Christmas Past

A little recap of our favorite Christmas moments!

Happy New Year!

Everyone knows that I don't blog for long periods of time, right? And everyone knows that I come back with a vengeance and make all kind of promises that I'm turning over a new leaf, right?

Maddie was in full fledged princess mode on New Year's Eve and rounded out her evening by taking a pony ride.
Good thing she's got her Daddy wrapped around her little finger.

Well, it's that time of year again! Topping the resolutions is a the pledge to a) indulge in my creative side and b) blog regularly. We'll see if I can make it through the month, but I have some serious motivation and clarity of thought this month.

Happy 2014!

Be back really soon. I promise. Again.

Let the Countdown Begin Again

Ok, I'm not going to lie to you. I'm kind of wiped out on the inspiration side at the moment. Every year, I pretty much hit a lull during the fall. Though I head into it with all kinds of good intentions, it's my busy season at work and I get drained. I consider it a stellar parenting moment if I can sit on the floor next to Mads while she's coloring and not fall asleep. So I'm warning you, that the posts this month on our annual advent calendar of crafts are not going to be so much in the line of ideas as pictures of the fun that we're having. 

Here's this year's set up: 

 Confession: last year, I almost received divorce papers when my husband woke up on the first morning of advent to discover I had used all his coffee filters. As I was making my advent list I could see him getting nervous, so I opted for a different craft calendar. I used red solo cups this year.

 I actually remembered that advent was coming far enough in advance to buy all my supplies and get organized! It was actually very easy to fill the solo cup with as many supplies for that day's craft as would fit, then glue on a circle of white paper. I wrote out my numbers on white gift tags and used some polka dot "washi" tape (psst... it's not really washi but super cheap fake washi from Target!)

Maddie has loved ripping that circle off the cup for the day. Stacking them up as a Christmas tree has been a little cute too!

More on our crafts throughout the month!

Twas the Night before Halloween

I have been all about Halloween this year! I think it has a lot to do with the fact that Maddie loves this holiday SO much and secondly that her school is not really celebrating Halloween this year.  She did however get to attend a "Fall Family Night" where they got to craft pumpkins. That's hers above with the cool shades.

I've been trying to instill as many Halloween traditions as I possibly can. Including doughnuts, which I think are intrinsically characteristic of Halloween -- maybe that's just me. So we made these, my absolute favorite: Caramel Filled Chocolate Doughnuts.

And this lovely craft was born of an attempt to keep Maddie busy during the recent Bills-Saints game. (Daddy gets one televised Saints game a year -- don't mess with him!) I cut out some white fabric and pinked it a little bit. Then Maddie and I put a little wooden ball in the center and used washi tape like a scarf. Maddie did all of the faces. And of course, now she says she's scared of them, but I think they're cute.

Then for a nice new tradition, we decided to add this:

Apple Pie Caramel Apples. Delicious! It's just an apple dunked in caramel and cooled, then dunked in white chocolate and rolled in cinnamon sugar. My favorite from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory but surprisingly easy to make.

I also came up with this little Halloween edu-craft. One of the big benefits of a glass top table is that it's super easy to do stuff like this (not so easy to photograph though!). Maddie has been working on her shapes, so I thought it might be fun to make a cobweb. I used washi tape to create an octagon. Then I helped Maddie tear off pieces to make the inside of the web. 

My hope was that we could then point out different shapes that we had made. Of course, my child is just a little bit compulsive. Her plan is to completely fill the octagon. It's still a work in progress.