Tuesday, October 6, 2015

VDV Four Advent 2014

It's been quite some time since I've last posted a blog; so what better new post than our collection of advent activities from Christmas 2014. This is always a big hit with the boys and I absolutely love putting it together. I'm working on the 2015 one currently, and can't wait until December 1st.

Here is our collection from last year:

1. Decorate the house and rooms. I love putting out the crafts and creations we made from previous years.
  
2. Food Bank Run and work adopt-a-family gift drop off. Every year, my department at work adopts a family and stacks them up for Christmas. I use this opportunity to get the boys involved in picking out gifts for the kids of these families.
 3. Write a letter to Santa and colour Christmas pictures.
4. Make Christmas bracelets. I found this cute little set at Dollarama. Super cheap but the boys loved it!
5. Pine cone elves. The boys loved their little buddies!

6. Pom pom reindeer...how cute!
7. Our first random act of kindness for the holiday season. This was our new act that was added this year. Every year we try to add a couple more. We gave Elf Kisses to the nurses I work with in the ER.
8. Christmas Breakfast for supper. The VDV Four absolutely love breakfast for dinner!
9. Glitter Christmas Tree on canvas: we used white glue and green yarn to outline a Christmas tree. We let that dry for a bit and then filled the whole inside with white glue and let the boys go to town with the glitter. These took a while to dry, so leave them on a flat surface for a few days after the craft is done.
10. Penguin foot print painting. This VDV mommy sure loves her penguins!
11. Pin the heart on the Grinch.
12. Paper plate Christmas tree garland. We painted the paper plates, then cut them into fourths. Then the boys glued pom poms on for decorations.
13. Pictures with Santa and another random act of kindness. This is an act we brought back from the previous year. We picked out some of our favourite books and bought new copies to give to kids we saw at the mall. This advent activity really makes me smile.
14. Tissue Paper Votive Candles.
15. You've Been Jingled! Another favourite random act of kindness advent activity that we have done every year so far.
16. Skating with the family!
17. Colour snow with food colouring. This day was actually supposed to be Water Gun Snow Painting; however, we had an unseasonably warm winter last year and not much snow. I found a pile outside and brought in a couple of cups, got out some eye droppers and dyed water, and let the boys colour the snow a different way. Still an enjoyable time for Bug and Bear. 
18. Ring 'n Run. We picked one neighbour to give a big gift bag to full of Christmas goodies, geared around what the VDV Four enjoy doing as a family. 
19. Christmas Bingo
20. Christmas Word Search for Bug; Christmas Item find for Bear.
21. You Deserve a Break. Our last random act of kindness for this Advent year. We gave a card and a kit kat bar to cashiers during our final Christmas shopping excursions.
22. Make hot chocolate mugs and have a Snowman hot chocolate bath.
23. Baking day and making homemade lollipops.
24. Christmas movie night and new pajamas!
25. Unwrap presents!
There you have it. 25 days of Advent fun with the VDV Four! Check out the links below to go to our Advent activities from years prior.

Advent 2012
Advent 2013
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Saturday, February 15, 2014

New Years with the VDV Four

This year for New Year's I wanted to start another tradition. We are a crafty bunch, so I thought it would be fun to make our own party hats. I just cut out a cone from sparkly card stock and then glued it together (link for a template). Everyone got to decorate their own by painting on mod podge and then sprinkling with glitter. Then we placed a little sparkly pom pom on top and stapled a piece of elastic on the bottom. Bug was very proud of his!
A New Year's Eve tradition that I adopted from my childhood was a fondue to celebrate the end of the year. Bug especially loves the process of cooking his own food now, so it has been an activity we have done the last few years. This year we made the dinner process extra special by having sparklers and confetti poppers. No better way to ring in the new year than with your loved ones (especially the little ones)!

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Tuesday, February 4, 2014

VDV Four Advent Calendar 2013

Here it is, the whole list of our Christmas 2013 Advent activities. Each activity is linked to the blog post corresponding with the day. Some of our activities are pretty self explanatory with the picture and name; however, any activity that requires a bit more explanation will be found in further detail with the link attached.

This is our new Advent Calendar I made this year. The details on how I made it will be found in the day 1 blog post.
Also, this was so successful this year because of my extensive planning. Last year, I started this tradition; however, I was on maternity leave so I had more home time than I did this year. I knew that I wanted to continue this fun Christmas list of activities, and with my return to shift work, it was going to be difficult. Starting in September, I started organizing and collecting the items I would need for our Advent Days. The days that required paint, craft supplies, etc, I organized bags with everything I would need to complete the daily activity. This was really helpful on the days I worked, as I wouldn't have to come home and search for items. 
Our list:

9. Decorate Craft Christmas Tree
12. Skating
20. Snowman Ice Cream
21. Make Christmas Ornaments
22. Make Homemade Lollipops
23. Go Sledding
24. Christmas Movie Night
25. Open Presents
There you have it. Our fun filled Advent days. I'm looking forward to next year's Calendar!

Here is the VDV Four Advent Days 2012


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VDV Four Advent Day 25: Open Presents

The title of this blog post is quite obvious, it's Christmas day, so open presents was our activity! The boys woke up to a mess by the fire place, with the cookies gone and Santa's footprints in some snow he accidentally brought into the house (I sprinkled some icing sugar through a sieve so it looked less clumpy, and then took Daddy VDV's boots to leave imprints in our "snow"). When Bug saw this, he said "Oh no, Santa made a BIG mess.
Next, we sat around our tree, opening up our Christmas presents. It was a wonderful family morning.
That concludes the VDV Advent Days for 2013. As much as I enjoyed this, I was happy it had come to an end for the year. Despite the chaos and sometimes stress of this calendar, the boys loved it, which in turn made us love it. So it will continue to be a family tradition. As crazy and type 'A' as it was to have everything organized by November, it made the whole process run smoothly...I may or may not already have my list of activities written down for next year. Haha...now on to some more VDV fun for 2014!
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VDV Four Advent Day 24: Christmas Movie Night

Due to my shift work schedule, I had to work a 12 hour day today. But all day I looked forward to our family evening of cuddling in new pajamas and watching a Christmas movie. Both boys got a pair of new Christmas jammies, and a Christmas book and movie. Bug wanted a new blanket for Christmas (the one I made him previously was too small for my growing tot) and I had yet to make Bear one, so their Christmas Eve present also consisted of one of those knotted fleece blankets (I love how easy they are to make). Our movie this year was the original The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, and our book was "Bear Stays up for Christmas" (which only seemed fitting considering our youngest's nickname). 
After, we put out our Christmas cookies and milk for Santa and made some reindeer food by placing 1/2 cup of rolled oats and 2 tbsps of Christmas sprinkles in a bag. Then off to bed for the boys, so Mommy and Daddy Santa could put the presents under the tree.
This morning, Francis was found taking a page out of Jean-Claude Van Damme's book and doing the splits while getting ready to leave on a jet plane(s).


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