Christmas: Marshmallow Snowman Tutorial

The order of our advent calendar has officially been wrecked. We've gone rogue and are doing activities on whatever day we feel like! Yesterday we were supposed to go to Winter Wonderland at Petco Park but the event has been getting such bad reviews that we stayed home and made these marshmallow snowmen instead. What started as such a simple project ended up being very messy and our supplies were quickly drained...mostly because the kids could not control themselves around M&Ms. They were having so much fun that I could not even be mad at them. Thanks to Luynh & Eden for playing with food with us!

Marshmallow Snowman Tutorial

Materials Needed

-Large marshmallows

-Mini oreos

-Pretzels

-M&Ms

-Food markers

-White frosting

-Popsicle sticks

Instructions

1. Insert popsicle stick into three marshmallows

2. Use white frosting as "glue" to add M&M buttons and an Orea cookie hat 

3. Draw on a face using food markers

4. Insert two pretzels as arms

Your snowman would be the perfect accompaniment to a hot cup of cocoa or can be eaten right off the stick. Enjoy!

Christmas: 2014 Family Holiday Photos

I'm never going to get tired of looking at the photos from our mini session in Topanga State Park by Hello Pinecone Photography. We were able to reserve the 5 pm time slot which made for beautiful lighting. The gnarled branches of the old oak trees provided the perfect interesting background. My boys were so handsome in the outfits I picked out.  

Thank you for capturing these sweet photos for us, Erin. They are perfect.

On Mary

Dress: H&M

Necklace: J Crew

On Tuan

Sweater: J Crew

Pants: Custom

Tie: Penguin

Shirt: Gap

On Parker

Coat: Zara Kids

Pants: Zara Kids

Shoes: Target

Tie: J Crew

Shirt: Gap

[This is the photo we picked for our holiday cards]

[I love this guy]

Christmas: A Peek at Parker's Advent Calendar

While hanging the advent calendar...

Me: Parker, wanna touch it? 

Parker: I wanna touch it. *Reaches and touches the bottom*

Me: Ok, try to touch it again.

Parker: *Reaches but can't touch it. Gets on his tippy toes. Still can't touch it.* I wanna touch it!

Me: Ok babe, hang it there.

We're on day 3 of our countdown to Christmas and Parker is totally fascinated by the advent calendar Tuan and I have put together for him. He is dying to get his hands on day 4. I'm totally in love with the advent calendar too. After many conversations that went kind of like this

Me: I really need to start working on Parker's advent calendar. Why is it so hard to find wool felt in San Diego?? 

Tuan: Make it out of something else.

Me: But I don't have to have to bother with hemming all the edges. Man this is going to be an expensive project. Wool felt is really pricey.

Tuan: JUST BUY IT.

So I just swiped and bought it. Sometimes you just have to especially when the calendar is as beautiful and timeless as this Urban Pine one from Land of Nod. I love it. The quality is impeccable.

[Sorry for the craptastic pictures. The lighting in our bedroom is really bad.]

Each pocket is filled with a fun winter activity and a little treat. Almost everything is airplane or superhero themed and purchased at Target or Party City. I tried to coordinate the treat with the activity we would be doing that day.

Putting the activity list together was the hardest part. Here is what I put together after browsing Pinterest and checking out what would be happening around town in the month of December (in no particular order).

1.       Get Christmas Tree

2.       Hang the wreath

3.       Write Christmas Cards

4.       Collect pinecones

5.       Bake chocolate chip cookies

6.       December Nights at Balboa Park

7.       Visit Grandma & Grandpa

8.       Visit  a Christmas tree farm

9.       Watch a Christmas movie

10.   Set up the Nativity scene

11.   Read the Nativity story

12.   Decorate the tree

13.   Make Pinecone Christmas Trees

14.   Petco Park Winter Wonderland

15.   View Christmas lights in the neighborhood

16.   Make a snowglobe

17.   Wear new pajamas to bed

18.   Christmas dance party!!

19.   Build a marshmallow snowman

20.   Color a Christmas picture

21.   Hang mistletoe

22.   Drink hot cocoa

23.   Write a letter to someone and send it in the mail

24.   Buy candy canes and hang them around the house

25.   MERRY CHRISTMAS, Parker!

Christmas: 2014 Pictures with Santa

Tuan and I knew going into it that photos with Santa was not going to be a good experience. A few days before, I showed him fun Santa videos and pictures in hopes that he would fall in love with Santa and not scream during his photo shoot. It didn't work. Are we terrible parents for continuing this tradition even though we know Parker is going to get scared and cry? I hope we can all look back at these photos one day and laugh.

[2013 photo with Santa R. Only two little teeth!]

[2014 photo with Santa R. More teeth. Total meltdown.]

[Happy Holidays from the Nguyens!]