{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.