Snow Days, Christmas Ornament Ideas

Hey Everybody-
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...
Sometime last night (this morning?) it started snowing; we've now got at least 6 inches of snow on the ground so we've got ourselves here a Snow Day!
Alas there will be no Ballet or Preschool today, however, we've got some fun Christmas activities that will keep us occupied.
And since we're having so much fun, I decided to share some of it with you.
(Just in case you're looking for Christmas-y things to do with your kiddos)

We decided to make some of our own ornaments this year.
I found recipes online for non-edible Cinnamon-Scented Ornament dough and (also non-edible) Salt dough.
This past weekend we started our Cinnamon Gingerbread Men (and Women) since it takes about 3 days or so to fully dry (see following recipe).

EASY GINGERBREAD MEN
(Makes 6 ornaments)

½ cup Applesauce
½ cup Cinnamon
2T Household glue

Mix all ingredients together and roll on wax paper to 1/4-inch thickness. Using a cookie cutter, cut out the shapes of the intended ornaments. Poke a small hole in the top of the ornament using the end of a straw, knife, chopstick, small dowel, pencil, or similar object. Allow ornaments to air dry for 1-3 days. When ornaments are ready to be decorated they will be completely dry and very hard.

I doubled the recipe and made 9 three-inch Gingerbread Boy/Girl ornaments and had enough scraps left over to freehand-form a star. So this morning, since we had plenty of our "Snow Day" to fill, we strung up our dried Cinnamon-Scented Gingerbread People (and Star) with 12" lengths of 1/8-inch wide ribbon. Then we placed them on our beautiful Christmas tree. I think the red ribbon really pops off the green tree (so does Noah).

I love that these recipes are kid-friendly and use ingredients that you most likely have in your home already.

Now this next recipe of Salt Dough brings back memories from my childhood. My family had made a Nativity out of Salt Dough and it had lasted beautifully throughout the years.
I decided to use the Salt Dough to make The Twelve Days of Christmas ornaments.

Here's the Salt Dough recipe:
½ cup salt
1 cup flour
½ cup water

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.
Mix together, salt, flour, and water until dough is formed.
Knead the dough on a floured surface until the mixture is elastic and smooth. If dough is too sticky, sprinkle with flour, continue to do so until stickiness is gone. Do not add too much flour, this will dry out the dough and will cause it to crack before you get a chance to bake it.
Roll out the dough to about ¼” thick with a rolling pin that has been dusted with flour.
Use cookie cutters to cut out as many trees and stars as you want.
Use a toothpick to make a hole toward the top of the shape. Poke the toothpick into the shape, then holding toothpick straight up and down, make a circular motion as if you were stirring something. Keep circling until the hole is the size you want.
Place all shapes onto an ungreased cookie sheet and place into the preheated oven.
Bake for 2 hours.
Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

I doubled this recipe as well, and had enough dough to make 21 three-inch ornaments with enough dough left over to hand-form a small Nativity scene with Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus lying in a manger (a little tribute to the set my fam had made when I was itty-bitty). The Twelve Days are ready now for the kids and I to paint. Though I do think I'll paint one of each 12 days, then let kids have at the leftovers.
I really struggle with my perfectionistic side in letting the kids have free-reign when they're painting. It's so hard to not go in and "correct" them.
However, I enlisted Matt's assistance for our wooden Nativity set painting activity. He helped me relax and let the kids paint the figures how they'd like. And I've gotta say, they look better than I had hoped (even better than if I had done them "correctly" 'cause they were beautifully done by my sweet children). Way to go, kiddos.
Oh, if you're wondering who did which figures, Noah painted Baby Jesus and the sheep (both are fantastic), Noah & Matt did the Star, Katya did the Angel, Katya & I did Mary, Joseph, and the Shepherd, and I painted the Cow.

So I hope these recipes give you some ideas for making fun things with your loved ones this Christmas season.
But if not, whatever, you Scrooge.


P.S. I added a new link to my Cooking, Crafts, & Laughs list, it's called "Cherry Cottage Pendants" and they make the sweetest little necklace pendants (though you can use them as ornaments, key chains, etc.) And I simply love the Fabric Flower Washer Pendants. I am so gonna order some (for Katya and myself).

Family Portraits 2009

I have to say, I am impressed with how quick JCPenny's sent out the SmilesByWire (online digital) files of our photo session.
I mean seriously, we were just there this morning. And now they're here on my comp (and blog).
Impressive.
Most impressive.

So here are some of my favorite shots from the photo shoot:
We wanted some shots of Noah for his 5th birthday.
He's growing up so fast.
I love this little face.
And naturally I needed some shots of Katya... I like to update the photos on the wall with both kids at the same time.
They are so stinkin' cute.

And yeah, we haven't had a formal family photo taken in two years (last year's photo session was cancelled due to mono).
So here're my favs from the family shots:
This one was fun, since it was taken with us in a line rather than a traditional pose. Though I think this next one is the one that's going to go on our wall. Whaddya think?
Pretty quick work (if you don't count the two hours it took to wait, pose, wait, preview, reject family shots, wait, pose again, wait, and happily accept better-composed family shots).
All in all, good times.

Our New Sofa

I'm so happy. Today we got our new sectional delivered.
And let me tell you, those Macy's delivery guys sure are proficient. They were in and out within 10 minutes. I guess that's why they're professionals. When they started bringing in the pieces, I was literally bouncing up and down with excitement. I even grabbed out our camera to document the delivery.
Fortunately, the Macy's delivery men took my giddiness in stride. They were even willing to pose for the camera (but I preferred candid shots).
I simply love our sectional.
It's beautiful.
And comfortable.
And soft.
And fits as if it were custom made for our space.
Oh, and though I said I was too embarrassed to post a pic of our old couches, here's what we had before: And here's the empty space we had this morning: And here's what we have now: I just knew that chaise was going to be perfect for watching shows.
Good times.

My Fav Thanksgiving Recipe

Hello My Friends-

Those of you who have Thanksgivinged with us at some point during the past 10+ years might remember this following side dish. It's my favorite Thanksgiving recipe.
Give it a try, it just might become yours, too.

Here it is:
Scalloped Sweet Potatoes with Praline Topping

Ingredients:
Praline Topping:
1/4 c. packed brown sugar
3 Tbs butter @ room temperature
3 Tbs all purpose flour
1/3 c. finely chopped pecans

6 medium sweet potatoes (approx 3 lbs) peeled & cut into 1/2" thick rounds
1 1/2 c. heavy cream, heated

Directions:
In small bowl,
Work together brown sugar, butter & flour until well combined, then work in pecans.
Set aside.

In large pot,
Bring lightly salted water to boil. Add sweet potatoes and cook until tender-crisp (approx. 15 min). DO NOT OVERCOOK.
Drain & rinse under cold running water.

Preheat oven 375 degrees F.
Lightly butter 9"x13" baking dish.

In dish,
Arrange sweet potatoes (overlapping in vertical rows), can be done up to 8 hours before baking if covered tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerated.
Pour cream over sweet potatoes.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Crumble pecan topping over sweet potatoes and continue baking until sweet potatoes are tender and topping is browned, about 20-30 minutes longer.
Serve hot.
Serves 8-12.

Enjoy.
And have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Awesome

Katya and Noah were at the table building things with Legos, when I heard Katya say,

"Ka-chow! Ka-chow!
That means I'm awesome.
I get a digi-medal!!!
You get a digi-medal too, Noah."

Totally random.
And totally awesome.
I so had to blog this random, awesome moment.
Love my kiddos.

Happy Birthday, Noah!

I cannot believe it!
Noah is 5 years old.
That sounds old to me. He's no longer a toddler, you know?
Which is good, but a little surprising that he's growing up so quickly. I swear I blinked and he was a "big boy".
One of my favorite parenting sayings is that:
"The days are long, but the years are short."
And it is scarily true.
Ah well.
I'm so pleased with our little man.
Here are some pics from his birthday party:
I know I said I'd post about his party a couple days ago, but it's surprising how filled up my "long days" can be. Not a whole lot of time for sitting down at the comp, etc. Sorry.
Okay, on to the Birthday Party pics:
I'm sure it comes as a surprise to no one that Noah wanted a Lightning McQueen/CARS/Mack birthday themed party. Luckily he wanted the same theme for his 3rd birthday, so I was able to recycle a couple ideas (and implement some that I was unable to do last time).
We decided to keep this party on the small and managable side, allowing Noah to invite 5 friends (I'd read somewhere that it's ideal to invite the same # of guests as the age of the child, so it's not so overwhelming, etc). We decided not to count the younger sibling(s) who came along for the ride.
:)
For the Fueling Station, I made lots of CARS themed snacks. I made Piston Cup Punch (and served it in my pitcher that has a piston-like mixer attached), Which went along well with Fillmore's Organic Fuel (cucumbers, carrots, celery, & ranch dip), Stoplights (graham cracker rectangles spread with peanut butter with red, yellow, and green M&Ms or Skittles), Dip Sticks (chocolate dipped pretzel rods) and Hot Rods (chocolate dipped pretzel rods all fancied up with sprinkles, etc).
I also made this fabulous Racetrack/Road cake in the shape of a #5, which was surprisingly easy to create (one round pan one square pan, simple cuts). I found the idea online and I simply had to make this cake for my favorite CARS fan.
For the games and activities, we had free play time while everyone was arriving. Then we played Red Light, Green Light.
Then we played Sally Says (just like Simon Says, only with the CARS character Sally calling out the commands).
After that we went to Ramone's House of Body Art where we prepared for our Piston Cup Race by designing our "cars". We gave the kids markers, crayons, and stickers to turn their cardboard boxes (with the tops & bottoms cut out, thanks to Matty) into awesome racing machines.
Then we had our Piston Cup Race!
They lined up at the flags, Then raced to the other line of flags and back again. We did several races. I even had them do some Mater-style That's backwards for those who don't speak CARS.
Good times. And everybody was a winner!
We then went inside for Storytime (several CARS books), and then we did our Piñata. It was supposed to be a Pull-String piñata, but for some reason the only CARS piñata available was missing all pull-strings but one.
So we made it into a traditional piñata.
I think the boys prefer that method anyway.
After the piñata, we all sang Happy Birthday to Noah. I've got a vid of that, so once I figure out how to upload it to my comp, I'll post it. Oh, and I took a vid of the Piston Cup Race, too.
After cake and snacks, we did presents. All of the gifts were a hit. Thanks, friends.
To close up the party, we held the Piston Cup Awards Ceremony.
Each party guest received their very own Piston Cup (I love the dollar store), and for Noah... I'd gone to a trophy store and had them make a special Piston Cup trophy for him. I even had them engrave Noah's full name on it, naming him the 2009 Piston Cup Grand Champion.
He loves it.
Happy Birthday my sweet, sweet son!

More Catch Up?

Okay, I'm totally conflicted...
I've been running around, prepping for Noah's birthday, so I haven't had time to blog about the cool things we've done recently (like an Imagination Movers Concert and a Lego Fest).
But we also just had Noah's birthday party on Saturday, so I don't know which to do first.
Should I do them all in this post?
Doesn't Noah's birthday party actually warrant its own post?
Should I publish things chronologically?
See?
I'm totally conflicted.
And now I'm rolling my eyes at my own waste of cyberspace by mentioning my little dilemma.
Ah well.
I'm going to blog about all of them today, but give Noah's birthday its own post.
Yup.
That's what I'm gonna do.

So here's the Imagination Movers Concert:
We watch Playhouse Disney and were ecstatic to learn that the Imagination Movers were on tour and coming to New Haven. So we bought tickets and went last weekend (the 14th). Yeah, Matt's super excited, isn't he?
Well, at least he came.
I'm sad to say that our seats were in the nosebleed section, and while that works with our budget, I really wish I'd spent the extra dough, 'cause we were too far away for the Imagination Movers to interact with us. So no sports equipment was tossed our way.
No streamers or confetti exploded over our heads.
And no shout outs from the Movers about how our section "rocked".
The kids didn't seem to notice or care, but I sure did. And yes, I'm a fan and would've loved to be in the thick of things.
Ah well.
We know now for next time.
Better seats are well worth their price.
But we still had fun.
And they played my favorite song, "Nina's Song", so I was content. At the very end, the Movers came back for some encore numbers and since lots of people had already left, we were able to move up and actually get acknowledged by Dave. That made me happy.
So all in all, good times.
Glad we went.

Now on to the Lego Fest:
Matt's dental office had a booth at the Lego Fest held this weekend at the Hartford Convention Center, so we used some of their complimentary tickets to go.
The kids had a blast.
I really enjoyed myself, too.
We first went to the Lightning McQueen bounce-castle thingy. Lots of good times there.
Then we went to all of the booths, getting stamps and free stuff along the way. We even saw a hoverboard. Super cool!
Then Noah & I went over to build with legos while Katya took a break with her daddy (in his booth). Do you see the little bubble on Noah's head? It was there for a good 10 minutes. A booth nearby was blowing bubbles for all to enjoy and this one got stuck on Noah's head. Noah was very pleased with his Lego creation.
Afterwards, we visited Santa. The anticipation was great, but luckily we were at the beginning of the line, so we didn't wait long. Isn't Katya adorable? And Noah, too!
I love that Christmas is coming!
And I'm super happy that we all had some good Lego times, I wasn't so sure I would.