I LOVE doing Christmas advent activities! This year I made a calendar that had daily envelopes holding two chocolates and a slip of paper that told us our activity of the day. Here is what we did this year:

12/1 Celebrate Violetiversary!

Violet chose to go to Din Ho for dinner with a bubble tea in tow. After that we headed to the photo booth. We watched Violet videos, shared memories of our first day together, and said a special prayer for her Taiwanese family.

12/2 Cut out paper snowflakes

Probably Violet’s favorite of the activities. You can find Archer’s on the far left.

12/3 Set up the nativity
12/4 Buy special 2011 ornaments

Violet chose a chicken ornament and Archer found a sparkly truck to hang on the tree.

12/5 Decorate the tree to Christmas music

12/6 Enjoy a candy cane
12/7 Have hot chocolate
12/8 Feed the birds. It’s Christmas for them too!

Something I once read that St. Francis did to celebrate the birth of the Creator. Unfortunately Archer was asleep however I think these birds would have trampled him!

12/9 Have dinner in front of the Christmas tree
Poppy spent the night with us this night and joined us for chili dinner under the lights. Archer wasn’t quite ready for this one yet.

12/10 Make apple pie
12/11 Make a gingerbread house

12/12 Have a family Christmas sing-a-long


My favorite activity!

12/13 Make presents for classmates

Found lots of ideas on pinterest. Violet chose to make snow globe soaps.

12/14 Wrap the presents
12/15 School Christmas Party!
Snowman themed party with almost one parent there for every kid. Pretty crazy but lots of fun.
12/16 Sleep under the Christmas tree
12/17 Plant some Christmas strawberry and onion plants?
(okay so this wasn’t on a slip of paper but this is what we did that day. I think we missed the real activity).
12/18 Find some toys to donate.
12/19 Make Christmas playdough
12/20 Get presents for family
12/21 Wrap presents for family
12/22 Watch a special Christmas movie
12/23 Make Haystacks with Grammy
12/24 Go to a Christmas service, take a drive to see Christmas lights, Read The Night Before Christmas
12/25 It’s Christmas!!

Last day of our Disney adventure was spent at Animal Kingdom. Just before this picture we had said goodbye to our beloved Cybex Callisto stroller. Sadly it had one trip too many and no longer had the strength to hold a child. A worker in a gift shop volunteered to chuck it in the trash for us. I miss you, dear stroller!

This picture was taken outside what I thought was a pretty intense dinosaur-themed ride. Violet and I went on the ride together and half way through it I wondered what kind of mom I was to subject her to it and figured it must be traumatizing my dear girl. After a dinosaur popped out of the woodwork and gave me the fright of my life I turned my body into a human shield over Violet in order to protect her. Turns out Violet loved it and immediately asked to go again with Daddy. Probably because she missed the entire ending.

The bird show was more my speed. Here is Violet raising her hand to be a volunteer bird handler. I wish she would have gotten picked! The show even featured chickens!

When Archer gets the phone he likes to take 200 or so rapid fire self portraits. We have a lot of these. Isn’t the ceiling pretty?

Archer caught naps whenever he could.

Thanks for all the good times, Disney!

The second day found us driving cars in Fantasyland. Archer couldn’t wait to get inside a car and kept reaching through the metal bars trying to touch one, while we were in line.

Violet looking way too comfortable behind the wheel.

Violet was having a time keeping the car from knocking around on the track. She says, “When cars are broken they are sometimes like this, right?” Archer is saying “up, down” while he is on the carousel.

On the carousel

Exploring the Swiss family Robinson treehouse.

Daddy making the most of the Toy Story “shoot’em-up” ride.

The kids enjoyed playing with their new light up toys while waiting for the night parade.

And yes, that is a leash on Archer. It gave him a bit of free rein while we sat and waited and I didn’t have to constantly have my eyes on him to make sure he wasn’t wandering off. I felt kind of guilty but fortunately it was dark so my shame was lessened.

I’m not sure if the castle is always covered with lights or if this was a Christmas thing but it was gorgeous! Violet fell asleep right before the fireworks started and woke up just as it ended.

Months ago, friends of ours asked us if we wanted to go to Disney with them this year. They probably couldn’t imagine that we’d be such incredible travel companions— what with the little legs that don’t go very fast, stroller parking, sleep-deprivation whines, and bus rides back to the hotel with two sleeping kids (plus a stroller that needed to get unloaded in an instant). Actually, it wasn’t all bad and we are incredibly grateful for our friends in these moments, not only for putting up with us, but for being such huge helps.

I grew up in Florida and have been to Disney many times. It was always a day trip for me and I hadn’t before stayed at a Disney resort. This time we stayed at the Coranado Springs resort. Here we are at the “Pepper Market”.

I was super excited we got to go when the Christmas decorations were out!

We got the meal plan, and we decided that while it might save you money for the food you get, the plan has you eating way more in quantity and frequency than you would otherwise. Dessert came with every meal. Surprisingly, I didn’t gain weight on the trip. I guess I needed those desserts to fuel all the walking and child-toting!

After this ride we went on Big Thunder Mountain. Violet held her hands in the air the whole time and loved it!

Waiting for the parade to start.

Violet and Cole.

Waiting is so easy when there is a train to play with. Thanks, Shea!

Archer had his best cheesy smile on for the parade dancers.

Ben and Andrew, the photographers. Ben has known Andrew since middle school.

Violet took a nap on the bus ride back. She’s next to our friends Shea and Cole.

We left the park early on our first day. We enjoyed the hotel’s awesome heated pool, and the hotel even coordinated a marshmallow roast. I learned Violet is still a bit young to be wielding a smoldering ball of sugar on her own. I asked Violet that night what her favorite part of the day was, and listed off many things we did. Earlier in the day, she said the Peter Pan ride was her favorite thing. Now after going on the water slide a dozen times, she said she enjoyed the pool the most!

Violet went on a horse ride.

The horse was pretty tall. Of course she wasn’t scared at all.

The kind Texas cowboy who owned the horse offered Archer a chance to jump on. It was Archer’s first time riding and animal and he didn’t really know what to think. Archer happened to have glitter on his face from intercepting Violet’s craft project that morning. I don’t think the cowboy knew what to think about that.

Violet loves pumpkins! Archer calls them apples.

My attempt of getting a nice father-son picture. Archer started whining for me to hold him and Ben imitated Archer.

There is a place on the farm where we could cut flowers to take home. This was probably Violet’s favorite part of the day.