Where did December go?

Ok, so we have continued with our advent calendar but the blogging of our activities has just been too much to keep up with. Actually taking pictures of our activities has gone away for the most part as well. I'm documenting what we did for the most part so I can remember next year and to have a record of it as well. I'll give short summaries and try to includea few pictures as well. (I've only downloaded pics through 12/15 so I'll download the rest tomorrow and add a few more pictures).

Day 8 - Projects from Grandma Cella
Grandma Cella had sent us many different "craft" projects to do and dad had class so we sat and enjoyed them for over an hour. It was a lot of fun.



Day 9 - Amazing Race game
We're big fans of Amazing Race at our house, although this was closer to just a scavenger hunt. We gave clues of where the next clue would be and then at the end the boys got a special surprise. Reid got a package of Star Wars cards and Ryan got a Transformers dog tag. I thought it was a package of cards too but it wasn't. Reid was very jealous of Ryan's dog tag.





Day 10 - Hmmm????


Day 11 - Make Rice Krispy Treats
The boys did a really good job listening and helping make the treats. I let them both stand at the oven and stir the marshmallows and they did a good job listening so they didn't touch the pan. And the rice krispy treats were very good!


Day 12 - Dinner, Movie, Play Toys, Watch a Movie and Stay up Late
Ross, Ryan and I went up to Holton for the day for a wedding shower and spent the night so Reid and dad did the advent calendar together. They ate dinner at Red Robin, got a movie and had a good guys night together.


Day 13 - Christmas Lights with special surprise at the end
We drove around and looked at lights and then went to Dairy Queen and got ice cream... MMMmmm!


Day 14 - Eli's Birthday Party
I had originally told the boys that Eli's birthday party was not the advent calendar but we were there for over two hours and the boys had a fabulous time. It was nonstop playing games and tokens being handed out to them... insane! So, on the way home I told them that we weren't going to do anything additional for the advent calendar and neither one of them complained at all - they were worn out!

Day 15 - Toys for Tots
One of our favorite programs, we went to Wal-Mart and shopped for other children. We told the boys about Toys for Tots several times and how the Marines run the program. While at Wal-Mart Ryan said "we know two Todd's - Beth's husband and the Todd we are shopping for"... It was a good laugh. We had to start calling it Toys for Other Kids :)


Day 16 - Make a Snowman... out of marshmallows
We used mini marshmallows and regular ones with white frosting and toothpicks and got creative making snowmen. Reid did make one, Ryan never got anything put together. He ate his whole scoop of frosting and then all of the marshmallows.

Day 17 - Color pictures for Grandma Linda & Grandpa Steve
Knowing that we were heading to our McDowell grandparents on Saturday we decided to do some coloring and make some pictures for grandpa and grandma. The boys really enjoy coloring more when they know their picture is going to have a recipient.

Day 18 - Make Cookies with special drinks
We made chocolate chip cookies (from premade dough of course) and drank it with Ginger Ale.


Day 19 - Christmas at Grandpa Steve & Grandma Linda's
We had a great day in Hannibal. The boys got some great toys and had played really well with them most of the day. They even got to bundle up and go out and play in the snow which Reid has really been wanting to do this year.

Day 20 - (will have to add later, can't remember what we did - need to look at camera)

Day 21 - Family Lego Night
We brought the boys legos to the living room and helped them build things and they just played legos for most of the night.

Day 22 - Out to eat at Fritz' with McConnell's
We met our friends at the new Fritz' train restaurant to eat dinner. It was nice to see some friends that we hadn't seen for a while but probably not the best idea for a weeknight. We felt rushed, the boys didn't get to "enjoy" the visit as much as we usually would. Overall, I think the Crown Center Fritz' has more appeal to it. Maybe it was just a bad night, we'll give it another chance sometime.


Day 23 - Kid's Choice
We did this last year and the boys never really "decided" on anything. This year they said that they wanted to stay up as late as they wanted and they got to be the bosses. Reid spent some time playing on the computer and Ryan just hung out. He's had a fever today and I don't think feeling his best. It was 9:30 when I finally told them we needed to go to bed and they didn't argue at all.