I’m so excited to have A home from school the next two weeks! I was a little intimidated at first since I’m prepping to host company and working a little extra at the studio this week. Whenever I feel overwhelmed with things that I have to squeeze in around kid time, I sit down and plan out the kids’ activities first. Once that’s planned, I figure out when I’ll get all my life things done around the scheduled mom + kiddos time. If I don’t do this, I find that I’m trying to squeeze in getting things done all throughout the day, and then my kids are annoyed I’m not being present with them, and then I’m annoyed I’m not getting things done. Fun times!
I have Monday through Thursday wide open with no plans (other than working at the studio and needing to prep for visitors). On Friday C starts his Christmas vacation and on Sunday family shows up for a week. Here is what I’m planning on doing with the kids. It’s nothing crazy, but it feels good to have a loose schedule to go off of. Also… I was trying to avoid sugar. I love cookies as much as anyone, but I feel like my kids are going to consume so much sugar over Christmas, so I was searching for ideas that used creativity or burned some of their endless energy off.
Monday: I ordered this obnoxiously large sheet of paper for them to color on. Truth be told I have no idea if this will be a hit or a miss. I think they’ll love it though because I ordered a ton of new markers to go with it. I plan on using painters tape and taping it to the floor in their playroom.
Tuesday: I found this gingerbread house that doesn’t involve eating candy! It looks adorable and it will be fun to put together. I ordered one for each kid and I know they’ll love it.
Wednesday: Hiking day! I’m going to take the kids out to The Gorge like I used to do all the time. It’s a ton of work but I’m always so proud of all of us for going out and doing it.
Thursday: We’re going to cut out snowflakes and make fun paper chains and ‘decorate’ our guest room for our family that’s coming to town.
Friday: Sledding at Mount Hood! This has become a yearly tradition for us. We go to White River Sno Park.
