{this post contains affiliate links}While Miss G and I were out oohing and ahhing at all of the pretty things in Pottery Barn Kids earlier this week, I spotted some beautiful glitter monogram ornaments that I knew we could easily make at home.
With our complex’s kids Christmas party happening this afternoon, Miss G and I hit up Pinterest this morning for a little snack inspiration. I knew that there would be plenty of sweet treats (there always is) and with Gracen not eating sugar, we always try to bring something healthy, but fun. As soon as we began our search, Grae fell head over heels for this awesome upright fruit tree. I loved the look of it too, but I wasn’t thrilled about attaching food to a styrofoam cone, and knowing how much we had going on today, knew I wouldn’t have a ton of time to experiment with a healthier alternative. As we continued browsing, we came across this fun Christmas tree vegetable platter, which we both loved. Gracen thought about it for a minute and then asked if we could make a broccoli tree but with fruit. Sure thing, little lady. A broccoli tree, but with fruit it is.
Today’s Christmas countdown calendar activity was something Miss G has been looking forward to for a while now… Making and drinking homemade hot cocoa! Of course it meant coming up with a recipe that was both yummy and sugar free, but it wasn’t all that hard with the help of one of my very favourite natural sweeteners and a loose idea of how I used to make regular hot chocolate when I was younger.
Grae and I have had this soup for 3 out of our last 4 meals {not even joking}. We whipped it up for lunch yesterday, ate it for dinner last night, and then had it again today for lunch. The crazy part is that neither of us enjoys fresh tomatoes. But this soup is different – soooo yummy! And with our new bout of cold weather (13 degrees Celcisus – BRRRR!), it’s the perfect warm-your-insides meal. Plus, it packs a good protein punch which is great when you’re like us and don’t eat a lot of meat.
Today my little lady and I set out to make one of our favourites – cinnamon dough ornaments. We followed the same recipe we followed last year and were so excited to cut out a bunch of cinnamon scented gingerbread people to decorate once dry.
The cutting tray we did a couple months back was such a hit, that I knew I wanted to do another one, but this time around, a holiday themed one! Just like last time, most of our cutting materials were things we already had around the house – so no need to go and purchase anything new. In fact, I look at this as a perfect time to use up some scraps we’ve no idea what to do with.
{this post includes affiliate links}Though I really haven’t watched many Christmas movies, one that I have seen and love is The Polar Express. Back during Kuwait round one, our Grade One team had a little Polar Express ‘party’ for the students each year and it was great fun. Gracen’s never watched a full-length movie in one sitting, but she and Brad have been making their way through Cars in parts recently and she’s super into it (we’re talking falling asleep clutching her Mater truck at night and waking the next morning with it still in hand), so I thought we’d try a little Polar Express party for her and some of her friends. My goal was to keep it super simple – popcorn, pajamas, and The Polar Express projected on our wall. The munchkins were invited to bring along a favourite blanket and pillow to cozy up in, and showed up in the cutest jammies ever. The night before I threw together these super simple ‘I believe bells’ and train tickets using this free printable from The Crafting Chicks and set them out for Miss G to distribute at the end of the show.
When I spotted fresh cranberries at our local grocery store here in Kuwait, I grabbed a bag immediately, knowing just how we’d put them to good use. Cranberry popcorn garlands are just one of those things – a craft so classic that it’s a shame to not try at least once.
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After seeing Buddy & Buggy’s awesome 3 dimensional felt trees, I went in search of styrofoam cones {again with the styrofoam, I know…} Lo and behold, I found some at our beloved City Star in Egaila. I came home excited to cover them with felt, but when I spotted our star-shaped buttons in our crafting closet, a new project took shape.
{this post contains affiliate links}There’s no doubt we’re a little play dough obsessed around here… We use it to practice cutting skills, we gift it to our friends, we open pretend play shops with it, and apparently we create shoes out of it too! ☺
One of the things i love doing each year is setting up a tree {of some sort} that is just for G. A tree that she can call her own and not have to worry about being careful with. For her first Christmas as a toddler, I made her a giant felt tree that hung on the wall. She loved it {and then mice ate it up while it was being stored in our garage – gross!} The following year, I created a smaller felt board Christmas tree for her, and she still plays with it today. But for this holiday season, I wanted to try something new… A sticky tree! Our fall sticky apple tree was a big hit, as have our other sticky wall activities been, so I assumed this would be too. I was right. ☺
Up until this morning, our poppy wreath we’d made for Remembrance Day was still hanging on our apartment door. It was time for a change. Truthfully, I had no plans to create a new wreath today, so we kept things really easy and made a simple tissue paper Christmas Wreath.
We’ve wanted to get this little miss a bicycle of her own since we first moved to Kuwait, but finding one that is good quality and not covered in trademarked characters / ridiculously ‘girly’ has proven to be a challenge. We came across this very study and more sporty one a couple of weeks ago while at Go Sports in The Avenues and decided we’d pick it up in the New Year, but when Miss G and I learned about their storewide sale today, she got quite the surprise! She’s still getting used to it and the training wheels we borrowed from friends could use some tweaking, but I think she’s pretty excited about her first real big girl bike.
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{this post contains affiliate links}One of the things we love most about our living situation in Kuwait is the fact that Miss G has had a built in community of friends since we first arrived… A posse of munchkins that she sees and plays with everyday. Of course, lots of kids means lots of birthday parties, which means more opportunities to put together thoughtful, creative gifts, which both she and I adore.
