Cinnamondee

may you bloom and grow, bloom and grow forever

We did Terrariums this month after Christmas... 

I'm amazed its still living really. One of the websites that I checked out said, 'able to live up to a few years'.  Hmmm.  They've obviously never seen how fast I can send a houseplant to the compost heap.

Anyway, to commemorate our hopefulness, heres a little Shel Silverstein (C-girls favorite) with 'Goodnite Little Houseplant'

Goodnight little houseplant asleep on the sill
I'll pull the shades so you don't catch a chill
And tomorrow in the morning don't be breakfast for two
We'll have ham and eggs for me and nitrogen for you
Goodnight little houseplant tucked in your clay pot
Make sure you don't catch Huntington's Rot
Remember little houseplant stay away from them bees
I've heard they may carry a social disease
Goodnight little houseplant goodnight
Here's your glass of water should I leave on the light
Tomorrow we'll talk of the things that we did
I love you little house plant who needs women and kids

Good luck little guy, you're gonna need it.

 

A Day at the Park and Some Crazy Gingies

  

My sister recently did a awesome Christmas photo session with the kids... I love this one, its so C-boy.

 

As you can tell its not very cold here (never is really) I keep hoping for chilly weather but obviously this is not the place for it. 

C-boy can't wait to make a snowman like we did in Colorado, but in the meantime, he's been drawing them and gingerbread men like keerayzee.

 

Dude, I don't know what mr. gingerbread is looking at with that demented smile, but I think he's up to no good.

 

That goes for mr. alien gingerbreadman too.

Shushi

C-boy found my wee wonderfuls pattern book and wanted a bear.... so here is Shushi bear (yes, like the raw fish/rice kind, his lisp just cracks me up).  He loved picking out his own fabrics for it.  The embroidery is really off (giving it 'character' of course!), but he didn't seem to mind.

 

Shushi has a bit of a juicy kiss on his head.  Looks like I might be making one for c-girl soon.

don't always take life so seriously, play the flute and dance and sing your song

 Crazy week. C-girls birthday and its a-humming here with class party cupcakes, favor making and plans for a BUNCH of kids going to see this.  I've been working on these favor totes(12 of them)the past couple of days, so my brain is all nice and mushy.

We also made homemade shrinky dinks like these.  Surprisingly easy,(green too, since we got to use some throw away containers i had no idea what to do with) and totally worked!  A couple had to be redone, but they made for some durable (although a bit wavy) favor tags, and cheap (actually free) fun.

To the girl that loves the rain, all animals(especially the baby ones), and Spongebob Squarepants. This girl that hates dirt in all forms, who will make the craziest faces to make her father laugh, who loves her brother, can't stand her brother, then starts all over again. 

This child that stole my heart 8 years ago and continues to surprise me with her wit, charm and her daddy's true stubborn streak.  Happy Birthday my little girl, don't ever stop dancing to the beat of your own drum.

Barbie's Green Crib

Barbie has a recycled 'green' house...

Made from cardboard, reused wrapping paper, and magazine clippings.

I found the idea in last months' Cookie magazine, although they used foamboard.  And is of course more chic(and scaled correctly) than ours.  It was fun to do though and ours was pretty much designed by a 7 year old.  Even though I made everything too short... or Barbie is an Amazon. 

The kids decided to put to use the 'marshmallows' that some company still dares to use as packing material and boxes they found in the garage.  I'm not sure what those two are cooking up, but it usually ends in Mom cleaning up afterwards.

Tiles and Cookies

My kids did a tile painting project this past weekend.  C-girl did the heart and C-boy did the rocketship.

I've had this forever but i wanted to make sure they could both do it since they love doing art so much, and when we first got it my son was 2.  Can you see a 2 year old with ceramic paint and a brush?  Uh, no thanks.  I still have a little paint stuck to the counter- colorwonder this was not.

It turned out pretty well (yes, I shaped the rocket a bit afterwards...okay and made the stars - I got permission from him :)

My sister hosted a cookie swap at her house last weekend too.... Yummmmm. 

Okay, I made some snickerdoodles but now that I'm trying to go vegan I haven't actually tasted any of them or the cookies I got to take home.  I'll live vicariously through the kids, er, yum(really not the same).  Nonnahs was home for the weekend (yay!) and made her yummy spiced nuts - I can honestly say 'yum' on that one since I tasted them at Christmas time and they were like Disneyland in yer mouth!

Christmas, children, is not a date. It is a state of mind. - Mary Ellen Chase

We finally set up the Christmas village.

And this child was found behind the counter after school,

munching happily on his gingerbread house-

 

Dinner with friends, and C-boy decided to make some more friends-

We made some memory books for jotting down thoughts this vacation-

And baked the Snickerdoodles-

Now just to relax here, enjoying the last couple days until Christmas..

Hope you all have a great heart warming Holiday-

Peace Out!

Oh Tannenbaum

Just moving along the Christmas front...

The tree is getting there, but not done yet.  We decided on a artificial one this year, its second hand thru Craigslist. I know, I know, no smell.  ack.  But I don't know about flying these by refridgerated containerfuls from Oregon. Also didn't want these critters or these.  It also seems so wasteful when people keep posting these sad babies secondhand for sale. But after setting it up, maybe we should have tested the branch lights first. Eh. Live and learn (in other words my mom knew what she was doing after all).

Some Christmas friends, I finally finished my soft trees that I started last year.

C-girl made her own Christmas village. 

"just like Nana's, but no lights." (working on that)

"and no trees"

::sigh::

and C-boys' army parachute man(long story short, his parachute got tangled and so I cut it off his head which why his head has a loop on it) is hangin' with the ginger man.  Apparently, they are great pals. 

He's also checking the chimney out to make sure it safe for Santa.

C-boys drawing of the two kids and the tree.  I love those first preschool stick figures.

Our Man Jack is King of the Pumpkin Patch

Pumpkin patching around...

 

Its Jack, King of the Pumpkin Patch!

Happy Halloween!

My Little Pumpkin

Yay!! Sickness is finally gone, W is home and all is back to normal.

We made Halloween crafts yesterday...

and got out the fun stuff for decorating.

Just waiting for pumpkin patch time!