Catching up...

Um, the past few days have been jam-packed. I could try to truly catch things up and include photos, but...to be perfectly honest...I've got enough else on my list between now and Christmas. ;) So, here's a super quick review:

Wednesday...my mom and baby sister arrived...the boys had a huge dart gun fight to induct Aunt Cas

Thursday...the boys got Cas out in the snow to play soccer...did some shopping (Mom and Cas needed to finish getting a few things)...made some more ornaments...watched Miracle on 34th Street

Friday...made jar candles at our homeschool co-op (my mom helped Micah and Aunt Cas helped Asher...fun times)...ventured to the Zoo Lights exhibit at the Denver Zoo and saw Santa (flippin' cold, but worth the trip...my brother Zach who now lives nearby and his youngest daughter came with us)...snagged a late dinner at Red Robin

Saturday...I got all my Christmas packages in the mail!!!...Mom, Cas, Nathan and I were able to go see a movie (our awesome neighbor watched the boys)...boys had their piano recital at the mall (it was Asher's first, and both boys did a fabulous job...they were so adorable in their dress shirts and ties)...rewarded patience and good performances with ice cream...home again to eat dinner and then make handmade chocolate candies for our neighbors (never tried this before, but can see how this could get addicting!)

Sunday...Nathan and the boys hung out at home while Mom and I did some more shopping...watched the classic Rudolph and Frosty cartoons...Cas and Mom headed down to Longmont to stay at Zach's till they head home on the 26th

Whew. My other brother Joe will fly in tomorrow (Monday) and stay with us for at least a couple days. He's promised to make sugar cookies with the boys. We'll all do Christmas Eve dinner down in Longmont at Zach's. The boys are getting antsy about Christmas being so soon. I still have a number of things on my list to get done before Christmas (making some ornaments of my own for each of the boys, wrapping their gifts, laundry, stuff like that, lol). So. I should get going... ;)

Happy, happy holidays to you all...on the off chance I don't make it back to this blog before Thursday, lol!

And the winner is...

Elizabeth P....

I shipped all my cards. I'm not sending presents this year. I think the ornaments your boys did are really cute. I love making ornaments with my girls. Thanks for the chance to win your book. :)

December 17, 2008 | Elizabeth P

Congrats! Email me your mailing info and I'll get this out to you, okay?

Thanks so much to all for your comments...wish I could send each and every one of you a copy! In the meantime, my mom and sister arrived last night and the boys have already gotten Aunt Cassy out to play soccer in the snow, lol! Will be back later! :)

Yet more ornaments, indoor lunch, a tree story...and a giveaway!

First off, for the giveaway info, you'll have to read to the end of this post. Don't worry, I didn't forget. ;)

So, are you tired of ornaments yet? ;) Here are days 11, 12 and 13...on day 11, we made jingle bell Santa's from a little kit (okay, I did much of the making since this involved a hot glue gun, but the boys directed and loved adding these to their trees). On day 12, I let the boys do a bit of free-form ornament making...gave them a length of (coated) wire and a heap of beads. They liked making these spin so all ended up making similar ornaments. And on day 13, we brought back an ornament we made in 2003. Noah actually came up with the idea...well, he (at 3 year old, when we were doing these) saw a wooden train in a catalog and loved it so much it became the inspiration for our holiday ornaments that year. Here's the "plain" version (personally, I like the plain ones and this is what we did in 2003):

This year, though, the boys opted to paint their pieces before assembly...gives 'em character, don't you think? :) So, here are Asher's. He had fun mixing red and blue paint:

Here are Noah's:

And here are Micah's. I love how his train turned out (after considerable drying time...who knew paint could be lumpy? LOL):

In other news, I survived Monday's lunch hour. :) Fortunately, there were about 6 of us there to corral kids. We ended up letting them mostly do their own thing inside while monitoring for safety issues.

Also, we finally got our tree decorated! We picked it up on Sunday...well, Nathan and Asher picked it out. See, we got to the place (where we've gone every year but one since living in CO...nice local trees, freshly cut...good prices and nice service). We got out and wandered a bit and immediately decided we were not bundled up enough, despite the snow boots, double layers, winter coats, scarfs, gloves and such. It was about -2 degrees I think. Maybe a bit warmer but with the wind chill definitely colder than that. Anyhow, Noah then declared that he simply *had* to use the bathroom. That seemed like a good enough reason to get out of the cold so we trekked back to the van and over to the nearby McDonalds...at which point, Noah, Micah and I opted to stay indoors while Nathan and Asher went back to get a tree. They picked a good one. :)

So, we got it set up and got the lights up Monday. Tonight we got the ornaments on and decorations around the rest of the house, finally. Yay!! Will try to take some pictures later.

And. (Yes, finally, this is the giveaway part of the post, lol.) Since I'm in such a Christmasy mood now...and since I finally got my copies of my book today (Tuesday)...and since I just like you all...who wants a free copy of my book? Leave a comment here...tell me how you like today's ornaments and whether you've shipped all your Christmas packages yet (I'm nosey and it'll make me feel better if you haven't either, LOL). I'll pick a random winner Thursday at noon-ish. Woohoo!

Oh, and be sure to check back to see if you're the winner...the way this site is set up, you'll need to email me with your info. :)

Quick plea for ideas...

So, was just listening to the forecast and we're set for some more snow (nothing major, but snow nonetheless) and really cold temps for the next few days...including Monday when the boys are at Options...where I volunteer for lunch duty every week. Because of the nature of the program, lunch hour is overseen by parent volunteers. During that hour, kids eat and then head outside to play. I take the dozen or so kindergartners to the "smaller" playground and everyone else goes to the other side of the building (where the play equipment is a bit big for some of the kindergartners aside from the fact that this program covers kinder through high school, so there are some big kids...often older siblings so no real worries, but still). Anyhow. Thus far, this is how it's been.

But. Assuming the forecast is remotely right, it'll be like 10 degrees Monday (not counting windchill). I'm going to guess we'll be keeping kids inside. In the one gym where they eat. All together. Any good ideas on activities that can be played with such a range of ages in a confined space?

ETA: By the way, we're talking about maybe 50-80 kids in a big single room with no dividers. Yeah, it'll be loud. This I know. ;)

Five days later...

Oy. How'd it get to be Friday? It's been a busy week. Super quick recap...Christmas program at Options got rescheduled for January (due to illness and high absences)...boys and I spent more than necessary at a Scholastic Warehouse sale, but they're in love with the I Spy computer game we found...religious ed, music class and gym visits as usual...lots of errands...I finished up 5 layouts, 2 cards and 2 projects for a couple assignments (turned them in this morning, after having had basically two all nighters...yeah, I'm wiped...my own fault for letting it get so close to the deadline, though)...finally found a pair of winter boots for me that I'm happy with (had still been using the non-waterproof, non-insulated ones I got in NC more than 8 years ago...that, incidentally, didn't really fit since my pre-kids shoes don't really)...printed out the 100 Christmas postcards I intend to send next week but still need to finish them up and address them and all...worked on some more gifts that I can't talk about here...and stuff like that. Yeah, busy.

Amid all that, the boys and I have continued with our countdown books, elf on a shelf, lego advent calendar, bedtime holiday book unwrapping and ornament making...daily. To catch you up (almost) on the ornaments...

On day 6, we did another shrinky dink ornament...this time with the boys' initials. I just drew the letter and let them decorate/color as desired.

On day 7, they "decorated" wooden numbers (with their ages) with glitter glue, paint and markers.

For day 8, we made little clothespin reindeer. I must add here that painting all those pieces took awhile, as the boys are notoriously slow painters since they abhor getting messy for some weird reason...picture them trying to paint all sides of a clothespin whilst not actually touching the clothespin, lol. Though he started it all (having been the "worst" about cleanliness when he was younger), Noah's actually been getting better and tried to show his brothers that it was okay to get messy...Micah, though, took this to mean that he should paint the table, which fortunately was covered with a tarp.

On day 9, we made little Christmas tree ornaments using some awesome little bead "kits" that Angie sent me after replying to my post earlier about ornament ideas.

And, on day 10, we made more snowflakes, this time with the cool wooden sticks Angie also sent along with paint and some glitter glue...thanks again, Angie!! Whew. Here are the shots...first, Micah's:

Next, here are Asher's:

And, of course, Noah's:

Okay, off I go to make today's ornaments now... ;) Oh, and for any scrapbookers who are wondering, these daily ornament projects are helping me finally make some progress on my ribbon stash, LOL! I have some ornaments planned that will use other supplies, too, but haven't gotten to those yet. Well, technically, the shrinky dink stuff is from my stash, but I hadn't used it in ages for scrapbook embellishments. :)

So, anyone have any fun weekend plans?