Our envelopes contain simple directives such as...
Make popcorn in the snowman bowl.
Read Snowmen at Night.
(I know of the cutest grandma who read this book with her grands and then sent them out to make a snowman. After the kiddos were in bed, she moved the snowman to a different spot. Isn't that so fun?! We weren't so ambitious, but maybe you are!) Order pizza.
Let me here indicate the advantage of doing this envelope advent with a non-reader. "Order pizza" was not the message Lucy's envelope contained, but on that particularly exhausting day Mom and Dad made a last minute, ultimately wise, and still Lucy-pleasing substitution. Go sledding...
And drink hot chocolate. Lucy's first chocolate with mallows. Who says you can't eat them that way!?
Read The Snowball Fight.
"Paint" (with water and Q-tips)
Have a bubble bath.
Hang snowflakes on the front door.
Go for a walk in your boots.
Lucy L O V E S to walk in the snow. More than she likes to sled. More than she likes to build snowmen. She loves to just...walk around. Hence, our excursions EVERYWHERE sound like this:
"Ah, ah, ah! Lucy, sweetie, we're not walking in the snow right now. We're just walking to the office."
"Nope! You don't have your boots on, dear."
"Please stay on the side walk!"
"Maybe we can walk in the snow later. Right now we need to meet daddy for lunch!"
So, we decided to give the poor child a few envelope excuses for exclusive snow-walking time. No destinations. Just plain old, freezing January walks. (Yuck!)
Rent and watch Frosty the Snowman.
Dress Up.
and today...Play with Pigeon on the Computer.
(Thanks Grandma Lu!! Pigeon is a favorite of Lucy's so she ate this site right up! (and I can't wait for Jan Brett day! I was seriously tempted to buy a Brett book just for this month's festivities...but, decided to be stingy. So glad for the great links!!)
Happy winter fun, friends! Keep your good ideas comin'! I'll give you a weekly update of our January bliss!
15 comments:
Rachel and I just read your blog! We loved the videos and the pictures of snow, Rachel would like to live in the snow, she must want to go to BYU, but Grandma like the sunshine in Las Vegas.
This is really Grandma and Rachel, all the other Trumans are in bed except Mom and Dad who are at the temple.
Looks fun! Love you!
Is it too late to request envelopes? January really is a blah month. Cute, cute videos! My favorite: "Do you have your boots on? . . . Mom doesn't."
You guys are awesome! I'm totally going to steal these ideas next January when Garrett is a toddler.
I love Mo Willems! So glad he won some awards this year for his new Knuffle Bunny and another book (don't remember title...) I love that you liven up January with reading - that's what I do to liven up every month!
Umm, these activities would totally keep my spirits up! I'm totally stealing this idea as well when Charlie gets to be Lucy's age! Thanks for the idea! You are such a cute little family...
Super fun.
It's almost making me nostalgic for snow. Almost. (I am looking out of the door of my classroom and the sky is pure blue. I still have to wear a coat in the mornings, so don't be too jealous. :))
I don't know how many times I've said it, but here's one more. Lucy is so, so charming.
I love all the ideas. Can't wait until next year, in a weird way, so we can do the Jazz up January.
I love all those ideas! I can't wait to do that stuff with Benjamin!
I don't have any boots! I will have to get some in order to get in Lucy's good graces. It's been awhile since I've walked in the snow. Sounds like fun!
You do such a great job at your job. (Eric and I went to a CES meeting once in which we learned that our job is to show the world how much fun families can be...isn't that great? I love my job!)
I love it! And that is the best way to eat marshmellows and hot chocolate that I've ever seen!!!
Love the new Lucy quotes. "Nice eating Mom!" Probably said with such sincerity.
I love this. January needs all of the help it can get!!! We tried the bubble bath today. Loads of fun! It was especially nice because Tad has had a faucet for a nose and it was nice to spend a half an hour not having to wipe his nose because all of the splashing was taking care of it! Keep the ideas coming! Where did you get your jazzy envelopes?
That sounds like fun! I like how it is simple too. I sure miss you guys.
I don't know if this is still sharing time, but I had an idea for one of those dead times during the year. You could have week themes like art week, school week, or creation week. For art week you could butcher block paper a wall get out the crayons and let them go. (To jazz it up a bit you could look at art books first and point little things out.) School week, you may go to a school (or pretend you are at a school) and do some stereotypical school type things every day. With creation week you could take the seven days of the creation and assign one of them to every day of the week. For example, dividing the light and the dark you could go in a dark room and play with flashlights making shadow puppets, etc. and talk about light and dark and why we are grateful... For dividing the water you could take a bubble bath, go to the local pool, play with rain/snow, or if you really want to you could mix a bunch of dirt and water and try to let them try to divide the water from the earth... For the sun watch a sunrise or stars at night, etc. You get the picture. The best part of these is they can happen anytime AND they can be simple or more involved. Just do what floats your boat. (Sorry to be long winded about it. I just got excited about doing it some day.)
Brooke - I just found an envelope pattern on the internet and used scrapbook/wrapping papper. Hope Tad gets feeling better!
Anna - it is ALWAYS sharing time on this blog and I LOVE LOVE your ideas! Thanks so much for sharing! We'll definately be doing some of those things! Hope Eli is feeling better too!
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