Gingerbread House

Yay! Merry Christmas Eve!

We have been enjoying slow days. Just doing a couple of activities each day. Zoey wakes up each morning to tell us how many days left to open presents. The other night we busted out our Gingerbread House kit. (Ummm, it was actually from last year, and I forgot about it.) So FYI, if you want to add one to your emergency kit, you know, if you need a craft during an emergency... Anyway, it actually worked out well. I told them that they COULDN'T eat the icing or anything because it was old, and they didn't. They just decorated. And took turns being the Project Manager. All three of them.

Here we are getting started... The kids patiently waited as Ross and I put it together. Max and Zoey organized the candy and planned what they were going to do.

Time to Decorate!
This house building is work! Max takes a break to stretch...


Here's the mandatory, "Smile for Momma while you work!" picture. Seriously, how posed is Max's smile? Stinker.

AND, TA-DAH!!! The finished project!

And here is the back of the house... You can see the family has their Christmas tree up in front of the window:)


Enjoy today!

We Still Believe... for now!

Well, despite Zoey's very logically thought out denial of the elves... She apparently is holding out for the Big Guy in Red. The other day we picked her up from school and she was beaming! She exclaimed when she got in the car, "I know my Christmas Wish!"

I was thrilled to see her joy, but was a little concerned. I had just finished, that day, with Christmas shopping. So I asked what it was and she said, "Monopoly!"

She's been playing at school and loving it, and we don't have it at home. I smiled. A smile filled with relief (I think Santa can definitely manage that gift...wink, wink) and warmth at the fact that out of everything she could have asked for, she wants a simple board game. I counted my blessings that she hasn't been overwhelmed by consumerism yet. And as for the other gifts under the tree? They will be a sweet bonus to her! And she will love them and we are excited for her to open them. Making the whole gift-giving that much sweeter, I think. And well, it also made me realize that when I get frustrated sometimes with her ummm.... stubborness, that she is a pretty wonderful girl, and I am blessed.

So, home she went, to write her letter to Santa:

And off I went, for that one last present...

And as a side note... I had to take this picture of her and her outfit... She is my little bohemian, ecletic child who must dress herself and often comes up with some interesting creations. This one was mild, but a favorite. She wore boots, too but they aren't in the picture. (And I made the skirt out of some old curtains!!)

CAUGHT! But with a Smile

I enjoy and treasure the two days that Max stays home each week from school. He is just so easy and fun and funny, and I know that this time with him is limited. Even when he is "up to no good," he is a joy to me. The other day, Zoey was off at school. It was mid-morning. I was downstairs in the kitchen when I suddenly realized that I didn't know where Max was in the house and it was VERY QUIET!

I s-l-o-w-l-y walked up stairs and peeked in his room.

Nothing.

But, then I heard him. He was in the greatest place of all.... His sister's room, while she was away at school!!!

So, being the blogger that I am... I ran for the camera.

And really, how can you resist that sweet smile and cutie pajamas?


All I can say is... he's just sitting at her art table... I have caught him here making a much bigger mess, so it could have been a lot worse!

Logic and Reason

The kids in Zoey's class must be discussing the truth about Santa a lot, because she seems to ask daily if Ole St Nick is real or not. And really, what do you say when they ask you point blank?

I just mumbled something about, "oh, he's real if you believe in him and want to believe in him." She was pretty content with that, for the moment. Then she started asking about the elves and I gave her a similar answer and she just flat out said, "I'm sorry, but that just doesn't make any sense!"

I have switched my focus with her to Jesus' birth anyway, so I am sure the Santa thing will just fade into the background.

Besides, nothing is getting past this kid anyway. My parents had a package sent to us for our entire family. I knew what it was, so it was no surprise to me, and when the package came, I naturally wrapped it up with the other presents. Zoey inspected them all and was surprised that a present was to all of us (me included), from Grandma and Papa.... HOWEVER, it was in the same wrapping paper as the others.

"This is not right!" she exclaimed. "If it is wrapped in this paper, then you (me) already know what it is!!"

Oh, the injustice.

Have I mentioned already that we see "lawyer" in her future?

Farm Life

Warning... This is not the holiday decorating post I said was coming... It is quite different from that, actually.

So Ross got to be a lumberjack and cut down a tree one day. And the next? Well, he played rancher and shot a cow and skinned him up! His (the cow, named Frank) hind quarters were aging in our temperature controlled garage! When Ross removed the dressing to clean them half way through, Zoey wanted to check out the pieces of meat!

Here she is next to them, just for some size perspective.


Ross and his friend with the farm, who raised the cow, are now out in the garage processing him in all of his grass-fed glory. Zoey is enjoying being the spectator and making comments about everything she sees. It is a weird lesson in cow anatomy!

O Christmas Tree Farm!

So we had a pretty cool day the other day. We went to a Christmas Tree Farm to chop down our own tree. It was a first for me! Ross and I were amazed at how pretty all of the trees were. There were four or five different kinds and they were all beautiful!

Here the kids are in the tree sled. Their natural inclination? To hop in a go for a ride, of course...

It's funny to see them in a sled without snow, though. Ross and Zoey went running off and I was left to pull Max in the sled for a bit. He wanted to ride over all the bumps! He is getting heavy, is all I can say about that.

We searched and searched. It wasn't hard, though. Like I said, there were tons of trees that would do. I felt myself being a little Charlie Brown-like though, feeling sorry for the puny trees and wanting to take one home. When I told Ross, he just laughed. Typical of me, I suppose. I love the underdog. Anyway, he quickly explained that those little guys, they are still growing and will be good for next year. So, I was okay with that. And then, we found our Christmas friend...


And here is my lumberjack going to work... (he brought his own saw, by the way. the old guys at the farm liked that!)



Alright, Dad... Load it up in the sled. I'm Ready!!


And we're off... Our tree went from living on the tree farm, to in our house in less than an hour. I just love that, definitely a benefit of country living. (I know, I just milk that whole country living thing). Anyway, decorating pictures soon.

Errr.... Happy Thanksgiving...

Yikes, you got me. I totally forgot to do my little "Happy Thanksgiving" post. I sat down today to write of other adventures, and then realized what happened. So just skip it,right? Well, I can certainly use my mild mishap as a reminder to not reserve my thanksgiving for just one single day. I have been blessed, and need to remember that on a daily, even hourly basis. BUT, I also just couldn't pass up the opportunity to let the Johnston boys (all the ones in Ohio, that is) wish you their best...

I mean, you wouldn't have wanted to miss this sweet thing, right?


Another thing to be thankful for... my sweet sis-in-law and I have it pretty good... We just send the boys to the kitchen! (They seem to have more fun anyway)


PS: I took the picture with you in mind, Bette... I figured you'd truly appreciate these boys in the kitchen.

Christmas Card Picture Rejects

Usually I am running around on December 23, looking for an outfit for Max for Christmas. Zoey finds hers in October. And then I just forget, and end up searching through ski clothes or Valentine's stuff to find Max an outfit because everything is already gone! So, feeling very proud of myself for actually being ahead of the game this year in terms of Christmas clothes for both kids, I had them try them on the other day. And then I figured, hey, they are dressed and relatively clean, so let's take our Christmas photos for Christmas cards!! I'm thinking I just scored two points for myself now (it is a game against myself, but that's irrelevant if you ask me).

So I get the kids outside and try and set up some sort of pose...

Here we go, how about just a nice, sweet, brother/sister pic...


not too bad... everyone's at least looking at the camera. Not exactly what I want though... Oh, good, here is Zoey and her cheesy smile she has perfected. I think this one should be "This is all about me, oh, and I guess my little brother has to be in the picture too."


Well, now we need one with Max's cheesy smile. It just wouldn't be fair otherwise. With kids, its all about fairness.


Let's try again... We always need an eyes-closed shot, don't we?

It is a sweet, look though, isn't? Even angelic? It could be my theme for the cards if I get desparate...


This next one, I actually like of both of them. If they were separate pictures, and I wasn't trying for the whole Christmas card thing...


Well, at this point, we need a little tension breaker... let's just get silly:


Okay, now we're ready. Sillies are out. This is it. This is going to be the one. (or I am giving up!) On Three... One... Two... Three... SMILE:)

Yay! Both kids looking at the camera! Perfect. And I love how Max has his arm around Zoey. And, well, you didn't really think I would show you my Christmas card picture, did you? Of course not. I changed my mind completely and went with a whole other look. It happens. I do like this picture and I even made cards on-line and well, you'll see the real ones in the mail!