Happy December!

We started the day by tearing a ring off the count-down chains. Each year I have grand ideas for making an advent calendar, but then December rolls around and I haven’t made it past the idea stage, so I end up throwing something silly together instead. This year we made count-down chains with construction paper, glue, and crayons. Each day they tear off a ring. I like that it shows them the concept of time as the chains get shorter and shorter.

Count-down Chains (this year's advent calendar)

Naked walls

We then did school and playdates in the morning, then cleaning in the afternoon! Yay! It was actually a really nice afternoon. I took down all of the artwork (going back over 2 1/2 years!) from our walls and, with help from the kids, divvied it up into piles to be dealt with appropriately. I’m happy that Lex was very ok with the whole process :) Then the kids played so sweetly together while I did some cleaning and made dinner, with dance breaks in between. We’ve been listening to a lot of Christmas music the past few days and they LOVE it when I dance with them. By “dance with them” I mean hold them in my arms and bop around for an entire song. They laugh and laugh, which, of course, makes me laugh and laugh. :) This afternoon they played with babies together. Eve’s babies were sick, so Lex gave them some medicine (Lego meds) and then he made them a rattle (Lego rattle) and then he got a baby for himself and they proceeded to feed their babies and read to them and put them to sleep. At one point Lex came over and said, “Mom, I have everything I need to take care of a baby!” Ha! If only wooden pickles and watermelon, a Lego rattle and a few books were all it took! :) Then we had pancakes for dinner (I tried REALLY hard to just have salad but ended up finishing their leftover pancakes… sooooo yummy!) and bedtime. A very nice day to start this exciting month.

Playing with babies and puppies