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...

X-rated Gingerbread Boy

As I said in a previous post, the kids made paper gingerbread likenesses. I have a few specimens to share that I thought you might enjoy. The first was created in pure innocence. My class friend wanted to make a candy cane on his boy for decoration but he had already started putting paper buttons down the front of the gingerbread boy. Rather than have to start over, he just added the hook and made is cane upside down. He then added the Puff paint to accent the shape. He stepped back proudly admiring his work. "So now you can really tell, right?" I said, "Oh, Yeah! Mom and Dad are gonna love it!" I gave him the freedom to create his artwork. I will let his 9 year old brother enlighten him about his creation. I am sure it will take big brother about 2 seconds to see what the 4 year old in his creative frenzy did not. Good times in preschool!!!

(Insert off-color Joke here)

They were creating all kinds of fashion. The one above on the left made his have bones. Good thinking, I told him. He said bones were so he would not fall down. The one on the right got a belt and below it a belly button (added with a snicker). I love to hear all the reasoning.

My job is good. I am so blessed to be working in a place where I have can work every day, be totally worn out at the end, and still want to go again the next day because it feel like I am doing what I am called to do right now. I am grateful for the friendship I have in co-workers, for freedom and encouragement to be creative, and for wonderful kids whose early learning I am privileged to influence. How wonderful to think that children come to my class excited to learn and thinking that school is fun! I hope they keep the joy of learning and discovering always. Maybe they will not remember me specifically, but hopefully they will leave my class with a desire to learn and a desire to be a friend to others. That's my goal.

Wow! I was not intending to be philosophical, but I am grateful. God had given me a wonderful opportunity to touch the lives of children and families. I have a ministry here. I was feeling a bit jolly and joyful because of Christmas and my heart is thankful for the gift of a job that pays my bills and gives me a ministry too. Am I anxious to get out of school for a break? YES!!! But I also want to keep on teaching while it is my time to do so. Only 2 days this week!! Come on Christmas...

If Gretal had a day job...

Gretal's escaped the wicked witch and got a job teaching preschool. I made 30 cracker houses for our gingerbread week at school. I told myself I would not do it anymore. Too much work. But the rewards came the next day when I helped the kids make their houses. OK, I'm in for next year. I will just have to get more done in advance so I am not crunched for time. What a jolly project it was!

This is a picture of Lylah and some of her classmates with their houses. See the joy? I love these cuties!


This past week at school we made gingerbread houses. I made them f graham crackers. Super easy! ( took a chunk of time for the mass quantity, though). Each house takes about 5 crackers. I used royal icing to "glue" the houses together and then I mixed a little cream of tartar into canned icing to allow the kids to glue the candies on their houses. I read somewhere that the cream of tartar helps the icing to harden and, therefore, hold the candies on the houses. The project was a hit and all the kids really enjoyed decorating their houses.

It was funny to see the difference between the age groups and their thought processes. My morning group had several shades of decorating philosophies. They are 2. My younger ones mostly just saw piles of candy as the most awesome buffet ever and later caught onto the concept of putting the candies on the houses. The older 2's wanted to make houses pretty "for Mommy". I love this sweet stage where everything they do is for Mommy or Daddy to enjoy (I , being Mommy appreciate her creations and enthusiasm.) My 4 and 5 year olds had a few different philosophies too. There were some who wanted to make houses that looked great and so they added chimneys, and widows, and door knobs, and Christmas lights. These houses would go home and be proudly displayed. Then there were others who wanted to pile as much candy on their houses as possible so that they could take them home and eat them. Their houses were about 10 lbs and not a speck of the crackers underneath were visible. But they were all proud of the houses and super excited to show parents at pick up time.


Lylah had a mixture of philosophies going on too. Being 2, she was way into eating the candy rather than decorating the house at first. I took several pictures of her and her cheeks look as though she has either had her wisdom teeth extracted or has turned into a chipmunk. But really, she was a candy glutton...I guess I should let her have a piece now and then and maybe she would not feel the need to stuff her face because she will never see the stuff again. Anywho, after filling her mouth full of candy, she began to be willing to put a few pieces on the house and ended with a cute finished product. She really loved holding it on the way to the car and into the house so she could steal little licks from the peppermints that adorn the roof. It now sits safely on a shelf beyond her reach. She proudly showed Daddy her house first thing when he got home (and took a little sneak-lick).


Cheeks packed to the hilt. One for the house and sneak 3 for me...

Proud of her work! "Can I have just one more lick, Mommy, and then that's it? No more after that. OK? " Seems like she might have heard those words before. My negotiator.

"Gingerman Lylah"

Here is a fun project that we did on Friday. I have said before that one of my favorite things to do with kids is let them paint with Puff paint made from shaving cream and glue. You use equal parts of both ( pretty much--I use more shaving cream most of the time). It is an amazing puff paint because it is fluffy and soft and feels so neat when it dries. Every time I do an art experience with my class I have parents and passers by in the hallway asking what the art is made of. All that to say, you should try it out. You will love it too. It is messy because the kids really get into it ( and it's 1/2 glue), but it washes out of clothes well if you just use glue and shaving cream. If you want color you will have to use food coloring. If you try to use paint you will end up with a form of a not useful, almost silly putty. Here goes... The Gingerbread Kid project. Lylah calls hers Gingerman Lylah. She always leaves out the "bread" part in the middle.

Supplies:
Bowl to mix puff paint and spoon to stir
Shaving Cream
School Glue
Roll of Brown craft paper big enough to trace your child and make clothes if you wish
Scissors
Paint and paint brush
Plastic Pastry bag or a sturdy Zip Top bag to use for piping "icing"


Finished Product!! By the real Gingerman Lylah in her favorite unicorn jammies.
First step: Trace around your willing assistant. I used brown craft paper so that I would have a ready made gingerbread color to start with. I Then used the cut out body to make a pattern for a dress and boots and mittens and hat just like a paper doll.


Step Two: Enlist the help of the willing assistant. Paint the clothing pieces. She wanted to use pink. I love the look it made. It ended up looking like the frosting on those yummy iced animal cookies. I think you could get the same look with any paint as long as you added white to it to make it more icing-ish. Let it dry.

Step four, five, and six: I guess are the most important and I did not take pictures of them. Oops!! Sorry. I am not used to taking the pictures all along the way. I will explain them instead.
4. Glue the pieces of clothing to the body for a permanent paper doll effect.
5. Mix equal parts of shaving cream and glue in a bowl until completely incorporated and then transfer the mixture into a plastic pastry bag without a decorative tip. Snip a tiny snip of the tip of the bag so that you have a small opening that the paint will be piped from.
6. Pipe the paint mixture onto the paper gingerbread kid in a decorative gingerbread fashion. I outlined the whole body and made details for the face and clothing. Let this all dry for several hours and then display! Ta da!! A paper gingerbread kid.
p.s. You can make this project in a variety of ways. I did them with both of my preschool classes this week too. Theirs look a lot more 'kid made' because they are. For the class I made the paint mixture and put it in the piping bags and put a twist tie on the end so the paint wouldn't ooze out. I did NOT trace extra clothes out of paper and have them paint the clothes. All of their decorations were made with glue and construction paper, raisins, and puff paint. You could also use candy (real or stickers) for clothing decoration. Here is a link to the classroom designs. This is a project my two year old class loved as well as my five year old class. My 5's had some pretty fun and funky designs and were really into it. I hope you will try it. Let me know if you do. I would love to see some more ideas for the gingerbread kids and pictures of the fun. Happy Crafting!

Snow Day!!

Here is my little snow bunny. We had our first snow day. She did not know why Aunt Lori and I were doing a snow dance and were giddy the night before. Oh, she will learn the joy of a snow day!!! We were out in the snow for about 30 minutes. She came inside and was ready to go right back out. But she was red under her clothes and I am so not sure I was not giving her frost bite. I think she did fine. Nothing fell off or turned grey. She was back to normal pretty soon. Someone will have to give this Florida girl a few pointers on how long little kids can tolerate winter conditions. But, so far so good. The middle picture is her doing her version of a snow angel. I showed her mine and she then did her own. It involved a lot of flailing. The bottom one is the first picture I took upon getting outside. You can see she was REALLLLY excited.

Snow and Song, a Video

Here is my snow video of Lylah in the big snow.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

I tried a bit of silly and more techie than I am used to. Lylah wanted a dance for our family after seeing Baby Celie dance so well. She loves Henry's moves.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Finnished!!

It only took 3 years and 4 Pride and Prejudice viewings to get Lylah's Christmas stocking done. Poor baby has been promised ( in my mind ) a Christmas stocking since before she was born. This will be her third Christmas and she, at last, has a stocking! I got my niece's stocking done a week or two ago and then started work on Lylah's. I totally intended to have stockings on my ETSY shop this Christmas, but it did not happen. I will get myself together to get them done for next year. I was in a funk all of last year. I had a stressful new job ( in good and bad ways) and I was dealing with the loss of our precious baby, Anna. I was just barely hanging in there. But right now, praise Jesus, I am feeling pretty good. I am feeling well, I one year of job under my belt and a fantastic assistant to help me this year. I have been given hope even through the loss of our long anticipated third baby. I have been given peace, and faith, and been loved by my sweet husband and friends. All of this, plus the inspiration given to me by my bundle of crazy two-year-old bliss and a plethora of bloggy goodness, has given me the push I needed to get my chapped hands in motion.

So, without further adieu.... Lylah's long awaited "boot"
The stocking base is my favorite old kakki pants.  I have made all my stockings this way.  Who knew it was "upcycling".  It just looks more cozy.  I used a lot of my favorite ribbons and tried out the stripes pattern with varied widths of wool felt and ric rac and ribbon. I embroidered the snowflakes on top after I machine sewed all the stripes down. I hand sewed the pocket design and toe and heel patches. I used all my favorite designs from other family stockings and made Lylah's into my favorite yet. Glen's was the first I made in remotely this style ( made a whole set for my fam when I was in high school not in the same way as these). I made mine second and next a set for Chris and Susan and their kids my mom and dad, and Matthew and Sarah and Lilly ( and now Celie too). They have gotten progressively better. Now mine and Glen's will look very shabby next to Lylah's. Maybe I will do new ones for us next. Glen does not want a new one for sentimental reasons...so maybe I can chop his up and up-cycle it. We will see I guess.

Used Grammy Logan's sequins and beads, my favorite ribbons and felt, and Grandmother Blazer's seed beads for Mouse eyes and fun ric rac for embellishments. I am so thankful to have so many people give me their crafting things. It adds history and family to my projects. Makes me love the finished product more and more.
I made a little plush mouse to go inside the pocket of the stocking. i was inspired to do this by the overalls my mom sent her from Gymboree. They had a little Panda that was attached to the pocket and she loved it. Took care of it and kissed it a lot. I made up the pattern myself and even made him have movable and bendable legs and arms. I will have to make more mini plushies. It was quite fun and I loved the result.
Here she is trying on her "Boot". She knows she will find a present inside it on Christmas morning, but she has not quite got the idea that it is not really a boot. She said she now needs "anovee one for the other foot, please" Love the tongue out. She is both working hard and being silly.

Here is a link to the stockings I made for my sister and her family. I love to see them all together. Makes me need to get new ones done for me and Glen!!

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!!!