Countdown to Christmas - Day 7

Today started off with the advent calendar.. day #7! WOW!!



A little chocolate ornament to put on the tree.



Maelie and I were very excited about the little bit of snow... she managed to shovel it into a small pile. She was so proud!!



She painted little dinosaurs and opened up her activity present which was a gift tag made of wood. She also had to paint those.





I decided that today was the day to make spritz cookies with my WIlton cookie press!! It was my first time... and boy oh boy it was a lot more work that I expected!! Plus i had done a double batch!! Well.. i've been spritzing for almost 3 hours now!!!



i pictured this baking activity as a wonderful mother daughter time!! It didn't quite end up that way! Maelie did her homework as I was making the cookies, she painted, she watched tv. So much for that!!

This is what I ended up with:



My last batch just came out of the oven... and off to bed we go!!

Countdown to Christmas - Day 6

Our day started off pretty early with the advent calendar. Maelie got a little raccoon today!

She was very excited because today was supposed to be the Canada Post children's party at the Midway. We went shopping a little bit beforehand and once we got to the Midway, they told us there was no party! Apparently it would have been cancelled! Poor Maelie was CRUSHED. We took advantage of that free afternoon to shop for a new snowsuit. We got a great deal on a Columbia jacket and pants and new mitts and a hat.

Once back home, I informed Maelie that she was in charge of supper. She could choose to make whatever she wanted for us as long as it included vegetables.

Of course, she had to make macaroni and cheese!



I headed upstairs for a bath and put Bill in charge of taking pictures as Maelie was making supper all by herself.



Here is my supper!


After supper, Maelie did her home reading for school. She read Bill her french book. She translated it all for him as it would seem that his lessons have not made him fluently bilingual yet!



Once she was done her home reading, she headed off to Tristan's house to play for a little. Our day completely did not go as planned, but it turned out pretty nice anyway!! :)

oh... i did manage to get some mini baking done!! Just a quick batch of rice crispie squares. They remind me of my mom!! Every time she has company over, there is ALWAYS a large batch of rice crispie squares sitting on her counter.

Countdown to Christmas - Day 5

Wow! this month is really just flying by! Our day started off with the advent calendar as usual. If you look at the picture, you will see Maelie was so excited she could not contain herself. hahaha ok maybe not. She was still half asleep.



She did end up waking up pretty fast since we had to be at school for about 7:30 to prepare for the Santa breakfast! She was wearing her new Christmas dress today.



Here is Maelie working on her craft.



This is the craft that I had organized. It's a simple Cookies for Santa plate. All the kids seemed to like it!



Maelie was the first in line when Santa came in. She was so excited!!



I managed to get one good picture of Maelie and Tristan. He doesn't like to get his picture taken at all! If I had those dimples, I would want to flaunt them!!



Here is Maelie with Myran, Merrick and Amy. They love posing on the stage in the gym!



This is the most beautiful picture ever!! I find it actually looks like a prom picture! Merrick is adorable and treats Maelie like gold.



The kids had a blast. Here they were going around the gym.



Maelie spent the afternoon at Natalie's house playing with Merrick and Myran. She wanted to stay there overnight as she was having so much fun!

Once we got home, she opened an activity present and it was a pack of cards in the shape of snowmen!!



We played a couple of games of Double Series. She beat me both games!



After supper, Maelie started Daddy's french lesson. She has a workbook started for him and Maelie gives him weekly lessons! She says he is getting better in french!



Tomorrow will be another fun day... good thing we get to rest tonight!!

Countdown to Christmas - Day 4

This morning started off with the routine of the advent calendar.



Maelie also has a chain made at daycare where you have to rip off one link each day. Once you get to the bell at the top, it's Christmas day!



I made her some French toast for breakfast. When I brought it to her, she told me she didn't like French toast anymore. I went to the kitchen to get my plate, and when I came back, she had a new love for French toast! That, or she was just very hungry.



Before Maelie left for school, she left a note in our Christmas mailbox. The note guided me to find an envelope.



Maelie gave me $1.75 from her piggy bank. It was just enough to get myself a delicious coffee at Tim's! Thank you Maelie!



As I had a day off today, I went shopping with Natalie and cute little Myran, and came back with Maelie's Christmas dress for this year! I left a note in the mailbox directing her to the closet for a surprise when she got home from school. She tried it on and it was a perfect fit! Just on time for Santa breakfast tomorrow!



Immediately after posing, she returned to her normal clothes and opened an activity present. (We have a bunch under the tree for us to do together as we patiently wait for Christmas!) The activity today was "design your own mugs". We sat together by the tree and each decorated a mug.



Maelie said she would lend her mug to Santa on Christmas Eve.



I hope each person who is reading my blog is taking the time to enjoy their families this week!!

Countdown to Christmas - Day 3

Today started off with day 3 of the advent calendar! Poor Maelie was very tired when she stomped down the stairs this morning.



She made the effort as she was yawning!



Baggie number 3 had a little Christmas chocolate in it.



Maelie is not overly fond of chocolate... but she IS fond of Mama's pancakes!! with sprinkles on the side!!



After school today, Maelie came home and found a mailbox that contained a letter. The letter told her that a surprise was hiding someplace.



She quickly found the present and opened it....



A Rudolph jammie was waiting for her!!



What a busy month already!!!

Countdown to Christmas - Day 2

This morning started off with the opening of the advent calendar surprise. It was 2 caramels. Maelie asked "Mom, no offense, but next time you make this calendar, may you please not put any candy in it?" As some of you may know, Maelie is not too fond of candy.



For breakfast, I made Maelie a hot cold chocolate. That is Maelie's way of saying she wants marshmallows, but she wants the drink to be cold enough to sip. She didn't drink the cocoa anyway! but she did have the marshmallows!



This evening, she was allowed to open one activity present. The activity presents are under the tree and are just a little tiny activity we can do together. Of course she chose the activity that was the most time consuming! the 500 piece puzzle!



This gave us a chance to just hang out. Usually, I am multi tasking all evening... but when you are making a puzzle, you have to focus on just THAT! So we spent a nice evening relaxing together. We managed to get quite a bit done! We'll continue tomorrow...



Maelie has now decided we need to make jello before bed. I guess I am happy to oblige...

Countdown to Christmas - Day 1

Our day started off with our first advent calendar number! December 1! This year went by sooooo fast, i STILL can't believe it is December.

Maelie was happy to get her little cat in bag #1.



I thought for our first little baking project this month, since we were a bit short on time, we would keep it simple. We made some turtle pretzels. This consists of pretzels, Rolo chocolates, and a pecan. Maelie was the chef!



She placed the Rolo's on top one by one...



After spending 10 minutes in the over, I pressed a pecan on top of each Rolo. Everything is all nicely squished together!



Yum yum yum!