Hope you and your family are starting the New Year off well! This post is a little delayed because unfortunately our household came down with COVID right before Christmas and it has taken me a little bit longer to get back on my feet. Luckily Brian and the kids didn’t really have any symptoms and no one else in our extended family caught it. So even though the past few weeks have been tough for me, we are fortunate for everyone else’s health. Everyone seemed to have a wonderful Christmas and New Year so we hope you did too!
A few years ago, Bailey asked for more family time so we started doing a Family Advent Activities Countdown with all of our favorite traditions. Even though this year has been filled with family time, we continued the tradition this year. We had to get a little more creative this year because of COVID and the fact that travel was out of the picture, but we managed to have a lot of fun! This is one tradition I hope that we can continue throughout the years because we do have a lot of fun and it brings us all closer.
Advent Day 1: Paulie’s Penguins Playhouse
We wanted to get to Paulie’s Penguins Playhouse before the crowds and before the bad weather hit so we decided to visit the 25’ Penguin and all his friends on the first day. We are so fortunate that we live so close, the girls love wandering through and Hunter had a lot of fun looking at all the penguins!
Advent Day 2: 2020 Hallmark Christmas Ornaments
Picking out our Hallmark Christmas Ornament has always been one of our favorite starts to the holiday. This year, thanks to COVID, we did some online shopping with curbside pick up. Hunter got his Baby’s First Christmas Ornament, Sienna picked out a Fairy and Bailey chose a Barbie Ballerina to mark this year. Each year we hang the ornament on our stocking and the following year it will be added to the tree.
Advent Day 3: Christmas Light Sun Catchers
We decided to get a little crafty this year and make some Christmas Light Sun Catchers out of contact paper and tissue paper. The girls had a lot of fun sticking the tissue paper and making designs while we worked on trying to keep the tissue paper out of Hunter’s mouth. We made enough to decorate the sun room for the holidays!
Advent Day 4: Candy Cane Hunt
This year we decided to do a Candy Cane Hunt from home with the help of the Olathe Community Center. We started off reading a poem from Mrs. Clause then the girls searched the front yard with flashlights for candy canes. After the hunt, we came back inside for some candy cane crafts and hot cocoa. The girls submitted some pictures and even won some cool prizes!
Advent Day 5: Night with the Nutcracker
We’ve never gotten a chance to watch the Nutcracker in person, but luckily this year with COVID there were several ballets doing LIVE Nutcracker events online. Bailey and Sienna have always loved the book and they loved watching the ballet and dancing along in our living room. We even picked up some amazing Nutcracker cookies from the amazingly talented KC Cookie Gal to celebrate!
Advent Day 6: Homemade Grandparent Gifts
The girls always love to personalize their gifts for Grandma and Grandpa and this year they made Suncatchers from the jewels that they have been collecting on our walks. It may have gotten a little sticky, but they turned out well after setting for a few days!
Advent Day 7: Christmas Book Night
Since we had a full night of dance, we had a more relaxing activity and read some of our favorite Christmas Books including the Nutcracker, Rudolf and a few funny snowman tales!
Advent Day 8: Santa Science Experiments
The girls have really gotten into science this year and they are always asking to do science experiments. We found a couple fun experiments that we could do with the things we had on hand, including Reindeer Toothpaste and Fizzy Candy Canes. It was pretty messy but the girls had a lot of fun!
Advent Day 9: Hot Cocoa Bomb Tea Party
Hot Cocoa Bombs are all the rage around here. I’ve found a few recipes but to save time (and sanity) I found a local mama that was making Unicorn Hot Cocoa Bombs and we picked a few up along with some regular ones for our Tea Party. The girls were so excited for these and they all tasted delicious. The Unicorn ones turned pink and some big and fluffy marshmallows popped out once the hot milk was poured. Of course the girls had to get their fanciest dresses on so we could party in style!
Advent Day 10: Plaza Lights Tour
One of our favorite traditions is driving down to the Plaza and looking at the beautiful lights. With COVID we weren’t sure how busy things would be, but we decided to take the kids down and see how crowded it was. Luckily there were very few people and we got a chance to walk around for awhile and look at everything. We were a little bummed that our favorite chocolatier, Panache, was gone but we made it up to everyone with some shakes from Shake Shack! Typically we would follow up our Light Tour with a Skyscraper and burgers from Winstead’s, but we had to skip that because of COVID and tried carry out Shake Shack and it was delicious!
Advent Day 11: The Grinch Movie Night
Day 11 was meant to be a nice relaxing evening at home watching the Grinch, but our little Hunter had other plans. Right before we got everything kicked off, Hunter was wandering around his space and he grabbed something (I still don’t know what it was) and stuck it in his mouth. Before I was able to get it out, he sucked it in and I could feel something a little crinkly before he swallowed. This has happened in the past and he usually swallows and is fine but he started making weird breathing sounds and had a hitch in his breath. We watched him for a little while and even though he seemed fine, he still had a catch in his breath. I decided to call Nurse Line because I didn’t feel right about it and they told us to go into the ER. I was a little nervous about going into the ER because of everything going on with COVID, but I got him in right away while Brian waited for us in the car. The doctor and nurses were amazing but after x-rays came back negative the doctor wanted to get a second opinion. Hunter was his normal happy self but we had been there for several hours at that point and Hunter wasn’t allowed to eat so he worked himself up so much he passed out on me. The doctor hadn’t heard the hitch in his breath before but the nurse had so she called Children’s Mercy Downtown to talk with about next steps. As she was in there talking to me about doing the right thing by coming in, even though she didn’t hear it, but that I should trust my instinct, Hunter woke up. As he started crying because he was hungry, his breath started catching and the doctor heard it right away. She got on her cell phone, got a hold of the ENT and ordered us to go straight downtown to be admitted for tests. Since he wasn’t turning blue, we got to avoid an ambulance ride so we hopped in the car with Brian and headed straight to the hospital.
We pulled up and Brian dropped us off so he could go park. With COVID, all the signs said one parent allowed in with the child so he was going to wait for us until we got further direction. I was anticipating another long wait, but we got rushed right through and back into a room right away. I was totally not prepared for anything so I hadn’t even changed him yet so I had to borrow a diaper and get him cleaned up. As the nurse was grabbing a diaper, we were swarmed with nurses, doctors, the ENT surgeon and several residents. I was exhausted and super overwhelmed so when they told me that they had the Operating Room prepped and ready to take him up I was totally thrown and started to panic. I asked if I could call Brian and they told me that he could absolutely come in – but when I called it kept going straight to voicemail. I was able to get a hold of my Mom and she kept calling him so I could talk to the doctors. Here I was, it was 12:30 in the morning with a crying, tired and hungry baby that I couldn’t feed, thinking we were going to have tests run I have 10 people around me asking me multiple questions and ready to run us up to get Hunter put on anesthesia and sent to the operating room. To say I was on the verge of tears and completely overwhelmed and terrified was an understatement. Luckily as one of the nurses was getting ready to run out to the parking lot, Brian walked in. He was able to help me change Hunter and listen and ask questions while I took it all in. It felt like a whirlwind and before I knew it we were upstairs in the anesthesia area and Hunter was flirting with all the nurses. They went over everything that was about to happen and then the nurses took Hunter back while we were shown the waiting room. Watching him go back with the nurse, his little fingers curled around one of hers was one of the scariest moments I have lived through as a parent. We got to the waiting room and as the surgeon went over everything one more time, he left and that’s when everything hit me. I sat there, praying for everything to go well, thinking the absolute worse and waiting for them to come tell us something. What seemed like a lifetime, lasted only several minutes and the surgeon walked back in. I held my breath as scenes from every horrible hospital show I have ever watched played through my head, and when the surgeon said he was fine, I finally let out the breath that I didn’t know I was holding. They luckily didn’t find any foreign object but there was a lot of fluid in his lung and they were able to suck it all out. He believed that whatever it was that he swallowed went down the right tube, but because he choked and got so upset, a bunch of fluid made it into his lung and caused the hitch. He reassured us that we did the right thing by bringing him in and he would have done the same with his kids. He left us with pictures of our little baby’s lungs and we waited for the nurses to bring us back to him.
We jumped up as the nurses came to get us and we got to go in and see him. He was just coming off the anesthesia and completely out of it but it was the best sight to see. I got to hold him immediately and feed him and that’s when I knew everything was going to be ok. All the doctors, nurses, techs, residents, etc. were unbelievably amazing and I am so thankful they were so careful with our boy. We got to take him home shortly after and he slept in our arms all night peacefully. I don’t think I slept the rest of the night, but when he was up walking around in the morning, laughing and getting into everything again I knew he was going to be fine.
Needless to say, we had to move our Grinch dinner to a Grinch Brunch the next morning. But I made it up to the girls with green Grinch pancakes topped with a homemade cream cheese sauce and green frosting. Then we snuggled in for the Grinch movie and cuddled up the rest of the morning.
Advent Day 12: Giving Back to those in Need
One of the things we try to instill in our children is the importance of giving thanks for what we have and the importance of giving back to those in need. We were really proud of our girls for going through their old toys and donating 6 big bags full. Then they went with Dad to drop them off at Savers and were very proud of themselves.
Advent Day 13: Handprint Christmas Tree
Another dance night so we decided to make a simple craft with everyone and put together a Handprint Christmas Tree complete with fingerprint ornaments.
Advent Day 14: Feeding the Birds
The girls love bird watching and really enjoyed making bird feeders last year so we had to add it to our list. We made cookie cutter bird feeders out of coconut oil and bird seed and let them set before hanging them out on the gazebo.
Advent Day 15: Christmas Lights Tour
After another night of dance, we hit the streets and went out searching for some of our favorite Christmas Light displays. We visited our favorites including Candy Cane Lane and Deanna Rose but this year we also found a neighborhood out south that was beautifully decorated and went to the Bradshaw Christmas Display which was the hit of the night! We were in awe with their entire street lit up and choreographed to new tunes – the girls especially loved “It’s Raining Tacos” and have added it to their favorite Christmas Song list!
Advent Day 16: Christmas Karaoke Dance Party
Who doesn’t love a little karaoke? We turned up the tunes and turned down the lights for a fun evening of Christmas Karaoke and Dance Party. Hunter had a blast dancing along with his sisters and trying to steal the mics!
Advent Day 17: Gingerbread Men
The girls were really excited to make homemade Gingerbread men after spending the week reading Gingerbread stories in class. Once Dad got home, the gingerbread was cool enough to decorate and we actually got some decorations on before they all got eaten!
Advent Day 18: Elf Movie Night
We had a lot of fun spreading Christmas Cheer by singing loud enough for everyone to hear while we watched another one of our favorite movies, Elf while making and decorating sugar cookies. I found a new recipe for sour cream sugar cookies that we tried out and it was definitely a winner!
Advent Day 19: Holiday Baking Day
Every year we spend an entire day baking our favorite holiday treats to share with our family and neighbors. We made candy and cookies and did a little taste testing while everything cooled.
Advent Day 20: Spreading Holiday Cheer
We delivered plates of holiday treats to all of our neighbors and wished them all a Merry Christmas before delivering some treats to Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Mat and a few of our friends!
Advent Day 21: Gingerbread House Competition
This was the day the girls have been asking about since Thanksgiving. Every year we invite Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Mat over for an epic Gingerbread House Competition. They love decorating their own house and watching to see when Grandma’s will fall. This year hers held up to the test and we had all the houses standing at the end of the night!
Advent Day 22: Ugly Christmas Sweater Party
With the absent of our normal adult Ugly Christmas Sweater Parties, we had to introduce this fun event to the kids this year. We got dressed in our very Ugly best, had fun decorating the girls’ hair and made our own mini Ugly Christmas Sweater crafts. I think this is a night we will continue to add in future years!
Advent Day 23: White Christmas Movie Night
As our Advent days were winding down, a nice easy movie night watching one of our favorites, White Christmas, was just what we needed. Of course the girls got really into the movie and they got out costumes and had a crazy dance party, so it ended up a little wilder than originally planned, but we had fun.
Advent Day 24: Christmas Eve Fettuccini
Every Christmas Eve we get out our Pasta Maker and make homemade fettuccini noodles, sauce and watch The Holiday. The girls love helping to knead the dough and watching it go through the machine. After dinner, we opened up our Christmas Eve boxes and got into our matching pajamas! We read ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas and got the girls tucked into their beds. We got everything ready for Santa to come and snuggled in for a nice winter’s nap.
Advent Day 25: Merry Christmas
We woke up to the pitter patter of little feet running down the hall and knew it was time to get the day started. Bailey was up but Sienna was still asleep so we were both able to get showers and coffee made before we started opening the presents. The kids were so excited to get started and were very good at waiting for their turn to open. We got through all of our family presents just in time to start breakfast and for Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Mat to come over.
We had a lot of fun with everyone, though since I hadn’t been feeling well, I distanced myself as much as I could and laid down for much of the day. I am so thankful we got to spend time with everyone and that no one else got sick.
We definitely enjoyed a lot of family time this year and I am so glad we were all feeling well enough to make these memories. I am so thankful for my parents and brother that helped us get through the holidays and our Hunter emergency. I have to say that we took every precaution, wore masks, distanced ourselves, did remote learning, washed our hands and yet we still came down with COVID. It hit me really hard but fortunately no one else. Please take this very seriously, wear your masks and limit your contact. Please take care of yourselves and your family. Happy New Year!!
