The winter solstice approaches, and so day 19 had the kids completing an early craft for solstice. They cut the coffee filters they had painted into snowflake shapes. A couple were even saved for me for when I got home. I made my shapes and they will be hung on the door.
Last year, we went to Wannemakers and looked at all their trees and decorations and the kids had a blast. We decided we’d do the same this year. They each got to pick an ornament for the tree last year so we planned on the same for this year.
It seems we waited a bit too long this year, or Wannemakers changed how they did their displays. Last year they had several trees all done up in different themes. Those were missing this year, or were sold before we visited. Still, the kids got to look and choose ornaments for the tree. Jason had his heart set on a snowy owl that wasn’t so much an ornament as a bird decoration meant to sit on a shelf or something. We talked him into something that could actually fit on the tree. He chose an eagle.
For Daniel, the choice was a nice glass train ornament. For Meredith, it was sparkly pink presents. Malcolm’s ornament is a glass snowman. They all went on the tree that night.
Day 17 had us returning to Willowbrook Wildlife Center for another craft. This time, Mama and Malcolm stayed home so Mama could work on a few things. We didn’t know what to expect of the craft.
In the end, it was making snakes out of Crayola Model Magic. The kids got their balls of the material and rolled them out into their snake shapes. Daniel mixed blue and yellow to make a green color that they all used. They enjoyed the craft, but it didn’t take too long.
As we were leaving the craft area, one of the volunteers asked if the kids wanted to pet a rat. They have a couple of pet rats, so she pulled one out and they each pet it’s back gently. After the rat, it was back to the displays in the the building. The snakes were more active this time which the kids quite enjoyed. They also got to see the flying squirrel poking its head out, which it hadn’t last time.
We walked around the outdoor pens again, but this time we were ready to walk one of the longer trails. We walked around and found another outdoor pen with sandhill cranes. They were really big and made some interesting noises.
We continued our walk around, but when we got to the entrance, the gates were closed. Not only were the gates closed, they were locked. According to my clock, they should have been open another few minutes, but that hardly matters as they were closed and locked. What to do? Daniel got mad and wanted to break the gate down, but I told him to be calm and that we should look around. Sure enough, there was a sign saying to look for an escape path that takes you around the fence and to the parking lot. Off we went and found the way out.
It was a thrilling adventure, and a shame Mama missed this particular aspect. Perhaps we’ll get locked in again sometime in the future.
Our third movie night had us watching the newest Prep and Landing special. If you haven’t seen the Prep and Landing shows and shorts, we highly recommend them. They are some of the best contemporary Christmas specials out there. This is the second full length special in the series. There are a couple of shorter stories in the same theme as well. It was fun to watch the show, which happens to have a theme of the importance of family, especially how older siblings and younger siblings treat each other.
And with a catch phrase of “JINGLE BAM!” how can you wrong?
Day 15 had the kids working on a craft project. This time, it was making snowman pictures out of pieces of pre-cut foam.
For the record – glue sticks and foam don’t work very well. Good old fashioned Elmer’s Glue and fingertips are much better. The small pieces had an adhesive backing and the littles enjoyed sticking and resticking and re-resticking the hearts, eyes, nose, mouth pieces.
Also for the record – dogs and small foam pieces don’t go together very well. You could ask Ellie what she thinks of eating foam but, well, she doesn’t talk and she only ate one piece, so I think that answers that 
The littles are big fans of Cosley Zoo. We’ve visited it several times in the past. Like other area zoos, Cosley decorates itself in lights for the Christmas season. Day 14 had us visiting to see the light show.
It was a cold night, so the kids were bundled up well. I should have been too, but I had forgotten where I’d put my gloves. In the end, they were in the bag I bring to work, so I had them with me, I just forgot. Anyway, Em and the kids came by my work to pick me up. We drove over to see the zoo.
It wasn’t very crowded which was nice for us. The kids got a kick out of the dinosaur lights in the front of the zoo. We walked around the duck pond and over into the big barn. We spent some time visiting the animals in the barn and then went over to the chickens and bunny in their building. We walked around the outside pens with their light shows, trying to see the animals in the dark. Jason was disappointed that the foxes couldn’t be seen, but he did look at the owls and other birds around the corner.
After the customary watching Daniel pretending to be a train pass by the station, we headed to the van to head back home. Quite a nice light show despite the cold. I think the kids would have liked to stay longer, but it was also obvious the cold was getting to them. We’ll have to try this again next year.
This day had us making Christmas cookies and rather than calling the whole thing off when the babe wasn’t being cooperative and napping or staying out of the dog’s water, out of the pots & pans drawer, off the half-wall, etc., we decided ingenuity was the name of the game and we went w/a mix.
Cherrybrook Kitchens has a great sugar cookie box mix that’s safe and when we pull out the cookie scoops of dough, a little (usually Jason) rolls them in cinnamon and sugar to make snickerdoodles! Yummy & super easy.
Mere, Daniel and I attempted sugar cookies, but this year’s recipe was a bust, yet again. The roll-ability of GFCFEF dough has disappointed us each and every time so far. I have two new recipes to try in the future, so hopefully we’ll find a winner at some point.
Inspired by the trip to Willowbrook Wildlife Center, day 12 had the kids making bird feeders at home. This project was very similar to the one done at the center, except both corn cobs and pine cones were used as a base and peanut butter was used to stick the seed to the base. We’ll have some fat birds around our house.
When friends find out we’d never been to the Willowbrook Wildlife Center, they are generally shocked. It seems a perfect fit for us. Well, when we read they were going to be doing some crafts there for the holidays, we decided to take advantage.
Day 11 of the advent calendar was to go to Willowbrook Wildlife Center and make wildlife feeders. The craft involved stringing cranberries and oranges into different shapes and spreading lard on corn cobs and pressing bird seed into it. The kids seemed to enjoy that craft, but even more than that they liked seeing the center itself.
At the center, they have tanks and cages holding various animals that either live at the center full time or are temporary residents. The kids really seemed to enjoy watching the birds. Outside there are lots of cages with other animals. Jason’s favorite was the red foxes, but the owls, raccoons, and eagles didn’t disappoint either.
It was quite cold that day, so we didn’t do the longer walks they have behind the outdoor habitats. Instead, we headed home where I finally got the house decorated on the outside. The previous night I checked the lights for the house and replaced the burnt out bulbs. I got the lights on the house and the inflatable snow globe up
and running. I also got a candle lantern hung and a candle inside. The kids were happy to finally have lights on the house. Papa was a slacker beforehand it seems.
Day 10 of Advent brought us to Saturday, ahhhhh….relaxation. Oh, except for the guy coming to give us a quote on a new furnace (Did we mention that both our washing machine AND our furnace decided that my new Christmas presents would be the gift of clean clothes and heat?) decorating the house and the usual weekly cleaning.
Just another crazy day at the Smeltzer house w/the bonus that Papa was home from work!
Anyway, back to applesauce ornaments. They’re quite simple, smell quite good and the littles can make them fairly unsupervised. Take cheap applesauce (cheap because you’ll need LOADS of it) and ground cinnamon. (Side note – WHY is it that the cheap, store brand (we used Centrella this year) not have high fructose corn syrup, food colorings or other nastiness in it where the “natural” versions of more expensive brands do? Lesson learned – ALWAYS read your labels!)
(Man – lots of side notes today, you can tell I’m writing this post and not Dan!)
Mix the applesauce w/the cinnamon until it’s the consistency of thick roll out cookie dough. Some use a 1:1 ratio, I’m not that precise, I just dump and stir until it looks right.
Lay out parchment or wax paper in front of each little and dump a bit of dough on it. Roll it out between two pieces of paper until it’s 1/4-1/2″ thick. Using cookie cutters, cut into whatever shapes your heart desires. Using a straw, poke a hole at the top so you can thread a ribbon through when it’s dry.
Transfer ornaments to a cookie sheet and bake/dry as you wish. We usually bake ours at 200 for an hour or so. We’ve also let them air dry for a day or two (depends on the humidity in your house) Thread w/a ribbon and hang in the tree! I’ve always wanted to hang one in the van to make it smell festive as well.
The littles enjoy this craft and it’s one that they ask for every year. Do be advised that if/when they eat the dough, the high content of cinnamon can leave red burn-type marks on their hands & around their mouths. It doesn’t seem to bother them and the marks clear up w/washing & drinking water, but they are a bit startling if you aren’t expecting them.
The great news about these ornaments? No allergies and if they eat a bunch of applesauce, well it’s not the worst food in the world.
