Santa, Round 2

Cutting it close but Jac and Leanne got their turn to see the big guy before he heads out on his rounds tonight.

Merry Christmas Eve, y’all!

Giant Snowflakes

This may be my favorite holiday craft. 

So easy, with enough steps to keep the kids interested, and the results are outstanding.

Glue 9-12 paper bags together, (pro tip: buy a lot of glue sticks)

cut out funky shapes, 

fan the bags into a circle and voilá!

Spectacular!

We added some flecks of Christmas-y paint to make them even prettier (and to let the girls make a mess play with color).

This turned out to be a lot fun for all of us.  

So many design possibilities - and we have new decorations for Christmas.  We’ll definitely do these again next year . . . or maybe Easter snowflake-y/flowers?? It could work . . . 

Marshmallow Frosty

Me: let’s make marshmallow snowmen!

Them, almost in unison: does it have to be a snowman??!

No, it absolutely does not. 

I thought Leanne was going with scary/punk but she ended up pinching the marshmallows in half and using them as texture. Love!

Jaclyn went for volume - both in her belly (she ate a lot of marshmallows) and on her snowperson. Bonus points for best use of toothpicks.  

Donovan made a gingerbread man. I love that he drew circles for the arms, then placed a marshmallow in each one. Future architect? Engineer?? 

D liked the gluing but his favorite part was definitely the fabric and scissors. 

Cookie Day

We’re counting down the days to Christmas!

I’ve never been a real fan of sugar cookies. 

They’ve always seemed like too much work for not enough yummm. 

And where’s the chocolate!?? 

Despite that, they really are close to perfect for baking with little kids.

Rolling dough? ✔️ Cutting cool shapes? ✔️

Messy icing and sprinkles everywhere? ✔️ and ✔️

Tomorrow is the last day of school before winter break and I have a marshmallow art project planned.

Then Friday, Leanne and I hit the baking hard - chocolate chip cake, zucchini bread, peanut butter candy, cinnamon rolls and brownies.

 Donovan’s cookies

It’s my favorite part of Christmas prep and I’m so excited I can hardly stand it. 🤩

 Poor Donovan is still recovering from his cold . . . and gave it to Pop. Sigh

Note for next year - this is Annette P’s Sugar Cookies For Decorating recipe. Delicious! 

Christmas Warmup

Getting in some practice pictures before the big day.

Not that I enjoy taking family pics or anything . . .

And where was Leia? 

She had a weekend volleyball tournament in Anaheim 

and she scored the winning point in their last game. Hooray!!

Merry almost Christmas, y’all!

Zoo Lights

Way back at the end of November, 

right after we got back from Colorado, 

we took the three baby grands to see the brand new Zoo Lights in Santa Barbara.

I didn’t want to take a chance on missing it if someone/everyone got sick 

or we got too busy with holiday projects or whatever. 

And boy oh boy was it worth it. 

Spectacular and colorful and so much fun. 

Everywhere you looked there was something new and exciting. 

The overall favorites were the axolotls and the air bubble machine,

the smoke cannon, 

and the snakes (for Jac).

You know things are amazing 

and a bit overwhelming 

when Cinderella’s coach doesn’t even make the top 5. 

I’m (really really) hoping we can go back again before the lights disappear mid-January.