Advent 2013 - Day 2

Advent 2013 - Day 2

This morning we woke up to falling snow that didn't melt right away.  I felt so energized that I got out my winter Snoopy mug for my cappuccino.  The kids were even more excited about the snow.  They were making deals with me to go outside and play even before they were dressed this morning.  There was talk of shoveling the cement off BEFORE they played.  How much school did they have to complete before they could go play in the snow?  When can they take a break and play in the snow?  What can they do to help me so they can go play in the snow?  (Notice a trend?) 

 Today's Christmas/Advent book is Santa's Toy Shop.  This was one of my favorite Christmas books as a child.  I loved to look at the pictures and imagine I was working at Santa's toy shop.

 This has been my all-time favorite page in the book prior to today.  I am totally tickled by the elf who is painting the checkerboard using only one paint brush with two colors on it.

 When I asked the children which page was their favorite; Stephen piped up right away that he like the page with the blocks that spelled out Santa's toys.

 All of the other children were excited about the page with Santa and his helper elf eating cookies.  I have to admit I had never really stopped to look at this page since I've been a mom.  I will have to say that THIS is my favorite page in the book from now on.  I absolutely LOVE the little diaper hung on the mantle next to the green and white sock.  Too sweet.

 The kids were true to their promise of school work before playing in the snow.

 They also cleared off the cement before playing in the snow.  I have to admit I was quite proud of them.  They then made themselves a "Fox and Goose" track in the back yard and played until they could hardly see each other in the dark.  Our front and back yards look like a herd kids ran though.  They came in red-cheeked and happy.  I am just glad they burned off some of that energy OUTSIDE instead of in the basement.

 Today's activity for Advent was to play a game as a family.  There are few games that all of us can play in a short time period.  This Where is Sock Monkey game was a gift Brech received for his birthday a couple of years ago.  We haven't played it as a family yet, though the kids have played it themselves.  We had a BLAST playing tonight.  The kids wanted to keep playing and keep playing.

 Brigid just hung out and watched from a safe distance.

 Brech was the first one to hide the monkey.

 The object of the game is to find the monkey based on questions that are answered either "yes" or "no".  A question might be is Sock Monkey "In a room with a TV?" or "In a room with a rug?"

 Then if a card that tells them to go look for Sock Monkey is turned over, everyone (but the hider) runs to find the monkey first.  These kids were serious about finding Monkey.

 Normally I'm against climbing on beds...

and jumping off of beds. 

 This was an action shot of them running to find the monkey the last time.  Eventually they ran out of "Go find Monkey" cards so Brech won.  He had hide the monkey inside Stephen's pillowcase.  What a stinker!!  He was tickled to have "outsmarted" his brothers!

 This picture is proof that Stephen is an even bigger stinker than Brech.  He led his parents to believe that he had hid the monkey back in his pillowcase when it was his turn.  Stephen also won because no one could find where he had hid Sock Monkey.

 Stephen even tried to trick his brothers into thinking the monkey was in the pillowcase.

In the end he admitted he had hid him in Rex's treasure box on the shelf.  STINKER!!

We had a great time together.  I think we should do this more often as a family.  We followed game time up with night time prayers and a rosary for my brother Mark and my family.  It was a wonderful way to end a great day.