Snowflake Hand Prints

I like to do a hand print craft with the boys during the holidays.  Typically we do it on one of our Christmas countdown days; however, since I was a bit behind this year, we are packng a lot of winter fun into our Christmas break.  

We've done a lot of the standard handprint crafts, and the boys are all about snowflakes right now, so we searched Pinterest for a snowflake hand craft.  

Thankfully both of the boys did the craft this year and no one complained about getting his hand dirty with paint!

We thought we needed something else on the page, so I dug out some snowflake stanps and they decorated their signs with it.

Two artists proud of their creations!  These are going in their artboxes so I can look back next year and marvel at how much their hands have grown!

Enjoying Christmas Presents!

Scott had his gallbladder removed today, so the boys spent the night with my parents since we had to be at the hospital early this morning. We brought a few of their Christmas presents so they could play with Grandma and Grandpa.

My parents got Liam this Hot Wheels set, and this was the reaction right after it was put together and had it's first run.  The boys (young and older) were thrilled!  The cars zoomed SO fast around the ramp, it was amazing that they didn't fly off!


At first, Liam wanted to trap the car with his hand when it zoomed fast but he just held his hand there to feel the woosh as it raced by.


I'd say this one is a hit - we'll be hearing the racing of these cards around the tracks for a long time!


As a side note, Scott's surgery went well and he's resting here at home!

Christmas Photo Frames

Since Scott's gallbladder removal surgery was moved forward to Monday (!), we decided to take down most of our Christmas decorations on Saturday.  Typically we leave them up and take them down after New Years.  Since Scott can't lift more than 15-20 lbs after his surgery, we wanted to get the tree down because I wasn't sure I could carry it to the storage room on my own.

I love looking at each of the ornaments as we put up and take down the tree each year.  I remember where we bought them or who gave them to us.  When we got married, we began the tradition of adding a photo frame to our tree each year.  The frame contains a photo of us from that year.

I'm usually good at purchasing the photo frame (shopping is easy!), but not great about getting the photo printed and added to the frame.  For example, this lovely frame at the bottom right hung on our tree for the entire month without a photo.  I promise it will get a photo printed before the year is over!
I can't wait until we have an entire Christmas tree dedicated to all of these frames - what a fun tree that will be to look at!  For some reason, our 2013 frame is missing.  I likely packed it away without realizing it.

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, it was unexpectedly warm outside!  When we left for church in the afternoon, none of us needed coats because it was in the mid 50s!  By the time we left church it was dark and a bit chilly, but nothing like I would expect for weather on Christmas Eve!

The boys did a great job at mass, especially since we were there for over two hours!  Mass didn't start until 5pm, but we got there at 3:45pm to make sure we got a seat.  By 4:15pm the church was packed and standing room only.

After church, we went to my parents house for dinner. We had to take the obligatory photos in front of the tree.  Karsten was even sweet enough to pose for me so I could check my camera settings.


How cute are these two - they were pretty excited that Christmas was finally here. Earlier today they were already negotiating to see if they could open a present (or two) tonight.  I remember doing that when I was little, and I had a feeling Papa would happily let them open on (like he usually did for me!).


It's fun to look back at this family photo over the years to see how much the boys change from year to year.  I like to think that Scott, I and my parents look perpetually young....right?




In case you were wondering, the boys got to open a present - matching Christmas PJs that Grandma made.  The flannel pants were sooooo soft, I wanted a pair!  Before bed, they each chose a cookie for Santa - gingersnaps from both - and Liam set out the reindeer food he made at school.


Sleep tight boys - Santa is on his way!

Christmas Lights (night 2)

We had so much fun driving around looking at lights over the weekend, we decided to have a second round.

We hit several of the local favorites - huge displays on a business, small displays on homes, whole neighborhoods decorated, and amazing decorated homes.

Our last two houses were a bit of a drive away from the rest, and Liam fell asleep on the way.  When we got there, Karsten reminded me to take a picture of the houses so Liam could see what he missed.  He also asked if I could take a video so Liam could see the dancing icicles in the trees.  What a sweet brother he is.




By the time we made it home, Karsten was asleep as well - checking out Christmas lights is hard work!

Christmas Craft

One of my friends at work made a bunch of beautiful snowflakes to decorate the office for Christmas.  I commented on how beautiful they were and she said they were easy to make - I was doubtful, but she showed me a YouTube video, and they looked like something Karsten and I could try.

Karsten said he wanted to make a snowflake, so he cut out a snowflake while I looked up the video and got the paper ready.  When I showed him what we were going to make, he was excited.

We had a few false starts and had to start over one time when I showed him how to cut the triangles wrong.  We tried to include Liam in our snowflake, but he was having none of it, he was making his own creation.


We were pretty impressed with ourselves and the final product.


Karsten's first snowflake is on top, then our YouTube recreation, and LIam's dino snowflake is on the bottom.  All masterpieces!

Wordless Wednesday - finally blooming!