Holiday Card Outtakes: Part II

My second idea for a photo for our card was to use the self-timer to take a family photo with the chickens. You would think that since we found taking photos of our 2 children nearly impossible that adding in the chickens would be a total debacle, but I actually think these went a lot better. Maybe it was just that the chickens were so completely uncooperative that it made the kids seem quite accommodating.

Penny was the only chicken even willing to consider being in our photo. Max and Olivia were having none of it.

 This one was taken right as Penny flew off.

This one made the holiday card!

Holiday Card Outtakes: Part I

This was the first year in awhile that I didn't have a picture in mind for our holiday card when December rolled around. The first week of December some of the overachievers sent their cards and I started to panic. I decided we would try to take some pictures of the girls with the Christmas lights. This was definitely a case of mental image and reality coming out totally different from each other.

Unfortunately, Thomas erased the most ridiculous of the pictures from the camera before I had a chance to tell him I wanted them. Problem #1: in my mental image, I ironed the background sheet.

One of the few pictures where Thomas was actually able to capture Norsie, who was usually a blur of motion.

 This one is actually one of the three pictures that made it on this year's card.

Christmas and Hanukkah Prep

We have some busy bees around here getting ready for Christmas and Hanukkah, which starts on December 21st. 

I made the background to this advent calendar last year, then decided I didn't like how it turned out and hid it away in the garage. With a year's perspective it didn't look so horrible so I made the ornaments for it this year, just in time for December 1st. Sylvie is holding up the Max and Penny ornaments, her favorites.

Sylvie and Nora have been using liquid water colors to paint envelopes for some of our holiday cards. (If you do this, make sure you flip up the envelope flap so you don't seal your envelopes shut with watercolors. We learned the hard way.)

For our wrapping paper this year, I bought a big roll of butcher paper and the girls have been experimenting with different techniques to decorate it.

Stamping red and green dot paints for Christmas paper...

And using corks to stamp blue and silver glitter glue for Hanukkah paper...

On Friday, we brought home our Christmas tree.

We decided to hang only non-breakable ornaments on the tree this year. You can probably guess why.

So with our glass ornaments looking festive on the mantel, the tree was a little bare. The girls had a great time making salt dough ornaments to fill it up. The night before I won best cookie* at my friend's Cookie Exchange party and one of my prizes was ornament shaped cookie cutters that were perfect for making our salt dough ornaments.

The cookie cutters have also been perfect for playing with our peppermint-scented glitter play dough. My other prize was some Starbucks hot cocoa mix.

 * My winning cookie recipe was Peppermint Bark Rice Krispie Treats, which were regular Rice Krispie Treats with peppermint extract added to the marshmallow and drizzled with white chocolate and crushed candy cane. I only won by one vote and yes, I was embarrassed to win with a recipe I made in the microwave.

Hanukkah 2010

So many wonderful family memories made this Hanukkah! Here's a little Hanukkah recap.


Grandma, Papa, Uncle Rich and Hank came over on Night 1 for dinner and gift exchange.

Grandma and Papa had their annual Hanukkah party. Here's Sylvie, ready to party!

Sylvie was able to light the candles herself this year. 

One of my favorite things about Hanukkah is opening one present each night. We get a chance to really read, explore or play with each gift. Here's Sylvie with her new marble roller coaster.

 And sleeping with Mouse, who came with If You Take a Mouse to School.

Nora had a very happy Hanukkah as well. (Are you surprised? Nora has a happy EVERYTHING!)

Maximus (and Wood Freddy)

Every year, Sylvie's Papa builds her an extra-special Hanukkah present. Remember these?


2007's Bear Push Cart (Sylvie still brings this with her to the farmers market)


2008's Table and Chairs


2009's Menorah and Refrigerator


But Papa (and his helpers, Grandma and Uncle Rich) really out-did himself in 2010. He took two of Sylvie's most favorite things, swings and dinosaurs, and built her A T.REX SWING!

Sylvie has not stopped talking about how awesome this guy is. She named him Max (perhaps you have noticed she names everything Max?).  To make him a little more ferocious, we decided on Maximus. This will also help distinguish Maximus from the many other Maxes in Sylvie's life.


Nora did not get left out on her very first Hanukkah, of course. It's a full swing set with a baby swing for Norsie.

What a Hanukkah gift! But this is actually not Papa's first time making a ride-on swing.

This is the wood swing my dad made for me back in 1980 (age 2). I used to ride a real-life pony named Freddy, so this guy was named Wood Freddy.  

Thank you Dad/Papa for many years of happy swinging!

Hanukkah: Nights 3-8

After busy and fun Nights One and Two, we enjoyed spending the last 6 nights of Hanukkah having some quiet family time at home.

Sylvie got the hang of getting the candles in the menorah, and invented a new song to sing each night called, "Happy Hanukkah to You."

And she is practically a professional gift opener.
Night 5's new bath toys were lots of fun and resulted in a very long bath.

Our menorahs, all lit up on Night 8...I love that Hanukkah lasts 8 nights, but we have found that it does cause a bit of Hanukkah withdrawal on Day 9. Even though I broke it to Sylvie on the 8th night that Hanukkah was over, she still woke up the next morning and asked, "is it time to start Hanukkah?"

Deckin' the Halls

A little of what we've been up to lately:

Making the clothes peg trees from Kids Craft Weekly out of our old Costco boxes as festive mantel decor;

Making photo ornaments and felt hand print ornaments for our tree and grandparent gifts.

Baking, baking baking. Granola Muffins were the snack at yesterday's tea party. Next on the baking list are Pumpkin Muffins.

Cooking man food. It seems to be what I'm craving most with this pregnancy and Thomas couldn't be more thrilled. Last night I made these Pork Chops with Apples and Onions. Sylvie really loved the sautéed apples.

Using old egg cartons to make glittery jingle bells for our Christmas tree, hung right at Sylvie-level.

Playing with new Hanukkah toys. Sylvie is especially loving her Plan Toy Lacing Beads from Night 3.

And counting down the days until Daddy is home for a 2 week Christmas Break! 3 days to go!

Hanukkah: Night Two

Night two of Hanukkah was Grandma and Papa's annual Hanukkah party! Per tradition, Thomas and Rich were stuck in the kitchen making the latkes. Somehow I think they don't really mind...Look how festive these 2 are! They didn't even call each other!
After lighting the menorah and a scrumptious dinner, it was gift opening time. Amanda got Sylvie a play-doh set that was a big hit with both the girls and the boys.
And Sylvie got Amanda a pair of snow boots.
And a matching pair for herself. These girls are ready for the snow!

I failed to get a picture of the new sneaks Sylvie got from her Beste. When Beste asked Sylvie what she wanted this year, Sylvie was VERY clear: "Pink sneaks with lights like Amanda's." And we all know the lengths grandparents will go to to make dreams come true!

Check out pictures from Hanukkah Party 2008.