Santa Claus Craft

I've been amazed at just how interested the boys have been in Christmas characters & objects. I wasn't sure they'd really get it all yet but they have been so enthusiastic about all of it!

Before we headed off to actually meet Santa in person the boys & I worked on a fun Santa craft. During nap time I gathered some card stock, pom poms, cotton & bobble eyes. I cut some face shapes out of white & beige paper (I didn't have 3 of either color so I used some of each) & some Santa hats out of the red paper.

When the boys woke up from their nap we put the Santas together. I spread the glue & the boys put the pieces together. Their favorite part was of course the cotton beards. Kellan grabbed a handful of cotton and ran off with it... Caden pulled his cotton balls apart & spread them around Santa's face & hat before he decided to pile the cotton balls on. Garren carefully placed each of his cotton balls on Santa making sure he fit as many as possible on. I forgot to take photos while we were working on the project but here are the finished pieces...

Ho Ho Whoa!!!

Once the glue dried I hung the Santas on the wall. I love hearing the boys say 'Santa Claus' & 'ho ho whoa' each time they notice them.

Flash Back Friday

The boys first Santa visit & last years visit

Christmas Time Fun!

Today the boys & I took a drive to Jacksonville with my mom & met up with my sister, beautiful little niece & nephew. We met at the mall for a little indoor playground fun, a visit with Santa, a train ride & lunch.

We started out at the playground to let the boys stretch their legs a bit after the 1.5 hour ride. My nephew, Chandler always cracks me up when he talks to or about the boys. He says "Kellan & Garren & Kellan" or "Caden & Kellan & Caden" he gets that there are 3 of them but he always says one name twice, lol... He has just in the past few months started to really interact with the boys, calling them out by name & wanting them to play with him. They all walked brought the mall holding each others hands & our hands too. The boys took turns going from me to grandma to Aunt Autumn. 

After the playground, we attempted to make our way towards Santa bit the boys were distracted by those mechanical rides, you know the ones that were a quarter to ride the last time I looked... Well they are a buck now... $1 each! Luckily the boys paired off & wanted to ride together on just 2 of the rides, the airplane & the city tour bus :)

Chandler, Garren & Nadia

 

Kellan, Caden & Garren

We finally made our way to Santa. The boys all waved & said hi from the fence. Garren had mentioned he was hungry on our way to Santa so my sister pulled out some pretzels to keep the boys occupied while we waited our turn, there were only 2 people ahead of us so it wasn't a long wait. All 3 of the boys were hesitant walking up to Santa but Caden & Kellan took their places on either side of him without much fuss, Garren however did not want to leave his Aunt Autumn & Chandler or the pretzels! He took his place with Santa but screamed the whole time, lol... 

For the record, had any of them been afraid of Santa I would not have made them sit with him. 

We wanted to get a picture of all the kids together too so once we had a few shots of the boys, Chandler & Nadia joined in on the fun. As we were getting ready to leave Santa, Garren went back to him & gave him a great big hug & a kiss on the cheek. I guess he wanted him to know he had no hard feeling for Santa :)

Garren, Kellan, Caden

It just wouldn't be right if we didn't have at

least one Santa photo with a screamer in it :)

Since the kids were all hungry we grabbed something quick for lunch at the mall. Everyone sat in big boy chairs & ate every bit of their lunches, including 2 milks each, I guess they were really hungry!

After lunch the boys & Chandler & I (because Caden wasn't going without me) went on a train ride around the mall. Chandler & the boys LOVED it!!! They checked out every part of our little train car, waved to people as we went by & said hi & bye bye. Garren hollered for Aunt "Ahh-yum" (Autumn) every so often too. When we were done they all took a close look at the wheels on the train & Chandler thanked me, the train conductor & grandma for the train ride, so cute & so polite!

The boys were pretty tired by this time, especially Kellan who needed to be carried so he could lay his head down so we all headed back towards our cars & we headed back home.

We had so much fun with everyone & hope to be able to do it again, minus the Santa visit, after the holidays.

Christmas Tree Craft

I wanted to do a Christmas craft advent but I started a little late to have something for everyday. We have managed to get a couple in though with supplies we did have on hand. 

We started with these Christmas Trees...

 

The supplies

Green card stock

Multi colored pom poms

Sparkly pipe cleaners 

Glue (I just used glitter glue to add a little more sparkle but you have to use it generously, hot glue would hold the pom poms & pipe cleaners better)

The instructions

Freehand draw a tree shape on your card stock & cut out, if you like things to match then fold your paper in half & only draw half a tree, both sides will then match. (I drew a really wonky one at first & had to use the second method to fix it)

Next I put drops of glue all over the tree, as many dots of glue as there were pom poms & then let the boys decorate their trees with the pom poms & pipe cleaners. If you have other fun supplies to use like buttons or sequins, include them too!

Let the glue dry & hang your little masterpiece(s)

The boys really liked playing with the pom poms & sticking them & their figures in the glue. They were quite entertained rolling the pom poms arounds at first & then sticking them in the glue & dabbing them all over the paper. When they finally did grow board with it I asked them to put a pom pom on every dot (glue) & they were done. Caden & Kellan did theirs quickly & moved on to something else, Garren hung out a bit longer & even wanted to put the pipe cleaners on not his own, but his brother Caden's tree :) It was a pretty simple project that came out pretty cute I think.



 

What are some of your favorite Christmas crafts?