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Conversation with a three year old about New Year's Eve: Me: Should we decorate for New Year's Eve? Little man: More presents? Me: No, there's no presents. Little man: Cake? Me: No, we're not having cake. Little man lost interest at this point. Obvliously I needed to work on my approach to the subject. What better way than with a craft! To put the year into perspective for the little man I glued together 4 pieces of construction paper representing the 4 seasons. I printed some family pictures for each season, we talked about what we did and what season each picture belongs to. Material: Construction paper Crayons Scissors Glue Family pictures Directions: Glue the construction paper together writing one number of the year and one season on each paper. Decorate each season using the crayons and pictures. Enjoy and Happy New Year!

 We were very spoiled this Christmas. There was a pile of gifts under the tree and over flowing stockings. We are very fortunate to receive and give so many gifts. One surprising gift was an envelope  from my father. In it was a 2 page typewritten letter that he had written to my grandmother days before I was born. My parents didn't know if they were expecting a boy or a girl.  It was interesting to see what names they would have chosen if I had been a boy and what traits he hoped i would have. As I read the letter I could hear my father's voice, it hasn't changed in 33 years. Lots of parents write letters to their childen when they are born. I wrote one for my son. It was more informal written in a note book but the sentimment is the same. I thought of all the things I want for him and advice I wanted to give him but I never thought of when I would give it to him, until now. It was an amazing and thoughtful gift and espescially on Christmas. Now I ...

We recently found a great game at the library called Mix Max. It quickly became a family favorite. The game peices are rectangular cards of different sizes, each peice has a picture of a dice on the back numbered 1 to 4. The hats are number 1 the faces number 2 the bodies number 3 and feet number 4. The players roll the dice and take the card of the matching number, 5 is miss a turn and 6 is take one of each.  When all the cards are gone you flip the cards over and make funny miss matched characters.  This is a homemade Christmas version of that game. What you need: Christmas pictures  Card stock  Glue To make: Choose 10 Christmas themed pictures all of approximately the same size. You can print them or cut them out of a colouring book. Glue the characters onto the card stock. Cut each picture in four peices, hat, face, body and feet. On the back of each card draw a picture of a dice from 1 to 4. How to play: Turn all cards picture side d...

Easy colourful ornaments It's 3:30 on Sunday afternoon, guests are coming at 4:00 and my mom says let's make tree ornaments they're really easy. I'm not so sure about this, I can see a big mess and nothing being ready on time but she was right (she is after all the craft pro) it takes about 15 minutes and there is minimal mess, even with a 3 year old. It's a lot of fun and the ornaments turned out really well.  This is a definitely worth trying. Time: about 15 minutes (for 2 ornaments) Cost: Under: $5.00 (the ornaments are available at the Dollar Store) Materials: Plain glass ornaments Crayons Knife Hair dryer Making the ornaments Directions: Take the paper off the crayons.  Shave the crayons with a knife, making a pile for each colour. Remove the top of the ornament.  Place one colour of crayon shavings inside the ornament (do  one colour at a time or the colours will blend together.)  Blow dry the ornament, depending on the thickn...

Homemade Adevent Calendar Instead of chocolate advent calendars I like having an advent calendar of toys or activities that we can do as a family. It is nice to have a special time to slow down turn on the Christmas lights and play as a family. Last year we had a Playdough advent calendar, that was a big hit so the bar was set high for this year.  I was very excited when I came accross a Lego Advent Calendar because we are currently in a Lego obsession (the castle Lego with knights and treasure and even a dragon) but then I saw the price.  I decided to try and make one for half the price and this is what I came up with.  Tip: I bought one box of Lego (a small one) about 90 peices. I wasn't sure if I would have enough with one box so I bought a Playmobile knight set as well but there would have been enough with just one box. Time:1 hour Cost: $15.00 Material: 2 empty boxes (one rough cardboard and one soft cor...

Add a homemade touch to your presents Get your kids into the spirit of gift giving with these easy festive magnets. I found the snowman kit used above at Target but you can use any holiday shapes either bought in a pack or cut out your own out of foam sheets. Time: 15 minutes Cost: $10.00 or under Material: 1 package of foam Christmas crafts such as Snowmen ChristmasTrees, Gingerbread men etc. White glue Magnets Directions: Decorate the snowmen.  Add the names with foam letter stickers or with markers Glue a magnet to the back of each snowman Tape the snowman magnet onto the wrapped present

Making  homemade Christmas presents  is a fun way to involve the whole family in the gift giving process. My favorite is cookies in a jar. Everyone loves cookies and it is easy to adapt the recipe to fit the taste of the person you're giving it to. You can use this time to talk about the person who the present is for. I found these delicious Super Chunk Oatmeal Cookies here http://www.kraftcanada.com/en/recipes/super-chunk-oatmeal-cookie-mix-82913.aspx Tip: to make all the ingredients fit into the jars have your child press down on each layer using a mallet. Cranberry & Walnut Cookie Gift jar and Chocolate Chunk Cookie Gift jar Chocolate Chunk Cookies Ingredients:   In the jar: 1 cup flour 1 tsp cinnamon 1 cup sugar 1 cup quick-cooking oats 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt 6 oz Baker's semi-sweet chocolate coarsley chopped   When making the cookies: 3/4 cup of butter or margarine 1 egg 1 tsp vanilla   To make cookie ...