twinkle twinkle

Just a little bit of our day. The house has been successfully de-Christmased and cleaned, which feels lovely and fresh and ready for the new year. The kids spend their time with their new toys, being quietly creative which is just heart warming, though I know they cannot wait to go back to school next week. Robert spends a lot of his time in the garage with his wood working tools. Pixie plays endlessly with her new ball and when she's not playing with it she's napping on it.

  

I ordered some kite paper from Bella Luna toys http://www.bellalunatoys.com/ and today I learned to make Waldorf stars, I can't wait to make them with the kids tomorrow. They are simple and easy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua__xf55z1Q  Here is the video link to how to fold the stars from Sarah at Bella Luna.

 Just had to throw in a picture of my wonderful new dutch oven. It is my Christmas gift from my mom and I am so in love already. I made chicken and dumplings, and beef stroganoff in it so far and both have been a major hit in our house, so much so I might have to increase my recipes.

 
Chicken and Dumplings

*chicken and sauce

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can chicken broth or 1 cup of water and one chicken bullion cube

1/2 cup milk

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1/4 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup chopped carrots

(add any veg you like really we have had it with peas and broccoli too)

3-4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts - cut

ground black pepper to taste

*dumplings

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup milk

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

I also like to add some parsley, or some other herb, I just like the green speckles but it isn't necessary

Directions

 

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken strips, onion and carrots celery. Saute until chicken is cooked through, and onions are tender. Transfer the chicken mixture to the soup pot, and mix well. Reduce heat to low, and simmer for 30 to 45 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper.
 To Make Dumplings: In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt. In a small bowl, mix together 1/2 cup of milk and 2 tablespoons of oil. Pour into the dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened.
Drop tablespoonfuls of the dumpling mixture into simmering chicken stew. Cover pot tightly, and bring to a boil. Simmer for another 12 to 15 minutes - without peeking! Ladle into bowls, and serve hot

Last but not least, my baby blanket, yes I am still working on it. It has been pushed aside in order to make and do other things and I am now feeling the crunch to get it ready. If the nurse is right and I am a week further ahead than expected it moves my due date up to just 30 days from now! Time to start wrapping these things up. I have also been rereading my book The Rhythm of Family by Amanda Blake Soule just so I feel a little more set for the year of changes ahead. If you haven't read her books I highly recommend them to everyone who follows a bit of a Waldorf style of parenting and a natural way of living, even if you are like me and these are lofty ambitions.

Happy Christmas

This happened yesterday plus so much more...hoping everyone had a lovely holiday and are recovering peacefully today.

Shaving cream Magic

So I am the art coordinator at my kid's elementary school which means that without volunteers we would have no art program in our local school due to budget cuts. Teaching art to kids is one of the most rewarding and fun thing I have ever done. This year I have 2 kindergarten classes, 1 second grade class, and 1 fourth grade class.

I just wanted to share the shaving cream art projects we made in the 2nd and 4th grade classes this week.

The decorated Christmas trees are the 2nd grader's work.

The silhouettes are the 4th grader's work.

The process is so simple fill the bottom of a pan with cheap shaving cream, add liquid water colour, each child chose 3 colours to add, swirl, lay the paper on the cream and press down, remove the paper and scrape the cream off. I also changed the cream completely one time with a class of 24 kids and added a bit more as needed throughout.

The colours are amazing and the kids love to see what it looks like as they scrape the cream off, it reminds me of the northern lights. They were hung in the hallway at the school and I know everyone passing by them will be wondering just how did they do that?

On the home front, today is the 1st day of winter break for the kids, which 1st meant cleaning out their rooms to give them space to play and 2nd listening to the Disney music CD I bought in Disneyland while taking a break from Hungry Hungry Hippos.

Hoping everyone has a great Winter Holiday.

Snow!

To start...I have this amazing friend Tia and every year she has a play date at her house where we decorate gingerbread houses. She has all of the houses pre-made windows and all they are truly amazing, and heavenly smelling I might add. Well, with both Finnley and Iain in school on play date day this year I got to go without children and make kind of a cutesy house instead of the usual candy mash up I get with the kiddos. Such a sweet idea that lasted one night, in the morning it was noticed the house had been hit by hurricane Iain. Finger prints in the rooftop snow, bites taken off both corners of the roof removing gum-drops of course, a topped gummy tree, and the front door/wall section in shambles. Oh well, there's always next year right?

The gingerbread culprit and his partner in crime Pixie, they both just seem so sweet and innocent, but between the trail of socks about the house and the gingerbread I wouldn't be surprised at all to see their faces side by side on a post office wanted poster.

On a lighter and brighter note it snowed today! Which despite the cold warms the heart of this Alaska grown girl. It is so pretty and clean and the air smells so good, I just love it.

Pixie loved it too, she was just a baby last March when she saw her first snow, this time she was really ready to get out in it and play, she was out there with her ball for at least  a half hour slipping and sliding around the yard.

It being a "snow-day" Washington style which means school was still open but running 2 hours late, we had homemade donuts for breakfast. Warm and cinnamony, perfect for a snowy morning, with eggs and orange slices of course, wouldn't send them off to school without more than sugar.

I am officially 33 weeks today and I needed the sugar boost, I had the worst night of sleep since Finnley was born 7 years ago, couldn't get comfortable and then just couldn't sleep. Still excited though, only 7 weeks to go and they are slipping by so quickly.

Thumbprints

Feeling very motivated today I made thumbprint cookies, my all time favourite Christmas cookie. I love the shortbread buttery-ness of the cookie with the sweetness of raspberry jam, or blackberry, or well any jam. They are so fast and easy to make and gone way too fast. There is also banana bread almost finished in the oven and it smells divine.

We have begun the official countdown till this baby joins our family, it's not as exciting as the Christmas countdown for the kiddos but I'm pretty excited. He has begun to kick and push and roll very hard sometimes to the point of being painful, he also seems to be most active right when I'm ready to relax for the night in bed with a book. My husband does find it pretty entertaining watching my belly jump about while I try and read.

I decided to share a few of my favourite ornaments from our tree, all 3 are ornaments from my parents that my mom bought before I was born. The cat in the little suit was one of our favorites to get to in the box when my sister and I were kids, the arms and legs move and he is just so cute.

Of course the little dog sledder, we are from Alaska after all.

The little angel on the guitar is also a favourite, so cute and retro.

I have had quite a few headband/ear warmer orders this year, and I have to admit I'm not surprised, they are so popular. They are my choice in head wear and Finnley loves them because she can wear her hair in a ponytail with one.

Christmas tree day!

The tradition in my home growing up was putting up the Christmas tree the 1st Saturday of the month, how lucky are we that it also happens to be the 1st of December this year! The morning started with a filling breakfast, you need a lot of energy to find the perfect tree. I made shipwreck for the first time, I had seen them on Pioneer Woman, Ree Drumond's show on Food network a few weeks ago and I remember my husband saying he liked them so I thought I'd give it a shot. Well needless to say everybody left for tree shopping with very full tummy's.

The trees were all lovely and despite the strong winds and rain muddied ground we found the perfect one. It is so hard to choose they smell so good, I think we could spend all day there just sniffing trees.

Ornaments went up in record time and of course none above 7 year old eye level. The ornaments are all old and wooden, the ones my parents collected in the first years of their marriage. My and my sister's baby ornaments are in there, the ones we made in school and church as children, so many memories in one little box.

The tree is up, minus the topper, it didn't survive the last Christmas we used it so a new one will have to be bought. made. or otherwise devised. The stockings are hung, and my husband has added more outdoor lighting to the house and trees. The house is properly decked out and since we don't put out presents until Christmas eve we are ready-bring on the holidays!

30 weeks and more

They came, our Santa photos with Lindsay Porter Photography and they are gorgeous to say the least. I love them! The night before our pictures we went to Macy's hoping to find the perfect combo of dress and suit, i know way to wait till the last minute and all. Iain was fast, they had at least a dozen suit combos to choose from and Iain beelined for this red and black, and though it's hard to see it is paisley embroidered black on black on the vest and super snazzy. Finn had a much harder time choosing a dress but once Iain picked red it made her choice easy. We brought our treasures home and tried everything on Iain was so handsome I was so happy with his choice, but poor Finn her dress was by far the smallest size 7 ever, it was to short, too tight, and just so poorly fit, but it was for the best. My mom had bought this dress for her over the summer and in a flash I remembered it and it fit perfect and the colour matched Iain's red it was just meant to be.

Our Christmas lights are all hung thanks to my industrious husband who is thankfully home for a full 6 weeks, he hasn't been home for 6 weeks in a row in 5 years! I love Christmas lights they make even the houses look dressed up for a special occasion and just happy.

I have been crocheting a bit and trying some new things, gifts for family and friends. The tassels on the snow bunny hat are a new thing and Finn loved them and has ordered a hat with them as soon as I'm done with Christmas gifts. The cow, oh my goodness the cow, inspired by something seen on Etsy I decided to try a cow and it is oh, so cute I can't wait to give it away.

As we sit here as a family watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas I am so happy to be in our house after last year's fiasco, I am happy to be warm and dry and surrounded by our decorations creating memories and reliving our family holiday traditions.

Today is my 30th week in this pregnancy and this boy is kicking and poking and prodding and I just know dying to get out and greet the world.  I have to admit the excitement is growing among the family, Finn and Iain talk about what they want to teach the baby and how they are going to help, it makes it so much harder to be patient. Though with this super busy time of year I'm kind of glad he is tucked up nice and warm and easily cared for.

I hope every one's holiday season is off to as great a start as ours.

A very wet pre-Thanksgiving

It has been a super wet rainy and windy week here in the northwest, We have had a number of storms come through bringing a lot of indoor time with them. This morning is definitely included the wind chimes are tinkling and the trees are swaying, as long as the power stays on we are very comfortable just being home for the day. The kids are still in their pj's and we had big plates of hot filling pancakes for breakfast, setting them up for a day of playing and coloring followed by baths for Thanksgiving at my cousin Robin's house tomorrow.

I started some baby booties and not for an order for me! The first one is done and just in need of a button, I love this pattern because they look like the kind of booties that have a good chance of staying put once they are on, but with a wiggly baby who knows.

I am 29 weeks now and in the 3rd and final trimester, only 11 weeks to go. The uncomfortableness is growing and it is getting very hard to snuggle Iain on my lap. I feel very prepared for baby though I know you never can be totally prepared but I feel like we are ready none the less.

Finnley and Iain had their school pictures back yesterday and over-all I like them, Finn's smile is a little forced which happens when someone tells her to show her teeth when she smiles. I don't know why they always want you to do that, don't they know some of us just don't smile that way and asking us to do it makes us look very un-like ourselves? Iain's picture is great, he looks so big and mature I can't believe it's been 5 years since he came to us.

The sneak peek of the Santa pictures I was dying to see! They are amazing I love this Santa and I love that my kids see the same Santa year after year. They look so big, I can't wait to get the rest of their photos back and get pictures out to friends and family embellished with snowflakes and a wintry saying of course.

I'm wishing everyone out there a lovely Thanksgiving, a chance to remember all of the things that are truly important, the things we would miss the most if taken away, hug friends, family and pets and enjoy.

carded

Just wanted to do a quick post to show the birthday card I made to go along with the Hello Kitty and snow bunny hats I made for Finnley's friend's birthday party today. Still working out the kinks with the cards but I'm really liking how it's going, next is figuring out how to photograph those metallic colours.

My husband comes home tonight after having been gone for 6 weeks and we are all so excited to see him. Though we are all used to the work schedule his job requires it is still very exciting when he comes home and even better when he is home for the holidays.

Have a great weekend.

Rainbows and bonnets

Another big project down. A friend of mine is having a baby girl and is due about 2 weeks before me so I decided to make her something special, and it's an easy way to work out my need to make pretty girly things even though I'm having a boy. I made my favorite baby gift the blessing day bonnet, I love it and wish I had know how to make it when Finn was a baby. There is something so sweet and traditional about the bonnet.

I also finished this granny square afghan in a rainbow pattern, the colors are so vibrant and I am thrilled with how it turned out. It's a bit bigger than I intended but babies grow and so much faster than any mommy would like.

All wrapped up and ready to go, I am loving all of the gifting that has been happening around here lately, gets me in the mood for Christmas.

Well, Hello Kitty

 

I finished it-the Hello Kitty hat my daughter thought up and I was hoping would work out as a hat, and I must say it turned out at least as well as hoped.

 

I'm quite happy with it and I think it would make a very cute hat with ear flaps. It is a birthday present for one of Finnley's friends I hope it makes her happy, I know Finn is quite happy with the result.

Monday-ing

 Finished these booties about a week ago and they were on their way to a new home in an order but alas the post office seems to have misplaced them and the hat that went with them. So of course I will be remaking them but had to share their utter sweetness 12month crocheted cowboy boot booties and they are the most adorable things ever.

 

Today I have been working on a "Hello Kitty" hat that will be part of a birthday gift for one of Finnley's friends, it was her idea and I hope it works out as cute as I'm picturing in my head. Sometimes things work out the way I see them and sometimes they don't, and since this was Finn's idea I'm pulling for super cute.

I have been doodling a lot lately, mostly Christmas type designs, I think I'm going to try hand drawing my cards this year, I never send out too many, mostly just close friends and family and of course if it gets to be to much I can supplement with some from the store. We had Santa pictures with our friend Lindsay at Lindsay Porter Photography on Saturday and I am on pins and needles waiting to see how they turn out, the Santa she gets is the very best, we love him-I think he may really be Santa.

This is last year's picture and if this year's is even 1/2 as wonderful I will be thrilled. Iain was telling Santa what he wanted for Christmas and was so excited I can't help but smile when I see it, I hope when he's grown he looks at this and remembers how magical Christmas was when he was a child.

It is also our last Christmas as a family of 4 and our last with Iain as the "baby" I have to admit it makes me a bit sad, he is still the baby in my heart even though he keeps reminding me he's 5 now. Thinking that next year we will have a new little one having their first Christmas, so many changes on their way.