Monday, December 26, 2011

"N" is for Natural Dyes






This week we are learning all about the letter "N". I actually had a few different ideas in mind for this week's activity/craft. However, my younger sis gets credit for suggesting this one. Once she told me about it I just knew we had to try it out. Using only blackberries, water and salt we made our own natural dye. It was super fun and totally easy. We just followed the instructions here: Free People Bldg 25 Blog

I have to confess, Nora didn't take too much interest in this project. She was too busy with her play dough at the time. I'll likely try this out again with her. Maybe we'll try using some kale or the onions. We've got some plain white socks and burp cloths that could use a bit of color :)

Monday, December 19, 2011

M is for Marshmallows








The letter of the week is M! We kicked this week off with a super fun experiment that I found in one of my parenting magazines. We microwaved marshmallows :) This concept isn't exactly novel to me but I had fun showing it to Nora. She got all excited when the marshmallows expanded. We also drew faces on them (something the magazine article suggested). Nora also tried marshmallows for the very first time in her life (the ones w/o any marker on them). I was surprised to learn that she doesn't like them! Wow, I didn't see that one coming. I guess we both learned something today!!

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Claire's Baptism









Today, our very own Claire Elizabeth was baptized at Nova United Methodist Church. It was a beautiful morning, only slightly cold and sunny with a light dusting of snow left on the ground from yesterday. It was a bit of a trek driving to Nova, however, I'm glad we made the effort. The church was lovely, the service was touching and the congregation were very inviting. We were thrilled to have our good friend, Harry baptize Claire, just as he did for our Nora. Claire was an angel throughout the service and only cried a little while being baptized. It was a wonderful, memorable day and we were glad to share it with family and friends :)

Thank you again to everyone who came and to everyone who was with us today in thought and prayer. We are truly blessed to have you all in our lives!

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Happy Holidays :)


















What a fun and busy December it has been so far and it's only the tenth of the month. The holidays are already in full swing around here. The tree is up and the cookies are baked. The presents have been bought and some of them have even been wrapped. The snow has fallen and the Christmas cards have started to arrive. The festivities have officially begun! It feels as if we've already done so much  this month and we still have so much to look forward to! Here's what we've done so far and what we've got coming up:

December 4th: Search for the Christ Child
 We got to portray the Holy Family. Claire was baby Jesus, I was Mary and my step-dad pretended to be Joseph. It was such an honor to do this. It really warmed my heart to see how the kids responded to baby "Jesus". They were so excited to come and see "Him". One boy even colored a picture and presented it as a gift. It was so incredibly sweet. It was such a great experience and it really put me in the mood for Christmas.

December 8th: Cookie Walk
My mom, sis and I all got together and baked cookies for the cookie walk. We found a great recipe for sugar cookies w/ cranberries dipped in dark chocolate. We made about eight dozen in one night. Five dozen went to the church and three dozen got frozen for the holidays. It was fun but it was a ton of work. I'm officially done baking for now!!

December 10th: Breakfast with Santa
Today we had breakfast with Santa Claus :) We did this last year as well without much success. Nora was afraid of Santa and refused to go anywhere near him. This year she let me hold her while we stood nearby, ha ha! Claire had no clue what was going on and tolerated being placed on Santa's lap. We got some really great photos and had fun listening to Christmas carols from the choir.

December 18th: Claire's Baptism
Baby Claire is going to be baptized! I am so excited for this. Our good friend Harry is going to do the honors. He also baptized Nora and married me and Nick so I'm thrilled that he is baptizing Claire for us as well. I'm also excited to be doing this during the holidays. It just feels fitting somehow.

December 24th-25th: Christmas Time
We'll be spending the holiday with family and friends. Although it can be a hassle running from house to house I'm grateful to have so much family. Even if they are a little crazy ;)

Happy Holidays Everyone!!


Friday, December 9, 2011

10 Things...



... I love about the holidays:




Decorating the tree


Making hand made gifts



Celebrating family



Adorable holiday outfits :)



Baking cookies together



Snow on the evergreens :)



Celebrating firsts with my baby



Hanging special ornaments




Warm fuzzy blankets 


 Happy times and smiles galore