Merry Christmas! (Eve)

This morning the kids woke up to stockings full of goodies and presents under the tree - how exciting! We tried to take the present-opening in batches to avoid overload, and of course I had planned a super-cute menu for the day. (Here is James modeling his new (hand-me-down!) Darth Vader slippers.)
Breakfast was fruit "salsa" with tree shaped cinnamon sugar tortilla chips and green hard boiled "Grinch Eggs."
By far the two most popular gifts were Princess Celestia and Cinderella Barbie. Those two got played with from sun-up to sun-down.
Here are our snowman snacks (not a crumb left on the plate afterwards).
May was particularly enamored of some letter candy beads from her Great Aunt Linda. (Thanks, Aunt Linda!)
For lunch, hummus/spinach roll-up Christmas trees with cheese stars, cherry tomato ornaments, and pear slice snow.
Although May didn't receive any slippers of her own she enjoyed scuffing around the house in Daddy's new schnazzy slippers.
After rushing the kids off to Christmas Eve Mass (no pictures, due to the rushing), it was time for our special Christmas Eve Dinner: Potato/Leek Soup (colored with beets and topped with sour cream), Veggie Pot Pies, and Jingle Juice.
We had such a fabulous day. Wishing all of you a wonderful holiday!

Easy Weekender Busy Book

I've been seeing some great Busy Book/Quiet Book pages on Pinterest lately. It made me a little sad knowing that I would never be willing to put in the weeks or even months of work that go into a complete book. Then it occurred to me that I could make an easy version. My kids don't care if things are squared or even coordinating. So I dug out some old felt scraps and odds and ends from my sewing trunk to see what I could put together. I'm fairly proud of the result, and it took less than 8 hours:
Page 1: weaving
Page 2: this ladybug has numbered velcro dots that store within it's shell
Pages 3-4: make a monster face (the snapping pouch came as the outer wrapper of a set of pillowcases I bought for James' party)
Page 5: button flowers (the blossoms store in the flower pot)
Page 6: phonics beads (the dog goes in the D pocket, the fish in F, etc)

So what do you think? I was happy to make this simple little busy-book. And I'm rather fond of the clean lines that the felt lends itself to. Also, I only had to use two different sewing machine stitches to do it all. I'm pretty happy.

I'll be presenting it to the kids on the plane ride out to Wisconsin. I hope they like it!

James' 5th Birthday Party!

It will be hard to say goodbye to my four-year-old boy, but we're gearing up to welcome a five-year-old little man. Today was his birthday party. We put him in charge of generating the theme, menu, and activities and he came up with: Day Time Pajama Party!
The welcoming craft was a tie-dye station for pillowcases. The kids did a great job of not ruining my white kitchen! Honestly, they were awesome listeners and it really helped to have them do this one at a time upon arrival.
When all our guests were done with their craft, it was time to move downstairs for a screening of "Gnomeo and Juliette" on the projector. We had some balloons and pillows strewn around for atmosphere.
While the kids were watching their show I packaged up their pillowcases into ziplocs that I had already labeled with their names as well as instructions for their parents on rinsing and washing their tie-dye. Then, it was time to cook.
In line with the pajama theme, James asked for pancakes, scrambled eggs, melon and (vegetarian) sausage. Although not everyone was excited for melon and sausage, not a soul turned down the pancakes. Orange and apple juice was a nice accompanying drink and a refreshing change from the soda that usually reigns supreme at parties.
While Chad cleaned up the breakfast mess (thanks, Honey!) I led the kids in a half-a-dozen rounds of Hullabaloo - a Cranium game with lots of stepping on mats, making funny noises and taking dance breaks. The best part, I think just about everyone had a chance to be a winner.
Then it was cupcake time (in this picture we are still singing so only James has a cupcake, but rest assured everyone else got one, too). Although I'm a fan of homemade cakes, James chose chocolate and vanilla Smurf cupcakes from Walmart this year. I must admit, it was really nice having one less thing to bake!
Then came the opening and enjoying of presents. James was thrilled to receive a wide variety of incredibly thoughtful gifts. He got some toys as well as some craft kits and a book. The parents we know are simply the best. Soon after, the kids went home with their pillowcases in a bag and their Smurf rings.
I was able to rinse and wash James' pillowcase in the afternoon. Here he is ready for bed in a new set of Jammies and his brand new pillowcase. I can't think of a more laid back birthday that was also so enjoyable and affordable. It really is nice when Chad and I can enjoy James' party as much as he does!

Tape Measure Love

I found some fun pictures from October that I failed to share. There was a day that the kids were wandering the house measuring everything they could find. When they ran out of things to measure, they tried to measure themselves. Failing at that, they measured one another.
It was very hard to measure James' round head with Daddy's tape measure. Maybe next time I'll loan them my measuring tape from my sewing kit.

Arms, however, were easy.

So cute. I love these two!

Where's the Snow?

Today's StoryTime at the library was all about snow. Which made me reflect back on October, when we actually had snow. Remember how awesome it was?
There's nothing that quite makes you feel more like a parent than bundling your kids up in all of their winter gear and going out in the snow with them.
When I think back to being a kid I feel like I spent all day every day in the winter playing in the snow, though I'm sure that's far from true.
I'd like my kids to have lots of fun snow memories, too. Where are you, Snow?

We Love to Dress Up

Ready for Daddy's volleyball game.
Showing off the "sombrero."
Ready for Story Time at the library.
Just chillin'.

I adore these two little sprites. I never know what to expect from day to day.

Caramel Apples

Autumn has so many fun treats associated with it! Once again, the kids came to me with a request: caramel apples. I'd never made them before, so forgive the rookie mistakes you might see.

It was nice how much of the project the kids could actually do themselves (as opposed to the scarecrow). They began by washing and drying the apples.
Then they unwrapped the caramels.
After warming up our caramel mixture they dipped the apples.
Then they dipped them into sprinkle-cups.
Finally we set them onto a cookie sheet to cool. Hooray for fall!

Invalid Entertainment

Having sick kids over Halloween was a challenge for me. I still wanted them to have fun, and May was less sick than James, and so easily got bored with too much sitting still. We started our day with a batch of "Monster Pancakes" - pancakes with banana chunks.

Then we became mad scientists, hatching sponge animals from capsules.

After that, puzzle time.

The kids were very proud of themselves, and they should be!

Next we snacked and watched the Sesame Street Movie "Abbie in Wonderland." After the show came baths, lunch, and naps.
After nap time the kids got to work on a Halloween activity/coloring book while waiting for Daddy to come home so we could trick-or-treat.
The next day James was doing much better but May was worse. After breakfast we freed sea creatures stuck in ice cubes.

It was a fun, but cold activity so they went straight to baths afterwards.

After baths we played trains for the rest of the morning.

After naps we had a movie afternoon on the couch.

I was really burnt out after two days of at home sick-kid-ness. It was a lot more work than my usual days, and what was worse was watching the housekeeping suffer. It was the first time in a very long while (since James' colic days, actually) that I really felt the sting of living so far from any family. Still, we made it through and our little family is stronger for it.

I would still love any sick-day tips you all might have, though, as I'm sure we're in for a long, germ-y winter.