day 12 - thirsty thursday

Headed into the city tonight to pick up bib numbers for Sunday's Jingle Bell Run (which will be... interesting, as it's supposed to be stormy and I haven't run since Thanksgiving) and meet our dearest "Hockey" for a treat. It was fuh-reezing, but TheBoy didn't seem to mind, marched down Newbury like he was the mayor.

Bonus: we actually got hot chocolate tonight! As soon as the waitress came over, he immediately ordered it by himself, before I could get a word in. Unfortunately, due to craziness on the T, Hockey was delayed and the hot chocolate was gone before she even got there. Ah, well. We enjoyed brinner and conversation. 

Thanks for fighting the crazy commute and joining us, Hockey!

day 11 - random act wednesday

There was a plan for tonight's "random" act of kindness, but, randomly, I called my brother. We drive by his shop on our way home from work/daycare, and I wanted to see if he wanted to meet for dinner. He said no, but only because our dad was on his way to have some work done on his car. 

TheBoy ended up having a fantastic time watching his uncle work (as evidenced by the blur below - he barely stood still). We ended up grabbing dinner with my dad, and my brother was able to join us for a few minutes too. 

Random. But great. We'll get our act of kindness in tomorrow.

day 10 - SNOW!

I was planning for today's activity to be indoor snow. Apparently, the weather had something to say about that and provided actual snow for this evening.

I am not a huge fan of snow or being cold and have no gloves that are appropriate for playing the snow, so I was particularly missing TheHusband this evening. I borrowed his waterproof gloves (waterproof, but not lined) to help build Ned. Hearing TheBoy say "We're having too much fun!" cushioned the cold, wet blow though.

"Now I'm the snowman!"

We did make the indoor snow after dinner by mixing cornstarch and shaving cream (who comes up with these?). I saw it on Pinterest, but couldn't find the actual pin tonight, so we just mixed a little of each. It was a fun texture, but the scent of the shaving cream was overpowering. It was similar to cloud dough, but fluffier. I preferred the scent of the baby oil in the cloud dough to the shaving cream in this.

Regardless of the terrible scent, TheBoy enjoyed making hand and arm prints and making his own snow fall down from his snow-cloud hand.

day 9 - cinnamon ornaments

I couldn't believe that I hadn't done this as an Advent activity yet. The ornament I made with this recipe in 5th grade (thank you, Miss Hayes) lasted for years, smelling heavenly. This could have counted as a sensory activity, too. TheBoy had fun mixing and crumbling the dough. While I was trying to clean up, of course.

Because I couldn't remember the exact recipe from 5th grade, I used this one (thank you, Pinterest) because it didn't include glue. But I kind of wish we'd tried a glue recipe, because these seem a little crumbly. Hopefully they'll stick... 

day 8 - nativity activity

We got HA Rey's (author of Curious George) A Christmas Manger last year, but forgot all about it. I was happy to find it this year, still in the bag. We had fun punching out all the characters, setting them up, and reading the story tonight.

I gave Baby Jesus to TheBoy and he said, "I'll just put her in the manger." I swear I haven't been reading any Anne Lamott to him. 

day 7 - into the city

Played tourists tonight around Faneuil Hall.

keepin' it real

TheBoy wanted to play in his room by himself this morning.

TheHusband found him a few moments later. The lights halfway off his tree. And the Advent calendar completely dismantled. Yup.