A Little Bit of Sun in Our Eyes

Feels so good to see the blue sky and feel the sun on our faces.

Grand Canyon

We made a family trip to the Grand Canyon National Park.

It was a chilly view, with snow on the ground and a bit breezy.  I accidentally left my good camera at the hotel, so had to rely on Auntie Rochelle and my iphone...but you get the idea, we'll definitely make the trip out again, hopefully in the spring when the weather is warmer.

Dog Days

E's favorite dog is now also N's. Buster, the Arizona farm dog.

One Second Longer

Today marks the point in the year when our days get longer!

On Dec 21st, the sun rose at 7:55 and set at 4:20 - the day was 8hr 25 min 15 sec long

On Dec 22nd, the day is 1 sec longer!

On Dec 23rd, the day will be 8 sec longer than Dec 21st

On Dec 24th, the day will be 20 sec longer than Dec 21st

On Dec 25th, the day will be 37 sec longer than Dec 21st

Obviously it will take a while to see the change, but psychologically, Dec 22nd is a lovely day, happy Winter Solstice.

Swansons

We like to visit this nursery around Christmas. They bring in animals (camel, donkey, and reindeer), set up a train and this year the kids got to pet koi in their Garden Cafe...

*ps, a total coincidence, but I love that his little green hat made it's second appearance at Swansons!

Ho-Ho-Ho....Boo-Hoo-Hoo

Elvis

E was busy creating one thing or another at the table behind me as I faced the computer screen with our Christmas Shuffle playing on iTunes.  All of the sudden Elvis' 'Merry Christmas Baby' came on and without looking up she spit out, "Can you change this?" to which I replied, "But it's Elvis."  Then turning around to look at the cover art for the record she said surprised, "And he sure is handsome."

Imagine Childhood Giveaway!

Mosey on over to their beautiful site!

Elmo with Ricky

N enthusiastically asks for an Elmo video at least 10 times a day.  He has a handful of Elmo books, and a few weeks ago August introduced him to the glorious 'Elmo on Demand' aka Elmo videos on my phone from YouTube.  I hadn't given in to his request to watch snippets on my phone until today when we were stuck in some pretty nasty evening traffic traveling home from his doctor appointment; he's sick with fever, ear aches, and was hungry and grumpy.  So after sitting in a dead stop and staring at blinding brake lights forever I quickly pulled one up and handed him back my phone... it ends about 3 minutes later and he immediately of course asks for more so I hit the next one on the roster and all the sudden I hear a familiar British accent asking if Elmo wants a lullaby because he's having trouble sleeping.  I was in the front seat in hysterics.  I can't see it, mind you, just listening and picturing it.

So I get home, give him dinner, put him to bed, call D and E over to watch it with me and we were just rolling.  There's also this Ricky Gervais/Elmo interview as well that is just great.

On the Run

E and N have been getting along sooo much better lately. Mostly (I think) due to his wild and reckless emerging verbal ability.  She is finally realizing that he can be fun to play with, and he does not hold back letting her know she's being too bossy.  She creates these amazing experiences for him on the fly and he often just goes with it.  The other day E took off all the sides to his push wagon, attached his travel booster then replaced the front and back panels and affixed a handmade paper steering wheel.  She straps him in and pushes him up and down the hall, into the kitchen and pretty much wherever he wants to go.  It's nice to have things that don't require batteries to entertain the kiddies when it's dark and wet throughout most of our days.

It's a Kind of Addiciton

We have been snipping, cutting, shaping and trimming nonstop for the last week.  My house is covered in tiny bits and scraps of white paper.  I've vacuumed no fewer than twice daily.  When we round the corner to our cozy home those paper perfections pasted to our living room window make me so happy.

* Thanks for the idea Eileen!

Tree Time

We wanted to wait to get our tree as a complete family. D left for a handful of days, so on our way home from the airport we stopped by our regular tree-pickin' spot. Of course we all have our ideas of which one is the perfect tree; E wanted one that was easily taller than our ceilings, N was drawn to the flocked variety, but in the end D and I settled on a short and sweet Nobel.

Crafty Crow Giveaways!

Head on over!

Melissa and Doug Train/Activity Table Giveaway!

Check it!

Kid Sandwich

Creativity during confinement.

Gotta get Outa the House!

Today's temperatures were well below freezing, and night temperatures will be in the low teens (Keeping fingers crossed to find warm birds in the morning and no chickencicles).  All the schools were cancelled today, but E had a few hours of school work to get caught up from when her grandparents were here last week.  After our cozy morning in I bundled everyone up after lunch for a long chilly walk to the grocery store for a few last minute Thanksgiving ingredients.

Backyard Snow

Chicken Snow

It Has Begun!

Snowflakes all morning...

Stilts

My back occasionally gives me grief.  I'm fine most of the time and then without warning it'll give out and I'll find myself stiffly and slowly walking about, and unable to lift anything.  Today is one of those days.  E looked up at me from her lunch and said solemnly, "Kate and Anna (our neighbors) have some stilts you could borrow."

Thanks anyway.

One More Year

Thought I'd recreate a photo I took exactly a year ago.

I am

Breakfast of Jedi's

Nothin' like starting your day sitting across the table from a princess, her Ewok, and my Chewbacca.

Star Wars Party

 What do you get when you cross 3 giddy kids, their Halloween costumes and one of the best movie's of all time?  Yup.

Fall Fits

The weather has changed.