New

I’ve never needed a new year so badly.

I know the date makes no difference, but this has been a very hard year for my family. We’ve had a ton of blessings, but it’s been a hard, hard year. I’m so ready for a clean slate. Some very big changes may be on the horizon for us, but I don’t want to get my hopes up too high. I do know this much, I am viewing this new year as a time to start anew.

Last year, I had a bunch of resolutions. I am not going to do that this year. This year I  am simply going to resolve to live my life to the fullest extent of which I am capable. I won’t let life pass me by, but I am not going to expect miracles when I have a baby and a toddler.

So, with less than three hours left, I bid 2009 farewell. I say goodbye to the happy memories and am glad I experienced them and I say good riddance to all of the pain and trouble this year brought. I know I am stronger now than I’ve ever been and as much as I hate to admit it, the very experiences that knocked me down a bit will be the ones that shape who I am and who I become.

Hello, 2010. Hello, change. Hello, clean slate. New day. New Year. I am so very glad to see you.

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Slightly Confused

We don’t do a lot of movies or TV around here, but I found a pack of classic Christmas movies at Costco and couldn’t turn them down. Keagan has really enjoyed “Rodolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.”

But he’s slightly confused. He keeps calling the “Abdominal Snow Monster of the North” a baby doll.

I just don’t see the resemblance. Guess I should be glad it doesn’t scare him. Maybe he’s seen some ugly baby dolls somewhere I’m not aware of. Really, really ugly baby dolls.

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One Sweater from the Thrift Shop

became one hat, one pair of pants and one pair of mittens last night 🙂

Eden thinks the hat is better as a toy.

Keagan, however, won’t take his mittens off.

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Getting Ready for Christmas

Our advent activites have been going well. We made snowflakes and read books over the weekend and today we painted Christmas trees and more ornaments. Keagan really likes painting these days. Eden wanted in on the fun, but I was worried about her eating the paints, so I didn’t let her. I am going to have to look for some homemade paint recipes that wouldn’t hurt her if she ingested a bit.

Tomorrow we’re stringing popcorn and cranberries. I think Keagan will have a blast. I’m using a really blunt tapestry needle so it shouldn’t be too sharp. And I will, of course, be right there with him, ready to help.

Crafting is going fairly well. I am hoping to finish a blanket for Eden tonight.  I really have to get some photos up of all of my Christmas crafts.

I’m having a hard time coming up with gifts  for Eden. She’s 8 months old, will be just about 9 months on Christmas. She’s starting to like toys, but we have pretty much all we could need for a baby her age left over from Keagan. So far I made her a little taggie lovie and this blanket. I plan on making her a doll… I can’t decide if it’s going to be a Waldorf inspired baby, a Black Apple doll or a mermaid doll. For the mermaid, I’d put something crinkly in the tail so it made noise. I haven’t found a pattern, but I could wing it. I may make two of those for her. I also have an idea for a bunny with a ribbon tutu floating around in my head. But those are all pretty similar, so I don’t want to make them all. I want to come up with something that’s not a doll or a stuffed animal. Any ideas?

And I know she doesn’t need much, but I don’t want Keagan to get several gifts and think it’s odd for Eden to get less, you know?

I also have to make them mittens and hats. Tonight or tomorrow. It’s COLD. I’m making them from felted sweaters. I’m using the method in “The Handmade Home” by Amanda Blake Soule of Soule Mama (which is AWESOME by the way, check it out if you’re into crafting with repurposed materials) and  the mittens I am just tracing their hands and using the bottom ribbing of the sweaters for the bottom of the mittens. I’ve seen a few tutorials, but that covers the basic idea. Pretty simple, really… but I am sure you can find ideas for either project with some googling.

How are everyone’s Christmas projects going? Getting close to done?

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Our December Plans

So I’m trying to make sure each day between now and Christmas is part of our celebration. Some days we’ll do more exciting things than others, but each day will have some special Christmas activity.  Some days we will probably do more than one thing, some days it may be as simple as coloring a Christmas tree or reading a book. These are all things we’re hoping to do this month.

• Local Tree Lighting Ceremony
• Decorate tree in the front yard
• Set up Nativity Set and read the Christmas story from a childrens’ Bible.
• Get our Christmas tree at a local tree farm
• Decorate the tree
• Decorate the house
• String popcorn
• Zoo Christmas Display
• “Santa” Train
• Read  Christmas books including:  Who is Coming To Our House?, The Animals’ Christmas Eve, On That Christmas Night, The Night Before Christmas, The Christmas Story, Oh Little Town of Bethlehem, The Pirates’ Night Before Christmas and some various other Christmas books that are floating around our home.
• Baking Christmas Cookies
• Bake a Cake for Jesus’ birthday
• Look at local Christmas lights
• Make Ornaments
• Various Christmas crafts (including snowmen)
• Christmas Party
• Make a “snowstorm”
• Make “Sock baby Jesus”
• Make a Gingerbread House
• Visit Santa
• Go to local art museum’s “Gingerbread Village”
• Make wrapping paper
• help make gifts for Grandma and Grandpa

What’s everyone else doing to get ready for Christmas? These Advent activities have been a blast for Keagan so far. I can’t wait until Eden’s old enough to participate.

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Making Ornaments

Our third and fourth day of Advent were spent making salt-dough ornaments.  Keagan really liked the painting portion.

He is so enjoying all of our advent activities! We are (hopefully) getting our tree this weekend so that should make for a lot of Christmas fun!

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Advent Activities

We’re doing a Christmas activity each day until Christmas. We started the 30th of November by making these activity cards:

I found the numbers on some blog and I feel pretty crummy because I just can’t remember where! If anyone sees them and recognizes them, please tell me where they came from!

So we colored, stickered (we were given a large amount of Christmas stickers)  and glued those on the 30th. I’ve been adding the activities to the back here and there. I want to be sure we have one each day, but I also want to be flexible. With a 2 1/2 year old and an 8 month old I have to be!

On the first, we decorated one of our “faerie trees” out front that Keagan insists his friends, the faeries live in.

Keagan was really excited.

Keagan had a blast decorating and now gasps with joy every time we go outside. I love it! He said he made his faeries happy and their tree is pretty. Sounds good to me.

Yesterday, we made snowmen (I cut, he glued) and read “A Pirate’s Night Before Christmas” by Phillip Yates. The book was great! We read it several times and it’s a lot of fun. When you read this book aloud, you can not help but to talk like a pirate. And what kid doesn’t want to combine all the fun of pirates with all the wonder of Christmas? It was the first book he wanted to read when he woke up today as well. It’s a hit. It’s not one that will leave you all warm and fuzzy when it’s done, but it’s great.

Today, we made salt dough ornaments. We baked today and we’ll paint tomorrow. I’ll share photos when we’re done, but Keagan’s loving the process thus far.

I hope everyone’s enjoying the advent season. It’s a lot of fun to lead up to the big celebration with lots of fun activities. Christmas should be more than just a day, I think. Is anyone else celebrating the whole season? Anyone have any fun activities they’d like to share?

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Catching up…

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. My beautiful family sure reminds me that I have many, many reasons to be thankful!
Eden in her pretty dress:

Sometimes, love is squishy and kind of painful.

We had a nice dinner with my parents and brothers and headed home before pie. As sad as it is, it saved a lot of screaming and bedtime fussiness. I’m quickly learning that kids change your holiday priorities. Pie is no longer on the radar. 🙂

We’ve changed around our thoughts on Christmas as well. Actually, it’s more like I’ve guilted my husband into allowing Santa into our home. And I am so happy about it! Keagan loves Santa. And yes, he’s already a little more focused on presents than he should be, however I think that the eternal salvation delivered upon the world via a virgin birth is a bit much for a 2 1/2 year old to understand, so if he gets caught up in the gift and Santa aspect of the holiday for a few years so be it.

He’s decided he wants a motorcycle for Christmas. We decided a balance bike looks enough like one to pass. We thought about some ride on motorcycle toys, but the reviews were all terrible and we were afraid he wouldn’t play with it long. This, he can play with until about age five, when his sister can easily take over 🙂 He’s also told me that Santa wants his own motorcycle. I think that’s Santa’s problem 😉

We’re doing a lot of fun advent activities and I am going to blog about that in just a little bit. Hope everyone’s doing well!

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