Christmas 2012

Oh, the fortune cookies.

Pictures

Cutting green beans for Thanksgiving dinner.

Watch out!

God's peace with you today.

xo

amanda

Thankful Tree

 Around Thanksgiving week, I printed this free printable from A Holy Experience. Each of the leaves has a scripture about being thankful on it. We cut and wrote and hole-punched and tied string a couple of nights during dinner. We wrote or drew pictures of things we are thankful for on the back of each leaf.

It was sweet to see what the kids came up with. We are very thankful for Heidi and for mommy and daddy. Daddy made one for Elise that said she was thankful for Blankey. Eva was thankful for Elise and Elise is apparently thankful for Eva, too.

Tissue Paper Pom Pom Ornament Tutorial

I fell in love with these feather ball ornaments from West Elm, but I'm sure not going to pay $9 for a Christmas ornament, especially when I want a bajillion of them. Then I realized that they looked kind of like the Martha Stewart tissue paper pom poms that are so popular right now.  I decided to make a mini version to hang on my Christmas tree.

I had some white tissue paper with silver glitter specs (who doesn't like glitter specs?) leftover from last Christmas. I also used some string, a ruler, and twist ties. You could also use ribbon or wire or whatever else you can tie with in place of the twist ties and string.

I cut 5 pieces of tissue paper into 4 inch by 10 inch rectangles, stacked them up, and began folding them accordion-style. I made each fold about half an inch wide.

Once the accordion is finished, secure in the middle. Make sure your knot is along the folded edge, not the flat edge. It will make for easier hanging. Then cut the edges so that they are pointy. You could also do a rounded edge.

Then begin unfolding, poofing it a little. This is a great tutorial with a video better explaining how to "poof."

 

I tied a loop with string to hang it up with. You can use anything, ribbon, string . . . or just stick an ornament hook right on your twist tie (or wire, or ribbon).

 

I've only made three, (four if you count the purple, blue, and pink striped one I made for my daughter), but I plan to make a whole set to hang sporadically around the tree.

 Merry Christmas!

amanda

Oh Micah.

Micah was headed to a playdate this morning. He was excited. I was supposed to leave the house at 9:40 to drop him off. At 9:20 he asked me how long until we left. I told him 20 minutes. He asked how many seconds that was. I told him one thousand, two hundred seconds. To simplify I told him that its just counting to 100 twelve times. He left the room.

Later I hear him yelling at Caleb, "Stop singing Caleb! I have really good ears and I can still hear you. I am trying to count to 100 twelve times!"

That boy.

Yoshi Elise

The last time Elise wore these pajamas, Micah started calling her a Yoshi egg! 

What do you think? Does she look like a Yoshi egg?

Just A Day

Today was a good day. Today I chose to take it easy and enjoy it. I normally spend Mondays cleaning and doing laundry. Not today. This  morning we were artsy. Eva started out the day making a picture with stickers and markers, then we got out all the paints and she painted two more works of art, then she cut up tissue paper and glued it to make a rainbow, then we printed out a rainbow coloring page and she colored that. THEN, we had to paint her fingernails all different colors!

We spent a little time doing work. I vacuumed and steam cleaned the living room carpet while she cleaned up the enormous pile of clothes on her floor. She's back to wearing 15 different outfits every day. That's fine with me, as long as she cleans it all up.

Then, I did something a little different. Instead of saying, GO OUTSIDE! I went outside with her. We played on the swings and jumped on the trampoline together. The boys came home from school and joined us on the trampoline. A friend or two popped up in the backyard and we told them that we were having family time.

Eventually Elise woke up from a hugely long nap and enjoyed her first outside swing! 

Caleb, where'd you go! 

I also got to cook up a deliciously unhealthy meal of chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes . . . (with salad; romaine, carrots, grape tomatoes, avocado, croutons, and sunflower seeds) and I finally nailed the cream gravy! I was so excited! Thanks Pioneer Woman!

Andrew got home from work not too late and was able to help me get all the food finished and on the table in time for Caleb to head to karate.

He had his belt test tonight and moved up from yellow to orange! Yay!

It was a good day and I'm glad I got to spend some sweet time enjoying those little guys. They're my favorite.