{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Merry Christmas!

Here's a little peek at our very happy Christmas this year.

We are so enjoying celebrating the birth of Jesus through Matias and Violet's eyes.  They don't know how to answer the question "what do you want for Christmas", they don't have expectations- it took us 3 hours to open presents, because after the first one, Matias wanted to play with his new toy, rather than open more.  We could all be more like that!  It was unanimous that the best part our Christmas was that we got to see every member of both families yesterday.  Happy Birthday Baby Jesus!

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Recycled Letter Ornaments

I got this idea over at No Time for Flashcards and it was a big hit.  Plus, we have a lot of foam bathtub letter laying around that I was only too-happy to put to use.

 Matias colored the letters with markers (which feel really nice on foam!) and then painted each one with red and green paint.  Anyone who knows my little letter-monster can guess that this was much enjoyed!

 I poked holes in each one and added a loop of fishing line to hang them.

The kids had fun decorating, undecorating and redecorating the tree.  They are so light that it is very easy to hang them- even if the loop only makes it over one needle.  Since we haven't gotten around to decorating our tree yet, it was fun to do- I think these ornaments may live at the bottom of the tree this year, and we'll put the less durable ones up top.  I love a good recycling project!

Let it Snow!

Can't put my arms down!

The drama

Not so bad after all!

A New Photographer

Matias wanted to try out the camera today.  Here is a small sampling of the 53 pictures he took.  What fun to have digital cameras where you can take as many photos as you want, and immediately see what you've captured.  And what fun to have a picture of myself taken during our days at home together...well, at least a picture of most of me :)

Playdough

We had a great time with playdough today...for one of the first times, the kids really dug in and enjoyed a lengthy playdough session- and put very little in their mouths.  I made the dough with roughly this recipe , which was about the closest to my mom's recipe that I could find at the moment.  I highly recommend nice, warm playdough on a cold morning (we were waiting in the cold for the furnace repairman!).  If your playdough isn't fresh, try sticking it in the microwave for a few seconds- it is well worth it for the nice feeling!

I made balls of dough for Violet and gave her a toothpick and a bowl.  She worked really hard at poking the balls and putting them in the bowl...and then back out...and then back in...and then onto the ground.

 Matias started off by rolling "snakes" to make into letters.  Then we did some printing by pressing legos and spoons into the dough and made "George the Jumping Giraffe" (which sparked off a great conversation about why George and Giraffe start with G, but sound like J!)

 Then Matias discovered he could make faces with the dough:

happy faces








angry faces








and sad faces

But the favorite, by far, was discovering that he could make food...pancakes, hot dogs, and BIRTHDAY CAKE.  We got out the marching band toppers from his 3rd birthday, and he made cake after cake...singing "Happy Birthday," blowing out the toothpick candles (or letting me and Violet have a turn), and then cutting it up into 3 equal-ish pieces for the three of us to share.  Lots of fun!

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Geocaching

This weekend we had the chance to do some geocaching with our friends Elizabeth and Mark, who were visiting.  Geocaching, which is like treasure hunting with a GPS, is one of our favorite activities.  It gets us outside, takes us to new, unexplored areas, and gives us all a chance to sleuth around for a while.

This particular cache took us to the banks of Lake Zurich, hiking through the woods and down by the water.  It was a large cache, and Elizabeth found it underneath a piece of bark and a log.

Inside is always a log to sign and sometimes a few "treasures", but this time we also found a TravelBug...this one is a Music Bug.  We looked it up online, and this one's goal is to meet as many musicians as it can.  The last person had left it in the cache, and Elizabeth and Mark took it back to Minnesota to help it along its course.  It is so fun to play a tiny part in someone else's idea.

If you haven't geocached before, you really must check it out- you will be amazed that there is, undoubtedly, a geocache right in your neck of the woods!

Advent

Today marked the beginning of Advent.  This is one of my favorite times of the year, with traditions and family time around every turn.

This year we celebrated by hanging up our advent calendar.  Last year we made a replica of one I had growing up, which was just like the one my mother had growing up, so it is special and full of memories!  We also lit the first advent candle at dinner time.  It was both kids' baptism anniversaries, so we brought out their baptism candles and celebrated that as well.  Lots of candlelight to accompany our dinner!

Then we unpacked two special nativity sets...one set that I brought back from a nativity store in Oberammergau, Germany as a souvenir from a trip with my grandparents.  I LOVE this wooden set- one of my most prized possessions.  We also got out Matias and Violet's Little People set.  Matias knows he is not supposed to move my wooden figures, but that doesn't stop him from lining up his camels right next to mine.  He carried around the Baby Jesus for much of the evening, wrapping him up and telling him that his birthday was coming soon.

Matias' school has a "Happy Birthday Jesus" party for Christmas, and so far his focus has been on Baby Jesus, rather than Santa.  Undoubtedly the Santa excitement will grow as the big day approaches, but for now, we are happy to share his excitement about the pending birthday.

A blessed Advent to all!

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.