Gingerbread Hair Clip

Grammy is a shopper and blesses us with all manner of cuteness from her clearance finds at Gymboree and various other places. This year Lylah has gotten about a hundred "wearings" out of a sweet Gingerbread jumper and sweater and tights from last years line of cuteness at Gymboree. She loves to wear the tights and the sweater. In fact, they have been on her more than not in the past few weeks. They are her official holiday attire this year.

Since gingerbread stuff is so cute and we make such a big deal of gingerbread stuff at our house at Christmas time, I thought I would make a little gingerbread clip that she could wear with her favorite sweater and jumper. It's felt with sequins and stitching. (Pictured here on top of a ribbon bow because she had too much hair for a single clip this day. It's really a clip with pink around the clip part.)

It was so fun to make! I wish I had started my Christmas crafts earlier in the season. I might have linked them to a linky party or tried to put them in my (non-existent) shop--or sent a couple to cousins. But as it is, we have one, and only one.

I promise to post about paper gingerbread Lylah and our gingerbread houses making. Here and here are last years'. This years are sweet and fun too. I am finding myself too busy to post as often as I want. I am so blessed to be doing things I love and spending time with my precious family. Christmas has been a blast this year. Simple and unadorned. I am loving the season. More on that later....

p.s. Happy 100th Post to me!!

Christmas Wrap Up

I just wanted to share a few of my favorites from Christmas.  These are in no special order, just as they come to me.
 #1  I heard Lylah in the dining room by the tree.  She was ringing a bell that was on an ornament and screaming, "Put money in it!  Put money in it!"  She has seen the bell ringers and this was her ode to their work.  I have never heard them screaming or saying to put money in it.  But she got the point.  It was pretty cute.

#2  Last year Lylah got a nativity set that she could play with from my brother's family.  She loved to play with it.  She really loved carrying around the Baby Jesus.  She would tell him," Wait right here Baby Jesus.  I gotta go potty."  She also slept with both of the angels form the set.  One in each hand.  I looked at the way she had the nativity scene set up once and there were all the usual players and a fairey princess.  Who knew there was one there?

#3 We consiously chose not to make Santa a big deal or promote Santa in any way.  We looked at him in Christams decor and in some books at school.  He even made an appearance at our school's Christmas party.  But we said Santa was fun to pretend at Christmas time.  She was happy to think of him as a story and could tell you all about him, complete with a round of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and a cute finger-play called santa Pop .  We just could not see the logic behind us trying to get her to believe that Santa was real (when we know he's not) and trying to tell her Jesus IS real (because we know he is).  Neither can she see or truly grasp yet.  So the only way we could get her to begin to understand the real meaning of Christmas was to tell her it was Jesus' birthday.  I realize that Jesus  was not turning another year older this year, but Lylah was so excited to hear that it was Jesus' birthday that she had to have a cake for him.  I was almost all she could think of.  Her idea was to include hats, and balloons too.  I convinced her that all of the Christmas decoratoins were for the big Celebration.  That seemed to satisfy her.  On Christmas Eve Lylah and I made a cake for Jesus.  It was not pretty.  It was, in fact, ugly.  But I don't think Jesus minded.  I knew Lylah did not.    She ate with gusto.  Happy birthday Jesus.




I am sure there are more favorites...this being my favorite Christmas ever ,ever ever, EVER, ever. But I don't want to bore anyone with anymore tidbits.
Happy Christmas everyone.

Our "Little House" Christmas

Here is our home on Christmas morning.  The snow is about 18 inches deep!  We had to tie a rope to Glen and send him out to the barn for the presents  so he could hold on to it and find his way back to the house.  Meanwhile, Hester Sue and I sang "Sweet Little Jesus Boy" and relived our Christmases of the past.  Do you know this episode of Little House on the Prarie?  I love it and watch it every year.  And this year we lived it a bit.  Well not really, but the snow was pretty bad (and I may have pretended to be Blind Mary a time or two on the way to the potty at 2 am in the dark....you never know when you might need to navigate blindly.  Luckily I have practiced for about 25 years now).   We were home bound but we were cozy and happy to be together.  Lylah loved all her gifts and was so excited to open them and play with them.

 Here she is opening a stocking gift.  We got her her own gum.  She is obsessed with gum.  She was so thrilled and said, " I can't believe it!  My own, own pink gum!"

 Aunt Lori and Lylah giving her new doll house a try.

Her favorite gift of the day was several gifts in one.  Glen worked really hard on turning the basement into a play space for her and Lori helped him get it painted.  (I was on a creative rampage most of this time).  In the basement we put her tent from Grammy and Papa Blazer, her train from Aunt Lori, her Dora the Explorer doll house from Grammy and Papa Jones, and her blocks.  But the biggest hit was the leaf shaped swing I found at the teacher store in town.  She LOVES the swing.  Instant hit!



    Here is a video of the Game she made up for her swing and tent together.  She told Glen that she could never believe it to have a tent and a swing in her house.  She is so animated.


It was about the best day ever.  We enjoyed family traditions and we saw the tremendous excitement in Lylah's eyes over all things Christmas, and we were together.  Lylah looked out at the snow later in the day...it was still snowing...and said, "Isn't this a beautiful Christmas day?!"  My sentiments exactly.  I believe it was the most beautiful Christmas day.

Christmas Eve again

My previous post told about how we had an early Christmas and Christmas Eve with Glen's family...

Our second Christmas Eve happened on December 24th with just me, Lori, Glen and Lylah. There was talk on the news of really bad weather including ice, sleet, and blizzard -like conditions. You never know if it will come or how bad it will really be. But it all came true this time. It started up around 4:30 in the afternoon and kept on going all the way through December 26th. But we had a wonderful Christmas Eve despite the weather. Our church canceled services, but there was another church in town that was brave enough to keep the doors open and we bundled up and went there. It was a lovely service that included 3 baptisms,the Lord's Supper, and the singing of "Silent Night" by candle light. When we left the service we had to pry our car doors open and drive through slippery, icy sludge all the way home.

Here is Lylah enjoying her candy cane--notice the red lips--
before our super- awesome frozen pizza dinner.

Lylah opened her Christmas Eve gift. It would normally be PJ's but Grammy sent them alittle earlier in the week and I had to see her in them before Christmas Eve too. She opened hermicrophone because she thought the wrapping was funny and looked like a carrot.She practiced saying, " Hello down there" as if she were speaking down a tunnel.
Here she is in her Christmas cat pj's from Grammy. It's a bad picture.
But it's the only one I could get. It's either no smile or jumping these days with her.
All my pictures seem to be a blur as of late.

In the evening we ( Glen, Lori, Lylah, and I) made gingerbread houses together. Glen made his completely snow covered and minimalist. We all agreed it was nice but it needed a door. He showed it to Lylah who said, " Oh, Dada, it's so nice and beautiful. But it has no door, does it?" He said the door got snowed under. Lylah covered her house with as much candy as possible because she was pretty sure she would get a taste of each thing before she allowed it to be attached to the house. (Again with the chipmunk cheeks) Lori and I both were trying for beauty and style. If we had had better icing we might have had better luck. Our stuff kept slipping off. But they were quite festive all sitting together in a row on the dining table.

from left: Mine, Lori's, Lylah's, Glen's

We will have to do our houses earlier next year so we can enjoy them more. I fully intended to have the houses on display with on of my favorite Christmas decorations, Santa and his Roadrunners, but I never ended up decorating much this year. I ran out of time. [ A side note for those who don't know: I was born in New Mexico and my Dad's family is from there. My grandpa used to make Santa and Roadrunners to sell at craft fairs. The roadrunner is the NM state bird. When my grandparents passed away I got this bit of Christmas nostalgia and I love it so much.]

Lylah reading the Christmas story with her Daddy ( or dada as she likes to
all him right now--I'm mama. Sounds so sweet)

After our houses were made Glen read Lylah the story of Christmas from her Jesus Storybook Bible. I love this Bible. I have cried more than once over the beauty of the storytelling and the way the author makes simple truths come to life. The subtitle says: every story whispers His name. It tells all the Old and New Testament stories from the perspective of looking to Jesus as the rescuer and redeemer of all of us. It speaks so plainly of how God loves us and wants us to know him and follow him. Lylah loves this Bible and will look at it for quite a while and tell us about the stories.
Glen read one part of the story that said that God was like a proud Daddy telling everyone about the birth of his son. She was so excited that God is a daddy too. She said," like I have a daddy...like you daddy". It brought tears to our eyes. What a responsibility we have to show her her Heavenly Father and help her to try to understand that love!

I looked and looked for a children's bible that was simple but did not speak to
children as if they were stupid, had nice illustrations,and did not leave out the Crucifixion. I found so much more in this bible than I expected.I have read it devotionally for myself several times too. It's so good.

Our tree decorated with our special ornaments and favorite lights.
All of Lylah's gifts under the branches--guarded closely by the elf in cat's pajamas.
He hardly ever left his post throughout the season.

We tucked Lylah in bed with the anticipation of getting to open presents and eat Jesus' birthday cake the next day. She was out like a light. And then Lori and Glen and I finished up her Christmas surprises, took pictures of the snow, and went to bed too. We were all pretty excited to share Christmas morning and found it hard to sleep. I think I was up at 6 waiting for Lylah to stir so I could go in and get her.

Our white Christmas. This was only the beginning...

First Christmas of 2009

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve last Saturday night at Lori's house. Glen's sister lives just a couple of blocks over from us and she hosted the festivities for all of us for the first time. It was an easy-going and cozy night. We milled around and at yummy treats and snacks, including Lori's Oreo Balls!!, and had plenty of time to chat and watch the cousins play together. Lylah loves her Aunt Lori for many reasons and she really loves how silly Lori is for her. She put on quite a show for her Uncle Scott too. He chased her with the video camera and she thought that was lots of fun. Lori's house has a floor plan that will make a complete circle if you go through all the rooms, so Lylah was able to use it as a racetrack. She chased and was chased in return by her cousins and Uncle Scott. No better game than that for her!

We had Christmas at Glen's parents' house on Sunday. I had the camera out a lot but no real pictures to speak of. We ate yummy food and talked and opened presents and chatted more. The kids seemed to get their wishes granted and everyone played with contentment for the rest of the afternoon. Good times!!

I wanted Lylah to have a special dress for Christmas but I also did not want to go out an buy a dress for a one time use. I have a real problem with the thought process behind the need to have tons of expense tied up in a toddler's wardrobe. But I wanted a sweet dress for her and I loved her dress from last year. So I refashioned it and added a 3 inch green velvet band around the bottom to give it more length. It fit like a dream and looked so Christmas-y and sweet. My first refashion! I really loved the way it turned out. I tried to get a few shots of it from different views.



A moving target as always...

Opening a present. She got really good at opening gifts. She helped me open mine too. She became an expert quick ripper.
She loved all her goodies. We will have to do major toy shuffle to fit in all the new stuff from all her family here and from my side too. Everyone was so generous to her. She has lots of fuel for her budding imagination.

Playing with her train track with her cousins.



Lylah got to watch The Heffalump Movie with Grandma in the afternoon. Poor Grandma had to work all night and was needing a rest. So she got a few winks in during a Winnie the Pooh viewing with Lylah. Lylah made sure Gramma got the full thrill out of all of her favorite parts.

I am so excited for our family Christmas too. I am needing to get a few things done for Glen and Lylah too. My art space looks like a tornado hit a Michael's Craft Store. I just can't seem to reorganize as I go. Better get back to it though. More later...

Oh Christmas Tree!

We went on Thanksgiving morning to get our tree. Lylah was so excited about the idea. She ran around the tree place and told us how beautiful and lovely all the trees were. We got it home and put it up---and there it has been until today. Today, December 6th, we decorate the blessed tree. We decorated her little one, but the rest of the house is due for a decorating extravaganza!! I will post the after shot later on when the tree is in full Christmas mode. For now I thought it might be fun to see a few shots of Lylah at the tree place and a shot of the Thanksgiving table later on that day.

She smiles so sweetly here not because I asked her to ( that now produces a frown or closed eyes ). She smiles because of the candy cane in her hand. Can't wait to lick it!! She pretended to lick it several times before it was opened.
We had a really fun and yummy Thanksgiving meal at Glen's parents' house on the Sunday before Thanksgiving. So on Thanksgiving day I made chicken and noodles and mashed potatoes. I got to use the beautiful soup terrine that my mom just passed down to me in the spring. On out table is fun vintage paper turkey decoration and also a new and cherished Lylah-made paper turkey. I don't keep all the things she makes. But I love the turkey. It's too cute!! I am a thankful girl indeed. I cannot begin to count the ways my life has been blessed. A Happy Thanksgiving to be sure!!!

Acorn Tops and Felt Glittered Ornaments

Lylah and I have been taking walks and collecting all kinds of fall goodies. My favorites are the acorns and acorn tops. Hers are crab apples, but they don't last very long after they are picked. On our last visit to the park we gathered about 25 acorn tops. She was overjoyed to find them. So was I. We stuffed our pockets full and I made up my mind to make something from them.
Lylah is doing every tradition for the first time this year ( as she does not remember doing it in years past because she was too young to know). So all things Christmas are VERY exciting. I bought her a little tensile tree and we needed decorations that would not break or be dangerous in her room. Enter the acorn tops. I made felt bottoms for the acorn tops and she shook them in clear plastic and silver glitter. Here is my attempt at a tutorial for making the sweet acorns.


1. Gather the acorn tops ( and pine cones too).

2. Have someone who knows how to use power tools drill a small hole in the top of the cap. Yeah, that's my 2 year old pushing the trigger. It's safe...Dad is there. He worked on following directions and red light green light. She was a pro. See the look of determination on her face?!

3. Thread a length of string through the hole and tie a knot. I used some cording because it was sturdy and white and would go with the silver tree.


4. Trace a circle in the circumference you think works best onto the felt pieces.

5. Sew a running stitch around the edge of the felt circle.
6. Stuff the circle and draw up the thread tightly to make a small closed pouch.
7. Hot glue the acorn cap and string to the felt pouch.


8. It should look like this.


9. Use school glue and brush to apply glue to all the surface of the acorn.


10. Drop the acorn into a zip top bag with glitter in it and SHAKE like the dickens. I used clear plastic glitter and silver glitter mixed.

11. When you are done it should look like this.

My willing assistant looked like this.

The tree looked like this. Lylah drew in a breath and exclaimed, " Beautiful and Lovely. Oh Merry Christmas, right?! It's my best ever, EVER, ever, ever, ever!"

Just Hear those Sleigh Bells Jingling...

I have no pictures to post because my camera is MIA again. I know where it is, but it is not accessible today. Oh well.
I am in full craft mode. I am working on Lylah's stocking and her various Christas gifts. I am currently making her a Waldorf inspired doll. I love it. Right now it i just a head without a body. Lalah saw it to day and said "uh, no thank you Mommy...." and "is that and Octopus" and later when she saw the disembodied head sitting on the coffee table, " Here yo go Mommy. don't EVER ever , ever leave this out again. Not ever." I admit the "doll" is a smidgen on the creepy side now, but I believe it will be so sweet when it is done. I am planning on giving it hair in Lylah's color. There are lots of pretty yarns to choose from now a days. So I am excited about completion. If I like this doll, then I will make more and use more to shelf materials like the REAL Waldorf dolls are made with. For this one I am using knit fabric and polyfill to stuff it rather than the all wool and no synthetic materials that the philosophy would suggest. You will have to look them up to see what I am talking about with the dolls. I love them and think they are cute. ( Depends on the doll-maker though . ) They are deliberately made without a whole lot of expression in the face so hat the child can pretend more completely. I cannot wait to finish the doll and make her a few clothes. When I get the camera back I will take a picture of the work in progress for you to see.