Advent Calendar/Jesse Tree fail

If you recall, I mentioned something earlier in the month about doing an advent calendar and Jesse tree with the kids this year leading up to Christmas. That meant 25 days of "Christmas-y" activities with the kids and more than that with the Jesse tree. For those of you that know me well, this is indeed a stretch. I am nothing like my sis-in-law who often does fabulous crafty, fun activities with her kiddos. I often tell her that I am sending my kids over to get their daily dose of craft with Aunt Erin because they certainly aren't getting it with their mommy. Too bad too, they sure do love doing this stuff. Maybe I will get better as they get older. Probably not, but a girl can hope and dream:) I started out with a bang. And slowly began to fizzle out. Honestly, I didn't do as bad as I thought I would. I managed to do something ALMOST every day until about 18th. Same with the Jesse tree. I was doing great about getting the ornaments out each day and reading the scripture that went with it. But the kids certainly didn't care about listening to my bible verses yet this year, and when I would get a couple of days behind, it was impossible to keep their attention through three days worth of scripture. I just kept saying...."Eli, quit playing, mommy's reading the bible. Listen to the bible story!" To which I just got the response, "No mommy!" As he ran down the stairs. So I tried. Truly I did....but I sure did give up easy. Next year. Always my motto:) The kids loved doing the advent calendar part. Probably because it was fun stuff or yummy treats. My only excuse here is that I ran out of "easy" things to do on the list and I was too lazy to do some of the more complex stuff with them. Mommy fail, I know. Good thing they won't even remember (I HOPE!) But the stuff we did manage to do, they loved. So here's a few pictures of all our advent calendar fun!

Cottonball snowmen......this was one of Eli's favorite things. And I have to admit, relatively easy for them. I basically did Kamdyn's for her, but that's true of pretty much everything we did for the advent calendar. I think my problem with crafting with them is that I am a perfectionist and like things a certain way. Not gonna happen with a three year old. And I'm just not very good yet at relinquishing control and letting them do things their way. I also hate a mess. Which is impossible not to have when working with any child and craft supplies.
Paper snowflakes.....if you've had the pleasure of coming over any to our house the last couple of weeks, you will see these bad boys on the door. They are special. That's about all I'm going to say on that. If you didn't see them in person, I'm sorry. There is no picture of the finished product to show you their awesomeness. But one thing is for sure, I've got to learn how to do this before next year.
Here's Eli cutting his paper. He's not very good with scissors. And I can't show him how to do it right. I try, but fail. And I think I actually only make things more confusing for him. Add to our problem, pretty sure this kid's going to be a lefty. What in the world do I do with that?!?! I have no idea how to show him how to do stuff left handed....i'm a righty(and a left side retard)
Ahhhh, the gingerbread house. Definitely a favorite for the kids. I actually think this one is fun to do every year, and have no problem letting them stick stuff wherever. My only problem is the sound of candy hitting the floor when it doesn't stick well. We had a lot of candy on the floor.....
He's actually very meticulous. It occurs to me at times that our poor children are doomed before they are even born......the habits they pick up from us. Sorry kids!
This one on the other hand pretty much just liked playing in the bowl of candy. She just kept running her hands through it. Every once in a while, some would get away, and that's when I would drop and search for the lost piece.
Illuminations at Botanica. I love Christmas lights. You probably wouldn't know that from looking at our house, but we just don't want to show anyone up, so we under-achieve. If we brought our A-game, the rest of you Huttons would be put to shame:)

Just proof that Parker was along and present at all our fun activities. I just wouldn't let him participate yet do to very poor hand grasping skills. But he's sure cute.


Puppy chow. I referred to this as reindeer poop (give me a break, I was trying to come up with 25 christmas type activities....much harder than you might think!!) This is actually the first time I've ever made this. It was good. Most of it went to the neighbors. I tried to get Eli involved......he didn't care too much, so it ended up being a mommy/daddy project. Funny story: I think the problem was that I told Eli this was poop. After I got it mixed up and was stirring it all together, I kept getting Eli to take a bit. I mean, chocolate and peanut butter, who can resist. Even Eli loves sweets, so I thought he would be all over it. I kept asking him if he wanted to try it.

E: "No mom, I'm not eating poop."

Me: "Eli, it's not really poop. It's a lot like candy. It's chocolate. Come on, try it. You'll like it."

E: "I'm not eating poop."

And he didn't. Kamdyn on the other hand loved her "poop" She clearly is not concerned with her food. If it looks good, it's bound to be good. We might have to watch this one:)

Sugar Cookies!!! Yummy. I only make these once a year if even that. But I sure do love them. An extra added bonus was that we got to have our Bff's come over and help. The daddy's were out to dinner, so my bff Liz came over with Eli (and Kamdyn's.....this girl loves Grey) best friend Grey and little sis Violet. They helped us decorate.
Grey liked eating his cookie. Can you tell??
And future husband and wife. So don't bother trying to take one of these cuties.....they are already spoken for. These two are just 4 weeks apart. So much fun. Grey and Eli are only a week and a half apart, so it was so fun that these two are so close in age too. And Violet really does love Parker....don't let the face fool you.
And that's a wrap. All of our fun advent festivities. Next year I'm gonna try to make it the the 21st at least:)