Snow Day 2011

At the beginning of December, the kids got their first chance to meet Santa at our neighborhood's annual Snow Day.  It went pretty well this year.  While Grey spent the entire time on Santa's lap with this stunned look on his face, there was no crying and Charlotte happily introduced herself to the big guy and told him she wanted a bike.

As for the "snow day" part of this neighborhood festival, they hire some people to bring a truckload of snow in and dump it out in the park for the kids to play in.  This was the first year ever that we actually let our kids play in it and Charlotte was in heaven.

Grey didn't know what to make of it and preferred to hang out on the side ... in the mud.



Maybe that was because it was naptime ...

Sunday Photo Shoot Part I

Stuff I Made

So about a month ago, I was looking through the Land of Nod catalog at all of the things I can't afford and the thought, "Hum, I wonder what ever happened to my sewing machine."  This thought and a couple of trips to JoAnn Fabrics later, the sewing machine my mom bought me for my birthday three years ago is no longer languishing forgotten on the upper shelf of Charlotte's closet. We are in business for the holidays, folks.  In fact, I've been sewing so much, my husband has asked me to stop and pay some attention to him so I'm going to take a break now.  But here is the stuff I made in the past few weeks (minus the pilgrim hats, which I featured in the Thanksgiving post).  Eat your heart out, Land of Nod.  This little felt Christmas tree garland (sold for $29 at LON) cost me about six dollars in felt to make.  And I like my colors better.  So there!

I saw these cute Santa bags on Pottery Barn Kids, but thanks to this useful tutorial I whipped these up myself.  (Okay, "whipped" is the wrong word.  Turning out the casings that are the little strings on the bag was pure torture and it took me forever.  But I saved about $30 and learned a lot, so that's not bad.)

After I spent a while staring at my little garland, I decided some pillows with little felt trees would look pretty dang cute on my couches too.  While I should have gotten a little more fabric (these pillow cases are kind of pulling around the sides of my old, flat inserts), I think they turned out pretty well.  The best part about these, of course, is that my kids look so stinkin' cute sitting in front of them!

Thanksgiving 2011

Hope your Thanksgiving was as happy as ours was here on the Mayflower.  We celebrated this year with our cousins the Burrs, Ashley and Michael, our friends the Richardsons, and Shelly's cousin Sabrina and her goddaughter.  The company was great and the food was amazing.  Have you ever had deep-fried turkey?  No?  Go out and buy yourself a fryer.  (Fortunately, our neighbor has one and offered to fry our turkey up so we didn't have to risk burning our own house down.)

She looks so sweet and innocent, doesn't she?  To be continued ...

The view of our trunk as we headed to Shelly's: freshly-baked rolls, green bean casserole, Aunt Linda's famous blueberry jello, cherry cheesecake pie, Nana Laughton's dressing, Oreo Turkeys, and the deep-fried turkey.  My mouth is watering all over again ...

Getting ready for the feast.  (I don't know what Damon is doing here but I love it.)

Grey and his #1 buddy Uncle Michael.

Charlotte and Audrey

Here is the "to be continued" I referred to above.  Five seconds after we sat down to dinner, Charlotte had a massive meltdown about the fact that she didn't have a pink cup.  It took ten minutes and a relocation to the adult table to calm her down.  Seriously?

So ... I made all these pilgrim hats for the kids on a whim.  I saw a tutorial online and thought "Maybe I can sew that."  And I did.  I think they turned out pretty cute too.  Whew hew!

Cutest. Pilgrims. Ever.

The "turkeys" I made from oreos and other candy for the kids.

And of course, what blog post about Thanksgiving would be complete without a view of the dessert bar.  Pumpkin cheesecake, Oreo turkeys, cherry cheesecake pie, key lime pie, banana cream dessert, apple pie, blueberry jello, and spice cake with caramel frosting.  Yowzah!  Eight desserts for ten adults and six kids?  I like those odds!

Pre-Thanksgiving Roundup

So now that it's almost Christmas I've decided to start blogging about November.  Better late than never, right?  (Don't worry, grandparents, the kids haven't changed too much between now and then.)  Since I got my new camera this past spring, blogging has gotten harder since I take so many more pictures now and I get overwhelmed by the sheer number of them.  But even more than that, I have recently taken up with a vengeance both family history and sewing so I haven't been making much time.  Now that my trial subscription to Ancestry.com is up and my Christmas sewing projects are completed (more to come on those!) I'm going to hit this blog so hard it won't even know what happened.  Are you ready?

Grey has really gotten into books lately.  He brings me book after book all day long and demands that I sit down and read it to him.  He really loves the Book of Mormon and tries to get me to read it to him all of the time even though there are no pictures.  What?!

Charlotte's preschool had a Thanksgiving feast that all of the families were invited to participate a week or so before Thanksgiving.  (Feast for preschoolers = pigs in a blanket, finger jello, cheese and crackers, etc., so it wasn't really a "feast" like Adam thought it would be when he told me that I was lucky I got to go eat when he had to go to work.  Hah!)

Grey really enjoyed the feast, especially before the other kids came in and he got kicked out of the little chairs.

As part of the feast, the kids put on a program.  It included songs such as "Five Fat Turkeys" and "I'm a Little Navajo" and was rounded out by the children reciting a set prayer they always say over their snacks at school: "Dear God, Thank you for the food before us, the friends beside us, and the love between us.  Amen."  Cute, huh?

Charlotte mugs with some preschool friends.

Lest we forget, November is also the month we celebrate Aunt Ashley's increasing loveliness as each year goes by.  (You've got my address, Ash.  Put that check in the mail!)

Charlotte has stopped taking naps every day, but some days, if she wakes up really early and watches a movie in the late afternoon ...

Grey points at everything.  All the time.  And grunts until he gets close enough to touch it.

The day before Thanksgiving, we enjoyed some time at Hermann Park with Aunt Ashley, our cousins the Burrs and our friends the Richardsons.

Grey roars like a lion.

Hey, Handsome.  Ahem.  Back to the display of our children.

Someone was really loving the merry-go-round.

Someone else was just kicking back on her panda and playing it cool the whole time ...

... but it's hard to hide your joy on the teeter-totter!

After the zoo, we headed to the playground and had a picnic.

Then we went over to the other side of the park and rode the little red train (who Charlotte exclusively refers to as "Thomas).

Charlotte and Kate

After the train ride, we went over to the pond and fed the ducks and birds.  You can't tell from this picture, but Charlotte was terrified of the pigeons, who were quite aggressive, and screamed every time one walked in her direction.

Grey and Uncle Michael

Kaitlyn showed off her walking abilities.  You go, girl!

Daddy and Grey take a stroll by the water.

Take Me Out To the Ball Game

Show and Tell Hat Day at Preschool last month.  Charlotte went around singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" all day long.