And We're Off!

Just a quick note to let everyone know we're hopping in the truck and heading to South Florida today! Not sure how long it will take, or what we'll get into on the way, but with two young boys, it's sure to be an adventure!

Not sure when I'll be able to post again, so,

Merry Christmas!

I'll leave you with a shot from the Nana Cam, taken 6/29/08.

PS - in case you're wondering why the "visit my shop" has gone blank, it's because it is on vacation mode till we get back from our trip!

Every Knee Shall Bow...

When He said every knee would bow, He meant it - even tiny pirates take a moment to bow down before the Saviour (who happens to be in the loft at this moment, so as not to be squished by the crowd, who have come into the barn because it might rain. Seriously.)...

I am quite annoyed with Blogger at the moment. It keeps randomly rotating some of my pictures, and it seems to be happening a lot. Three times in this post alone. Grr.

Anyways. Here is a sideways (grr...) shot of finished Bear. I made him from the same yarn that I made M's jacket that he adores, and he picked out the ribbon, so I hope he'll like Bear...

And here is another rotated shot (grrrrr...) of the finished treasure map for both boys, though I know it's mainly for L at the moment.

See? Never Never Land, complete with Tink walking on the map.

And here's my latest creation. (Oh, how cool is that? I just realized you can see me and L upside down in the spoon!) I saw some of these bendy dolls online and just had to try it for myself. Isn't he rediculously cute?

L went nuts. He literally carried this little pirate around nearly every moment of the day (except for Captain's short stop at the manger).

And here you can sort of see the little angel I've been working on. I need the most practice with the hair, but now that she's dry and I can get a good look at her, I think I know what I need to do for the next one.

And last but not least, here's the honeypot I painted at the Mud Hut last weekend. I love going there, and I love how it turned out!

This one's a bit blurry, but wanted to share a shot of the shepherd.

Happy Moments

We had a great time making garland for the birds, even though stringing popcorn is tough! L loved watching the popcorn explode in our pot when I lifted the lid so he could peek! Then we took our pinecones and garland out, decorated the outdoor tree, and finished it off by dumping the rest of the popcorn on top of the tree! Then we ran around the yard like banshees, till the boys were pooped and M's fingers were so chilly we needed to come in (that happens when you keep toppling over into damp grass because you keep stepping in that invisible hole)!

You probably wonder why I post so many pics of me snuggling up with the boys. I can't help it. These are the moments I'm treasuring up in my heart. So I'm going to snuggle up now, with a cup of hot cocoa, and savor the moments!

Merry Christmas!

Sillies and Secrets

First, the Sillies! L totally loves to set things up. He's been going to his room more and more to play this way. He fascinates me, and I like watching him and examining the things he sets up to get a little peek into the way his mind works, and who he is on the inside. I see lots of myself in him, when he does things like this:

And I see lots of myself in M, when he does this!

And some more sillyness...


And L's most recent display of creativity - he's been rearranging the stars on his walls and has discovered that he can use them to display some of the things he loves! I love it - Peter flying through the stars...!


And now for the secrets! Here's some of what I've been working on for the boys' Christmas gifts! We've gotten them a couple things and trying to emphasize giving a couple special gifts, rather than just a bunch of stuff. For L's 4th birthday he received a singing balloon and a firetruck. He was in raptures. I totally see why the Jewish people give one gift a day for Hanukkah. Somehow it's really hard to truly appreciate a big pile of gifts!

Anyways! Off my soap-box! Here are the secrets! I've been making a map of Never Never Land for them to share - super secret! I only work on it at night, when I'm fairly certain of not being walked in on. Tomorrow I'm going to stitch in some lining and attach a back, and then it will be done. There's also the growing bear for M!



Checking the cuddlyness...


Finished Bear! Going to get a cute ribbon to dress his neck for his big Christmas debut!


Can I just say how satisfying it is to have finished Bear? Even though his eyes are so funny?

Oh, and we had a first today, M stuck a Cheerio up his nose. He was not happy at all.

Pinecone Bird-Feeder Ornament

Here's L working on his pinecone bird-feeders! He rolled them in peanut butter and then in bird seed. He's really enjoying our activity advent! He was thrilled to give away his pretzel candies today, and started making a list of other people to make them for. Nice to know that there's a bit of generosity in there!

Next we're going to make something else for the birds and then (hopefully) decorate a tree or bush for them, depending on if the rain lets up!

Pretzel candies

So here's the boys hanging their snowmen they made - L was so proud!

Soooo happy!

And here they are spending some quality time together before bed...

And here are the pretzel candies we made today!

Can't wait to try them! It was really easy - I put the Wilton's candies into a baggie, nuked it for 60 seconds, cut a corner off the bag, and then L squeezed the candy into the mold and put in the pretzel! Salty and sweet - perfect!

New ornaments and new food

So here are the boys playing with their beloved Aunt Lindsay!

And today's activity was making snowman ornaments with rolled felt. Here's M's snowman, complete with clips to hold it together until the glue has dried...

And these two are of L working on his snowman. He actually did quite a lot, even drew the face and buttons all by himself! Here he is putting on the clothespins to keep it together for the night... he's quite thrilled, can you tell?

Tomorrow we'll take the clips off and add the snowmen to our tree - I will try to get pics of them! And tonight I tried something new (since Daddy is helping with the Christmas play this week and wasn't here for dinner - I'd rather not make him the guinea pig on an all veggie type thing)! It was excellent - veggie fritters from my new cookbook. I'm still full!

Happy Wednesday!

Todays's advent activity was the Christmas story, which I told using flannel-graphs. I made this several years back, and still love it! L was really fascinated, so much that I think I might "otta" cut up some other Bible stories, or even add some of these to my Etsy shop (course that would have to be for next year)!

Oh, and just because I can't help myself, here's a couple shots of the boys eating left-overs from Bible Time!

M was cracking me up the way he picked up the whole plate to eat his piece! What a silly goose!

Busy Weekend

So here are the boys setting up the nativity. Everybody - and I mean everybody - managed to fit into the stable.

And we also made Rice Krispy Trees! Very green, very yummy!

I got a very serious nod of approval for these trees!

Bubble Dance

And here's a bit of the fun we had Thursday evening...

I taped some bubble wrap to the floor and the boys danced away! It lasted longer than I thought it would!

Christmas Candle Jars

Aren't they something, sitting there together? Sharing M's crackers, and L letting M use his Wall-E phone? Forgive the slight blur, not sure what the camera's doing. Same lighting, same setting, two kids actually sitting fairly still, and this time a blur. Oh! and M has been enjoying having a date cookie every night for dessert! Anyways...

On to the Advent Activity of the day! L did tons of cutting. The tissue paper was great for him. No resistance, lots of progress. I think I'm going to give it to him more often (it's so encouraging when you can succeed).

Next we put the tissue pieces on the jar. I smeared Mod-Podge and held the jar while L did all the sticking on. He really got into it, and was really focused. I was thrilled that he didn't even mind getting glue on his hands - he just wiped it off and went on.


Here's our work drying (it really was convenient that M slept right through all this)!

And here's our finished jars, glowing away. L was pleased with our new jars, and I think they make dinner special.

Have a great weekend everyone!