The Sparkling

We ate in the living room and our dinner consisted of peanut M&Ms, jalapeno poppers, crackers with cheese and summer sausage, mozzarella sticks and eggnog with whipped cream. Sheer junk. And yes, I *did* feel guilty about it all night. But one night of sheer junk food is HUGE for a kid (and for me too) so hey. I got over the guilt. Actually, let's see. There was the dairy in the cheese, the eggs in the eggnog, the meat, the veggie (the jalapeno, duh!) and dessert-so was it THAT bad?!? ;-)


I did the lights. Matt was the overseer and oversaw from a big comfy chair. (Read: He didn't do a lick) There was another overseer too.


Last year almost all of our lights died and in a desperate attempt to compensate, I added some outdoor snowflake lights to the tree. I loved it so much, though, I had to tuck them in the tree this year too and likely will forevermore.


After the lights were strung, the children totally stole my job and hijacked all the ornaments. That's alright. I got to take a pictures. (And I can always rearrange after bedtime. *Insert evil cackle*



Miss Addie Mae was the angel topper this year. The priviledge always goes to the youngest. The youngest, that is, who can actually HOLD the angel. (Sorry Judah.)


She was pretty proud of herself. Especially when the applause erupted.

The finished product:

A Blue Christmas

Blue Spruce, that is.

We got our tree. But as with everything these days, it has to be in small increments to get done. Including blogging. So---another day you will see the "sparkling" we gave it.

It might just be the prettiest tree we've ever had but I am pretty sure I say that EVERY year.

I love Christmastime.

Floored

Little scraps of paper, little notes---I find them EVERYWHERE these days. I just ASSUMED they were Corynns.

So when I found this paper the other day near the piano, I called her over and said "Corynn, you REALLY need to do a better job of picking up your notes and not leaving them on the floor." To which she replied.... "that isn't MINE."

"Well WHO, may I ask wrote it then?!?"

Andrew piped up "I DID!"

That is when stars started floating all about me and I scraped my jaw from the floor.

Since he is only four, I just assumed working on the letters in his name were top priority. Better rethink my strategy.

Handmade Holidays

While I somehow managed a completely handmade Christmas last year, I am not going to be so extravagent this year. Mainly because, well, with only two weeks left---I would be insane.

But I do have a few little things planned here and there that I'd like to share.

The first *little* project are for the little girls in the family. Hairclips in all shapes and sizes.

I stuck with Christmas colors this round but have in mind quite a few more variations (which would be preferred as Christmas gifts since you could use them all year long--these happen to be for my girls for their Christmas dresses). I could have kept going all night if I wouldn't have run out of the metal hairclips. So fun!

((And with only scraps of ribbon, felt and sequins this makes a truly FRUGAL gift that doesn't SCREAM "FRUGAL"!))

For red polka dotted clip: pick a ribbon of your choice, cut to the length of your clip adding a touch of length to fold under the top metal piece and then hotglue the raw end on the underside of the squeeze part, glue ribbon down center of clip and then on the underside of the metal barrette end.

For red and green polka dot: follow instructions above, but add a circle of green felt and sequins with hotglue.

For red and green flower print: Follow instructions for red polka dotted clip. Make loops with ribbon and hotglue those down then top off the center with hotglued sequins or beads.

For "Bow": cut out a 3/4 inch wide rectangle of red felt the length of your barrette with a bit extra to fold over to the undersides (taper this to fit the barrette.) Hot glue tapered ends to undersides of top metal barrette. Then simply cut a thin strap of felt (or ribbon for a different look) and squeeze it tight to pucker the felt, then hotglue raw edges together.

For poinsetta: free hand eight petals and one large oval, cut on both ends to resemble leaves. Put green "leaves" inside clip (as you would your hair) and hot glue it to the underside of the metal clip. Hotglue four petals on the top side to clip and green felt. Now, alternating the next four petals over the spaces of the first four petals, hot glue in place. I also pinched the ends together with a bit of hotglue to create some dimension-this is optional. Now, hotglue beads, sequins or glitter into the center of the flower.

For Rose: Make a green oval with tapered ends to resemble leaves. Glue as you did the leave section for the poinsetta. Cut a 3-4 inch long rectangle of red felt, tapered at both ends and wrap into a circle, twisting slightly as you wrap. Hot glue ends in place and hotglue flower onto green felt/clip.

EXPERIMENT on your own with these-there are countless options and the creating is the FUN part!

Tree Trimming

Nope.

Not ours.

While this year I seem to be behind on all things FESTIVE, the Doll family is right on time. As is usually the case, they put me to shame.

The Doll Family spent all morning trimming their tree, getting out holiday tablecloth and festive china, wrapping presents and eating goodies.

Grandma and sister had a hard time churning the sweets out fast enough.

As for us, this weekend will be official tree trimming day?! I hope?!?! I hope.

Old Fort Niagara

WAAAAYYY back, AGES ago it seems (though it was really only 6 or 8 weeks ago), Matt and I took an overnight trip sans older childer three. The ground is white now instead of green, Matts face is furry now instead of smooth and anyone who goes outside without a coat is pretty much on the level of insane so, even though it was only a month and a half ago, these photos are already outdated. Oh well. Now you know how FAR BEHIND I am on blogging.

Outdated or not, I *must* file them away for posterity. *Sigh* It was so good, that day.


(I can't remember the last time we got a picture together, so this one is pretty special to me. Thank you strange lady for taking a moment to take our picture.)

One of the things we did was to visit Old Fort Niagara. We spent a very overcast day there, but the blessed clouds didn't open up until we stepped foot in our car to head home. I love considerate clouds.



The whole time we kept thinking about how much fun the children would have being here with us so we took loads of pictures to show them. Andrew would have gone crazy at the sight of the drawbridge and cannons and Corynn would have LOVED the castle. I mean, really, What girl would ever NOT go gaga over a castle?!?

Judah was truly captivated by it all. Especially by the live demonstrations.

I was seriously smitten with the tables. What I wouldn't give for a few of those. The oven in the bakery would have been handy too. It was about 8 feet long.




Matt, on the other hand, was captivated at the thought of smoking a pipe at this fireplace every night. Boys.

a drawbridge. A DRAW BRIDGE!!!

Not quite sure what a bundle of sticks and sandbags could do against cannons and the like, but hey---I guess it was innovative.

I told you we took lots of pictures. (Notice the word "we"? For the first time ever Matt picked up my camera and took pictures of me! yay!)

They built the Fort under the guise of being a TRADING post for the Indians. They kept up the facade by simply keeping a trading post room. No matter all other rooms held the quarters of many a soldier.

A picture of our next house...

a simple few

We had eight houseguests come and stay with us for the weekend. Very dear friends they are. And despite the last night both mothers being up with puking children, it was a very pleasant visit! :-)

Thankfully, I spent plenty of time last week getting the house in spit-spot shape for their visit, so this week I can concentrate on the many (many) blankets, towels, afghans, pillows affected by Pukefest 2010.

It is nice to have a tidy house, even if it smells a bit putrid. :-)

Thank GOODNESS for pumpkin spice and caramel apple scented candles.

A few bits of winter pleasure from the last couple days:

It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas~it has been so mild lately for end of November/beginning December. It has only just begun to get truly cold and snowy. Being the coldaphobe that I am, I am SO thankful for that. Addie Mae sure likes watching the snowflakes falling.


Candles are being lit and stained glass lamps in the evening make winter so comforting and beautiful. By some bit of magic, the very same candles and lamps lit in summertime cannot compare with the wintertime ones.


Baking sugar cookies, my favorite cookies to bake. I love *LOVE* to decorate sugar cookies. As much as the children---maybe more. There were so many *little* hands helping, I might just have to make a batch of cookies to decorate MYSELF some evening after the children go to bed.

Yes, I might that.



Apples in pies. Apples in crisps. Apples in salads. And in cinnamon rolls. These were an experiment... a successful one.


Cold weather makes a warm oven a welcome treat. Now is the time when my passions for cooking are rekindled. I love recipes. I love searching for them almost as much as I love using them. What I don't love, is the pile of recipes printed or scribbled out and piled up that invariably happen because of it. Just one more pet-peeve I have for myself. At least the food is good.

The benefits of nursing

About mid-October, busy-ness sets in.

Right about now, it goes into overdrive.

My drivers license has expired. I haven't gone to the eye doctor in years, my glasses are broken and I am on my *last* pair of contacts. My oven broke. We are having house guests this weekend. The baby has a cough. Christmas card photos need to be taken, then printed, then MAILED. Christmas presents need to be thought of, then made, then WRAPPED. Christmas decorations need to be brought down from the attic, then put up!

Lots and lots and lots to do.

I was hoping to have the house all decorated for Christmas and a tree put up by the time our house guests arrived on Friday~ but I think I may have to be content just to clean up the dirty socks shoved under the beds and kick out the spiders who have taken residence in the corners.

It is right about now that I *love* that I nurse my babies....it guarantees that I can sit down for at least a FEW minutes each day. ;-)

A Baked Bunkin

Thanksgiving was grand this year, as usual, and the day was spent with a quiet gratitude tucked away in the heart of this woman for the abundance of the good in my life, not the least of which is my Thanksgiving girl.

She is two and just as fiery as ever. She has the power to infuriate me and melt me, within minutes of one another. She makes me sigh in exhaustion as well as in complete and utter contentment.

I remember when she was just a Bunkin in the oven....



She is, in all ways, dear.

Thanks to my broken oven, I got out of baking TWO birthday cakes in a row! Wonder of wonders! My mom was so kind to bake some cupcakes for her so I didn't fail completely as a mother. (You know how much we L*O*V*E storebought cakes....not)


She got the best birthday dinner ever~ a royal FEAST, and she didn't even have to ask! ;-)

Corynn decided early on she wanted to make something for her. She drew ELABORATE plans for a doll with yarn hair, bells in her feet, and a hat with matching dress. I about died when I saw it. I very sweetly explained how that was NOT feasible for me to help her with and suggested a fleece scarf instead. Simple and doesn't require my oversight. Hallelujah~ I was able to sell her on the idea.






Andrew, then, was at a loss for what he could do for the birthday girl. He made a few birthday cards, but wanted to WRAP something for her. We raided the cupboard and decided on a decorated Marshmellow lollipop. He finished it and lamented that it wasn't HIS birthday.




From us she got a tin tea set and some musical bells.



Her most-est favorit-est gift was Andrews. The one that didn't cost a red cent.