Feast of St. Nicholas
I know today’s feast day typically means shoes filled with chocolate coins and oranges, but since were still eating Halloween candy, we opted for ornaments and book, titled the Catechism of the Seven Sacraments.
Tag: decorating
Gingerbread houses
On day 1 of Christmas vacation we assembled the houses.
Then on day 2, the kids decorated them. Can you locate the gingerbread under all of the frosting and sprinkles?
Little elf working hard
Shecklet #2 likes to peruse Pinterest for project, craft, game, and building ideas. He has asked for help gathering supplies to make all kinds of things. He has built Popsicle stick ninja stars and a homemade skeeball game; we’ve made slime and catapults and he taught himself how to tube-knit and made a bracelet and several necklaces. His latest project is one he pinned for Papa several months ago. He is so proud of it and can’t wait to give it to Papa at Christmas!
Gingerbread houses
Shecklet #4 and I had a chance to spend the afternoon with a good friend of mine and her sweet boys. While we were there, she pulled out gingerbread houses that the her son and Shecklet #4 got to decorate.
And I have a photo of me helping my godson! ❤️ This decorating stuff is serious business!
The 2016 tree
We moved the tree to a new spot in the living room this year because it is so much wider than the Menards ones we have gotten in the past. Love how it turned out – it looks even prettier at night!
Valentine’s Day Box
I have been feeling the pressure of Shecklet #3’s fast-approaching Valentine’s Day party at preschool and was planning on having her bring a decorated brown paper lunch bag instead of a decorated box. Bad mom, I know. However, I quickly redeemed myself when I had a brief moment of mom-awesomeness. I’m sure the idea exists somewhere on Pinterest, but I didn’t even think to look there. (Probably a good idea since I was already in a time crunch. I didn’t need to make things more complicated.)
I took an empty Kleenex box, removed the thin plastic surrounding the hole on the top and wrapped it in wrapping paper. Then Shecklet #3 put her name and stickers on the box. Voilà! Valentine’s Day box project success!
Sammy’s Chair
Twenty-some years ago, when my family made the move from Iowa to Minnesota, my mom was faced with packing up two houses – our house and the house of Sammy, a lovely lady who was a grandma to Tony and me (though we called her “Aunt Sammy.”) Growing up we spent hours upon hours with her – at her home, out on shopping trips, even overnight adventures – like one to DeSmit, SD, to see a pageant about Laura Ingalls Wilder. In her home, she had a chair that Tony and I would fight over take turns sitting in. When it came time to move the furniture from her house, I mentioned how I wanted to keep the chair. At the time, there wasn’t a place for my family to store it safely (it was Sammy’s dad’s chair, so quite old.) My mom’s friend, Marilyn, came to the rescue and unbeknownst to me, offered to store the chair until we were ready for it. Fast forward 4 years, and the chair made its way up to Minnesota…surprising both my brother and me that it was still around.
It sat in my parents’ home (with a slip cover and later in storage again) for another 19 years until finally, this fall, we had it reupholstered. Here is the chair before:
And here is the chair after. Drum roll please…..
Can you believe that is the same chair?! (The ottoman was part of the original pair.) I am beyond thrilled to have this piece of furniture (full of so many wonderful childhood memories) in our home. Many, many thanks to our family friend, Marilyn and my parents for keeping it safe for so many years!
Easter 2012
We roused the crew at a very unusual time this morning. We had breakfast and were out the door in time to start greeting people at 7am for Easter morning mass. The kids did a great job saying “Happy Easter” and handing out mass leaflets. I was really impressed with the way Nolan took ownership of his “job.” And Lincoln was a super “leaflet restocker” for us.
After mass, we went home and treated the kids to orange rolls for breakfast. After a failed attempt at getting Ingrid to nap earlier than usual, we headed to my parents’ house for an early Easter dinner. We dined on ham, scalloped potatoes, sweet potato casserole (a favorite of mine), cranberry relish & cabbage slaw (also a fave and recipe of my Great Aunt Frances’.)
Later in the afternoon, Tony & Kristin joined us and were so sweet to our kids, as usual. They have such a knack for entertaining them. They “decorated” the sun room and dining room, which seems to have become somewhat of a tradition when they’re together at my parents’ house. The kids also smothered icing all over enhanced and then ate the rice krispy bunny that Tony made them. Kristin put together the cutest Easter gift bag for them, complete with stickers, fruit strips, and grow your own grass & flower kits.
Thank you Lord, for giving us the opportunity again this year to be together as a family and celebrate the ultimate sacrifice Christ made on the cross. He is risen! Happy Easter!
Body Art
This afternoon I was sitting in the living room with Little Miss and talking on the phone with my friend, Sarah. Meanwhile, the boys were sitting at the dining room table coloring “hidden pictures” pages with markers. Sounds innocent enough, right? I mean, I was in the adjoining room and could see their heads over the back of the love seat. Unfortunately, it blocked my full view of them. If only I had known they were not only coloring hidden pictures, but were using their own bodies as canvases.
Check out the detail on Nolan’s feet!
For the record, I waited to take photos of them because I couldn’t let on that what they had done was absolutely hilarious! While they were technically using markers labeled “washable,” this particular set is hardly that. I ended up Googling “remove marker from skin” and found a suggestion for rubbing alcohol. That, combined with a super bubbly bath, seems to have done the trick. Of course all of this happened while I was single-parenting tonight. Jake missed out on all of the fun!