Christmas 2015

Merry Christmas everyone!

These girls were really excited for Christmas

The days leading up to Christmas were filled with you guessed it! crafts.

Clara enjoys making a mess - I mean cutting snowflakes also.

We made glitter ornaments and Grace made a cookie plate.

All the boxes that came in the mail served as entertainment also!

It snowed 8 inches Christmas Eve morning.

Despite the snow, we made it to brunch at a friends' house! They had an adorable kids table - 

and adults table.

Their son plays cello and Clara got to try it. She was in love!

We weren't planning on cello lessons this early, but we may have to rethink it after this!

Or maybe singing lessons would be money better spent. Speaking of singing:

This went on the whole car ride.

Grace made a picture for Santa and taped it to the mantle.

I think it is adorable and I'm saving it.

Christmas morning was crazy!

A train!

Lots of playdoh -

And lots of smiles!

Crazy for Crafting

We do a lot of crafting at our house.  I mean A LOT.

In this picture we have painting, the sewing box, glue and popsicle sticks.  The window has cotton ball sheep hanging in it.  This is pretty typical for our family table.

One of Grace's recent obsessions has been a popsicle stick house she saw in our Martha Stewart Crafts for Kids book.  She assembled the walls and roof herself, and I taped it all together.

Little sis enjoyed watching for a while.

She was inspired and started painting herself.

This project took several days.  I thought she would loose interest but she found some cardboard and some playdoh and then we had a yard, trees and a garden.  Glitter completed the look of this "winter wonderland" as she calls it.

The finished product!

Another project is candy cane mice for the preschool class.  A classic!  I made templates for Grace to cut around but she did everything else.

Clara helps by pretending they are planes.  A girl influenced heavily by big sis!

Grace was SO excited to hand these out.

A carwash.

Cotton ball sheep mentioned earlier.

Origami cat heads.

Some goofing around with toilet paper tubes.

Gingerbread houses.  Which two did Clara decorate?

We're having a great time!

We tried to make a snow globe but it didn't really turn out well.  Grace spent a lot of time painting and decorating this tree but mom failed somehow in the details.  Oh well, you can't win them all!

She is also making a sleigh for Santa.  She attached some popsicle sticks to the bottom so it would slide and a cardboard reindeer.  Here she is explaining her thought process!

Jolly Old Saint Nicholas

Grace is doing well with her piano lessons!

She is excited to learn Christmas songs.  

There are extra repeated notes and a couple wrong ones, but it is recognizable and I'm proud!

First Snow of the Season

We had our first real snow of the season this week.

It happened while Grace was at school, so Clara got to enjoy it by herself first.  She had a blast!

She loved crunching the snow under her feet all around our neighborhood.

When Grace came home, she was so excited to make snowmen!  She wanted to do it all by herself.  Last year, there was only one snow that was actually warm enough to pack into a snowman.  I know because we anxiously checked, and mostly it was so cold that it was piles of powder.  Grace was so disappointed all season until finally, the last snow of the season was a winner.  This year we were lucky enough to start with snowman weather.  If only it was all like this!

She allowed me to pose in her picture, haha.

So proud!

Thanksgiving 2015

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

The girls wanted to do it themselves so we just sat back and let them take the reins.  

Okay obviously not, but they enjoyed helping!  I love how Clara is on tip toes to see inside that bowl.

We've adopted a tradition of making fried oysters as an appetizer/lunch on Thanksgiving.  Apparently oysters are traditional fare on this holiday in some parts of the country, and we want to be like them!  They are available already shucked in the grocery store for the holidays.  They are expensive, but what better way to celebrate a food holiday with special and pricey food?  

Look at Grace bravely handling those raw oysters!

Even Clara tried them and said she liked them!

She is super picky these days.  She chooses to get down from the table after only a couple bites quite often.  This meal was no exception, but we were happy that she gave it a couple tries and seemed to enjoy it.  She is exercising her two year old attitude every chance she gets!

Grace loved them again this year and ate a ton!

Yay family time!

The family shot!  We made our usual fare:  Nut loaf, artichoke stuffing, mashed garlic potatoes, mushroom gravy and roasted brussel sprouts.  I adore each and every dish we make and we look forward to eating it all for days and days!  Grace loved helping me choose the table settings and set the table.

We made a beautiful meal, but I should have touched up my make up for the picture.  Looking a little rough there, obviously from slaving away!  Next time I'll factor in some cosmetic prep before the picture.

There was much anticipation for the pie!

We made pumpkin apple pie, which I'm sure sounds weird and gross to you all but it is actually quite wonderful.  Grace helped a lot of course!

I'm going to leave you with a video that pretty much describes life in our house these days.  Enjoy, and I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!