Merry Christmas!

From our house to yours, we wish you a Merry Christmas! 

"For to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find the baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angle a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!" Luke 2:11-14

14.

I could write about our weekend of cookie baking and all that fun but, it's just really not that exciting. We made them. One kind did not turn out. But whatever. Some did. And gel food coloring is legit. Finally made the investment in that and I am so glad!

I want to write about my girl who is 14 months old today. I want to remember everything about this age she's at. I love how she LOVES to give high fives. Once you get on the train you are on it until she decides she is done giving out high fives. She does not like to be left hanging. I love how she says "yeah!" with enthusiasm when palms meet.

My new favorite thing is watching her "jump." Oh she thinks she is jumping. She squats down real low and toddler like and then rises up super fast and goes to her tippiest toes, then repeat. It is adorable and different than her dancing but also kind of the same. But she also says "juh" (like the sound the letter j makes.)

M is so observant. She watches things she sees and then she just banks that in her mind and can figure it out for herself. She is super serious in public. I swear she is so giggly and smiley and talky but just holds it in when she doesn't know you.

She is still my little mountain goat. She climbs everything. This weekend she figured out how to get onto the kitchen table. So baby gates and clearing off the table immediately became a real thing in our lives. We've always had a baby gate to the kitchen but really in a keep kids corralled out of the kitchen. She also has figured out how to open the door to the basement. (Which is in the kitchen and has a lock on it.) But the gate also assures me she's not going down those steps.

She can go down the stairs. She's been going up for so long I don't even remember when she started that. But going down is life changing. And she loves it.

Somehow she has 6 teeth already. 2 on the bottom, 4 on the top. Which is more than C had at the same age and a completely different order.

She is still not a big talker, but she understands a lot and can follow directions if she wants to. She is the most mischievous. She will one day just start spouting sentences I'm sure. I am not the least bit concerned. She is meeting the age appropriate bench marks and she babbles so much more than C did.

To my relief she has finally started to like stories. She will now sit for a story instead of stealing the book and running around. Obviously I know the benefits of reading aloud work the same whether she's in the room or sitting with me but who wouldn't want some extra snuggle time?

I completely love watching my kids play together. They run after each other and wrestle. It's awesome.

She has crazy sensitive skin which is new territory for me. She is still the very best eater.

She can do:

• So Big/Touch Down!
• She can identify nose and eyes.
• Clapping on command or when she hears applause. 
• Does the clapping, stomping and throwing her hands up in "Hooray!" when singing "If You're Happy and You Know It." 
• Knows how to point remotes and make things change. Especially likely to do that during her brother's animal documentaries which means they're already fighting over the TV.
• Kick a ball into a goal
• Signs "more" and "all done."

This little girl keeps me on my toes and I love her for it. She is kind of awesome. 

7 Quicky QT

1. So on Tuesday, Husband and I went to a benefit performance. There were drinks and appetizers and a show and an after party. We had a babysitter and hung out with friends we haven't seen in a long long time. It was brilliant. It also felt like a Friday. Then Husband had today off. So yesterday also felt like a Friday. Today, I am assured is actually Friday. (But I didn't figure that out until I tried to put C in his Vikings pajamas in anticipation for the game tomorrow... is Saturday. Right.)

2. Fuller House. Pretty sure I know where I'll be Friday February 26.

3. So today we had a fun family day. We all went to art class which was really fun. Then we went to the "red store." (Target.) We had a special "Old McDonald's" lunch. Had rest time where Husband and I cleaned out our entire closet. Then we watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Had dinner and we are watching Elf for the annual #clanunseen party. I was going to watch it tonight anyway but it works out. We started the movie late but that's okay. 

4. Tomorrow we will be baking. I am excited. 3 kinds of cookies. All kinds of excited.

5. I'm not sure if you knew there was a new Star Wars movie? Apparently it's a really big deal. I have seen only snippets of the original ones. There's this part where they're in a giant garbage compactor, and then there's like mean teddy bears or something. And I remember that horse/dog/red guy with the long tongue from 7th grade when the old new ones first started coming out. 

6. In 7th grade my friend from gym class Constance asked me if I liked Star Wars and I am sure I said no pretty rudely, when really I just hadn't seen them. It turns out she was just asking because for her birthday her parents were going to take her and her friends to the movies. She didn't really have many friends and only one of our friends went. (I wasn't actually invited because I said no or I swear I would have gone. It was Episode 1, I would have started at the true beginning!) I still feel guilty about this and wish I had a better response or could have shown her more love on her birthday that year. 

7. For funsies, type Do A Barrel Roll into Google. 

Happy Friday!

Letter G and Christmas Party

We had school today and Tuesday at our house, learning about the letter G! Today was also our Christmas party.

Tuesday we did "Gluing Gumballs" as our opening activity.

We made garbage truck and (clean) garbage murals on contact paper. This was a HIT with my not super excited about crafts boy, but wasn't as fun for the loves crafts girl. Something to note.

We learned to graph with goldfish. Also something fun for my visual learner. 

 We read Good Night Gorilla while stacking the animals taped to mega-blocks. They practiced following along with a story and following patterns.

 

Today was our Christmas party and it was almost entirely gingerbread themed. We started with gingerbread playdough that I made. We just worked on our fine motor skills and played. It was fun. Then we rolled out the dough and put one gingerbread man into the (cold) oven. 

We read the story of the gingerbread man and did our typical circle time activities. And we did some music time with the "G" songs, Jingle Bells and Sleigh Ride. We then did what I call a jingle bell jangle. We put the jingle bells on the red blanket and shook it like a parachute. It was great fun to hear the bells and see how far we could shake them. Everyone really seemed to like it. 

We played pin the button on the gingerbread man. It was fun. I am kind of attached to my gingerbread man dude. He took like no time at all but I don't want to take him down. At least he's festive! 

After that we went back to the oven to get our gingerbread man but when we got there... HE ESCAPED! But he left us a clue!

Oven: You’ll never find me! I don’t think. Especially not by the sink!

Run Run as fast as you can! You can’t catch me I’m the gingerbread man!

Sink: You’re pretty smart I’ll give you a test! Pianos are a good place to rest! 

Run Run as fast as you can! You can’t catch me I’m the gingerbread man!

Piano: You’ll never know where I’ll choose. I think I will hide by the shoes!

Run Run as fast as you can! You can’t catch me I’m the gingerbread man!

Porch: Oh my you’re smart, but for a laugh, chase me to where you take a bath!

Run Run as fast as you can! You can’t catch me I’m the gingerbread man!

Bath Tub: Wow you’re good, I’m barely ahead. I think I’ll take a nap in bed!

Run Run as fast as you can! You can’t catch me I’m the gingerbread man!

Christopher’s Bed: I am on my way, I’m off this floor. I think I’ll head right out the door!

Run Run as fast as you can! You can’t catch me I’m the gingerbread man!

Front door: I fooled you good, I’m like a fox! You’ll never look in the toy box!

Run Run as fast as you can! You can’t catch me I’m the gingerbread man!

You Caught Me!

Then we took the baked cookie back downstairs and everyone got one (not from the toy box) to decorate and eat. You can also kind of see the "Grinch Kabobs" too. It's a green grape, slice of banana, strawberry and mini marshmallow. They look like little grinches in Santa hats. We read the book while they ate snack. 

After snack time we played at the popcorn table, then had a gift exchange and playtime. It was a solid fun two hours and I think everyone enjoyed it!

So that's what I have been up to during the days this week.

Play Date, Measuring Spoons and Gingerbread 2015

Hello! Happy December! It's been a while.

We are having some issues with our internet. It happens once in a while. I live in an old neighborhood and our wiring sucks. As is there's nothing they can do about it if they do come out. It's infuriating at times. But our city is just now getting the permits to zone a fiber network and though I am hazy on the details of how that will all go down of course, it will much improve my internet experience.

So I haven't been writing, reading or commenting much because without WiFi I started to eat through my data real fast on the phone and had to exercise some discipline.

In the past week I hosted a fun play date. C has been taking a quality time art class on Fridays with a couple of friends. It's great, the teacher sets up different craft stations and we all rotate through. But last week she had to miss class. I really look forward to the adult interaction so I invited the boys over to our house! I set up our water table filled with popcorn like at class for C a few weeks ago and I set it out with more fresh popcorn, set out play-doh and tools. Both the sensory table and play-doh are the boy's favorite station at class. Then I bought some juice boxes and the stuff to make these:

It was a super fun play date with good conversation. I love it when that can happen! Then on Friday afternoon we headed over to dog sit for the weekend. We had to pack a bunch of kitchen stuff to drive across town because it was the previously scheduled Gingerbread Weekend 2015. 

This was our fourth year making a gingerbread house. See previous year's here. This year we got it together. We had a planning meeting about a week before to set up a game plan. (This was the third year Kathryn was able to join us.) We made all the dough and templates Friday night. A note for next year, we are going to design the templates even further ahead and do them on the computer for more accuracy. Also, the dough stays workable for about 20 hours. At the 24 hour mark it gets very crumbly and hard to roll out. 

On Saturday during the day we baked, and also assembled C's house. Which was a lesson we learned from last year. Saturday night we decorated and built. We decorated the walls prior to assembly but did the roof as it was standing. Due to our design this was a good decision. However we had for the first time, some structural problems. 

I brought over the stand mixer, piping bags, our perfectly sized pot, ingredients pre-measured in ziplocs, all the other ingredients needed and decorating materials and our board/trays. What I should have brought were measuring spoons. We were stuck with these as choices: 

It did not go well. The metal ones had such a shallow bowl that it was impossible to level off and make sure you were doing it right. The adjustable pampered chef ones were equally horrible. The only time you could be sure it was accurate is if it was on the smallest setting. Get the Tupperware spoons people. They are wonderful. And they sit flat on a counter so you can fill them and set them down until needed as little mini prep bowls. 

These. Get these. 

Anyway, the inaccuracy in our teaspoon measurement really made our royal icing cement weaker and led to some problems. But we prevailed. C got to do his own little house this year again, and because 3 batches of dough was slightly overkill we made him a tree too. Which was cool because it was interlocking and self standing. (Thank you Great British Baking Show!)

I made him a snowman after he went to sleep. He really did a nice job. Husband piped on the icing where he asked for it and he stuck the things he wanted where he wanted them. He must have good design in his genes because I think it is very tasteful. 

He of course wanted to eat it Saturday night and all day yesterday. We needed to get back to our house for our annual picture. They traveled well and survived until now without having been eaten so now it's anyone's guess how long it lasts. 

Our 2015 gingerbread house:

Our notes for next year include: buying a bigger cutting board for our house to live on. We may not necessarily make a bigger house but more room to work would be GREAT! Also next year may be the year we go to full out whimsy and full color. Or maybe not. We've got time. 

There you go. Happy Monday friends!

7QT: Always Late to the Party

one. The tradition continues! Last night we went to our annual viewing of Disney on Ice! It was their Treasure Trove show and it was really great. Much much improved from last year. They managed to pack a whole lot into the show. It was a harder experience for us because we were in the lower bowl (with our same $12 tickets) So we were by ALL.THE.PEOPLE and M really started to lose it at the end because it was way past her bed time.

The best family selfie we took. Oh well, we know we were there. 

two. The show really was good though. Except for the Lion King excerpt. They do Lion King/Toy Story and Little Mermaid a little bit every year. So I consider myself pretty much an expert at this point. (Hey Disney on Ice people? We are ALL sick of Sebastian making us go "Clams on the half shell, two bits!") Anyway they picked "Be prepared" and Mufasa's death complete with the herd of wildebeests as the major plot point. It wasn't completely as tragic as the movie, Scar didn't let Mufasa die by letting go in the same way, but it was still pretty intense for an ice skating show. There were definitely kids crying. Thankfully not mine. But totally worth it this year! We'll go back next year.

three. I am the LATEST to the party on this one but I am obsessed with The Great British Baking Show.

It is perfection. There is nothing I don't like about this show. Maybe that the season "1" on Amazon is the same as season "5" on Netflix. So I can't watch more. That I don't love. Everything else? I am sold. The tent? The bakes? The hosts? The judges? I am obsessed. And I am clearly the latest to the party because all the Mary Berry books are sold out on Amazon. So much for that last minute addition to the Christmas list!

It's just the best. I really wish we got PBS. (Don't even get me started that we can't get it over the air and would have to get cable or something.) 

four. I am late to this version which has apparently been making the rounds since 2010 but we did sing this song at summer camp. I mean, it was a little faster and not quite so wonderfully crazy but we are currently obsessed with the Avocado Song by Dr. Jean.

The first time you see it, you think she's certifiable. Then you find yourself singing the song as you go about your day and you come back for more. Soon you're dancing along and everyone loves it. Don't say I didn't warn you.

five. Do you know this song? "Eve's great anywhere she goes. Dress her up from her head to her toes. At the park, at the mall Eve loves high fashion! After dark in the club she'll spend the whole night dancing..."

Yeah, probably I am the only one. But apparently they are making a Life Size 2. And I am sure it will be horrible and wonderful all at the same time. I am also sure if they don't have the Eve song in the movie it won't even be worth it. I am sharing this news with you all in case you also loved Disney Channel Original movies and don't want to be late to the party on this one.

six. We just got back from art class and we had a really great time. I am so glad we signed up for it!

seven. Tomorrow we are going to see Junie B. Jones Jingle Bells Batman Smells and a Children's Christmas party. We have lots of friends going too so I am really excited. It's going to almost be like a reunion!

Happy Weekend!

All About Scentsy: From a Fan

So let's talk about Scentsy. Colleen mentioned she'd like to hear more about it so okay then. As long as I can remember, I have loved scents. I have always had a serious aversion to odors and finding things that I think smell good. I had heard of Scentsy for a long time but never quite pulled the trigger because it seemed kind of overwhelming. I really wanted to smell before I bought but I didn't know a consultant.

Well, one of Husband's Facebook friends IS a consultant and posts things a lot. In September 2014 the warmer of the month was just adorable and it matched our bedroom. I was finally going to take the plunge.

Then it sold out in like 2 days or something ridiculous. I took that as a sign and didn't think anything of it. But then a few weeks later, still in September, Scentsy decided since the warmer "Chasing Fireflies" was the most popular ever they would make more. But because it would take so long to make, they were offering to send you a warmer in the meantime. So they were going to send me 2 warmers for $35? Okay then. I added Clean Breeze and Newborn Nursery Bars because I knew without even smelling them that I would like those. Cotton Laundry and Baby Powder? Yep.

They came. I liked it and I have slowly gained warmers in about every room. My house smells great!

The warmers are porcelain and come in LOTS of different styles. They use a light bulb between 15 to 25 watts to heat and melt the wax. This keeps the wax at the perfect temperature and not a hazard. It is melted and warm but trust me when I say even curious children who dip fingers in it don't seem to think it's too hot. Scentsy wax is also food grade and non-toxic. While no one is recommending you eating it for a snack a call to poison control is not necessary if someone samples it.

Scentsy has a lot of scents of wax. I still don't have a local consultant so occasionally I still buy a bar that I do not like, but there are a few scents that I love and are very popular.

1. Luna: "White florals--jasmine, sweet pea and freesia--juicy berries, and sadalwood shimmer like moon light." This one is my go to. It smells absolutely lovely and while guests cannot place the exact smell ever, I get many many compliments on this one. 
2. Just Breathe: "Breathe deeply as soothing eucalyptus, zesty lemon, and a medley of mints comfort and rejuvenate." This is one that smells a little different when it's warmed up vs. it's solid form. This is a staple though. It's a light scents that not only helps stuffy noses breathe easier but people have also accused me of freshly deep cleaning my kitchen. Because that's what is smells like, a nice clean kitchen, a spa and clear nasal passages. Husband even has this in his office warmer because it just smells fresh and clean but not overpowering. 
3. Christmas Cottage: "A cozy blend of Valencia oranges, raspberries, cloves and spices." This is one that I just adore. It's the perfect Christmas scent and I love it. It is a little heavy to use in the summer but I still do sometimes because it's warm and inviting and does actually make me feel cozy. 

The official Scentsy line is that each cube of wax in a bar gives you 10 hours of scent, so each bar gives you 80 hours total. I leave some warmers on 24/7 (the bathroom one) and I change the wax once every day or sometimes 2. Other warmers I have on just periodically when the stinkies sneak in. I find the easiest way to change the wax is by throwing a cotton ball in the warming tray. It sucks up almost everything and then I use a second cotton ball to wipe out the tray before adding another.

Wax is Scentsy's big thing, each scent also has room spray, hanging scent circles, scents paks, (for drawers and their line of stuffed animals) and car bars. But they also have laundry products, hand soap, counter clean, (I love the Luna, it works so well to clean my counters and smells SO great!) bath products for men, roll on perfume and lotions for ladies, kids bath stuff, stuffed animals, essential oils and diffusers.

I do love Scentsy but it's not all rosy. (Nothing ever is.) I still don't have a local consultant and so I have definitely fallen victim to buying scents with good names and what I think are bad smells. I'm looking at you Davenport, Apple S'mores, Fresh Cut Daisies, My Only Sunshine and Crumb Top. Scent is so specific to the individual I have found I don't love the floral smells like at all. (Except Luna which they say is floral but somehow isn't flowery.)

It can get expensive, the bars are $5. Or 6 for $25. They do have sales occasionally, like TODAY! (December 2) They also have a subscribe and save program, which I am starting to look into. But my mom, has only a warmer in her kitchen and uses it just occasionally so it doesn't have to be a constant expense. They have spring/summer scents and fall/winter scents that rotate and they always have a warmer and scent of the month offered at a 10% discount. These are nice and a great sales tactic but sometimes require self-control.

So cute. I love it. But $75 for a warmer to have out for maybe 2 months a year is nuts!

They do have a sale section which both the warmer in my kitchen and bathroom came from. It happens they match the best anyhow and they were cheaper. I have not gotten into rotating warmers for holidays and I have no plans to buy a warmer anytime soon, if at all.

But that's Scentsy in a nutshell. If you have any questions let me know. I have considered joining just to get the money back on my own orders but I haven't actually done that. I am a Scentsy fan however!

2016 Edit: I did join and if you want to check it out you can do so here!