Happy Hanukkah or They are a bunch of animals over here

Over here at our house we celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas. So this is the third night of Hanukkah for us. The kids have been enjoying Latkes and jelly doughnuts for dinner. Whats not to like?

The kids each got a wild animal print blanket. They look like some kind of crazy zoo all piled up on the couch. Chloe is in lurve with her zebra print fleecy blanket. They are so crazy. I can't figure out if John's is a giraffe or a leopard. I told him it was giraffe to try and get him to eat his "greens" for dinner.

Family Movie Night: The Marshmallow Edition

Tonight was another cold one. It was in the fifties, I have probably been living down South too long when I define "cold one" as fifty degrees. So we started a fire. For any of you who live in colder climates and are scratching your head now, seriously if I waited for it to be colder our fireplace would never get lit. And by "fire" I mean a lone duralog. We gathered round the fire to roast hot dogs for dinner, and s'mores for dessert. Honestly, this might have had a little something to do with me wanting to have an easy dinner. I mean, how often do my kids cook their own food?
We snuggled under the blankets and vegged out with some holiday movies. Except John, he was in shorts. He and Brian must have sludge for blood it's so thick. They are never cold.




The cat even got in on the snuggling action, and John's foot.

Wordless Wednesday: Festival of Lights

Snow Day 2009

I have never been a terribly linear, engineer sort. Really. Ever. But it was so cold outside and I had just bought John this pirate lego set. Thankfully, Lego directions are alot like Ikea furniture assembly, they give pictures. John kept looking at me. When things weren't looking right he would say, "Its okay Mom, we can wait for Dad to get home." When I finally had it all put together right, he beamed at me. He actually beamed. I felt like I had redeemed myself in the boy toy world. I can play Barbie till the cows come home, but I have been informed that I do not make a good dragon, or dinosaur.

The kids LOVED the snow, it didn't stick much to the ground, but the loved catching it in their mouths.

They loved breathing and making "clouds"


The cat was unimpressed.

And this is what a little girl looks like after romping in the snow all day. Red cheeked and exhausted.

No Sew Easy Old Fashioned Shawls

Since it was so cold down here, when I stumbled onto this tutorial over at wee folk art, I knew I had to make this. We love anything that reeks of little house on the prarie. Plus, I had woven cotton taking up space in my closet. These are so easy, you just cut the fabric into a square, and then fray about 3/4 inch by picking out threads. I made five of them in about an hour real mom time.

The girls were using them as shawls, as lap blankets, and they even wore them as scarves under their jackets. Emma is modeling the sari look. Chloe has gone back to her Polish roots and is wearing it as a head covering!

Ps. Brandy, if you are reading this. Don't make it, I already made one for each of your girls.

Santa's Sweatshop progress so far (and links if you wanna make them)

For Christmas, I like it when a certain percentage of the gifts are handmade. Trust me when I tell you that there is WAY more thought put into them. Crikey! One of these days I will go back to pure retail and get my evenings back. Just in case you find any of this inspiring, I will put the links where I can.

First I painted some Harry Potter peg people for Chloe. You find the bags of peg people at Hobby Lobby or Micheal's for less than 2 dollars for five of them. I have a tone of acrylic paints lying around, so I didn't need to purchase those. I did however have to purchase the finest paint brush imaginable. These are so tiny to begin with. I should have just borrowed a single strand of the hair from my friends newborn. I had great fun painting them. I know not everyone is into Harry Potter, but you can adapt them for what you like. I want to make Emma a Star Wars set. I have seen People create a little mock up of their own families too.

I made little felt tea bags for Emma's tea set Brian brought back from Holland. I am also midway through a felt set of poptarts and cookies. Here is a tutorial I am using.

The TuTu has been one of the quickest and easiest things I have made so far. I made three of them in under an hour (and that is real mom time=with many interruptions from the kiddies). I used Martha's tutorial here.

Next, my friend Terra and I made glass tile pendants and magnets. I am not sure how many of these will make it out as gifts. I love these SO much. I think we are going to be forced to make another batch just for ourselves. I used the same process for both. The glass makes it hard to photograph, but these turned out really well. Here is a tutorial. I bought all my supplies for these on Etsy very inexpensively. If you head out to a Hobby Store, its really pricey.

The last thing I made was Starbucks cup sleeves from fabric. Here is a link with several different designs.

I am in the middle of about eight knitting and sewing projects. As I get them done, I will update here and post the links just in case you are bored in the evening and need something to do while you watch holiday movies!

Works for me Wednesday: Toeless socks Momjacked

Chloe had some tissue removed from the top of her foot by the dermatologist, and so the doctor told us to let her wear flip flops. Well, two weeks ago this was fine, but our area just had a cold front. Looking at her bare feet in those flip flops made me freeze. Even though she said she would be okay. So I came up with this idea. I cut the toes off her socks so she would be a bit warmer. Being a huge flip flop fan myself, I am trying to decide if I can get away with this. So far, I don't think so. but I do knit....

The rest of the day we spent cuddled inside. The kids were SO EXCITED. We had a fire. Now I know those of you who live in colder climates don't understand the thrill. But for our kids anytime we have a fire is EPIC!