Our to-do list for today.

Hannah's, Ainsley's, and mine.



















Gray just bounced and giggled when I asked him what he had on the docket for today. Then I had to go look up 'docket' for two curious girls. That'll teach me to use phrases that I don't really know the back meaning for - apparently I'm running a court of law here.

Today Hannah is going to:
-dehydrate pears
-play Gardenopoly
-have a game of Quirkle
-practice violin
-put on a show with my violin

Ainsley is going to:
-play with Gray all day
-play with Hannah and Mommy
-Eat

I am going to:
-cut out Hannah pants
-sew produce bags
-menu plan
-Reading Eggs
-sew violin cloths

Looking at that, I think that their lists look like a lot more fun.

Happy Holidays!

Ours have been busy so far - tomorrow's the final day.



Lots of present making.

I tried my hand at tracing another pattern.

And then gave it up because the cutting board was needed for much more important things.




Grandpa comes tonight - the whole family is excited for tomorrow.

Tis the Season

For lots of cooking. It seems to come with the winter weather. Inside more means cooking more.

(But first, go check out Ainsley's new apple pants. So cute! - the pants too. :) )

Ainsley goes for the sweet things like marshmallow fudge.

Hannah goes for the feel-better things like marshmallow crackles. (Same ingredient name, different basic ingredients - this is made with marshmallow root.)

Gray makes anything and everything that he can. He just loves helping.

Applesauce making was huge a few weeks ago - the girls insisted that I be Ma and I call them Mary and Laura.

Ainsley is big into pie-making these days. On this day, she asked her father for help, so she got to make a chocolate pudding pie - with extra flair, of course. Sprinkles in both the crust ...

and on top.

It was verra crunchy. Yum.

Oh, and her hair - I have to show you her hair.

She can wear it in pigtails now. Happy Day!

She loves how it looks.

New pants and a Tree.

New sewing post up over here.

We got our tree up last week and this is the first year in nine years that we have a store-bought tree. Usually we get one while we're in Wyoming visiting family - it's a tradition, hunting for the perfect tree in the perfect spot (too many trees in one place) and hauling it back down the mountain. Didn't happen this year, so we went to a local greenhouse and got a tree.

I forget what a magical thing this is - decorating a tree in the house.

So much glitter to be distributed!

Ornaments to be dug out and put on the tree.


All that we as adults did this year was get the boxes out, untangle lights, and help where asked. The girls did all of the decorating.

Gray just wanted to wear the hat and play.
So our tree is so clearly decorated by kids. All of the ornaments in the same spot, all of the lights in one area ...

It's perfect for this season of our lives.
Happy Holidays!

A new puppy and Grayson being goofy.

It's a cuteness overload post.

I finally got a border collie puppy. Oh, she's sweet. Come over to my other blog and help me name her. Pretty please?

And then there's Gray. He found his sleeping bag the other day, hauled it up the stairs, and spent the next few hours rolling around in it.

Every time I turned around, there he was, giggling hysterically because he'd been able to bump into my legs.

It kept him busy for a very long time.

Especially when he got stuck under the craft table for ten minutes.

Just look at that smile.

This moment is perfect.

Well, that moment was perfect. This very moment sees Gray running nekkid around the living room trying to tackle an ever-patient cocker spaniel, Hannah sketching a cat in the kennel, and Ains coloring in an activity book. This moment is pretty near perfect too.

Sewing/knitting posts.

In this sewing and knitting heavy season, I wanted to share what I've been making but didn't know which blog to put it on. I decided to put it on my other blog, but will link to those posts on posts on this blog in case you're interested.

I've started a stash-busting series of posts, but today's was just a needed-to-be-made post ... Hannah's new coat.

Busy, windy, sore throat day.

Two kids had sore throats this morning, it was windy outside, and the snow drifts had us locked in anyway, so we had a busy day mostly spent inside.

Lots of games - chess, Animal Yatzee, Dragon's Journey, Guess Who.

Marshmallow crackles - so soothing for a sore throat.

A tent house.
It started out small but there were ... issues over who was to be allowed in. Hence the three separate houses attached by table tunnels.

Every blanket in the house.

Mailboxes even.

Dancing to Christmas music.

This little guy *loves* dancing, though this shot is unusual. Normally he looks like a velociraptor when he dances.

Remember on my Halloween costume post when I said he's not into costumes? Yeah. He is now. If he has a choice, he'll be squeezed into this costume.

Playing with Halloween clearance scores. Black nail polish and lipstick were in a pack together for ten cents.

Black wig was 50 cents. Awesome.

She felt very glamorous.

Then baking cupcakes and making frosting for four very special birthdays.

Dance recital.

Then the birthday celebration for Moongem (the unicorn in the back), and Nettie, Moonshadow, and Rosie (the dolls).

There were a lot of candles.

That's enough for one day.

This was a long time coming.

Since Hannah was one year old, I've been collecting puppets. Cute, inexpensive puppets are hard to find - and they're one of the few things that I look at and think "I am not even trying to make that." I've seen a *lot* of cute handmade puppets, I've just got no desire to make them myself. (The few handmade puppets we have are from family Christmas presents or from this hilarious episode.)

So I've been collecting them where I find them. Garage sales, thrift stores, dollar stores, clearance sales, IKEA ... I've got two that are really golf club covers but are some of the cutest. :)

And ever since Hannah was one year old, I've been planning on making a puppet theater. Not a fancy one, mind you, just a simple piece of fabric on a tension rod. Two seams to sew. For the last five years I've been planning this. About three weeks ago, I finally did it.

I was pushed more by the need to get our toy room organized than by a desire to finally get it done. The basket of puppets sits down in the toy room and when I clean the room, I am inevitably picking up all of the puppets which have been used as projectiles.

I stopped in the middle of picking them up one day, walked into the craft room, dug through my fabric stash, cut some fabric the right length, sewed a hem on one end and a tube on the other for the tension rod, put it on the rod (which I've had in the craft room *for this very purpose* for three years), and put it on the stairs. Then I went back to the toy room, threw all of the puppets in the tub and hauled it upstairs also. Within 30 seconds, I had two big kids upstairs using the theater - and puppets - as it was meant to be used.


Ainsley insists that a show needs an audience - and one momma does not a sufficient audience make.

For some reason, Ains is always the announcer.


"Are you watching, Mommy?"


Hannah tells stories and sings songs with her puppets. Ainsley *tries* to tell stories and sing songs, but if she can't remember the song or think of more of a story, the puppets involved suffer for it. Every song ends with "And then the lion died" or "Then he died" with the poor puppet falling to the floor in front of the theater. And I still laugh every time.

I also had one 2 1/2 year old using them as projectiles *over* the theater (hence the floating lion).

Now the toy room is more organized because the puppets are not adding to the mess anymore and the puppets get played with at least once a day because their basket is upstairs in the game area in plain sight. An added bonus is that they get picked up almost immediately because if they don't, they're right in the way.

Success all the way around.