Holidays Update 2013

Hello everyone,

There is a lot going on in my life now and I've been so busy that I haven't had the time to blog or even to set up our Christmas tree yet! It is a good thing in a way because all that is happening it is positive and very exiting. The last day of September 2013 we decided we wanted to have another child and by October 21st I found out I am PREGNANT!!! So I got pregnant in matter of days...it happened so fast that still I can't believe there is a human being growing inside of me. What a miracle...

Another change in our lives is that we bought a house!!! Yes, no more renting for us!! We are still in the process of fixing it up. We stripped all the carpet out and my husband is refinishing the hardwood floors what ended up being a pain. After my husband had it all sanded we let the painters help and they put the wrong stain, they tried in vain to remove it with paint stripper (the stain came out a bit but left a bloody mess) and washed their hands off of it with an excuse that he went to the hospital...So my husband had to clean it up and sand it again...A week later he is now ready to give it the first coat of varnish and hopefully next week we can move! I am currently renting a 650 square feet house. It is a 2 bedroom one bath. In contrast, then house we bought is a 3 bedroom, one bath and the best thing about the house is that it has a guest house in the back that it will become out school house!! It needs to be painted and needs a new floor. With some time I will have it ready to go. I will post about it when it is ready.

I am so excited about all of this that I can't sleep at night thinking and thinking of all the good things that happened to us in the past few months...

Even though I am happy about it I will miss my city and all the fun things we have done here...like walks to the coast, and the walks to see the wild peacocks, my nice neighbors, etc.. We've been living here for over 6 years and it is a bit sad to leave but it is a positive change and it had to be done...We are going to be so much more comfortable and we won't be throwing our money away anymore.

I am hoping this weekend we can get our Christmas tree and make some vegan pumpkin cookies. My husband's speciality is his yummy ginger bread cookies that my kids love. Umi and my Little Princess wrote letters to Santa. He wrote it with his own hands..I can't believe he can do that. And she so cute pretended to write...I will post their letters to Santa when they are done...hopefully in a few hours we can finish them!

I am originally from Argentina and we celebrate Christmas on the 24th with my family that also live here in the US. My husband is American and we celebrate Christmas day with his family.

What do you usually do for Christmas? Do you have a fun tradition to share?


I wish you all a very merry Christmas and a super happy New Year!!!

Feliz Navidad!!!! Y prospero Ano Nuevo!!!!


Monica

Design a Town and More Cheap and Easy Christmas Tray Activities

 Design a Town

We bought all of this activities at the Dollar Tree (not the wooden car). 

This is how I set it up. I let Umi play on his own as much as he wants to.  You could make maps that your child can use to design a town. Add cars, people, animals..etc.

Also, you and your child can make up a name for it! You could also make a book about it. Take some pictures and write a story about your town. The picture can go on one page and the child's drawing on the other. If your child is old enough to write he can make the whole book by himself. If not, ask your child to tell you about the picture and you can write it for him.

Umi started making his own thing and having fun.

Matching Activity

I set this up for Little Princess. She is 1 and 1/2 now (Dec. 2012)

The tray and the little erasers came from the Dollar Tree. 

She stills put things in her mouth but not so often like before so she chewed some up...Not good....But if your child doesn't do that you can set this easy tray (Made in USA). 

Cheap Christmas Tray Activities and Games

This games and trays I got it from the Dollar Tree store. 

The left one set all the pegs in the tree (good for hand eye coordination and fine motor skills ) then hop over a peg and take it with you and put it on your plate (peanut butter jar lid). Only one peg has to be left in the Christmas tree.

The right game is a tic tac toe. Choose the pegs you want to use and take them with you. The younger player goes first. You all take turns putting the pegs in the game. The goal is putting 3 pegs in a row to win. You are supposed to stop the other player from wining by putting a peg in the way all the time.

This third tray also came from the Dollar Tree. The child can do patterns, make a bracelet, count, etc.

Little Princes is 1 and 1/2 now. She like playing with the pegs, and put them in the holes

and take them out.

Little Princes loves the beads!

So does Umi!

Other ideas for Christmas trays:

- Wrapping paper left over from wrapping presents for cutting for scissor practice

- Wrapping paper collage

- Draw a Christmas tree and trace cotton balls then let the child decorate the

tree by gluing the cotton balls to the tree.

- Same than above but make it an ornament.

- Draw a candy cane and let the child decorate by gluing cotton balls. Then you can count them see how many it fitted in there.

I hope you all are enjoying this holiday seasons!!!

PS: I apologize for the pictures not being so clear..I took them with my phone since I cannot find my camera....I am hoping Santa will help me with that!! ;-)

Easy Christmas Craft Ideas

Paper Plate Ornaments

Materials:

- Paper Plates

- Glue

-Glitter

- Hole Punch

- Fishing Line

- Pin

Give the glue to the child to make his own design. Then he can spread the glitter around.

Tip: Have an extra clean paper plate so when he is done adding the glitter he can shake the excess 

on that plate. Then if you have an extra jar you can put it there so you don't waste any. I don't care if the colors get mixed, neither the children.

After they dry you flip it over and repeat this activity so

both sides are decorated. Then make a hole with the hole punch and tight the fish line to the pin and pin it on the ceiling. You can use yarn if you like instead of fishing line too. 

Umi liked doing this so we made a bunch of them. Little Princess liked it too. She loved shaking the glitter on the paper plates.

Foam Board Snow Man

This is a foam board snow man. It was fun to make it!

Materials:

-White foam board (found at the Dollar Store)

-Glue

-Permanent marker

-Hot glue gun

-Glitter 

- Utility knife

- Pencil

- Popsicle stick

- Buttons for the eyes and body

- I used the cap of a glue bottle for a nose

- A scarf

- A wooden paint stir stick

- Duct tape

Directions:

You can design it any way you like.

We put glue all over the body then we put the glitter then with the hot

glue gun we attached the eyes, mouth, nose and buttons for the body.

I used a popsicle stick and I drew the mouth with the permanent marker.

Then we duct taped the stick in the back. And finally we put the scarf and placed the snow 

man in the front yard for decoration.

The most fascinating thing about this project is that the water and sun dried the first layer of paper and it peel it!!! Now we can re use it for next winter!!!

Use a mixture of shaving cream and glue for a textured snowman!

Christmas/winter Sensory Tub

We used Insta-Snow, 2 trees, cotton balls and erasures that we got at the Dollar Tree store. I added two Christmas cups that we had and a penguin. He can use the spatula 

as a snowplow to make a road, etc.

This is a fun activity to do with your child. BB loves it and he is there playing as I 

write this. We may add glitter later to add to the sensorial part of this activity. BB helped with the measuring and watched as the powder turns into snow, great science experiment. For another science experiment put some of the "snow" in the freezer 

and come back several hours later to see what happened!

Note: Make sure your child doesn't put the 'snow' in his mouth or eyes. I am pretty sure it is not good*. BB is very good with not putting things in his mouth.

* Please read this Insta-snow precaution info.

Decorating a Gingerbread House

He liked decorating his house. Dec. 2011

We used a kit that we bought last year in Jo-Ann. Trader Joe's

sells them too.

This is Big Boy's Gingerbread House

Christmas activities

 We use this to build a city. We added cars and a wooden train set to complete it. With this 

activity we talk about vocabulary like "next to", "in front of", etc. With older children you could

draw a map and then us the map to build the city. (We got this ceramic buildings at the Dollar Tree store).

This is a small tree that Big Boy can decorate himself.

Stocking Christmas houses.