a little Merry Christmas

All of the kids helped with the wood-hauling this afternoon ...

a little bit more

I forgot to include a few of our crafting items in my last post.
Buddy's snow-mask to protect him from the elements ... and yes, he did use it once :)

Foofie's bird ... I've been doing some cross-stitching and she wanted to sew too. I just punch a design into cardstock and she sews in the holes. Easy ... and the kids really enjoy it. Foofie is amazingly good at it! (In the past, we've done flowers, trucks, and so forth.)

Finally, the votive I crafted for my pig-loving mother-in-law.

a little house

Our most recent craft project was little paper "Christmas houses". I helped Buddy and Foofie each make one last night. I cut ... they colored ... I assembled ... then we glittered. (Halo missed out because she volunteered to help Daddy move some things ~ I think she was too restless to sit still and craft.) Anyway ... she wanted to make one today ... and I made one too ... and Buddy and Foofie each wanted to make another one. (Foofie's second one isn't pictured though ~ she didn't finish it yet.)

Here are the houses designed by the girls ...

Here are Buddy's houses ...

And here is our little neighborhood ...

Some other recent paper~crafts we've done ... lots of red cardinals (the kids have given some away), snowflakes (I love making snowflakes), and swedish hearts. I wasn't sure if I remembered how to make a swedish heart ... but I figured it out after all. It's funny how something so small ... the swedish heart in this case ... can remind one of so much.

For many years, the Covenant Church my family attended when I was a child had a grand swedish festival one Saturday in December ... Lucia Day. There was swedish food, music, decorations. I think they sold Swedish crafts as well ... little blue and yellow horses, hearts bearing the words "Gud Jul", and the like. The childrens' choir dressed up as little elves and gingerbread ... and we sang and danced. Some of the older girls would wear white gowns and the traditional crown adorned with candles ~ fake ones if I recall correctly. It was always such an exciting day ~ partly because we'd have to get up super early ... maybe five in the morning ... to get there on time. It would still be dark out ~ and painfully cold, of course ~ but it seemed rather adventurous to a child.

a little about naming

I'm not the most decisive when it comes to naming children. Our first experience was fairly easy because I was set on a girl's name and thankfully ... we had a girl! Our son, our second child, was named pretty quickly ... but I wavered over his middle name and we ended up changing it several hours later. Our third child didn't even have a name until she was a week old! She arrived ten days early and I wasn't prepared for that ... but it's likely I would have struggled with naming her even if she arrived on time.

So ... now I'm expecting number four. My children ~ and my oldest daughter especially ~ have tried to brainstorm names a few times already. The last time went something like this ...

"So ... do you want a fancy and intelligent name like Victoria or Anitadene or Audrea?" Halo questioned.
"I don't think I want fancy," I replied.
"You know ... Victoria is a queen's name," she continued in her persuasive manner.
"Do you want a regular kind of name?" she asked next. "Like Bob or Harry or Larry or Jerry?"
(Now I'm thinking 'Veggie Tales' ... you know, Bob & Larry.)
"No ... I don't think so," I answered.
"The baby should be Kelly," said Foofie.
"How about Rick or Todd?" asked Buddy.
"No thanks."
"Kelly," blurted Foofie.
"But those are the names of the Polly Pocket boys! I like those names," he continued.
"They are fine names ... just not what I have in mind."
"Kelly. I want the baby to be Kelly."
"No, I don't think Kelly is the right name either," I concluded.

Don't tell my kids ... but I'm going to figure out names by myself ;)

a little bird feeder

My hard-working husband worked right through supper last night and was going to eat later ... after he finished what he wanted to finish. So ... the kids were restless and we needed a project to occupy us. How about milk carton bird-feeders? They're definitely not fancy ... but they're super simple ... and the kids thought it was really cool that they could make a bird-feeder on their own ... no saws, hammers, nails, wood. (It's a bit difficult to cut a milk carton though ... so the younger two needed some help.)

How to? Just cut "windows" in opposite sides of a milk cartion ... close up the top with staples ... poke a hole through the top and insert string or ribbon or a pipe cleaner ... fill the bottom with bird seed ~ that's the best part ... and voila!

We were hoping to hang them up today ... but it was cold, windy, and snowing heavily. Maybe tomorrow ...

a little DNR encounter

This afternoon, the kids asked if they could shovel the snow off the lake so they could play around on the ice. Sure! Why not?

Then, my dear husband had to suggest plowing a patch of frozen lake with the ATV instead ... you know ... men and their love of motorized toys. So ... he and our two oldest kids climb on the ATV. They get driving at the wreckless speed of 5 mph ... and who should they immediately encounter at the end of the driveway? A DNR dude, of course, doing his best to ensure all lawbreakers are caught.

Jeff promptly learns that the ATV isn't registered, the children must have helmets on, and there can only be one passenger.

"Ummm ... it's my Dad's ATV. I never thought it might not be registered. He is always on top of things ... always registers everything ... this probably just got overlooked. And, as for my kids, I'm way more concerned about their safety than you are ... I was only going five miles an hour ... and I didn't even know they had to have helmets on."

Jeff's defense fell on deaf ears.

So ... how much did this little episode cost us?

$120

(You know ... tickets always stink because it feels like such a waste of money. You get nothing for your money ... except frustration.)

a little sticky situation

This afternoon Foofie started playing with Grandma's "sticky tack" (a.k.a. poster putty) ~ which was being used to keep an old hutch door shut. She thought it would be neat on her ears ... as earrings. By the time I was aware of this, it was already a sticky, matted mess in her hair. I decided to try the old peanut butter remedy before resorting to the scissors ~ and thankfully, it did the trick!

a little shower art

Buddy showered first tonight and he left behind a finger drawing on the shower door. Then, Halo went into the bathroom to get cleaned up and called, "There's a guy on the shower door!" "I know," Buddy answered back with a grin. "It's Daddy ... with a big beard!"