Advent Calendar Day 9 & 10

OH!!! I just knew this would happen! We missed a day :(
Things just got away from me and it didn't help that Eva was ASLEEP (not in bed, but ASLEEP IN BED) at 6:30 pm. So, today (lucky girl), we got to do 2 activities and we are now all caught up. But, these were 2 of my favorites so far, I think.  Day 9's pocket held a paintbrush and palette shrinky dink. Eva drew it out and looked at it for a few second before wildly declaring, "We're gonna paint! We're gonna paint!" She did quite the little happy dance. Eva LOVES art projects of ANY kind, and she especially loves paint! It's key that it's washable because it ends up literally everywhere and countless shirts and pants would be ruined if not for that amazingly washable stuff :)
I printed coloring pages from the internet that had various Christmas themes and she chose a few to paint. I then pulled out the glitter to her incredible delight (she loves ALL things sparkly) and let her go to town! As we painted, we talked about what was in the pictures (Jesus in the manger, the Christmas tree, the little drummer boy, etc) and I also explained to her how art can be used as a way to glorify God. "Just as a gift like singing can be used to praise God, so can drawing and painting or any other talent! Like the way you dance for Jesus!"
This all tied in quite nicely with Day 10's activity: showing someone that you love them. She pulled a heart out of the pocket and I told her that today she was going to find something to do to show someone that she loved them. At Christmastime, we remember that God showed us how much He loved us was when He sent Jesus to be born on earth. That way, our King Jesus can understand everything we go through! We talked about the endless possibilities for ways she can show love and she came up with some of the most darling ideas (kiss them, make cookies for them, play with them, be kind to them, pray for them, color for them, sing for them, dance with them, give them a toy, etc.). In the end she chose her Papa (my dad) who came over for dinner tonight. He's alone since my mom is in Oklahoma City for the week, and I think Eva thought he needed some Christmas cheer :) She chose to show him how much she loves him with a kiss and a sparkly Christmas painting that she was oh-so-proud-of!

Trying to choose which one to paint first

she was VERY focused

Sam joins in with some "puffs"

That's the look when I gave her the sparkly glitter

She was quite liberal with the glitter. My house is covered in it...

Pulling out the 2nd shrinky dink

Check out that hair!

Delivering the finished product to Papa- "This is to show you that I love you!!"

Advent Calendar Day 8

Today's activity was setting up a nativity. The nativity scene is my favorite Christmas decoration. This year I have 3 :) One is a miniature one that is just for Eva and is set up on a little side table in the living room; she is allowed to play with this one on the table, but no where else because the pieces are really small and dangerous for Samuel. The second one is a Fisher Price Little People one and is set up on the window sill and both Sam and Eva can do whatever they want with it! The third one is very special and I love it- it is a Willowtree set and was a gift from my mother-in-law. It's fragile and, this year, I wasn't even going to put it up since I saw how insanely crazy and excited Eva has been with all the Christmas decorations. She doesn't mean to be careless, but she almost can't help herself. She is literally craving one little touch of EVERYTHING.
But, I decided to put a nativity scene in today's pocket because I knew she would love seeing the one from last year and we could go over each piece to further reinforce everything we've been talking about. She drew it out of the pocket and said, "we're doing something with animals?! I see animals!" We pulled each item out of it's box and placed it "just so". We talked and she asked questions and we had a lot of fun just being together. I absolutely cannot wait until Samuel can join in :)

Advent Calendar Day 7

Eva loved today's activity and I found it almost impossible to contain her excitement. I'm not sure why I even tried because the wrapping paper ends up torn and in the trash anyway, right? :)
Today she drew out a gift wrapping station with a little elf. We talked about how much fun giving gifts is, and how beautiful they look when all wrapped up. I asked her how she feels when someone gives her a beautifully wrapped present that they made or picked out especially for her. She looked up at me with the widest smile and just said, "ooooohhhh!!!". I had her cousin, Caleb's, gift on the table and I told her we get to wrap these gifts that we picked out just for him and make them really beautiful for him to open on Christmas day. She was practically jumping out of her skin- I had to calm her a little because there were scissors involved in this activity!!
I thought long and hard about this activity. Part of the reason I did this Advent calendar in the first place was to take the emphasis AWAY from gifts. But, I also know that it's inescapable in our culture and really want to help her to focus more on the giving than the receiving. She has a very generous spirit, and this concept seems to be easy for her (until the 2-year old "mine" rears its ugly head, usually when playing with one of her cousins). We talked a lot about the Christmas story today (I don't think it's possible to talk about it too much so we pretty much cover it every single day) and how we give gifts to people as one way to celebrate Jesus' birthday. A few weeks ago we made a "shoebox" gift for a child in need in another country. We went shopping and she picked out items that she thought "a little girl just like me would like". It might not have lasted long, but for a few minutes that day, she seemed to understand that there are kids who don't have toys, or even food. There are some kids who don't have a mommy or daddy. I told her that Jesus tells us very clearly in the Bible that we are to help care for them. So, we began to do that with the shoebox gift. I am praying fervently for God to show me what else He wants me to do. One thing I am sure of is that He is calling our family to do much, much more... I reminded Eva of that today when we wrapped Caleb's present in beautiful paper and ribbon. I told her that we can't forget about the people in the world who need our help. My little Eva then asked me to pray for them. She bowed her head and clasped her hands and we prayed together for God to show us who we are supposed to help next. 

Eva reaches deep into the pocket in search of today's piece!

Got it!

Trying to figure out exactly what it was and what it meant...

"Is this an elf?"

"Mama, I think this is an elf!"

"What are we gonna do?"

Making sure our package will fit...

Taping it, just so...

Complete!

Finding the perfect spot under the tree...

"I think I'm just gonna lay next to it for a minute, ok, mama?"

Judah joins in on the fun :)

Advent Calendar Day 6

Yesterday, I tried hard to distract Evangeline from the calendar. My goal was to get her to wait until Mike got home from work to open the pocket. Last night, after dinner, she was chomping at the bit to get in there and see what activity that little pocket held. She pulled out a little "shrinky dink" flower.  Eva LOVES flowers. Really, really loves them! She was so excited when I told her we would be planting a flower called at "Amaryllis"- her pronunciation is darling.

I explained to her that God makes the flowers grow, and He makes them beautiful and strong. How amazing and how gracious that He does the same for us when we believe and trust in His Son, our King Jesus! I told her about what flowers need to grow- sun, water, soil- all things that God made. And that we need things from God to grow, too. Not just physically, but in our relationship with Him and others. Mostly, we need to spend time with Him and remember Him throughout our days. Then, we planted the ugly bulb (I told her that sometimes we act ugly, but when we ask forgiveness and say we are sorry, God is faithful to make us clean and beautiful again) and we will watch it grow into a beautiful flower. She was very precise about the whole process and really enjoyed it. Finally, we praised God for all the gifts He's given us- our friends, our family, our beautiful King Jesus, and the flowers He made!

Advent Calendar Days 4 & 5

On day 4, Eva drew a tiny little Bible out of the pocket. She was with her Uncle Nate and Aunt Lauren, so they got the privilege of reading her the entire Christmas story from her Bible. They reported that she just soaked it in, as usual! I'm sure she LOVED hearing someone else read to her besides Daddy and me, and her Uncle Nate (an elementary school teacher) really knows how to tell a story! She truly adores her Uncle Na and Aunt Lu. I'm glad she could experience this with them. Mike and I were at a wedding in Virginia and had a GREAT time!

Day 5 was another day that Eva got to open the pocket with her Uncle and Aunt! She drew a music scale out and knew just what it was; she is always excited for anything that involves music! Uncle Nate and Aunt Lauren taught Eva a Christmas Carol. She learned "Little Drummer Boy", which she chose from 3 options I knew she would love. The others were "Away in a Manger" and "O Come All Ye Faithful". She learned the significance of praising the Lord with whatever gifts you have like the little drummer boy. He praised the Lord by playing the drums because he had no money to buy a gift fit for a King! She told them, "but I do have money"! And, they explained that she could praise the Lord with that, too! This song has always impacted me and I am so glad that she knows it now.

Ever heard of Shrinky Dinks? We finally got around to making one to represent each activity. They are adorable and the kids think they are so neat!