Friday, December 19 - Wednesday, December 24

Ok, so I'm slack. I got really busy and didn't post the rest of the calendar as we did the activites. BUT! We did do them, and I did take pictures. However, since it's so late, I'm not going to share the pictures. It's just too many. It's certainly not because my transfer cable went missing among the Christmas chaos and I have yet to find it. There was one thing I would like to post pictures of, though, because they turned out so cute and that was little mini wreaths that we made. You wrap a sparkly green pipe cleaner (actually it took 3 pipe cleaners) around the plastic ring from the neck of a juice bottle then glue on a little red bow. They were adorable and made some really cute decorations on some of the wrapped presents. When my cable turns up, I'll show you what they look like.

Other events from the calendar were making cookies (of course!), making peppermint bark (which we delivered to our neighbors, all 4 of them), sibling shopping (where the kids buy gifts for each other), Secret Santa day (once again, not so secret for a few of us), and going ice skating (one of our favorites!). Everyone voted for their favorite calendar event and the winner was Snowman Tag. I knew that one was a keeper! Ice skating was a close second.

Now, stay tuned for my New Year's Eve post. I have some fun stuff planned for tomorrow night! Too bad I didn't come up with these plans earlier or I would have been more prepared and things would look really nice and festive. Next year we are going to undecorate our Christmas tree and redecorate it as a New Year's tree. I wish I had thought of that at least a day earlier! But, I do have some fun stuff planned and I'll be taking pictures and posting what goes on in the House on First Night!

Thursday, December 18 ~ Present scramble

Okay, before I go anywhere with this post, I have to admit something. We didn't do this on December 18th. The truth is, we are a few days behind on Santa's Christmas Holiday...whatever the name of the calendar is. Today is December 21 and we did this yesterday. We have been in SC at my dad's house for the weekend and we were already two days behind when we got there. We didn't do anything today, so now we're 3 days behind. But we will catch up this week and I'll post what we do on another wrong date. I brought this game with us so that my kids' cousin, Katie, could play too. The kids sat in a circle with a present in the middle.

They youngest person chooses a number and that becomes the magic number. The first player rolls a die, hoping to roll the magic number. If they don't roll it, they pass the die to the next player.

If they do roll the magic number, they get to open the present. But they have to do it with oven mitts on their hands.

Inside the present was another present, so the game continues.

And continues

and continues

and continues until finally there is something inside the box other than another box.

Don't you love a game where everybody wins?

Wednesday, December 17 ~ Gumdrop Penguins

Oh goody! Another yummy treat! We made penguins out of gumdrops, big round sprinkles, and tiny M&M's. They start out kind of rough looking. They reminded me of the weird looking rabbits in the Rayman Raving Rabbids video game. But once we had done a few, figured out a few tricks, and they came out kind of cute. More like penguins than mutants. I only got pics of the crazy looking ones, but they are more interesting anyway....

Woo-hoo for yummy treats!

Tuesday, December 16 ~ Cupcake surprise!

Today was an act of kindness day. We went to Wal Mart and bought a package of mini cupcakes from the bakery. Then we wrapped a box so that it could be opened without tearing the paper, put the cupcakes inside with a nice note, and left the package in a shopping cart in the parking lot with a note on top that said "OPEN ME." Then we parked nearby and waited. It was a misty, gray, humid, nasty day so we had to wait a little while because people were trying not to go out first of all, and the people who did go out were trying to get into the store or into their cars and they weren't paying much attention to the carts in the return space. One lady found the box, opened it, read the note and smiled, then closed the box and went into the store. Guess she wasn't hungry. A little bit later, a man and his daughter came by. She was excited to see a present sitting there, but he wasn't having any of it. The third person who noticed it picked up the package and shook it. Then she put it back in the cart. Then she picked it up again and shook it again. Then she put it back again and started to walk away. Major disappointment - we almost had her! But she changed her mind and she came back, picked up the present again and shook it. Then she took it to her car and tossed it into the trunk and left. The kids were laughing hysterically. I hope she ended up eating the cupcakes. We were a little worried she might throw the box away when she got home, but I'll bet she looked inside. Why else would she take it with her? They were still in their sealed package, so I hope she felt safe enough to enjoy them. And I hope she smiled when she opened them. That was the point after all - to make a stranger smile.

Monday, December 15 ~ Popcorn balls

Ooohh, another yummy treat. We need more yummy treat days. Today we made popcorn balls. It's just like making Rice Krispies Treats (or "Ice Skrippies" Treats if you're 4 years old) except once you melt the butter and marshmallows, you put in popcorn instead of Ice Skrippies. Shape them into balls and squeeze hard because they will unball themselves if you don't.

Thow on a little frosting (if you like to get messy - you really don't need it because these are sticky enough on their own)....

...and some sprinkles to make them Christmas-y and festive. Go nuts with them. Alec did.

The kids really liked these. Apparently, dogs do too. I prefer Ice Skrippies treats myself.

Sunday, December 14 ~ Star Lanterns

We were supposed to make star lanterns today. Well, we did make them. Or, we started making them. These little things are hard to make! They are made out of flat sticks that you shape into a star and bind the points together with rubber bands. Then you make another one, stack the two, and bind the corners again with rubber bands. Then the hard part - you put little pieces of the flat sticks on the corners of the pentagon shape in the center of the star to push the top and bottom stars apart and make it 3-dimensional. Well, our sticks were pretty short, so the two stars were kind of tight and it was hard to get and space between them. It took us an hour to get 5 sets of two stars made and pushed apart so that they were 3-D. That's as far as we got. LOL I'm posting this a week after we started this craft (it has been very busy here!), and it is still not done. Only the easy part is left - cover with tissue paper. We won't be making the cute little tassels you see on the one in the picture. And when we do get around to finishing them off, maybe I'll even remember to take some pictures!

Saturday, December 13 ~ FamiWii game night

Ok, so this isn't a Christmas-y activity, but the kids really wanted a FamiWii game night, so I ditched my planned activity (which is good, because I have a couple of spots left to fill before the 24th!) and we played FamiWii. That is what we named our Wii - "FamiWii." We all have our own Mii's and we played Wii Sports tonight. I bowled 4 strikes in a row tonight and had a final score of over 200 points! It's all technique, people. And the person in our family with the technique is Erin. You see, you have to jump as you release the ball and yell, "P-shawww!" 4 strikes in a row. Speaks for itself, wouldn't you say? And I'm not even a pro yet, but I got a lot closer after tonight's game! Roger and Alec carried on their baseball brawl. Alec has been kicking his butt for a long time, so Roger comes home at lunchtime and trains. He beat Alec for the 4th time tonight, so Alec has moved on to tennis now. LOL Haley is the Tennis Queen in the House. Alec's goal is to push her off her throne and become Tennis King. Tonight Haley beat both Carrie and Alec, so she's still queen. Landon wears the big belt in boxing. He is really hard to beat! It's hilarious to watch him, too. There is no rhyme or reason to his moves, but he gets those arms pumping and punching so fast you break out in a sweat just watching him.

Other family faves for the Wii are Rayman Raving Rabbids 2, Wii Play, and Carnival Games. Those are all great for FamiWii nights. We're hoping Santa will bring some others. ;-)

Friday, December 12 ~ Peppermint Fudge Pie

We found this recipe a couple of months ago that sounded simply scrumptious, and right away I thought of the Christmas calendar. So today we made the pie, and unfortunately, it was a flop. It's very simple to make ~ layer peppermint ice cream with fudge sauce in a graham cracker crust and top with Cool Whip.

Separately, these ingredients are all delicious. Together, not so much. I think the main problem was the fudge sauce. I had imagined the sauce would be less saucy and more solid when it froze, but it never froze. It just stayed saucy. And it wasn't that good with the peppermint ice cream. Go figure... one of my favorite candy bars is a York Peppermint Patty - chocolate and mint. But this pie was really kind of nasty. Wrong chocolate with the wrong mint, I suppose. Anyway, go ahead and try it yourself if you wish, but keep your expectations low so as not to be disappointed when your watering mouth and grumbling tummy finally try it. It's edible, but definitely not delectable. I do think a homemade fudge sauce would make a big difference. If you made it with butter, it would freeze inot a solid layer of fudge and not be runny like ours was.

December 11 ~ I scream, you scream, we all scream for

ICE CREAM! Man, we love our ice cream in this House! We even love it in the winter. Never mind that it doesn't feel like winter here today. It feels like spring with rain and tornadoes. (Or "tomatoes" if you're 4 years old.) I don't think our county had any tomatoes, but a couple of nearby ones did. Maybe we had an isolated tomato in our yard. The gazebo that was screwed into our back deck was lifted up and tossed into the yard next door. Thank God it didn't injure any people or property. Thank God it didn't fly in any direction other than the way it went. It used to sit right up against 3 very large windows. Less than a foot of space was between the windows and the gazebo. That thing has weathered many storms and never even shaken back and forth, so I don't know what ripped it from its screws (2 on each corner!) and tossed it off the deck. All the furniture that was out there was also rearranged. This all happened at 5:45, in the dark, in the rain, just as we were getting home from dance class. We were supposed to rush in, eat some stew, change Alec into his chorus outfit, and rush out the door to his Christmas concert at school. Which was lovely, BTW. I ended up out in the rain in the dark dragging the gazebo out of the next yard, back over beside our deck, and strapping it as tightly as I could to keep it from blowing away again. And it was not light! It's still tethered to the deck, though, so all is well. I had a bunch of big, balloon-like Christmas lights on that gazebo. I doubt they all survived. Anyway, the whole point of this post....

One thing that always makes it onto our calendar is going out for doughnuts and hot chocolate or for ice cream. Some years we do both. Usually we get something Christmas-y, like peppermint milkshakes or doughnuts with red and green sprinkles. But today the kids voted to go to Sonic to get Blasts. They didn't have a candy cane flavor or egg nog flavor or anything else that was Christmas-y, so we just got our usual flavors. Yes, we have a "usual" Blast order at Sonic. We love Sonic Blasts. They are really good, really large, and really fun to eat in the rain. LOL It's a good thing they are so big because due to the gazebo fiasco, we did not have time to eat dinner before the concert (which was lovely, BTW) so we didn't eat until we got home at 8:00. By then Landon was passed out, and Haley was sick (she didn't even finish her Blast at Sonic, so I know she's not faking it to get a long weekend off from school!), and Erin was starting to get nauseous. Wait, I thought we had finally escaped the curse of the Christmas Stomach Flu. It is a Christmas tradition we have been trying to get rid of for 10 years now. Last year was the first year nobody got sick.

Did I mention that the concert was lovely? Well, it was.

December 10 ~ Popcorn & Movie Night

This is a favorite calendar activity. It's a staple. We all cuddle up on the couch and watch a Christmas movie (or TV show) and have popcorn. This year we watched Santa Claus is Coming to Town, the 1970 classic stop-motion animation narrated by Fred Astaire. We usually have hot chocolate with our popcorn, but it's way too warm for that here today. It was over 70*! And the house was abou 74*. What's up with that?? We all said no thanks to hot chocolate, even if it did have extra marshmallows and a candy cane.

If you'd like to have a listing of all the Christmas specials coming on between now and Christmas, you can find it here: http://christmas-specials.wikia.com/wiki/2008_Christmas_Specials_TV_Schedule

December 9 ~ Shimmering snowflakes

This is a simple craft that has the potential for a big bang factor if you get fancy enough with it. All you need is some sparkly silver pipe cleaners and clear beads. Cut the pipe cleaners in half and bundle 11 of those pieces together. Tie them tightly with a 12th pipe cleaner half. Then spread the pipe cleaners out in all directions then add clear beads. Our beads were all the same kind, but there are many sizes and shapes of clear beads out there. If you use a few different sizes or shapes, you'll have fancier snowflakes. You could also trim some of the pipe cleaners to mix it up a little. Go crazy with your snowflakes. It is crazy enough around here without adding multiple sizes and shapes of beads or extra trimming... that stuff scares me. Here's how ours came out:


Hang them in a sunny window and watch these little babies shine!

December 8 ~ Cake pops

I found this awesome blog, http://bakerella.blogspot.com/ . This woman is creative to the highest degree. We made her cake pops today, and boy were they good. And messy. But it was so much fun, especially for the girls. Landon got kicked out of the kitchen after making about 2 of these because he wouldn't quit eating everything in sight. I was so busy reheating the candy melts that I couldn't help him as much as he needed, so he was distracted from the task at hand. Too many sprinkles, M&M's, nonpariels, sugar, candy...it all spells bad news for a 4 year old left to his own devices. So he was banned from the kitchen until most of the other kids were done. Then I let him come back and he and I finished a few more together. These are pretty easy to make. Bake a box cake mix in a 9 x 13 pan, let it cool, crumble it up, then mix in a can of frosting. Shape into balls, put in a stick, firm up in the freezer. Then coat with melted candy melts and decorate till your heart's content.

Yep, I think we're going to be on a sugar high until the middle of next week.

December 4 ~ Snowflake window clings

(I don't know how this happened - I published these in order. This is why I don't get along with computers very well. They just don't obey!)

This was a fun, easy project that all the kids really enjoyed. We made those cool little clingy deals you stick on your windows. Yes, you can make these yourself! Just paint your design on wax paper with dimensional fabric paint. When the paint dries, peel off the design and stick it to the window. We downloaded some snowflake patterns from Family Fun's website. Put the pattern under the wax paper and trace with paint. We used Tulip's Crystal Glitter. Thursday is a busy night for us, so we are going to make some more of these when we have more time. And when we have more wax paper. You can see we used plastic wrap for some of them. This doesn't work as well. The snowflakes did peel off, but it wasn't as easy as the ones done on wax paper, and some of them didn't survive.

December 7 ~ Christmas parade

I love a parade! Today was our town's Christmas parade and Carrie and Erin were both riding a float with their dance studio. Afterward, Erin's class danced in the park. If I ever get the video on my laptop, I'll post it. I'm technologically challenged in a big, big way.

We had a great time, although we did freeze our tushies off! I think it was 41* in the sun and there was a nice wind blowing just in case someone in the crowd wasn't a southern wimp and didn't think it was cold enough.

December 6 ~ Snowman tag!

Today we had an all-day event. We played snowman tag. We made a little snowman much like this one:

We put tape on his back to make him good and sticky and then the game began. The object of the game is to tag someone by sticking the snowman to their back without them knowing. Once they figure out they have been tagged, they remove the snowman and secretly tag someone else. As you can probably imgaine, some people are very good at this game and others.... well, not so much. Everyone did get tagged at some point during the day, and Roger even sported the snowman for over an hour! It was a lot of fun for the kids. This was something new for us this year, but it will most likely become a traditional calendar activity. It would also be a fun party game. Or if you're having a big family gathering with lots of people of all different ages, it would be really great. Someone needs to have the video camera fired up to capture all the kids giggling at Grandpa walking around with a snowman stuck to his butt.

December 5 ~ Fruit Christmas Tree

Tonight we made fruit salad in the shape of a Christmas tree. The branches are green apples and the ornaments are grapes and star fruit. That's what we used because that's what we had, with the exception of the star fruit. I don't keep that stuff lying around, but I already had the apples and grapes. If you want to make your own fruit tree, you could use strawberries, cherries, pineapples, or whatever you like. You could get really creative and put a nice, colorful dressing on it like a garland. Payne kids don't do dressing. Weirdos. Hey, you could sneak some veggies onto the tree if you wanted to. OR! You could just do the whole thing with veggies. I don't think it would trick my kids into eating them, but it's worth a try! Hmm...I think I have an idea for next year's calendar! Anway, here's our tree:

Can't really see the tree in that one, but how could I resist that photo? Aren't they adorable? The tree is kind of cute, too.....

It was yummy! Go make one. Your kids will think you are the coolest mom in town.

Dec. 3 ~ Chocolate Lollipops

This is one of those activities that makes it on the calendar every year. It's a favorite. It's simple - chocolate melts in the micro then fill the molds and the fridge finishes them off.

And it's fast, which we needed tonight. We didn't even get started on these until after 8:00, so that's why most of the kids had wet hair and PJ's on. LOL

Here's one who's crying. She was in trouble for leaving her room a wreck. One of these days I'll post my chore chart. It's a work of art, much like chocolate lollipops.

This little project is fast and simple, but it can also be messy!

It was straight to bed afterwards, and here I sit guarding the hall to keep the kids in their beds, blogging. How many of these little people do you think are sleeping?? That's right - not a single one. Well, maybe one. Landon isn't talking and the only time he isn't talking is when he's sleeping. And even then sometimes he talks.

Yeah, we usually cut off all the "spare parts" that hang around the edges, but who needs pretty chocolate at 9:00 at night?? We'll have to finish the rest tomorrow and those will be pretty. I'm out of here until then. I have more to do this week than I can finish in two weeks, so I'm doing laundry and cleaning the house at 10:15. It's going to be another late night. Wait, I think there is one of those chocolate elves left.........