Christmas 2011- our advent calendar

We've had an advent calendar in our home since before we had kids.

It was something we kind of liked the idea of, but never really knew exactly how we wanted to do it.

The first few years, we just had little ornaments inside each door, to surprise us grown ups each day:).

After Parker was 2, we started putting little m&m's in each door, for a fun surprise for her.

But, we wanted more.

This year, I found this.

Perfect for us. Perfect for our young family & totally doable.

I came up with my own list of what would work for our family, using some of her ideas along with it.

On December 2nd, we opened the door & had hot chocolate.

Oh my.

He's getting too big.

And he likes it.

Speaking of big...I love this picture of her.

Blowing in her cup.

She's sweet... & loves her sweets.

Oh, there's some baby hands.

And a little baby belly.

Does a heart good to see that...

Hot chocolate was a huge hit.

Later on the agenda...

gingerbread houses.

Or graham cracker houses. Whatever you prefer...

I LOVE making them.

Is that strange?

Of course, it may have something to do with all that candy.

It's so pretty...

I hot glued graham crackers, cheap & way easy.

And, had 2 WAY excited kids.

Tucker took it as his own personal sugar feast.

And proceeded to eat 200 pieces of candy.

Oh. And we had apple cider to make up for a day we missed in our calendar.

Sugared up & happy.

And...being the great mom I am, I took a picture of Mitchel's house.

And, apparently only his.

Bummer that I missed my little guys'...

Sugar cookies were in a door a few days before Christmas.

I stress over these every year, but end up having a lot of fun.

Of course, having a Mitchel helper makes everything way better.

He's so awesome.

Girlfriend continued the sugar high trend of the season...

and had tons of fun.

And, our boy.

Dug in the flour bag for about 20 minutes.

Which he thought was awesome.

Life's grand when you're 2...most of the time.

Reaping what she sowed:).

The mess gets cleaned up while they bake, then a whole new one comes out when we ice them.

But, that's okay.

It was worth every bit of that mess.

And, we ALL loved our little daily celebrations of Christmas this year.

Next year I have hopes of adding the traditional advent candle to our daily routine.

Hopes. And a start to a plan. Here's hoping...

But, this was great for us this year & really fun!