We’ve been doing an advent calendar for the last two years and absolutely love it! There are so many different ways to do an advent calendar countdown, but we’ve found that a combination of activities and a few small gifts works perfectly for us! We get more together time in, decorate the house together, and the kids get a few small things to play with as the weather gets colder. It’s a win win win. We have a few traditions that we do every year, but we also like to mix things up! Last year we made cute little snow globes and this year we’re making paper doily stars and a few other crafts. I’ll link our activities from the last two years below. It’s also worth noting that we typically start on December 1st, but we are going on vacation this year and will be starting our Advent Calender right after Thanksgiving and then taking a break while we are on vacation. We bought this Advent Pocket Calendar from Gathre last year and we are so excited to use it this year! I also bought these cards and cut them in half for the activity cards.
*We are starting a new tradition of making cookie boxes! We’ve always made sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies, I figured making a few others wouldn’t be too big a of a stretch! We are using recipes from Under a Tin Roof and my favorite sugar cookies.
Under a Tin Roof Recipes Sugar Cookie Recipe
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Christmas is one of my favorite times of year. Our house transforms inside and out, we do a yearly advent calendar full of activities together, and I just love the general magic of it! As a very nostalgic person I love keeping up with traditions and pulling out all of our treasured keepsakes that we’ve collected over the years. Every year the kids and I make special decorations together and the kids also get a special ornament every year based on who they were that year - its so fun to get it all back out and reminisce about the years they are from. I rounded up our favorite holiday decor, some that we have or similar items (if we thrifted it) and a few things that are on our wishlist too! Red Checkered Quilt - Heirloom Art Co
White Paper Snowflakes - Heirloom Art co (or make similar!) Mini Yuletide Smoker - Heirloom Art Co Quilt Stockings- Garnett Hill Beeswax Evergreen Candle - Etsy Lambswool Blanket - TBCo Wooden Christmas Tree Ornaments - Amazon Mini Wooden Christmas Tree Ornaments - Amazon Advent Calendar - Gathre (coming soon!) Holiday Fabric (Mistletoe, Santa, Christmas Village) - Rifle Paper Co Knit Stocking Garland - As seen before at Factory Direct Craft, Target, and Michaels Mini Felt Mushrooms - Etsy Mushroom Ornament - Craftspring Skier Incense Smoker Set - Schoolhouse Wooden Bead Garland - Schoolhouse Holiday String lights (colorful) - Schoolhouse Candle Clips - Schoolhouse Songbird Ornaments - Schoolhouse Wooden Folk Art Tree Topper - Schoolhouse Hand Carved Tea Light Carousel - Schoolhouse Boxwood Wreath - Target Tree Collar Basket - West Elm Gilded Leaf Garland - Magnolia Ceramic Mushroom Ornament - Magnolia Mercury Glass Ornaments - Magnolia Cedar Mix Garland - Magnolia Christmas Pyramid - Amazon Santa Ornament - A Wilder Home Shop (Use code LEAHCHRISTMAS10 for 10% off) Lucky Trolley Ornament - A Wilder Home Shop Grimms Tree Ornament - A Wilder Home Shop Red Car Ornament - A Wilder Home Shop Snowman Music Box - A Wilder Home Shopins Wool Stocking - TBCo It’s not a secret that I love toys, especially cute, open ended ones! If a toy inspires imagination & creativity, makes them happy, AND looks cute scattered around my house it counts as a win in my book. I rounded up my favorite gift ideas for babies, toddlers, little kids and big kids - though I will note, my big kids go back and play with the things from the younger categories all of the time. The majority of these are things we have and love, with a few things on our wishlist sprinkled in too! Happy gift giving season! Wooden Rainbow Rolling Wheel - perfect for encouraging crawling and with the cutest little jingle. Tobbles Stacking Toy - We got this one as a gift for Emmet’s first Christmas and have had and loved it ever sense. Bunny Pull Musical Toy - Always on the hunt for cute play gym/stroller toys. I thought this one was adorable! Squish Rattle - light enough for babies to swing around and the sounds it makes are pretty pleasant. Mini Silks - tie them to a play gym, use them for peek-a-boo Gala the Apple - I love a good squishy Bla Bla doll for cuddling. Lullaby Friend Pig - it plays a lullaby when you squeeze it. Wobbling Wooden Chicken - another toy to encourage crawling and its adorable Baby Car - Babies first car - complete with a rainbow Flora the Fox - Hazel Village will always have a place in my heart Cargo Walker - perfect for learning to walk and for hauling toys around the house Rainbow Blocks - Build a tower and knock it down (and then use them later on for more imaginative play!) Hammer Balls - endless entertainment Duck Family Pull Toy - my son once pulled ours all over Wyoming. Wooden Stacking Cups - investigate, stack, sort by size, use for sorting colors, Rainbow Stacker - cute decor and fun for play too! Shape and Sort it Out - exploring shapes and object permanence Tiny Tot 2 in 1 Trike/Balance Bike - Eleanor was riding hers before she could walk and still uses it now at 3! Pikler Rocking & Climbing Arch - perfect for the kid that needs something to climb on Rattan Mushroom Basket - for carrying around and tucking little toys inside. Maileg mice - the perfect sized animals for little hand. They are some how even cuter in person Monarch Dress Up Wings - pretty and comfortable dress up wings 1001 Nights Wooden Blocks Building Set - I love a good open ended block set. My kids play with this one all of the time. Duplos - We got our kids Duplos before getting them Legos. The larger pieces were easier for them to manipulate Picasso Tiles - My big kids still play with these! These are great for all ages. Wooden Road System - a cute way to build race tracks or towns. Wooden Cars - the cutest little cars Wooden Animal Figures (Unicorn) Wooden Food - my kids love setting up picnics and dinners with this play food. Silk Cape Dress Up Set - Be a super hero, a king, a queen, or anything you want to be! Ball Track - marbles always made me nervous, this ball track felt like the perfect start until they were ready for marbles! Legos - Weve gotten the classic set and then a few other sets too! My kids love the Mario Legos.
Kid Cameras - A fun way to see the world through their eyes Pac-man Handheld Game - For the gamers Micro Kickboard Scooter - Our favorite scooters! Ours have traveled many miles and lasted a long time. Dollhouse Kit - Build them a dollhouse or help them build their own! Kids guitar - For the budding musician Hug A World - To broaden their horizon (and something to snuggle) Silk Fort Kit - Wooden clips and a giant playsilk for making extra cool forts. Marble Track - a neat marble track that can be built so many different ways (and the blocks are compatible with the grimms blocks above for even more builds!) Kiwi Co Stem Kiwi Crate Subscription - A monthly subsciption kit full of things to build and make Yoto Audio Player - we love our Audio player! They have tons of movies and books in audio form to choose from Kids Bike - A big kid bike, because they are big kids now. We have and love these bikes Nugget Couch - perfect for any age and can be built in so many different ways! My big kids are definitely a little more independent with them. We're already partway through September which means that Spooky month is right around the corner! I love fall but Halloween is so much fun, so I can't help but get excited. Our house transforms into such a magical space during Halloween and some of our Halloween books are our very favorites! I rounded up our favorite Halloween decor, Baking supplies, and more for you, so you can have a spooky month too! You're My Little Pumpkin Pie - A sweet little Halloween board book, perfect for babies and toddlers. The Little Ghost Who Was a Quilt - Such a cute one about a shy little ghost who is different from the others Gustavo the Shy Ghost - Gustavo is a shy ghost who learns to make friends! Five Little Pumpkins - Our preschool teacher always sings a five little pumpkins song every October, so now I read/sing this book to them. They request it almost every night in October! Pick A Pumpkin - One of our favorites to read before visiting the pumpkin patch There's a Ghost in this House - This one is a new one to us this year! We are all big fans of Oliver Jeffers books, so we are pretty excited to add it to our collection. How to Make Friends with a Ghost - One of my all-time favorite books. I love Rebecca Green's illustrations and the story is so cute! Stumpkin - One of our favorites to read before we carve our pumpkins Wax Battery Candles - To hang from the ceiling. They look and feel like real candles, but are battery powered! Witch Hats - For dress up and to hang from the ceiling Bats - to stick to the walls in the living room and kids rooms. Skeletons - They come in a pack of three, I plan to hang them from the kids doors. Pumpkin Candy Bucket - I’ve been thrifting this shape of pumpkin bucket over the years but I found a similar style here Kitty or Bat Ears - Perfect for dressing up like a little black cat or a spooky little bat. Use code LEAH10 for 10% off Dress Up Set - No matter what you dress up Bat - We love Hazel Village dolls! This limited edition bat releases on October 13th We don’t do full Boo baskets each year but I thought the kids might like cute little Halloween trinkets to play with!
Bat Ornament Funny Bones Toy Miniature Pumpkin Candy Buckets - For dolls and sensory bins Felt Ghost Ornament We celebrated Eleanor’s third birthday this past weekend! I briefly considered a Frozen or a Tangled themed birthday party, but her interest in those has fizzled slightly. So we went with a Fairy Garden theme part with lots of pops of her favorite colors; pink and purple. As a part of the theme, because fairies are so elusive and usually in your imagination, I knew I wanted it to be mostly about the garden with a hint of fairies. The only actual fairies included in the design are on the garland behind the table and the two little felt fairies hiding on the table. I made her cake into a fairy house by adding miniature doors and windows. I then frosted her cake with pink icing and added felt mushrooms and fresh flowers to the top. I also frosted sugar cookies with a little bouquet of flowers. We just got a new pendant light from Schoolhouse a few months ago which opened up new possibilities for hanging decorations. I hung the pink scallop garland from the corners of the room to the light and then used a thrifted embroidery hoop and fishing line to hang the butterflies from the light, centered above the table. We had so much fun celebrating her! It’s always so fun to design their parties and make them come to life, but its even more fun to see them enjoy them. Fairy House Cake Tutorial Part One
Fairy House Cake Tutorial Part Two Sugar Cookie and Icing Recipe Cream Cheese Cake Frosting Recipe Pink Scallop Garland Butterflies Fairy Garland Scalloped Table Runner - Gathre Pink Scalloped Plates Lady Bug Napkins Bumble Bee Plates Flower Cups Felt Mushrooms Felt Fairies - Mama Owl Door Windows Candles Mouse and Squirrel - Bella Luna Toys Celebration Ring + Ornaments - Bella Luna Toys and A Wilder Home Shop Dress - Noble Badge - Franny Kids Wings - Jack Be Nimble Flower Crown - Fancy Free Finery |
mama of three
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