Thanksgiving Mantel

So it's been a while since I posted anything to my blog, and I've been wanting to start it up again.  I guess there's no time like the present.  I'll start off with my Thanksgiving mantel decoration, since I was so happy with how it turned out!

We bought some accent moulding at Home Depot, spray painted it and used some removable adhesive to attach it to the front of the mantel.  I was inspired by this pin to make some dried/pressed leaf candles.  I found some wheat stalks at the Goodwill and used empty cleaned glass jars to display it.  Add in some leftover halloween pumpkins and green candles and... Done!  I love the way it turned out, and have gotten lots of compliments which always feels good :o)

Advent Has Arrived!

I had a great time last weekend making one of these super cute advent boxes with some friends, and last night realized it was time to fill the drawers!  Some of them just got some candy, while others got slips of paper with activities to do as a family, such as:
Get a Christmas Tree
Make Paper Snowflakes
Take a Family Picture
Visit Snowflake Lane
Drive around and Look at Christmas Lights
Skype with Family to wish them a Merry Christmas
etc.

I can't wait for the kids to start opening the drawers and for Christmas to start it's countdown!

Christmas Tree Hunt

Well, this weekend was the date of our annual Christmas Tree Hunt! Overall I would say it was successful. We had a group of 13 people pile into 4 vehicles and head up into the mountains to attempt to hunt down 6 Christmas trees :o)



Conditions were good - we were able to drive all the way up to the end of the road without any snow on the road... A little ice and actually lots of dust, but no snow...



Parked the cars, got out, geared up and started hiking. Now the idea was to put the kids in the sled and drag them along the trail. This worked for a while, but what the pictures don't show is that due to some warmer weather, followed by a dry COLD spell, all the snow was frozen solid. So every bump was a major bump (to a 2 & 4 year old) and everywhere that someone had post-holed last week was a very dangerous ankle breaker of a hole.



But off we went, kids in the sled down the trail... Until the kids started complaining bitterly about the extremly bumpy and very tippy sled ride. Time to get them out and have them start walking... Ya right! They both initially found the snow far to icy and slick - even with good tread on your boots, if you don't have any weight behind you they might as well be ice skates :o)


So at this point the only option is to carry both the kids down the trail. We kept trading kids back and forth, switching arms, trying to get them to walk on their own... Eventually Janika discovered that she could actually walk on the snow and had a great time manuvering over the big holes and letting us know when one of them was small enough that she could step in it with her long legs :o)


Joe took several jaunts up the side of the trail into patches of potential Christmas trees while we (mostly Janika) tried to coach him from the road... "That one Daddy! Over that way! No, THAT way! No, that one's too skinny - go over THAT way!" Anyway, he kept returning to the road empty handed and eventually we decided to turn around and head back to the cars since the kids were starting to complain about cold noses and fingers.


Upon arriving back at the cars we started up the Jeep, cranked up the heat, let the little ones warm up, and broke out the camp stove to cook up some hot cocoa before Joe headed out in the other direction to see if he could have more success solo. Sure enough after not too long he came back with a beautiful tree! Success!

Both kids zonked out in the back seat on the way back into North Bend, but we were able to wake them up to enjoy a wonderful dinner with friends back at the North Bend Bar & Grill. Next mission - to get the tree into the house and decorated!

When Keldon came up to me with his foot through this toy I was expecting him to tell me that he was stuck, implying that he has accidentally gotten his foot stuck in the toy. Instead what did he say? 'It fits!' Which to me sounds like he had been trying to get his foot through the toy and came to tell me of his success. Boys...

Bathroom etiquette

Janika has been doing really good lately at using the bathroom all by herself. We recently bought her a big step stool so she could more easily reach the sink to wash and dry her hands.

Down side: she likes to use every towel in the bathroom she can reach to dry her hands

Up side: at least she hangs them all up when she is finished!

Preschool Performance

There is nothing cuter than a bunch of 3 & 4 year olds getting up to sing in front of their parents!

I think my favorite part was when, during the 'Tom the Turkey' song, one little girl stated that she wanted to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star - and so she did! Loud and proud she sang her solo right over the top of the rest of the class, and don't worry, she remembered to take a big bow when she was finished - way too cute!

Happy Halloween!!!

Well, overall I would say this year's halloween was a success!

Janika started the day with a pajama party at preschool, and they decorated the pumpkins they got on their pumpkin patch field trip last week.

Later we were off to 'Trick-or-Trucks' at the Maple Valley Community Center. Both kids had lots of fun checking out all the big trucks, getting to sit in them, and of course... getting candy!

It amazed me how quickly Keldon caught on to the whole concept. And let me tell you - I couldn't pry that candy bucket out of his little hand for anything!

After the trucks we came home for a nice healthy dinner (Here, eat more veggies, I know what's coming later!!!) and then it was off with Daddy to visit all the neighbors.

Let me just say something here --- when a cute little toddler comes up to your door, PLEASE no matter how cute they are, they really only need one tiny piece of candy! Joe and the kids only went to the end of our block and back (couldn't have been more that 15 houses total), yet Joe had to empty out Keldon's bucket into his coat pocket because Keldon couldn't carry it all. That's right, the little guy was actually dragging the bucket allong the sidewalk!

Okay, rant over :o)

After putting a very tired Keldon to bed, mommy daddy and Janika turned off the lights in her bedroom and played with the glowstick for a LONG time. Way too much fun for all of us!