Kate's 12 Days of Christmas

First a random picture. The "pocket shirt" was one of Susie's favorite shirts about a decade ago. When she outgrew it, she didn't want to just get rid of it, so she gave it to the girls (only Megan and Kylie at the time) to use as a nightshirt. It's a classic 80's/early 90's t-shirt, made to look like the person is wearing a tie-dye tank top over a white t-shirt. The bottom seam of the two is sewn together, unintentionally creating a huge pocket. Kylie discovered this treasure and wore it every chance she got for years. Eva has now discovered it as well.

Also off topic, Laura is shaping up to be the earliest crawler we've ever had. At three months old, she is raring to go and is very frustrated that she can't seem to figure out how to catch up to her sisters and brother. She started rolling from front to back at about 8 weeks old and rolled from back to front shortly after that, although she can't figure out how to go in that direction on our bed because it's too soft. It's so cute to watch her try though! She is currently doing her darnedest to figure out how to crawl. We tried to get a video of it ~

And now back to the main topic :)

Last week we got a package from Aunt Kate. Usually we put Christmas packages under the tree and wait until Christmas to open them (we've found this decreases the number of presents opened early by small children when they are not being watched), but Kate had told me to open it when we got it. Inside were twelve presents, clearly marked for each of the twelve days of Christmas!

Since we are going youngest to oldest with the virtual advent calendar that my grandmother, Gigi, sent us (Thank you again Gigi! We love it!), we went oldest to youngest with Kate's presents.

Megan opened day 1. It was twelve blueberry candy canes! Two for each child and one each for Rob and I :) We opened it before school, but I made the kids wait until after school to eat them.

Day two, opened by Kylie, was eleven Christmas crafts - five little bags for the kids to decorate, 4 packages of Christmas beads and string to make bracelets and necklaces, and two packages of glitter glue! We waited until after school to do those too.

We started out by decorating the bags ~

Jack got three lollipops instead of just one because the night before he was the only one to stay in his room when the kids first went to bed (they get 30 mins to read or play in their rooms before we turn out their lights) AND when I said it was time to turn the lights out, he cleaned up his toys without me even having to ask!

Laura was there too, contemplating breaking out of her swing ~

Love Jack's look in this one!

The finished bags, clockwise from the top: Kylie's (pink), Beth's (purple), Jack's (blue), Megan's (pink), and Eva's (purple) ~

Then we strung bracelets and necklaces ~

Kylie made a bracelet ~

Jack made a very long necklace ~

Laura watched from my lap ~

Megan made two matching bracelets for herself and her best friend, Paula ~

The look I got when I asked Eva if I could take a picture of her bracelet ~

Jack made his necklace even longer ~

Beth made matching necklaces for her and her best friend, Maiya ~

Jack with his finished necklace ~

Eva decided to show off her bracelet after all ~

The next day we opened 10 Christmas toys (five tops and five little mazes), then 9 Christmas straws with plastic peppermint candies on them, followed by 8 cool cups (Star Wars, the Avengers, fairies, Belle, Ariel, Dora, Cinderella, and princesses). We can't wait to see what's next!!! :)