We have now completed our second week of the adventures of Kenny the Elf. Kenzie is getting more and more into it each day. She is finally starting to remember on her own when she wakes up that we need to go look for Kenny. She also likes to say goodnight to him before bed. The other night as she was in bed she told me that she had to "make good choices" (a phrase we use with her) and Kenny would tell Santa. She said that Santa would put candy in her stocking. I think we are doing well with teaching her the positive side of all of this and not focusing on the fact that Kenny is also supposed to tell Santa when she doesn't make good choices. We try really hard to not use phrases like "Kenny is going to tell Santa that you aren't behaving" or anything to that effect. We want Kenny to be fun and not a crutch we use when she is misbehaving. It is a hard line to walk though. I have found myself making comments sort of to that effect and catching myself. It's funny how that tends to be an immediate reaction as a parent sometimes.
Anyway, onto Kenny's adventures. On Friday (Day 1 for this week), Kenny showed up with the manger that he set up. Like I have mentioned before, we want Kenzie to enjoy all those fun parts of Christmas like Santa, but we also think it's important to make sure that she understands the reason behind celebrating Christmas. This provided us with a good opportunity to talk to her about that.
The day's activity was to decorate the inside of our house. Kenzie had a blast. She loves to be a "helper" so this was right up her alley. She loved bringing me different things to put up in the house. She especially loved the snowman we have. She wanted to dance with him. It was adorable. I have a lot of pictures coming in a later post about our Christmas decorations.
On Day 2 Kenny apparently got a hold of some of our UCF gear. I guess he was still celebrating that win over ECU. That or he was just getting in the moment since our activity for the day was somewhat UCF related. Kenzie thought it was quite funny that he had her hat. For the first time since he has shown up though, she didn't ask for anything he had back. I guess she has now realized that he might be using some of her stuff when he shows up but he always leaves it when he goes back to the North Pole at night. I think she was initially scared that he was going to keep her things. Haha!
Our activity for the day was to go to Light Up UCF. We did this last year. Kenzie enjoyed seeing the lights so we thought it would be fun to do again. This year we went with our friends, Ryan and Jen. They, along with Steven, got the unlimited rides band. Being that we had Will, as well, I elected to not get the band and would stay with the kids while they rode the rides. We did, however, purchase the band to ride the ice slide for Kenzie. In the pictures she looks a bit scared, but rest assured... she loved it. Just like that water slide over the summer.
On Day 3, Kenny showed up in our Christmas tree. It took Kenzie quite a while to notice him. Actually, we had to "help" her find him. He just blended in too well.
Kenny showed up in the tree for good reason, actually. The day's activity was to eat dinner by the Christmas Tree. Last year we made pizza that looked like a snowman. This year we just made normal pizza, but it was still yummy. While eating by the tree we took the time to introduce Kenzie to what could be the best Christmas movie out there (and her Daddy's favorite), Home Alone. She LOVED it. Normally she won't watch anything that isn't a cartoon with singing... but she sat there captivated. We only watched part of it. We are holding the rest for another night.
Day 4 Kenny showed up in our town. Kenzie was able to find him, but it took her a few minutes. She thought he was quite funny on top of the house. I have to admit... this has been a long week. I am thankful it is so easy to amuse my kid this year because I don't have to work as hard to get Kenny into a funny situation. I have sort of phoned it in on some of these. Sorry, Kenzie!
The day's activity was to decorate the kids' doors. Last year we made Kenzie's look like a snow man and she loved it. We considered doing the same this year, but I wanted to try something new. So, we wrapped Kenzie's like a present and strung "lights" on Will's. I'm still considering making their bathroom the snowman. He is just so cute.
On Day 5 Kenny decided to use Kenzie's ornament that she chose last year and hang from the ceiling fan with him. She found him really easily and thought he was hilarious hanging there.
The activity for the day was to pick out the kids' annual ornaments (hence the fact that Kenny was hanging from hers from last year). Kenzie has been eyeing a microphone ornament at Hobby Lobby for weeks. Unfortunately, we couldn't find it when we went today. She (pretty quickly) chose a princess ornament though once we were there. I am loving seeing her little personality come out this year as we do some of these activities. Last year, she didn't really care about most of them. This year she has obvious opinions and seems to really enjoy what we are doing most days. We also picked up a first Christmas ornament for Will. Kenzie helped pick it out as well.
On Day 6 Kenny decided to use some of Kenzie and Will's toys to hang out in with on the bar. Kenzie thought it was pretty funny. She definitely likes when he is easier to find. I'm sure that will change as she gets older but for now, she enjoys being able to find him relatively easy.
Our activity for the day was actually the one that I was simultaneously looking really forward to and yet dreading at the same time. The day's activity was to donate to Toys for Tots. I think that teaching Kenzie and Will that giving is also a very important (if not one of the most important) part of the holiday. I was dreading it because I just had a feeling that Kenzie would want to keep whatever toy she picked out to donate. We went to the store in the morning and she decided that she wanted to buy a "girl" toy (though later decided that a boy might like it too.) It didn't take her long to pick out a Sophia toy. Then... she asked to keep it. She cried (fake cried really) a bit when I told her that she couldn't but eventually she started telling me that "someone else use it" after I explained more about why we were donating a toy. She had no problem going into Beall's and dropping it off. (Sorry that picture is blurry... it's hard to catch her sometimes and she was moving fast to drop that toy off.) I think she did okay donating the toy and I look forward to continuing to make her understand why it is important to give as well all through the year.
On the final day of the week, Kenny apparently got into the "cookies" that he found on the counter. Maybe he wanted to share them with Santa. Kenzie thought it was quite funny once I read the letter to her. She was a bit concerned that the "cookies" belonged to Jack though and Kenny tried to eat them.
The day's activity was super fun! Going to see Santa. We tried to prepare Kenzie to meet the big guy... we only slightly succeeded. She spent most of the day assuring me that Santa could talk if we put batteries in him. I guess we have too many electronic toys that seem to have run out of juice and "need batteries". So, we went down to Bass Pro Shops (free pics with Santa by the way... totally the way to go if you have a child that is likely to freak out about the big guy.) We got her and Will all dressed in their Christmas outfits. They looked amazing! We went inside, Kenzie took one look at Santa and wanted to high tail it out of there. Instead of seeing him right away we walked around a bit and let her ride the carousel (which she also wasn't initially thrilled with but loved once it got started.) Finally... we convinced her to let Daddy carry her up to Santa. He tried talking to her (there was no wait whatsoever so we weren't holding up any lines) but she wasn't having it. So, I handed off Will, picked up Kenzie and we took a family photo with Santa. At least this year I was prepared for it and dressed the part to a point. Last year I was in the picture for the same reason but I was not exactly prepared for it. When we were done Santa gave Kenzie a candy cane and without any prompting (because she never really needs any) she said "Thank you, Santa." On the way home Kenzie kept talking about going back to see Santa. Crazy kid. I guess he isn't as scary once he is out of sight.
.JPG)
.jpg)
I think Week 2 of our advent activities was pretty successful. We have a lot of fun things coming up in the next week. Now... to figure out what to do with Kenny for another week. Thank goodness for easily entertained toddlers.
Anyway, onto Kenny's adventures. On Friday (Day 1 for this week), Kenny showed up with the manger that he set up. Like I have mentioned before, we want Kenzie to enjoy all those fun parts of Christmas like Santa, but we also think it's important to make sure that she understands the reason behind celebrating Christmas. This provided us with a good opportunity to talk to her about that.
The day's activity was to decorate the inside of our house. Kenzie had a blast. She loves to be a "helper" so this was right up her alley. She loved bringing me different things to put up in the house. She especially loved the snowman we have. She wanted to dance with him. It was adorable. I have a lot of pictures coming in a later post about our Christmas decorations.
On Day 2 Kenny apparently got a hold of some of our UCF gear. I guess he was still celebrating that win over ECU. That or he was just getting in the moment since our activity for the day was somewhat UCF related. Kenzie thought it was quite funny that he had her hat. For the first time since he has shown up though, she didn't ask for anything he had back. I guess she has now realized that he might be using some of her stuff when he shows up but he always leaves it when he goes back to the North Pole at night. I think she was initially scared that he was going to keep her things. Haha!
Our activity for the day was to go to Light Up UCF. We did this last year. Kenzie enjoyed seeing the lights so we thought it would be fun to do again. This year we went with our friends, Ryan and Jen. They, along with Steven, got the unlimited rides band. Being that we had Will, as well, I elected to not get the band and would stay with the kids while they rode the rides. We did, however, purchase the band to ride the ice slide for Kenzie. In the pictures she looks a bit scared, but rest assured... she loved it. Just like that water slide over the summer.
 |
| This little guy slept through the entire night. |
On Day 3, Kenny showed up in our Christmas tree. It took Kenzie quite a while to notice him. Actually, we had to "help" her find him. He just blended in too well.
Kenny showed up in the tree for good reason, actually. The day's activity was to eat dinner by the Christmas Tree. Last year we made pizza that looked like a snowman. This year we just made normal pizza, but it was still yummy. While eating by the tree we took the time to introduce Kenzie to what could be the best Christmas movie out there (and her Daddy's favorite), Home Alone. She LOVED it. Normally she won't watch anything that isn't a cartoon with singing... but she sat there captivated. We only watched part of it. We are holding the rest for another night.
Day 4 Kenny showed up in our town. Kenzie was able to find him, but it took her a few minutes. She thought he was quite funny on top of the house. I have to admit... this has been a long week. I am thankful it is so easy to amuse my kid this year because I don't have to work as hard to get Kenny into a funny situation. I have sort of phoned it in on some of these. Sorry, Kenzie!
The day's activity was to decorate the kids' doors. Last year we made Kenzie's look like a snow man and she loved it. We considered doing the same this year, but I wanted to try something new. So, we wrapped Kenzie's like a present and strung "lights" on Will's. I'm still considering making their bathroom the snowman. He is just so cute.
On Day 5 Kenny decided to use Kenzie's ornament that she chose last year and hang from the ceiling fan with him. She found him really easily and thought he was hilarious hanging there.
The activity for the day was to pick out the kids' annual ornaments (hence the fact that Kenny was hanging from hers from last year). Kenzie has been eyeing a microphone ornament at Hobby Lobby for weeks. Unfortunately, we couldn't find it when we went today. She (pretty quickly) chose a princess ornament though once we were there. I am loving seeing her little personality come out this year as we do some of these activities. Last year, she didn't really care about most of them. This year she has obvious opinions and seems to really enjoy what we are doing most days. We also picked up a first Christmas ornament for Will. Kenzie helped pick it out as well.
On Day 6 Kenny decided to use some of Kenzie and Will's toys to hang out in with on the bar. Kenzie thought it was pretty funny. She definitely likes when he is easier to find. I'm sure that will change as she gets older but for now, she enjoys being able to find him relatively easy.
Our activity for the day was actually the one that I was simultaneously looking really forward to and yet dreading at the same time. The day's activity was to donate to Toys for Tots. I think that teaching Kenzie and Will that giving is also a very important (if not one of the most important) part of the holiday. I was dreading it because I just had a feeling that Kenzie would want to keep whatever toy she picked out to donate. We went to the store in the morning and she decided that she wanted to buy a "girl" toy (though later decided that a boy might like it too.) It didn't take her long to pick out a Sophia toy. Then... she asked to keep it. She cried (fake cried really) a bit when I told her that she couldn't but eventually she started telling me that "someone else use it" after I explained more about why we were donating a toy. She had no problem going into Beall's and dropping it off. (Sorry that picture is blurry... it's hard to catch her sometimes and she was moving fast to drop that toy off.) I think she did okay donating the toy and I look forward to continuing to make her understand why it is important to give as well all through the year.
On the final day of the week, Kenny apparently got into the "cookies" that he found on the counter. Maybe he wanted to share them with Santa. Kenzie thought it was quite funny once I read the letter to her. She was a bit concerned that the "cookies" belonged to Jack though and Kenny tried to eat them.
The day's activity was super fun! Going to see Santa. We tried to prepare Kenzie to meet the big guy... we only slightly succeeded. She spent most of the day assuring me that Santa could talk if we put batteries in him. I guess we have too many electronic toys that seem to have run out of juice and "need batteries". So, we went down to Bass Pro Shops (free pics with Santa by the way... totally the way to go if you have a child that is likely to freak out about the big guy.) We got her and Will all dressed in their Christmas outfits. They looked amazing! We went inside, Kenzie took one look at Santa and wanted to high tail it out of there. Instead of seeing him right away we walked around a bit and let her ride the carousel (which she also wasn't initially thrilled with but loved once it got started.) Finally... we convinced her to let Daddy carry her up to Santa. He tried talking to her (there was no wait whatsoever so we weren't holding up any lines) but she wasn't having it. So, I handed off Will, picked up Kenzie and we took a family photo with Santa. At least this year I was prepared for it and dressed the part to a point. Last year I was in the picture for the same reason but I was not exactly prepared for it. When we were done Santa gave Kenzie a candy cane and without any prompting (because she never really needs any) she said "Thank you, Santa." On the way home Kenzie kept talking about going back to see Santa. Crazy kid. I guess he isn't as scary once he is out of sight.
I think Week 2 of our advent activities was pretty successful. We have a lot of fun things coming up in the next week. Now... to figure out what to do with Kenny for another week. Thank goodness for easily entertained toddlers.
Comments
Post a Comment