I love to get into the spirit during the holiday season and over the last few years it has changed so much with having a kid.  My daughter loves Christmas time, Santa, and all the family activities that we do.  With this being her last Christmas as an only child, I decided that I wanted to make it as special as I can!  I have done Elf on the Shelf the last two years but I never really planned anything and just winged it.  I am not a fan of the "naughty elf" because the whole point is making sure that we are being kind to others.  I tend to have our elf bring activities or little treats that we can enjoy together.  This year I decided to also use our advent wall hanger that I snagged a few years back, it comes with the blank cards that you can write on.  There are others I found on Amazon too, this one is customizable or you can go more simple with just numbers

I decided to map out the activities we would do for our advent wall hanger and match them up with our elf.  I thought was a fun idea to hit both at the same time, and making it more about spending time with family rather than just silly things our elf was doing.  If you are interested you can download both of these as PDF files below if you want to use them yourself!  If you post on Instagram I would love if you tagged my account @mrsmathfashion so I can share how you used or modified! I also have them shared in this google drive folder as well if you want the images along with the pdf! I will be working on updating and creating little cards too for specific days that have notes about our activities and will be adding these to the folder as well! 

I will be updating this post as I go with the photos of our elf and our activity each day!  That way if you want to pick and choose you can see the examples of what we did first.  Anything that I purchased I will try to link for you as well so you can see where I got it from! Again, I try to spend as little money as possible and use what I already have in my closet. I am also planning on us taking a photo of our activity each day as well with our instant camera and then adding those into the days too! 

I tried to make the Advent days accessible so that you don't have to purchase much, most of these things I already have at home, found on sale at the craft store, or found in the dollar spot at Target/Walmart.
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1 - She found her elf waiting in the tree this morning with her special note. She was SO excited and I told her the elf also wrote me a special letter to help arrange all the activities in her advent calendar so he can bring her special activities throughout the month. Day one activity is to make a Christmas countdown with a paper chain. This is so easy to do, just cut out colored paper and then have your little one write the number, if they're too small you don't need to do it, it's just great practice for them with handwriting and counting. Then, just staple them and hang them up so each day they can take one off for their countdown!

If you're looking for a gift for a little one this holiday season, look no further!

FAO Schwarz has been around since 1862 creating one of a kid toys that are synonymous with quality and innovation.  FAO Schwarz has been known for the “theater of it all,” where toys meet deep nostalgia.  This holiday season, exclusive FAO Schwarz toys will be available only at Target stores, Target.com and FAO store locations. All Target store toy departments andTarget.com will feature dedicated space for FAO Schwarz, with toy demonstrations planned throughout the holiday season. We absolutely love this brand because of the quality and the variety, their products are great for recommended ages 3-8 which all the kiddos in my life fall under, and the Target selection is so broad you can find the perfect gift this holiday season. 
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This little toddler loves trying to help so I made sure to include her in my baking adventures today. Today we made chocolate chip - peanut butter - banana cookies [recipe here] and had so much fun.

Toddlers can be very messy in the kitchen so here are some of my tips and tricks:

• Have a step stool to make sure they can reach everything. We just have a basic cheap step stool - but there are really nice ones made for this
• Not only are aprons on kids adorable but they cut down on the mess. I got this reversible one from a local art show!
• Measure out all the ingredients needed ​- it makes it easier for them to pour ingredients
• I love my kitchen aid - so much easier with her than a hand mixer
• Let them have fun! Did we spill some flour on the counter? Yep, but then we just teach about cleaning up messes.

Do you have any tips for letting toddlers help in the kitchen? Leave them below in the comments.

Being stuck in the house all day with a toddler has made me start looking for even more ideas for ways to keep her busy without just turning on cartoons. She has been getting really into coloring so I decided to try out a paint project!  This was so easy and mess free and the final product turned out great! 

Since sleep is lacking for me I figured I could use all the random hours I’m up to start putting her birth into words. Like a lot of people, my birth plan didn’t go as expected but in the end we had to do what was best for our baby girl.