SugarPlusSpice

Monday, December 19, 2011

Bump in the road..

So my youngest is getting over a long bout of pneumonia, and now my husband has it!  I am chewing Airborne like candy and hoping Sugar doesn't get anything more than the cold she has.  So here is a shortened version of what we may or may not do this week...

Monday=Angels=  paper plate angel
Tuesday=Hanukkah= play menorah (we did it a few years ago--cute!!)
Wednesday=Act of Kindness= we will drop a donation off at a local charity
Thursday=Hot Cocoa= hot cocoa spoons
Friday=Legend of the Candycane= Lots of Ideas here, haven't chosen yet
Saturday=Christmas Eve, Santa= we are going to write a note for Santa, and leave it with his cookies


Here are last year's Hanukkah printables click HERE

Christmas printables and games here


Friday, December 9, 2011

Days of December, 11-17






For the 12th-16th, we are "visiting" France, England, Sweden, Germany, and Mexico.  I also included Israel in the passport because of Hanukkah next week.  Get the boarding pass and passports HERE.  The boarding passes are for Canada and the US.  I can make some for other countries as well.  

So everyday we will find the country on the map...

flags are cut out and assembled with toothpicks, then taped to the map.



Then we grab our passports!


The cover folds over the cut out pages to make a book.  There are 4 stamps for every country--one for the traditional holiday meal, gift giving tradition, holiday traditions, and one for the holiday greeting of that country.


After reading the info on the stamps, we'll place them in our passport.




Next we need our boarding passes..



Then we'll be off to each country, doing a craft and snack, and reading from an Around the World Christmas book.

Here are the crafts and snacks for each country..



France


Away in a Manger: The Manger


For snack, we are doing this Yule Log snack:
(untitled)




England



For snack, we are making a trifle, using THIS RECIPE as a guide.




Sweden

We will be making these St. Lucia day crowns,
Stephanie Santa Lucia 03
(hats for boys, too)


and having rice pudding (store-bought) with jam for snack.



Germany

We will be doing a scissor craft

Sand Paper Gingerbread Ornament Craft



And for snack, we will be doing our gingerbread house OR making gingerbread cookies.  I also thought about decorating gingersnaps with frosting.


Mexico


We will be making luminaries


and having "munchkins" (donut holes).





And for the last day of next week..





Have a great week!!










Thursday, December 1, 2011

Days of December, 4-10

Here is the Days of December plan for the next week..







5-Wreath:

Puzzle wreath craft, 
from DLTK

Christmas Puzzle Wreath










6-poinsettia:

Paper poinsettia craft, 
from DLTK










7-Christmas Tree:

Tree circle craft, 



.






8-ornaments:

Cinnamon-applesauce ornament,
from Kaboose











9-star/candle:

mosaic candle craft, 

click to enlarge








And for the last day of the week, Saturday the 10th...


snowflake craft from FamilyFun

Sparkling Ice Crystals



and a snowball craft, also from Family Fun

Snowball Soap Surprise


I will also be digging out any books that match my theme...

Happy December!!



Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Days of December!


I've been working hard on a project for December, and am finally nearing the end.  Last minute, of course, but I started so long ago :-)  I made a project similar to an advent calendar.  Each day has a mini booklet (just one paper, folded in half) and a craft or activity to go with it.  I kept it really simple.  Each booklet has a short explanation of the theme for the day or a poem, and I found a craft to go with each one.  I will be playing music and reading books along with the craft.   The week that I have planned for Christmas around the world gets a little more busy, with passports and boarding passes!

Here is the calendar with the theme for each day..


Here's what the first booklet looks like, for the Nativity Story..
I am going to hang our booklets on a posterboard on the wall, or on a door.  Or I might make it into a lapbook...haven't decided yet.

Here are the project packs--booklets and the pictures that go on the cover of each booklet.  I made them in black & white and color.  Click HERE for the project packs


Here is the information for week one, the rest will come soon!


It says to use TP rolls, but I might just tape them
in the back and let them stand on their own.











Reindeer Gift Bag

or this





In the next few days I will post everything for next week.  Mon-Fri of next week are "Christmas Symbols"


I'm later than I wanted to be  but I hope someone can use this!


Monday, November 7, 2011

I'm back!




After a busy few months, I have returned to my blog.  A lot has happened since the last time I posted....

My mom was diagnosed with Stage 4 kidney disease.  She has changed her diet and has lost over 40 pounds!  All tests that she's had since she was told about it has stayed the same, so that's good.

Spice is helping "Memay" (Memere) make apple crisp


We started another year of homeschooling.  Sugar is in first grade, but usually lets people know she is doing second grade work as well.  Although when we go out during the day and people ask her grade or why she's not in school, she just says "I don't go to school".  And that's it!  After the looks we get from the people asking, I explain that we homeschool, and she's not really an uneducated delinquent, lol.  

Sugar, busy at work


I am also homeschooling Spice and another little girl the same age (literally, 2 days apart!).  Both 3.5 years old.   And I take care of a 4th kiddo, 17 months. 

All girls!  


Hubby and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary.

My best friend, always :-)


Did all kinds of Halloween things!  Sugar was going to be a princess, 


but we were planning on going to a Halloween event at our favorite craft store, and there was going to be a crafty costume contest.  Soooo, I spent the morning of the contest coming up with this..

We won first place in the contest!!


Spice decided to wear last year's costume to the craft store.




Then the crazy snowstorm happened.



I was so disgusted with Mother Nature.



Then we lost power...
For 2 days and nights...
and Halloween was postponed..
We had no heat or hot water either. It got so cold in this place that this happened...

We have a tea set that looks like this:
until you add cold water, and the cups turn dark pink.  



During the time that we had no power, we hadn't played with it.  But the air in our place was so cold after 2 days with no heat that they looked like this:

It was THAT cold!


After the power was restored we sang and danced and said we would never take electricity for granted again! (til next week, lol)  We finally got to go trick-or-treating last night, and this is what the girls wore..

Popcorn & Madeline.  Spice even referred to me as "Miss Clavel"  :-)



Now I am relieved that Halloween is over, and grieving the fact that we never really had an autumn, which is my favorite season.  Now onto Thanksgiving and Christmas!!

Thank you to anyone still reading after all this time away!