Favorite Advent/Christmas Story Book List

My favorite part of this past week has been when my little family snuggles up together under a big comfy blanket, the lights are low, accept for the Christmas tree, and my husband and I take turns reading some Christmas books. It is a sweet time that I try to hold onto because soon enough my kid may outgrow the snuggle up on my lap with his cheek close to either mine or his father's.  It is one of the best times for us.

Sometimes it can be hard to figure put which books are worth buying and which ones are worth borrowing. Sometimes it is just too expensive to guess at a book you see online and wonder how cute it really is. I thought I woupd share my personal favorite holiday Christmas books for 2-4 year old age range. These books are beautiful and captivating for the younger ones. Hopefully you can find some at your library to help avoid buying lots of books, but these ones I personally love so much I am working on buying a few at a time. These are all Christmas religious stories that my kid adores.

Here are my favorite more generic Christmas fun books.

What are some of your favorite books to snuggle up with your littles to read?

Potty Training Take Two....

   

     The past three days my now 3 year and almost 2 month old boy and I have been holed up in the house undergoing our second attempt at potty training. This second time has gone pretty closely to how our first attempt went. We have decided to try this potty training thing again in another couple of months.

     The first time around he asked to put on big boy underwear, but when it came to sitting on his big boy potty it was a fight when he actually needed to go. I mean an all out terrified for his life kind of fight. The kind of fight where we did not want the potty training thing to feel like a cruel punishment for him. This time around he was still scared to sit on the potty chair when it came time for him to really need to go, but not the full on fight like before. No, it was more like silent refusal. The kind where he would sit for 15 minutes and refuse to go, but then as soon as he was allowed to get up he would find somewhere (thankfully he preferred the kitchen floor but still ugh)  and immediately laugh while peeing...every time. Not one successful attempt at getting him to pee on his big boy potty. I do not want him thinking it is normal to just run around the house and pee and poo wherever he wants because he still is unsure of the potty chair. So after three days of this we cane to the conclusion that we will chill out on the potty training. Honestly, at the end of the day my child has to be fully mentally ready to want to potty on the big boy potty and that is how it should be.

     Things that helped me while going through these crazy days were chocolate, v8 energy drinks, leftovers for dinners, a sense of humor, and good carpet cleaner with the urine cleaning aspect added to it. Also a nice foot massage from my hubby after our child was asleep for the night helped immensely and the elmo potty time dvd and charlie brown's Christmas dvds (my kid is OBSESSED with Charlie Brown) were vital.

     What things did you find vital to keep your sanity while attempting potty training you kiddo? Please share!

Working On Overcoming Mom-Guilt

   
                         
     Yesterday was a rough day for me as a mom. A big mom-guilt day. Any day you have to bring your child to the E.R. for an injury is always going to be a big mom-guilt day. The injury my son had was one of the most common injuries for his age, but no matter how common an injury is, it does not mean you feel less guilty.
     The morning started off great. We got the family dressed and to church five minutes early, which is perfect for us and our very active boy. We always let him run in the entry hallway before Mass starts so he can get some energy out. He was his happy self running back and forth in his hallway. I noticed that the pews were filling up fairly fast so I told my husband I would go grab us a seat while our little guy ran some more. This is the moment I wish in my heart I could go back and redo all over. Apparently my son noticed I left without him. He then got very upset because he wanted me and yet he still wanted to run in the hallway. My husband said after a minute of him cryong because I disappeared on him he told him they would go find me, but he needed to hold daddy's hand. My husband took his hand and next thing he knows our son threw himself down on tge floor while still holding onto his dad's hand. That action ended up pulling his elbow out of it's socket. Something they call nursemaid's elbow. My husband picks him up because our kid immediatly screamed momma repeatedly to him. So i turn at this point as I hear my child's cry. The cry that something is not right, but confused because I left my happy energetic child just minutes ago and nothing was amiss. My husband gets to the pew and immediately I took our three yr old in my lap. He calmed down after a minute, but refused to leave my arms and wanted his back tickled the entire time Mass went on. In my heart I knew something wemt wrong, but during Mass it is hard to have a convo about what happened.
     After Mass getting our kid into the car seat I could tell was pure torture, but there was no swelling, just when he moved his arm at all it hurt him. He refused to hold his all time favorite snack, doughnuts, in his injured arm. Waiting for the on call nurse to tell us what to do was torture. I knew as guilty as I was feeling for going ahead of the family, my husband was feeling way worse since he jeld his hand when our child injured himself. Waiting in the E.R. was not easy either. Having three doctors come in to do his physcal exam was unnerving, and both my kid and I were unprepared for how quickly they popped his elbow into place. I mean I get why they did it fast for the element of surprise, but the scream that came out of my son when it was popped back in was truely heart wrenching. After they popped his elbow back in and my son had calmed down he looked at all of us and said "I'm sorry." Ofcourse it made the doctors all laugh, but it just made my heart hurt a little more because had I just stayed with him than we would not have been in this mess in the first place. Thank goodness it was an immediate fix though because not five minutes later our child was ready to explore the room we were in and jumping up and down because his arm was better.

     Mom-guilt. We all have it at some point or another. I have yet to meet a mom who has not known this feeling personally. Not sure I want to either because I would be worried about her sanity level. What is most important to remember is motherhood is a constant learning experience. Getting up and trying our best is honestly what our kids are grateful for the most. It is ok to feel those feelings of guilt every so often, but we should akwaus try to give those feelings up to God and then move forward. The not letting go of the guilt is what will slow us and our relationship with our families down and we do not want that to happen.

Christmas Around the World

 
 

     Hey there parents! I hope you are all surviving the craziness of these days leading up to Christmas. I know personally I am so relieved to be finished with this last week of big lesson planning for the next couple of weeks so I can try to really be in the moment with my family. I stoill habe some Christmas shopping to do, house cleaning to get done, and christmas family meals planned and prepped and most importantly figure out the best time to go to Christmas Mass.

      Also, today is my little sister's birthday, so if you are reading this...HAPPY BIRTHDAY! We love you and miss you lots!

   
     This past week we did a huge review week so most all of these activities are repeats of my child's favorite activities from my past weekly themes. You can go back and look more in depth of them in the weekly theme tab to the right.

     Also we are still following the advent nativity activity I shared about in my last weekly theme post about the Many Names of Santa.

    Along with review this week I introduced a littld more geography with my child and researched about some different countrues and how they celebrate Christmas. I showed him pictures of different things I found online from my phone as I explained at his level the different cultures and traditions at a glance.
   
     If you have great ideas for helping young ones get into other cultures in this way please comment. I think I was struggling with a little burn-out this week trying to get lots of things packed into this week...

Monday:U.S.A./Uppercase A-O Review/In-depth Review of Aa-Cc Vocab/Review Numbers 1 & 2
Books:Andy Alligator by Sarah Albee
Curious George Rides A Bike by H. A. Rey
An Early American Christmas by Tomie dePaola

Songs:Prepare the Way, O Zion
Angels We Have Heard On High
Jingle Bells
White Christmas

Activities:
Advent Nativity activity and end prayer time with the hymn Prepare the Way, O Zion

Find all the Uppercase letters A-O that I hung up throughout the house Sunday evening after my kid went to bed.

Review Aa vocab words from a picture dictionary. Play with abacus and put beads in groups of 1 or 2...coumt how many numbers in each group.

Review Bb vocab words. Play with bubbles

Review Cc vocab words. Spend time playing with corn kernals.

Introduce Christmas traditions from U.S.A.. (I suggest starting out any big geopgraphy themed week with your child's home country. It will be the least abstract idea for their minds to work around)

Today is the feast of Our Lady of Loretto. If you read my post about ginger bread houses you would know this activity of building/decorating a ginger bread house did not go as planned, but maybe next year.

Tuesday:Argentina/Number 1-10 review/In-depth Dd-Ff Vocab Review/Review Numbers 3 & 4 
Books:Pooh and the Dragon by Ann Braybrooks
Green Eggs and Hamby Dr. Seuss
I Love You Stinky Face by Lisa McCourt

Songs: Down In Yon Forest
Drummer Boy
Oh Come Oh Come Emmanuel
Feliz Navidad

Activities:
Advent Nativity Prayer Activity and finish with Down In Yon Forest

Draw on pieces of paper groups of different shapes to represent numbers 1-10. Help child match up the right group to its matching written symbol. Count the shapes put loud together as you go along

Review Dd vocab words and play with play dough

Review Ee vocab words and do some exercises together. My son and I worked out in our own ways to one of my zumba dvds

Review Ff vocab words and play with finger paint

Intro about Argentinian Christmas. Since the Pope is from Argentina I thought it would be interesting to learn about his country's traditions.

Wednesday: Mexico/Lowercase a-o Review/ In-depth Gg-Ii Vocab Review/ Numbers 5 & 6 Review
Books: How The Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
The Cat In the Hat by Dr. Seuss

Songs:Oh Savior Rend the Heavens Wide
You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch
Deck the Halls
I'll Be Home for Christmas

Activities:
Advent Nativity Prayer and end with the hymn oh Savior Rend the Heavens Wide

Find the lowercase letters a-o that were hung up next to their matching uppercase letters

Review Gg vocab words and play with our gears

Review Hh vocab words and play with the play people and houses

Review Ii vocabulary and play with the toy insects in the dry rice

Intro Mexican Christmas traditions. Since it is the feast of Our Lady of Guadelupe I found this appropriate.

Thursday:Italy/In-depth Review of Jj-Ll Vocab
Books: Jonah and the Big Fish by The Clever Factory
Peekaboo Kisses by Barney Saltzberg
Chicken Little by George Bridge

Songs: Comfort Comfort Ye My People
Joy to the World
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
Little St. Nick

Activities:
Advent Nativity Prayer. End with the hymn Comfort Comfort Ye My People

Review Jj vocab words and work on some jigsaw puzzles

Review Kk vocan words and play in the kitchen sink

Review Ll words and climb on the home step ladder

Intro Italian Christmas traditions. Today is St. Lucy's feast day so I thought it was a good countrt for today. Drive around looking at Christmas light displays.

Friday:Aa-Oo Vocan Review/in-depth review of Mm-Oo vocab/Germany
Books: I Love You, Little Monkey by Alan Durant
The Nose Book by Al Perkins
Ouch! Moments by Michael Genhart

Songs: Hark! A Thrilling Voice
Away In A Manger
Silent Night
O Holy Night

Activities:

Advent Nativity Prayer and end with the hymn Hark! A Thrilling Voice

Review all of my kid's Aa-Oo vocab coloring pages and work together to match them up with the right letters hanging up in the house.

Review Mm vocab words and play with magnets

Review Nn vocab words and play with sime noodles

Review Oo words and play with oatmeal

Intro Germanic Christmas Traditions.

The Importance of Keeping Christmas Magical for Little Ones

     

     This time of year is full of nostalgia, family tradition, sensory fun, anticipation, stress, and sweetness for me as a mother. Sonetimes it can be sad depending on different families and how they save up what little they can for their kids benefit, to help see their kids joy light up their faces during this special time.

      Advent and Christmastime is so neat to watch children use their imaginations and try to work out how a man actually has flying reindeer and knowing what their hearts seem to want the most.

      Three year olds are so fun to see develop even more during this cozy time. It may be super hectic for us, but for them it is a longer wait time and filled with even more family fun activities like bsking cookies, decorating trees, seeing christmas lights light up the neighborhood at night. Snuggling up for family movie nights with old classics. My kid is now obsessed with A Charlie Brown Christmas (somewhat regretting that choice because he has latched onto saying "you're stupid Charlie Brown"...oops!). Cuddling up together during the advent wreath time. Enjoying role playing with the nativity scene while inagining how the true Christmas story was like, which is pretty hard considering how abstract time is for this age. Helping do volunteer work with your church's projects.

      All the family activities should include the little ones somehow at their level because the sensory fun of this time of year is also very educational for them. Keeping Christmas magical and fun is what helps us as adults renember to enjoy this waiting and preparation time too. Soak this sweet age and season while you can. I know I am trying my hardest to.
   

Important Things I Realized While Building A Ginger Bread House

     I have been going through a little bit of a writer's block these last several days.  Every time i have sat down to type something out for a post I have not been able to come up with something interesting or helpful I feel like. Life is like that sometimes. Maybe I am getting antsy for our two week break from more structured learning and looking forward to just living in the moment during this fun age and magical time of year...

     Last night I pulled out our ginger bread kit thinking of how much fun my child would have helping me put candies all over the house. I imagined him pointing out where I needed to put icing for his candies and it looking like a beautiful 3 yr old masterpiece. It did not turn out that way. Infact my kid had zero interest in anything to do with that ginger bread house, and my husband was like decorate it all. So there I was doing what  I imagined would be a fun family bonding activity all by myself. Well the decorating part of it by myself anyway.  Making a ginger bread house stick together I learned is NOT a one person thing. I quickly realized I needed help to make it all stay stuck together while putting it together. Parts ended up upside down or flipped on the wrong direction. Once ot was put together I was terrified of adding anymore to it so it would not chance falling down and trying to rebuild it all over over again.

     Life is like that though.... No matter how wonderful things we plan out go in our minds, rarely do those scenes play out the way we hoped for. The same goes for lesson planning. We can think up ideas or be inspired by pictures we find on the internet. Rarely do those things work out the way we imagined, yet thet still work out. Sone in even more fun ways than we expected, and others for only a couple of minutes. It is in the actually activity we have to learn to let go of our plans and just enjoy watching our kids use their imaginations to explore in more creative ways than we anticipated. Hearing their giggled and watching them as their minds are working out new concepts. Seeing their journey through the activity os what matters.

     We cannot do these things on our own though. We need help from our own support system to get through the tougher times. I know I wrote a post on optimism last week, and this post ma thg be re hitting on some of those same points, but I gotta say they are important. Prayimg for strength and wisdom of what God wants of us is integral. Having a spouse who will rally for you on those days you really want to give up on homeschooling altogether is integral. Having friends you can call or hang out and chill with are important. Family members who have your back when other family members question your choice of home education are vital. Remembering to be flexible and ready for the unplanned is part of this job and lifestyle.

     Sit back and try your best to enjoy the ride. You are doing what you feel is best for your family and that is what matters the most.

   

The Many Names of Santa

     Hello all you beautiful mommas out there. I hope you have had a wonderful week this past week. It was a bit tougher for me emotionally, but my.son enjoyed every bit of it. Hold tight to your loved ones. I was reminded how quickly they may be gone today when hearing the tragic story of a young father who died in a plane crash in our area last week. His son was one of my kids buddy's from speech pre-k. I am sure his wife did not in her wildest dreams think her best friend would be taken from her so quickly.....

     So this week is the first week of Advent. A time of waiting and preparing for the coming of Christ's birth. Every morning I have incorporated an advent prayer to our morning routine. We are following this Advent calendar so when I write it out I am referring to what is in the above link.

     This week I thought it would be fun to do some history/geography using the Many Names of Santa. There are SO many santa claus names out there to use. These were just the first five that came to my mind. You can choose different ones if you prefer. I liked this theme this week particularly because yesterday was St. Nicholas' feast day, which for us Catholics is a fun celebration day to celebrate the real Santa Claus.
     Along with those above things we learned about the letter Oo and number 10


Monday:Intro Uppercase "O"/Santa Claus (North America)
Books: My "o" Soundbox by Jane Belk Moncure
Octopus's Garden by Ringo Starr
Journey Through the Ocean by Steve Cox

Songs:
Lift Up Your Heads Oh Mighty Gates
Octopus's Garden by Raffi or Ringo Starr
Must Be Santa by Raffi

Activities:
Advent Nativity scene prayer day one, empty stable and listen to the lift up your heads... hymn

Intro Uppercase "O" and Oo vocabulary. Work on "O" coloring page

Fill the kitchen sink up and use ocean colored food coloring and a little glitter and have fun in an oceany vibe in the kitchen.

Intro Santa Claus. How it is another name dor St. Nicholas. Do a santa coloring page. Sing Must Be Santa.

Tuesday: Intro Number Ten/Papai Noel  (South America)
Books: One Small Donkey by Dandi Daley
 Mackall
Ten Days and Nine Nights by Yumi Heo
Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes by Mem Fox

Songs: Creator of the Stars At Night
The Ants Go Marching One by One
One Two Buckle My Shoe

Activities:
Advent Nativity Prayer the Plants and the first Sheep. End with the hymn Creator of the Stars At Night

Review Oo vocabulary words

Intro Number Ten and coloring page.

Use cheerios to seperate into matching groups of pieces of paper with the numbers 1-10 on them and count together as the child helps make the groups.

Oil and water science project. Take a plastic bottle (we happened to have only a 2 lt, but use whatever size you want). Fill bottle about 2/3's water. Use food coloring for whatever color your child would like
 Bave your child help squeeze in the food coloring and then waych as it falls into the water to change color. Use vegitable oil to fill the bottle up the rest of the way. Now the child has a visual of how oil floats on water.

Intro Papai Noel and his version of St. Nicholas. Have a coloring page out for your child to color if he/she wants to.

Wednesday: Intro Lowercase "o"/Shengdan Laoren (Asia)
Books: Ouch! Moments by Michael Genhart
Animal Orchestra by Tibor Gergely

Songs:
Wake Awake For Night Is Flying
Oats and Beans and Barley Grow by Raffi

Activities:

Advent Nativity Prayer- the other sheep and the lantern (we do not have a lantern in our nativity so we used an battery operated candle) and finish with the hymn Wake Awake For Night Is Flying

Intro Lowercase o. Review Oo vocabulary words. Work on the o coloring page

Library day. In the car ride we played an opposites game. I would ask questions like...if we do not turn the light off it is...and see if my son could fill in the blank.
If you did not open the door you...it
If it is not up it is...?
Etc.
I was able to figure out which opposite concepts still need work, but in a fun way.

Fun with dry oatmeal

Intro Shengdan Lauren and his version of St. Nicholas

Thursday: Work On Tracing and Scissor Skills/St. Nicholas Feast Day Fun (Europe)
Books: Off and Counting by Sally Noll
Hop On Pop by Dr. Seuss
The Legend of St. Nicholas by Margaret K McElderry

Songs:
Jolly Old St. Nicholas
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent
This Old Man

Activities:

St. Nicholas Fun Day
Enjoy the fun things st. Nick left. Read the st. Nicholas book and watch the veggie tales st. Nicholas movie. Sing Jolly Old St. Nicholas

Advent Nativity prayer (the lamb) and then listen to the advent hymn All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent to close

Review the Oo vocab words and number 10.

Work on tracing and practice scissor skills

Go enjoy nearby town's big Christmas Lights Display

Friday:  Oo Vocab Review/ Pere Noel (Europe)
Books: Staying Over Night by Katy Petty and Lisa Kopper
There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Bat by Lucille Colandro

Songs:
Savior of the Nations, Come
Biscuits In the Oven by Raffi

Activities:
Advent Nativity Prayer (the first wise men) and end with the hymn Savior of the Nations, Come

Review Oo vocab and vocab work sheet

Orange painting project- use cut and juiced orange to dip into paint and see the prints it makes

Play with the play kitchen oven.

Make some no bake oatmeal peanut butter cookies.

Play with cooked oatmeal like play dough

Introduce Pere Noel and his version of St. Nicholas legend and coloring page

These are ways that I found and enjoyed watching my kid explore with learning about. Can you think of better santa names to learn about or Oo activities? Or to help your young one be more involved in the Advent season? Drop a comment and ket me know

O Is For Optimism

 

      Homeschooling your young pre-schooler is a blessing, but let's be real, it does have it's hard stretches too. As homeschooling moms we put the majority of our focus constantly on our kids. Worrying weather our job teaching them measures up to what kids in private or public schools do. Stressing over how non-homeschooling neighbors may disapprove over what they think may seem like a lack of education for your kids (I happen to have one such neighbor who likes to let her opinion on parenting matters known loud and proud). We wonder constantly when we should step back and let our children learn life lessons on their own and when to step in because it really is needed. What to cook for dinner. Getting household chores done amidst hearing your young one beg you to help play a game or take them outside and they are not quite old enough to be out there alone.  Maybe it is when the weather is constantly rainy and cold for the past several weeks and everyone, including you, are all going stir-crazy and all you want to do is go to the bathroom without hearing your little one act like that kind of seperatiom is the end of the world. Or maybe during the week that your family got hit by the flu and you are physically and mentally echausted you just cannot deal. I get those moments of just needing some time to breath, yet not being fully able to because either you are on mom/teaching mode or wife/homemaker mode. Not a whole lot of just you being you mode.
      This is where optimism is hard to keep. Yet, it is also those very moments where optimism is needed the most. When you are feeling buried, chances are your kid is feeling those vibes coming from you (me too). When they feel you are antsy they all of a sudden feel a shift in stability which then mentally stresses them out and they let their stresses out in the only way they know how. To act out more. To be more clingy, and fussy and short tempered. Good quality learning can quickly go out the window during those times too. Those of us who have felt pulled to the blessing that is home educating also must remember that this type of lifestyle is not made for the weak, although society may want us to think that we are weak for choosing to stay home and focus on our families. No, it is made for brave and strong. For women who are not afraid of the added challenges that come with educating and being a mother too and yet embracing those sweet delicious moments we get when we try to remember to think positively about educating the ones we love so much it hurts to breath sometimes.
      We can let those moments I mentioned in my first paragraph rule us, or we can choose to rule them with God's help. Because the fact is even though I may not get a whole lot of "me time" following this path, I get countless snuggles, giggles of wonderful laughter, looks of pure wonder. I get to listen to songs and symphonies  so very precious. I get to feel excitement over watching my son conquer something new for his furst time. Even in the moments I would like to pee in silence I know that for him I am his rock. He is the most secured feeling when I am nearby without seperation, which in it's own way is truely touching. I keep moments that melt my heart in a little book to go back and look at after more difficult days. Reading those helps bring me back to feeling peaceful over the choice to be a homeschooling mom. Good friends I can call and vent every so often is a blessing. Having my mom still around who gets me is truely priceless (she homeschooled all of us, my three siblings and I). Reading uplifting blogs helps me feel not so alone.
     Optimism is crucial. Having the best team of family and friends to help you out when you need it the most is key to keeping your own morale up. Everyone has a hard day every so often. The best thing you can do though is not let your hard day get you down for ever. Enjoy a beer (or glass of wine) after hubby is home. Escape to get a epsom salt bath with sound cancelling head phones and a good book. Go visit Jesus in Eucharistic Adoration  or go for a drive with calming christian music on in the back ground. Beg for a full body massage gift card for Christmas and then make sure to use it. Go for a mom's day out with an old friend. Take some you time. It is the best mood inducer around. You will feel happier which in turn will help your kid (s) too!

Advent Ideas For the Littles

 

    For all of you Catholic readers, you know it is officially the advent season for us. For non-Catholics who do not know what advent is, it is the time period of four weeks before Christmas. It is a time for preparing ourselves both spiritually and mentally for the coming of Christ's birthday. There is an advent wreath that people will use with four candles that symbolize the four weeks of advent:three purple and one pink. Usually there are bible readings and meditations that go along with each day of advent. I thought I would share with you some ideas that will get your young pre-schooler involved with the beauty and richness of the Advent season.

     Make a window cling advent wreath for everyone to be able to see all day long instead of just during the evening advent wreath prayers. There is a particular order to lighting the advent wreath, but to make it more kid friendly as long as they pick the right color candle to stick the flame on than I do not pay attention to if it is correct or not. The older children can focus more on that with the actual wreath later on.

St. Nicholas' feast day is December 6th.

Feast of the Immaculate Conception is December 8th.

December 10th is the Feast of Our Lady of Loreto. I know some friends who decorate a gingerbread house on this day.

December 12th is the Feast of Our Lady of Quadelupe. We make sure to have some kind of mexican food for dinner that night and fiesta music.

December 13th is St. Lucy's feast day. That may be a good night to pack up in the car and look at the different Christmas Lights displays.

Along with these special feast days (and there may be some more that I am not remembering at the moment. Please share in the comments if I missed a special feast day) here are some more daily things you can do as a family that some friends and I have thought up together.

This year I decided to introduce a new little aspect of our Nativity set. This was the first day doing this so I am curious how my kid will enjoy it. I stumbled upon this idea here
 https://partofthemain.wordpress.com/series/advent-readings-2011/

I know some families that wrap 24 of their favorite Christmas children's books and each evening the kids take turns opening the book for the night. I recommend checking out your local library for some titles you may like without having to buy them.

Singing a new advent specific hymn each day.

Secret santa, but instead of giving gifts, doing acts of kindness for the family member they picked out each day. Maybe each Sunday everyone can draw a new name so everyone gets a chance to share love with more than just one family member.

Additional activities that come to mind...

Go to confession as a family one night

Spend some time in Eucharistic adoration...for little ones I suggest maybe 5 minutes to start and then stretch it out more each week you go? Adoration is harder for young children than Mass because usually is it very quiet, but i still think it is important to introduce them to this beautiful gift of adoration that our faith has.

Decorate the Christmas tree/or Jesse tree if you prefer waiting until Christmas to put up your Christmas tree.

Make home made Christmas ornaments

A night learning about the story behind candy canes

Bake christmas cookies/or make christmas candy to share with neighbors or lonely older church members one night.

Put random acts of service ideas for others outside of the family and take turns picking one to complete.

What additional ideas can you think of for your littler ones to enjoy?

Mini Old Testament Vacation Bible School Week

     This week I decided to have some fun while learning about Old Testament Bible stories. All of our Bible stories I used this Bible:

but please use whatever Bible you would like. Also the wonderful thing about doing Old Testament stories for a theme is the fact that there are SO many stories to choose from. You may not want to use any of the five I decided to focus on with my kid. That is cool too. I am not trying to advertise this bible either. I just did not feel like repeatingthe title five different times so I just put it up here. Infact, if you have a better Bible for 3 yr olds please share with me. This one I scored at a local used book store for a dollar. According to the clerk I was the first person in that shop after it was put on display and so it was almost like it was meant for me to buy.
     Thursday was also a special day. It was the anniversary of my son's Baptismal day. To make that day feel special we ended ourday with a bundled up family walk through our neighborhood to get a closer loook at some of the houses with lights already put out. We then gave our son his favorite treat, a chocolate doughnut. Then let him play for as long as he wanted in the water in our kitchen sink. He LOVES playing in water. He brings some of his toy dishes and favorite foam shapes to play with and he is happy for a long time as long as mom or dad is nearby to interact with him while he plays.
     Along with learning with the Bible we were focused on the letter Nn and number 9.

Monday:Intro Uppercase "N"/The Story of Noah
Books: My n Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure
The Stories of Noah from the Bible
My First Dictionary

Songs:Let's Make Some Noise by Raffi
Arky arky- Searched on youtube for a version I liked.
Who Built the Ark by Raffi

Activities:
Intro uppercase letter N. Introduce the N vocab words. Uppercase N coloring page

Play with dry elbow and rigatoni noodles

Intro Noah. Read the story from the children's bible.

Rainbow color fingerpaint fun

Tuesday: Intro Number Nine/The Story of Nehamiah
Books:Nine Men and A Hen by Barbara Gregorich
The story of Nehamiah from the children's Bible
My First Dictionary

Songs:Let's Do the Numbers Rhumba by Raffi
Father Abraham from Wee Sing

Activities:
Review Nn vocab words from the picture dictionary

Napkin water color painting fun

Intro Number Nine and number 9 coloring page

Intro the story of Nehamiah

Pull out the playhouses. Pretend they are the city of Jerusalem. Work together to build a wall with the bigger blocks we own and then play together in the safe a beautiful city of Jerusalem.

When your child is done then take the time to do some fun with seperating and counting. Count out 9 of each different shaped blocks. Have your child help seperate them into different piles and then count the number of blocks in each pile.

Wednesday: Intro Lowercase n/The Story of Ruth and Naomi
Books: The Napping House by Audrey and Don Wood
The Story of Ruth and Naomi from the Children's Bible
My First Dictionary

Songs: Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
Who Did Swallow Jonah from Wee Sing

Activities:
Review Nn vocab words from picture dictionary. Intro lowercase n and coloring page.

Play Nurse

Intro Ruth and Naomi. Read the story from the children's book.

Pull out our bigger wooden beads and wirk on stringing them together to make necklaces.

Thursday:Tracing and Scissor Skills/The Story of Job
Book:The Nutcracker by Rachel Isadora
The Story of Job from the children's Bible
My First Dictionary

Songs: All I Really Need by Raffi
Little David Play On Your Harp by Wee Sing
If You're Happy and you Know It Praise God *the sane as if your happy and you know it, but replace clap your hands, stomp your feet, and shout hooray with praise God.

Activities:
Review Nn vocab words

Practice tracing with work sheet

Scissor skills play

Play with hammer and nails from tool bench

Intro the story of Job...
After words talk about different scenarios like how do you feel if you are given a cookie?
How about if you are wanting mommy or daddy to play but they are busy getting dinner ready?
Go on with different scenarios. Afterwords remind them of Job's story and how we should try to remember to praise God im every moment because God has plams for us all. Sometimes it is hard waiting to find out, but no matter what if we keep Him close He will have our backs just like He did with Job.

Friday:Review Nn Vocab/The Story of Daniel
Books: The First Noel by Janina Domanska
The story of Damiel from the children's Bible
My First Dictionary

Songs:
The First Noel
Free choice of Songs from this past week

Activities:
Review Nn vocab words and vocab coloring page

Play with cooked noodles

Intro the story of Daniel

Make paper plate lion masks

What other old testament bible stories have you chosen to focus on with your young pre schooler?