Christmas Goodies and Projects.

Olivia and I made Christmas goodies for our friends and neighbors.  When I started out on this "little" endeavor I didn't realize how many friends and neighbors we really had!  I didn't want to leave anyone out because we kept getting so many treats delivered to our door from neighbors/friends in the ward that we ended up baking 175 gingerbread men!!!  Next year I'll have to cut back but we sure did get a lot of grateful "thank yous" from everyone! 

The kids colored some Christmas pictures to send to family and hang on the fridge as well!!

I was quite proud of myself for also getting done the homemade gifts that I had planned.  Being the procrastinator that I am, I of course left myself with only a week and a half to do everything! 

Crayon Roll for Olivia:

Quiet Book for Olivia::  (I started this project in the fall of 2010) intending to finish it in time to give to Olivia for Christmas.  Instead, I was busy with work and never finished the last 2 pages that I wanted, the cover and some little details.  It got put in my "To Do" pile, and then when we moved got stashed in a box that remained unopened in the craft room.  Over the summer I came upon it and couldn't decide whether I wanted to finish it or not, knowing the hours I'd still have to put into it.  In the end, I decided that I had already labored too many hours and put too much "love" into it to desert it now!  I am so glad that I finished this project because it came out adorable and Olivia really loved it! 

Pages 1 & 2:  "Go Fish" Gumball Machine

  

 

The "Go Fish" page has magnetic fishies and a pole for hand/eye coordination

There are three fish, a starfish, a jellyfish and a crab

       
The Gumball Machine is for color matching.  Each of the gumballs is snapped to a white circle underneath that is outlined in the color where it matches.
 
 
 
Pages 3 & 4:    "Now I Know My ABC's..."
 

This page is obviously all about the ABC's!! 

Each circle with a letter has a pocket to put a picture that starts with that letter!

 Page 5 & 6:  Shapes and Numbers

  

The Shapes are each velcroed to a white shape           The cupcakes each represent a number with how

to match where it goes.                                               many sparkels they have; match the sparkles to the
                                                                                  number on the cupcake liner and put it in the pocket!!


Page 7: Sorting Laundry

This is a cute little page.  There is laundry in the laundry basket that needs to be hung up to dry and then folded and put away!!!  This works on fine motor skills with the opening/closing of the tiny little clothespins and folding the laundry to put it back in the basket!

Captain America Outfit for Brady:

 Super Heros "are in" this year for little boys...really making quite the comeback actually!  We bought a Captain America mask and shield at Wal-Mart but I couldn't find an outfit that I liked.  Brady loves to play dress-up and is having a Super Hero birthday party this year so I wanted him to have a cool outfit.  I bought a dark blue sweatsuit at Wal-Mart and used some felt that I already had in my stash to make the outfit.  I thought it came out pretty cute!


Star Wars Eye-Spy Pillow for Brady:  This is another project that I started a LONG time ago and never made it out of the "To DO" box until just recently.  I intended to give this to Brady for his 5th birthday when he had a Star Wars themed party.  I ran out of time (if you can imagine) and never found the desire to finish until now.  I figured now or never!  I'm also glad that I finished this project (it literally took 15 minutes!!!)  I can't believe sometimes how LITTLE time the projects that I have unfinished take to finish!!!

(I either found little items, ordered them from EBay or printed out and laminated little pictures)