In the Throws of it All

Time seems to fly by so quickly in the time between the holidays. The days get past before i even know what has happened.

There has been plenty to blog about, i have just been remiss in taking the time.

There has been a big birthday to blog about. Our sweet little has turned 1. There will be more pictures of this to come, for all the aunties that might want to see.... How has a year flown so quickly?




There is a new money making craft project to blog about!!! I have never made money from my sewing before but i am committed and in the throws of it now. I made one of these for a little neighbors birthday and they were a hit. 10 have been ordered!!!



There have been other crafts(crochet and sewing)made around here to blog about too!

And of course there all the yummy treats to blog about and share this time of year. I can not make my blog friends a plate of this goodness, though i wish i could, but i can direct you to the links where you can find the recipes and make them for yourselves. Both of these are to die for....peppermint bark rice krispie treats from Our Best Bites and below is caramel popcorn from Making More with Less.

Who knew making your own was so easy and fast? We saw her post and had it made and we were eating it within half an hour.

Leslie

Gingerbread House of the Century

My awesome friend JOnelle makes an amazing gingerbread house every year. This years, set to music, was awesome...no amazing...no fantastic. So amazing that i wanted to share it with any of you that were willing to watch it out there. You really must!!! She(and husband) is so talented!!!

Gingerbread House 2011 from Jonelle Yates on Vimeo.

Easter Revisited

My kids could not look less thrilled about sitting to have their pictures taken....

...but they matched and that was the thrill for me! Chris and i matched them too. Chris in a matching plaid with Mitch and i had a soft yellow sweater on.

In their defense, i think the sun was in their faces. :o)

Then we came in to get a few shots of my tiny marshmallow girl!!! She was all fluff and frills for Easter. Click on one of the other pics to get a close up of that bonnet.

Or maybe she looked like a Easter egg...either way we wanted to eat her up she was so cute!!!

Leslie

Christmas Collage

There were way too many pictures to choose from, and i did not want to bore everyone with a thousand Christmas posts so i thought i would play around with the mosaic collage option on picasa...it is pretty fun!!!

The kids were so excited about the presents...but what kids aren't? The big gifts were the gun and the american girl doll. They loved them as we expected they would.

My kids are special, and apparently very considerate. They wanted Santa to know that if he needed a potty break that he was more than welcome. Click on the letter to make it larger and you can see just what Avery wrote(i think that will work, but i have never done picture collages before). Was it wrong? we went to check the potty and found that Santa had been there....there was red glitter on the seat and elsewhere!!!!!

These were some of my wonderful gifts. Is this not the cutest little elf ever? i think he will be living with us all year, not just at Christmas time. Avery and Chris made me this owl holder for my i pod. They spent a long time crafting this together, and i love it. This bowl is from a local potter, and i knew when i saw the sewing machine dish i had to have it...and sure enough it was there on Christmas morning.

Then we finished our Christmas day at my mom's house for dinner and more presents. It is nice to have them close so we can have Christmas together. Doesn't she have a pretty tree? Thanks for the yummy dinner mom.

Because my Mother Said So

What have we been doing? Lots more than i thought we would be. Somehow despite my best intentions to stay home as much as possible during this over the top shopping season we have been out for some reason or another. All the while wishing we were home.

But, today was an exception to that. Because if you live nearby, a trip into NYC during the christmas season is a must. It is so fun to listen to cheerful, happy christmas blaring from store fronts while people are being rude to one another in the street and horns are honking. Very NY!! The people watching is fun. There are the lights and the pretty storefronts....grand central terminal has a laser light show....there was even a scraggly Santa walking amongst the crowds of people there to see the tree at Rockefeller Center.

Today we headed to the Central Park Zoo, just to prove to Avery that there is more in NYC than just the american girl store. It was small but very fun. We loved the tropical rainforest bird house, if for nothing more than the chance to warm up, because it was freezing today. My glasses fogged up as soon as we walked in!!!

Chris and the kids had a great time posing as animals in the children's zoo. My favorite is the Avery turtle...she looks stuck but trust me we got her out!

Now of course we did stop by to see the tree and what a tree it was. When you stand right up next to it it is amazing how big it is and it looks so pretty. I had the kids stop so we could get a picture with it and without me realizing it i captured the true essence of my son...see that tongue sticking out? Little stinker!

And this is them winding down on the train ride home....plugged in to our respective game/phone devices. They were completely unphased by me taking a picture, never even flinched or bothered to look up. All in all it was a good day....bought a few gifts....avery got to go to the AG store...had a street hot dog and pretzel. See you next Christmas NYC.

Everything's Coming up German!!!

In the spirit of the season....and the hopeful defeat of the Navy football team....i am making a big pot of Gluhwein, pronounced, glue-vine, to take to a party this afternoon.

Start with 3-4 bottles of Gluhwein. It is a pre spiced, mulled type of wine in either red or white that you can get in most liquor or grocery stores during the holiday season. You can see we used red today. If you can not find actual Gluhwein you can use any cheap white or red wine as your base. Pour it all in a large stockpot. Add 2-3 cinnamon sticks, a palmful of whole cloves and 2-3 sliced lemon and oranges.

Now add a 1/4 c. sugar per bottle and a half. Today i used three bottles, therefore i added a 1/2c. sugar. Stir and let this simmer on low for about 1 hour. Be sure not to let this boil. Not good for the wine. And measurements are not exact, make it to your taste!!!Strain this over a crockpot to get all the large and small pieces out. Just set your crockpot on low and enjoy.

Family Craft Night, Christmas Version

From time to time i love to have us all sit down together and make something fun!! Crafting together is way better than crafting alone. For this craft night we were going to try our hands at a 3-D style snowflake. Avery is the perfect age for stuff like this. She is coordinated enough that she does not need much help anymore and actually does it herself. Mitchell quickly loses interest and we end up making what he started.

Yes that is a giant pencil...i am waiting for one of the kids to whack themselves in the head with it while they are writing.

Chris helped to make the snowflakes but he also made hanging it much easier. All i had to have was the idea, and he found a way to make it work. I have a stash of sticks and branches in the garage, some have even moved with us, and i thought this would be the perfect way to use them. Chris used fishing line to hang the branch from our ugly flourescent light and we then hung the snowflakes from said branch.

More than the snowflakes i am in love with the branch. i can not help myself. i have sticks all over my house. That stick is going to be a permanent fixture whether i have something hanging on it or not. These are not as tricky a snowflake to make as they might look. I used a wonderful tutorial at Heritage Acres Homestead blog. Try it out, they are fun to make in lots of different sizes.

More 4th Festivities

We are part of a small community that puts on a big show for the 4th....people gather from all around, blankets are set out days in advance(we barely got a spot when we put blankets out at 9 on the morning of the concert)...the concert ends with the 1812 Overture and then fireworks.

The masses of people were unbelievable...but they were a pretty well behaved bunch. We saw many people from our church and neighborhood. The traffic to get from our house up the hill was stopped...more cars than i imagined.

Avery and Mitchell had a good time wrestling cousin Olivia...who only wanted to be free and able to crawl around to explore all the new fun things around her.

Some of our very good friends were there with us. The girls had some toys to play with during the concert....i don't know what they were talking about but i just love the look on Avery's face.

And my sweet boy and his "ear muffs". He is not overly fond of loud noises, so fireworks have never gone over very well with him. The last few years involved stuffed animals and blankets over the head. Chris got these out for him and he was good...although he did end up under a blanket in my lap anyway. So Happy Fourth of July!

4th of July

Happy 4th a little late....this year we went to a old friends house where i spent many days and nights while growing up...including lots of other 4th of July parties. Kind of like a blast from the past, watching our children play together in the same pool where we played together when we were little. Surreal.

The pool was a hit. My kids had not been swimming in awhile, and they loved it. Avery got brave and went down the slide, over and over and over. I was very impressed with her bravery. Mitchell on the other hand got up there without knowing what he was really in for and went down against his better judgement. You can tell by the look on his face that he was not thrilled. needless to say he only did it one time. i think Avery went down more times in one afternoon than i did, ever.

i love the action shots!

Happy Belated Easter Everyone

We had a very nice Easter! The easter bunny brought many treats and left lots of eggs in the backyard! Are these not the cutest stuffed animals you have ever seen?

the kids all decked out in the easter finery... thanks Grant for the tie, it went very well with Mitchell's easter outfit!