Advent Calendar for a Pre-Schooler: Week 3 and Week 2 update

Our calendar is starting to really get full this week!  Christmas cards still need sent, cookies need baked, and lots of programs and parties are starting up.  We still don't have any snow in the forecast, so we're going to head inside for some at the end of the week.

Week 2 update:
Chili:  Our chili cook-off went well at church, and it was fun to try a lot of different things.  We were very serious judges, and went home very full after trying all of them.

Tree:  We got our tree from the same place as last year, Evergreen Acres (link to post from last year).  We overestimated it's size a little, but it's a beautiful tree and hasn't given us any problems.  We are at the point where we can only put up about half our ornaments, so we may need to try a bigger tree next year.

Christmas Cards:  The boys enjoyed making some special cards for their grandparents and teachers this year (sorry about the glitter in advance).

Cookie Exchange:  I made some of our favorites, peanut butter munchies for a cookie exchange at my women's group at church.  They are a chocolate cookie, with a peanut butter cream center.  It was fun to try a bunch of new cookies that others made.

Santa:  We got our first official portrait with Santa at Brian's work open house Thursday.  Theodore gets so excited to go, because normally the guards keep us out.  We're only allowed on base twice a year (July 4th and Christmas).  Both boys acted excited to see Santa, but chickened out when he was really there.  Theo followed up the visit with a letter the next day, since he had forgotten what he wanted to discuss with Santa.

Neighborhood lights:  We loaded the boys up in their pajamas and drove through some of the developments around us and found some absolutely fantastic light displays (one even had the lights set to music).  A lot of fun and yielded sleeping boys.

Dumfries Parade:  On Saturday, we walked with our church in the small parade in a neighboring town.  It was Theodore's first time, and he was very excited about the "flute" (float) that was a replicate of the church front complete with lights and decorations and alternated yelling "Merry Christmas" and "Feliz Navidad" (guess that Spanish class once a week is paying off) as he waved.

 Library Trains:  We also caught the end of a train show set up in our local library.  The boys loved it of course, and I promised them more trains this week.  We're planning to take the metro in to see the huge display at the white house, the trains at the National Botanical Gardens, and the trains at Union Station.  Yes, I know I'm crazy for even attempting this itinerary, but I can't help but spoil them with things that make them so happy, like watching trains for an entire day.

Week 1 Link
Week 2 Link