Advent Part 2

Here are the other 12 ideas.  Some we did. Some we changed. Some we didn't do. Etc, Etc.

Food Bank Donation (We gave toys to the Interfaith Food Center instead, and Garrett gave a dollar to the Salvation army bell ringer.)
Christmas craft (We pulled out all the supplies, but we're going to make them of Christmas Eve instead, maybe)
Boat ride and light parade (done)
Waffle Breakfast (didn't do)
Have dinner at Rick's Drive-in (done)
Visit Senior center (done)
Christmas Caroling (done...combined with Senior Center trip)
Make neighbor gifts (done)
Deliver neighbor gifts (mostly done... a lot of these treats are going to my nephew's nurses in the NICU in St. George the day after Christmas, and we went to deliver to our favorite neighbor and realized we missed them by a day.  They left for vacation.  But we did a couple.)
Shop for each other (done...3 or 4 times)
Christmas Box surprise- Christmas Book (The book is wrapped, we'll do that tomorrow)
Christmas Eve dinner here with family (we'll do on the 24th)

We rented a boat and cruised around Naples Island to see all the big homes and lights.  It was super fun and Garrett totally loved it.

We had a friend from Utah (who now lives in Texas) here on business and he stayed with us for a couple of days.

 Addie is an out of control climber.  Her strength and speed blows my mind several times a day.

 Rick's Drive-in is this fun little local place right by our house and they totally deck it all out for Christmas, and Garrett loves driving and walking by there, so we added that to our list.

 Looking at the lights out the window and then playing outside.  My kids were sharing a healthy (haha) grilled cheese, and then an employee brought them free ice cream, and that was the end of the sandwich.

Garrett helped me do a lot of baking.  And when he got sick of standing on the stool and assisting me, he got  on the floor and blew everything I was spilling on to the carpet.  He's such a great helper!

We went with a big group of friends to two senior care centers and gave out socks and sang carols.  It was a great experience for our family, but I'll probably tell more about that another time.

We finally had our Christmas movie and popcorn night.

But instead of popcorn, we had these.

One of the shopping trips was with Grandma White to Downtown Disney.  (Addie and I met her and Garrett there after they went on their weekly trip to Disneyland.) The kids got each other clothes (Thanks Grandma) and we had lunch at the Rain Forrest Cafe (again, thanks Grandma).

Another shopping trip for Christmas eve dinner food.  We love Trader Joe's.

Advent Part 1

I mentioned in my last post that I had an Activity-a-day advent countdown.  Here is my list of things we planned to do, and then some pictures of stuff we actually did. (The first 12 days anyway.)  I was feeling pretty ambitious the night I made the list and knew we wouldn't get to it all, but I wanted options.  I also didn't think about 75% of our household being sick for over a week, (lucky Paul) so our plans took a hit because of that, too.

Meet the Elf on a Shelf. (done)
Gift in Christmas box-Felt tree (done)
Pop corn and a Christmas movie (sometime this week)
Gift in Christmas box-treat (done)
Drive around and look at Christmas lights and have hot Chocolate (kind of done)
Decorate sugar cookies (we decorated rice crispy treats instead)
Make grandparent gifts (done)
Christmas craft show and shopping (done)
Visit Burch street (done)
Visit Santa (done)
Mail gifts and cards and ice blended at Coffee Bean (part done)
Uptown parade (done)

 Addie was super excited about the parade.

 We sat right by one of my favorite Children's stores for the parade and before it started my MIL and I went in to look around and she bought the kids new shoes.

 We went to LA for a craft fair, but the only picture I took was of this charming food truck.  We also went shopping and found Ralph Lauren's daughter's candy store.

The only Birch Street picture I got of the kids was in the parking lot. Oops.

 Garrett was fascinated with Santa.  He walked right up to him, took hold of his finger, and examined him from head to toe.  But he wasn't at all excited.  Addie wasn't such a fan.

We had dinner at McDonald's after.  Or as Garrett calls it 'Fries'.

 It was our first trip outside in about a week after being sick, and it wiped Lulu out.

Also, in the past week or so, Garrett wanted to make cake. So we made fun-da-middles.  Easy cream filled cupcakes. (You can buy the kit in the baking isle.)

 Garrett wanted to do a lot of cuddling and hand holding for a couple of days.

 He's also OBSESSED with trains (Choo-choos) and he lines everything up and pushes it around.  Cars, empty boxes, strollers, everything but actual trains...maybe I should buy him one...

 Late night mallow roast with dad.

Christmas Eve is in a week! Really??  More advent activity attempts coming soon.