember a few entries back when I talked about changing my mind about sewing?

Well, I mentioned these thoughts to my mother and mother-in-law a couple of times, and guess what they got me for Christmas??

A sewing machine!



So, today I managed to test it out & make a very rough "purse" for Talia and a hat for her doll, while trying it out (out of an old shirt of Ken's that we were going to throw out. (I will be happy to throw them out later, when I sew something that looks decent ;)

But look forward to more sewing-related posts in the new year! :)

Decorating Cookies for Santa

For Christmas this year, a friend of ours gave us a bunch of mini gingerbread men with frosting and sprinkles to decorate them with. What a great gift idea!


I thought we had put off the decorating for too long- Christmas is tomorrow!
But it was actually the perfect opportunity for Talia to "make" cookies for Santa.


She & Ken had fun working on them together.


She sampled some, too :)


And I'm sure Santa will enjoy this treat this evening :)

A Personalized Video Message from Santa!

My Sister In Law, Tami, just shared a really cool website with me that lets Santa send a personalized video message to your son or daughter!


We just got our message for Talia from Santa, & it was great! He knew special things about her, he showed us the page in his book that had Talia's picture in it, and that she was "nice". :)

She was smiling the whole time & responding to his questions :)

Gingerbread House

I had been keeping my eye open for a good gingerbread house kit this year (I'm just not ambitious enough to bake the whole thing myself right now ;) when I saw that our grocery/superstore was offering gingerbread house making classes. So, I signed Talia & I up for it, and we had a great afternoon out. It was so much fun! :)

Stockings

This year I needed to add another stocking to our collection :) I made our elf stockings when we first stayed at our own house for Christmas morning, when Talia was tiny. Since Katrina was born in December, I didn't get hers made for her first Christmas last year, but this is the first year that she'll have any idea what's going on, so I'm ok with that ;)

So, exactly one week before Christmas, our family stockings are complete!

Ok, so I need to get my hands on some stuffing to stuff Katrina's stocking's toe, but we're really close! ;)

I had to re-attach each of the jingle bells this year, because last year Talia had some fun pulling them all off! Here's a close-up of my hard work:


These stockings were sewn by hand, using felt for the lining, and fleece for the outside. I found a pattern when I made them a couple of years ago, on the Family Fun Magazine webpage. Here's the link to the pattern (Thanks Sarah!). If anyone decides to try something like this, I suggest finding fishing line for the jingle bells because they're just sharp enough to pull right threw embroidery floss (but fishing line is not foolproof.. or toddler proof either. I didn't have fishing line this time around, and Katrina already got one bell free.

Paper Bag Reindeer Puppet

Today we made paper bag reindeer puppets! This idea came from Mommy's Little Helper.

Talia had fun playing with the puppet afterward, as well as doing the craft. :)

How To Do It:

- trace hands on construction paper
- cut hand shapes out
- glue hand shapes onto back of paper lunch bag
- glue eyes & nose onto bag
- draw mouth onto bag
- play with the puppet! :)

Stuffed Snowman

You can find detailed instructions for this activity over at Filth Wizardry (that's where I got the idea from).

It's such a fun & cute thing to make!


It was fun to think about what we would use for each part together.
We used:
-an old baby sock for the hat (with a pom pom)
-tooth picks & pieces of the sock for the arms & mittens
-beads for buttons
-googly eyes for eyes
-pom pom for a nose
-marker to make ears, earrings, and mouth
-ribbon for the scarf/bow

Here's Talia, stuffing her old tights with toilet paper (she loved it!)

Pom Pom Play

After an art project involving pom poms, my girls let loose and tossed pom poms all over the place. They had a fabulous time!

I gave Talia some chopsticks to pick pom poms up and sort them into a divided dish.



And I gave Katrina a baggie to put pom poms in (she was disrupting Talia's work ;) She seemed to be having a grand time picking them up & putting them in, then taking them out & starting over :)

Playing in the Snow

A few days ago we got a small dusting of snow. I didn't even think it was worth going out to play in, but Talia was so enthusiastic, she had half of her winter clothing on before I could suggest waiting for more snow. So, I let her out to play & that girl spent a lot of time out in the backyard having a great time with what snow was out there!



Since then she hasn't missed a morning of play in the snow. :) I'm happy that she's so happy, and I'm happy that she's getting exercise!

Stained Glass Paper Trees

Today we made Stained Glass Paper Trees. I was reminded of this fun activity idea when I visited Alpha Mom's Blog.

What To Do:

- cut a tree out of construction paper
- cut holes in it (like you would a paper snowflake, or just fold here & there & cut a piece out)
- glue pieces of tissue paper on the back like this:



- hold up to the window & watch the light shine through! :)

Jinglebell Braclets

When I saw the jinglebell bracelets post at Chasing Cheerios, I knew that it would be an activity that Talia would love.



She loves making bracelets, she loves jinglebells. I didn't have to give her any instruction- just told her what we were making, gave her the materials, & she went to it :)

Play Nativity

I bought the Fischer Price Nativity Set this year, so that the girls could play with it and so that we could teach Talia, especially, more about the true Christmas story.



I wrapped up each of the pieces individually, and we talked about the story of Jesus' birth, piece by piece. Talia thanked us for individual pieces, and when we were done, I showed her how pushing the angel down makes the star light up & Silent Night plays. She said, reverently, "Jesus is born!" and placed Jesus, Mary, & Joseph in the stable while the music played. It was pretty cute! :)

Christmas Cookie Exchange

A friend of mine organized a Christmas Cookie Exchange this year.
I made some more of the chocolate truffles that I posted about earlier (you can find the recipe at that post).


And this year, I found some Martha Stewart cookie boxes, way on sale, so I picked them up & have had fun putting the cookies together in the pretty boxes for gifts.


I'm also making some Christmas boxes this year for some other gifts, but I don't want to post them here yet, or it will give some things away! :)

Christmas Pillow Case

Remember my post about sewing?

Well, I sewed something!

I was out at the fabric store, getting the supplies needed to make a stocking for Katrina (I made our family's stockings- look at me go ;), and all of their Christmas fabric was 50% off.

I remembered that my Mother in Law had made Christmas pillowcases and I thought it was a fun idea, so I picked out some cute Christmas/wintery fabric and bought enough to make a Christmas pillowcase for Talia.

Here it is! :)


It was fun to put it on her pillow when she wasn't looking, so she'd find it when it was naptime :)

Salt Dough Ornaments

Yesterday, we made salt dough ornaments & it was a lot of fun!
This morning, we started decorating them.
Here are a couple, on display:


I followed the recipe that Filth Wizardry posted for Salt Dough Ornaments, and we had a great time making a few of our own!
Talia loved the stirring & the kneading :)


We rolled the dough and cut it with cookie cutters. We made holes in them with a straw (for hanging, and for weaving- as seen in the first photo). Then we waited (too long- these things take a couple of hours! :) for them to bake.

Paper Chain for the Christmas Tree

Yesterday we started our advent calendar. Talia made her first Christmas card, and I think it'll be a daily thing, to put a cheerio into the cup each day after Talia gets her treat out, so that Katrina can pick something out, too. :) She wanted to be involved too!

Today we made a paper chain for the Christmas tree.

How To Do It:

- I cut construction paper into half inch strips with a scrapbooking paper cutter
- we glued the ends together to make the chain


One green paper & one red paper will get you a chain this long:

2 green papers and 2 red papers will get you a chain this long:

Talia really enjoyed helping me to put the chain on the tree!

This was a great, simple Christmas activity that I'm sure we'll do again in future years.