Day 6: Truth in the Tinsel Advent Experience

Enjoying Advent calendar treats in our pj's (but after breakfast - cause even this mommy doesn't bend the rules too much in the festive season)!

After getting dressed, on to crafty goodness. Andy painting Mary and Elizabeth...

And Jane plays with play dough...

While Mary and Elizabeth dries Andy joins in the fun...

Andy cut the paper dolls and their clothes out and assembled them.  I decided to pin them up cause our little Christmas tree is getting rather full with all this festive craftiness and there are still many more days (and ornament crafts) till Christmas!

DIY Pin board

I've been wanting to get Andy a pin board to display some of his art work at his school desk but couldn't get it over my heart to spend R200+ on one so I've been thinking about how to make my own.  We recently had to buy a new microwave so when I opened up the box and saw the square slab of Styrofoam my mind started working.  While I was buying craft supplies yesterday I saw a large sheet of cork and it was settled.

I took the styrofoam and cork sheet...

and using the foam as a template I traced a line with a pencil and cut out the cork...

I then rolled some glue onto the top surface of the foam... 

Stuck the cork on, weighed it face down with some books for a while and then air dried it outside...

When it was dried I displayed some of Andy's mosaic art as well as his latest two Christmas ornaments.  I also put up some letters that I decoupaged with scrapbook paper...

A fresh look for his 'school' corner and the pin board cost me all of R8 to make... can't beat that!!!

I linked this up to...

Day 5: Truth in the Tinsel Advent Experience

Day 5 was Hello Kitty treats and a Mary craft. 

Jane is a bit too small for so many treats so I let her open it and then she shares it with me :-)  

We made a Mary ornament out of a peg...

When we finished our scripture reading and discussion we played with Gabriel and Mary, acting out the scene...

Day 3 and 4: Truth in the Tinsel Advent Experience

On Sunday the 4th we caught up and did Days 3 and 4...

Day 3 had a treat a little too big for our Advent Calendar stockings so I put a little map in it along with the little Truth in the Tinsel clue.  The map led Andy to two marshmallow pies which he found under Jane's chest of drawers...

Afterward we did our Day 3 Zachariah ornament.  I searched everywhere for our googly eyes but couldn't find any so we used buttons instead and I promptly started organizing our craft supplies again.  It's amazing how quickly it gets in a muddle.

Everyday we do the extra 'activity' giving and Andy thought this the funniest.  We had to talk holding our tongue at the same time.  The effect was hilarious.  While we were driving back from visiting my mother in law Andy burst out laughing in the car and through his giggles he said he was thinking about when we talked while holding our tongue :)

Day 4 was the angel Gabriel.  Our craft supplies weren't entirely organized yet so I couldn't find any pipe cleaner which the wings were supposed to be made of but we're good at improvising by now right, so we used our trusty fun foam for the wings, scrapbook paper for the body and a Christmas bell ornament for the head.  This was a really pretty and fun one!

Day 1 and 2: Truth in the Tinsel Advent Experience

Because we were at the Homeschool camp on December the 1st and 2nd, we did these two days on Saturday the 3rd to catch up.

Day 1 was a candle ornament.  We didn't have black card so Andy painted blue fun foam with black paint which worked out fine and had the same effect only with more painting fun added :)

It has strips of tissue paper sandwiched between two of the foam cut outs cut from the template provided in the eBook. Our finished candle ornament... 

Day 2 was a crown made from the inner tube of a toilet roll.  Andy chose to paint it yellow...

And decorated it with beads and glitter...

These activities are out of the eBook Truth in the Tinsel: An Advent Experience for Little Hands.

2011 Homeschool Camp

The kids and I attended our Homeschool group's annual camp from 30 November till 2 December.  We had such fun.  Andy was freeeeeeeeeeee... he could play with friends, run without boundaries, explore nature and discover huge 'sticks' beyond his wildest dreams...

He loved swimming in the river...

Jane enjoyed the camp too although she was stuck to me like glue the entire three days :)

She got her feet wet...

She made sure to take time to moisturize her beautiful skin...

She made sure her dolly got lots of early morning fresh air and hugs...

And she had fun exploring nature and looking as adorable as possible while doing so...

Each year we have a prize giving where each child receives their certificate for their Homeschool year and a present provided by the parents.  This year I bought Andy the T-Rex toy that he's been wanting for the last few months.  It lights up and roars and he was over the moon when he opened his present and realized what it was.  It was so much fun watching his surprise and joy.

One of the activities at the camp was moulding with clay.  Each child had to make something out of clay and I was so very proud of Andy when he won first prize in the 5 year old category for his cobra...

We had a BLAST!!!

Our 2011 Advent Calendar

The idea for our calendar came to me when I was in Woolworths buying some birthday gifts and I spotted some Christmas chocolates with a little felt Christmas stocking ornament attached to it.  My mind started working over time and the result was a felt stocking for each day to hold a treat and I strung the lot onto a festive ribbon and mounted it on our lounge wall near our Christmas tree.

Andy wanted to help so he embroidered the two orange stockings with bells cut out of felt and I embroidered his name and the year on it so that we will remember in years to come...

I inserted an eyelet into each stocking to put the ribbon through and decorated each with whatever I created or had on hand...

I made sure it was high enough to be admired but not within reach to be handled LOL!  I've learnt from previous years that treats seem to mysteriously vanish when within reach of certain people :)

So when it's time to receive the daily treat I simply slip the one side off and lower it for collection :)

We are also doing an eBook this year called Truth in the Tinsel. I first heard about this over at one of my favorite blogs Love and Lollipops.  I fell in love with the idea of having scriptures, discussions and an ornament activity laid out for you to do each day!  My husband bought the book for us on the 30th of November when the kids and I were up in the mountains on the annual Homeschool camp (unfortunately he couldn't join us this year due to work commitments) so when I came back on the 3rd of December I printed it out, put each little clue picture in our advent calendar along with the treats and then we played some catch up over Saturday and Sunday.  So now we've started the new week up to date on our Advent calendar and almost up to date with the washing from the camp :)

I will be blogging our Truth in the Tinsel Advent journey.