Holidays 2018

A quick overview of our 2018 holiday season... which frankly was a bit of blur, after having just moved! We moved into our house the week before Thanksgiving, so we were definitely in no shape to host. Luckily, Carrie and Chip wanted to host (since it was their first holiday since getting married!), and now it's an easy drive for us to get to their house - not even two hours away! This made for a really easy day trip there on Thanksgiving.

We had a lovely holiday with my parents, aunt, and Carrie & Chip. Henry was particularly delighted to spend some time in Chip's music room. Chip really enjoyed that too, and the kids and he had a great time jamming out. Henry and Natalie made up a song, and once Chip heard Henry playing "Feel it Still", they all played and sang together!

For Christmas, we wanted to host since it would be our first Christmas in our new house. Luckily, everyone agreed, so we had a full house - my parents, Evan's parents, my aunt, and on Christmas Eve Carrie and Chip. So nice to celebrate with so many!

We had to figure out how to put up the Christmas lights at the new house - turns out we don't have nearly enough, and will have to get more next year! But I think Evan and Natalie did a nice job.

We had the house all decorated inside as well - and while we've needed a new tree for a couple of years, our vaulted ceiling living room really reinforced that. Time to get a taller tree! Also, next year this will all look a bit cozier now that we have things on the walls.

The kids woke up Christmas morning to their new body pillows and stockings ready to be opened on the couch! I loved that for one more year, their matching pjs from Scott & Amanda still fit.

I think everyone really liked their presents - I loved my "big" gift from Evan. Friends Funko Pop set #2! Specialty characters. I think I'm going to need the original set now as well. But I do love these hanging out on the shelf behind me as I work!

Oh, and just after Christmas I finished my latest cross stitch project - Angels of Rockefeller Center. I have an idea for seasonal cross stitches in our foyer, so this one will be framed and ready to go for Christmas next year.

My latest finished project

I have to jump out of order here, before I start my MANY posts about our summer beach vacation, to show off my latest finished cross stitch project! I am so excited for it to be done, as I've been working on it for over 4 years. It's taken this long because a) I've had less time in general to stitch than I used to; b) I spend a lot of my evenings on photos now, not stitching; and c) I did switch to one other project in the middle, which delayed this one.

I found this pattern on my favorite website, MysticStitch.com. I bought it a while back when they had one of their deals (they often will do buy 2 get 2 free), and it was one I was very excited to do. The plan has always been to put it in our library area (you'll see why below), but it was daunting to start given that it's the largest cross stitch that I have ever created! Uncounted hours of work have gone into this, and I could not be happier with the finished project. So, time to show it off!

Note that these photos were taken with my iPhone, before it has been stretched and mounted, so please forgive that there are some wrinkles and bumps in the fabric - I did my best to eliminate those!

There's so much in there that I want to give you some close-ups so that you can see the detail.

I love how the colors in the peacock feathers change. It's subtle, but I think you can see below that the white in the top and left peacock markings changes to a light blue as you go down and to the right. It's a bit more obvious in person, and imitates how the colors of the feathers would change in reality.

I said above that this was the largest one I'd ever done; I had Evan take a photo of me holding it for scale. This thing is easily two feet tall (I think it may actually be more); it really is the most work I've ever put into one of my creations.

I know this is NOT going to be cheap to frame, so I've got to find a good framing deal before I do it. I can't wait to pick out a mat and frame to match, then get it up on the wall of our library!

Natalie's first diorama

I'll be honest - anytime we get something home from the school that entails the words "project" "make" "diorama" or "craft", part of me wants to run away and hide. To be fair, my kids' school doesn't do too many of these kinds of things, but I would say we've had at least one each year. I always worry: what's the right amount of "help" I should provide? How much should I let the kids run with their ideas, versus guide them within the confines of the project? How do I make them even do this project if they don't want to?

This year's 3rd grade project was...a diorama! Natalie actually had yet to make one of these - last year we made an Native American longhouse, and there was something else in 1st grade that I'm forgetting now. I was worried how the implementation of this diorama would go - Evan and Natalie had talked through it while I was on a trip, and then it was on me to help her make it (I'm more crafty than Evan).

The 3rd grade did a unit on ecosystems; related to that, they each had to make a diorama about an animal that lived in a specific ecosystem. Natalie and two of her friends had "fresh water", and they each had a different animal in that ecosystem. Natalie's was the Florida black bear; we needed to create a diorama for the bear's habitat (based on facts about the bear). The only other rule was that each animal had to be made from a potato!

Natalie actually took this project very seriously; so seriously that when I needed to run out and get her some supplies, she stayed home by herself for the first time ever! Henry and I went to Target for about 45 minutes, while Natalie stayed home to work on it. I came home and found her like this, hard at work.

 And here is her finished product, compete with the adaptation of the bear.

 The presentation of all of the dioramas was supposed to be on Tuesday of that week (mid-March), but we had our one snow day of the winter on that day. So instead, it was postponed by a couple of days, which meant I was able to go and check them out during the morning presentation.

Natalie and her friend Lizzie presented their takes on the Florida black bear!

 I love how different the two habitats are!

So I have to say, even with all of my trepidation about this project, it ended up being great. Natalie did the vast majority of the planning herself, and most of the application - I just helped when she needed a stable hand. The whole ecosystem diorama presentation was a great event put on by the school, and the students all did a great job.

Natalie at Art Camp

During the last week of June, Natalie spent the week at an art camp. A friend of hers from dance was doing the same camp, after taking it last year, and with how much Natalie loves arts & crafts, drawing, etc, I thought this was a great activity for her to do!

Of course, there's not many photos from the art camp, but as Natalie was the first person there on the first day, I was able to get this photo of her starting off her week of creativity.

Unfortunately, we signed up for the week before we knew for sure what our summer travel plans would be, and then we ended up going out of town on the last day of the camp week. This meant we missed the big reveal on the final day where the kids could show off all of their creations. Instead, we took everything home on Thursday, and I photographed it there. Here are some of the best things she made. The theme was "Wizard & Fairie fantasy camp", so all of the creations were based on that idea.

Wand and house "medallions" - Natalie made one each for her and Henry. They're all made out of clay and then painted.

 This is my favorite thing she made (and is currently sitting on our mantel) - a candle! They got to put all kinds of interesting things inside, and it smells SO good.

 Dragons eggs! These were just styrofoam painted and covered in glitter. They looked lovely, but did not stay in my house for very long.

 Fairy house! This has been sitting outside on our front porch since she brought it home.

There was even a whole day of Harry Potter based creations.

 This was the house shield (and motto) that she created. Apparently we like winter in our family?

Finally, she made this lovely painting of a house in the woods; I really liked it!

The camp was at The Art Class in Leesburg, and I would definitely do one there again!

Halloween decorations 2015

It's the eve of All Hallow's Eve! So it's a perfect time to show you my Halloween decorations for the year. Each year, after Halloween, I go and raid the craft stores for Halloween decorations for the next year. That meant that in addition to the few things that I keep each year (lights, a couple of signs, giant spider, broomstick), I always have something new too. Works well!
Note: Henry did tell me yesterday that our house wasn't scary enough, when he saw fake graveyards in front of some other houses. So apparently my efforts to go more cute are not appreciated by my son!

A couple of weekends ago was the perfect weather for going outside and decorating. Henry and I did most of this while Natalie was at dance class one breezy Saturday afternoon.

Look how cute!

Here's the front porch. Wow, I just realized that my daisy welcome mat doesn't match at all! Time to get a seasonal one.

Two different views of the porch. I love the big spiderweb! I had this idea last year, and it worked pretty well, although I had to keep fixing it when it blew in the wind. Either it's been less windy this year, or I've figured out how to fasten it better, as I've only had to fix it once this year.

 

And yes, I did say that I have lights! I've had these for many years now, and I love them. It always makes me sad to take these and our Christmas lights down - it's just nice to have the front yard glowing at night.

While most of my decorations are outside, I do have a few inside as well. I think I got this candle holder last year? I can't really remember, but I almost completely forgot about it. The kids loved the glow!

 And on the small table by our front door I have these little knick knacks. I found the sign this year in the $1 section at target - since I'm dressed as the Wicked Witch today at work, I'm definitely a fan!

Henry Preschool project highlights

As I mentioned in a recent post, I'm posting my favorites of the kids' projects from the previous school year before we start the new school year! Henry definitely did not do as much last year as Natalie - while preschool is still  pretty active, they just don't bring home nearly the amount of crafts that first graders do! That being said, we've got some pretty great things that he did last year too. As I said for Natalie, I definitely need to be better about photographing everything, not just the things I don't physically keep, as I don't have a digital copy of my absolute favorites. That being said, here are some of the better of the other ones that Henry made last year (in my opinion).

We start off over a year ago, during the summer when Henry went through a very big "abstract" period.

 Then when school started, it was time to practice letter writing:

 Pattern completion:

 Tracing and coloring (for some reason I really like the way he did this, making the short spiky lines!)

 Learning "short" to "tall"

 Estimation and counting:

 Thinking about what he wants to do when he grows up:

 Finding hidden pictures in his drawings (this was based on a book that the class read called "What does it look like?"):

 Then, at the end of the year, there was an art presentation of some of the "real" art that they kids made during the school year, inspired by real artworks. Love Henry's paintings and pictures!

Henry's hand writing has gotten so much better since last summer, but I don't have a recent example to show. I'm sure I'll highlight some beginning of the year projects as the new year starts, and then you can really see the difference! Henry is so ready for kindergarten to start; we can't wait to see how he blossoms there.

First Grade Project highlights

As I'm sure you know if you have kids in school, they bring home a TON of stuff. Like, ridiculous, multiple-crate filling loads of stuff that they have made and done. I love to go through it with Natalie each night, and hear her story about what she made, and what she liked about it. However, it is simply not possible for me to keep everything that she makes at school. Not only is not all of it worth keeping (let's be honest, it really isn't), but we'd quickly have no basement left, as it was all taken over by piles of homework sheets, coloring sheets, art projects, and crafts. This means that it has to go in the trash. That's not in and of itself a bad thing - I have zero pack rat tendencies, and so I tend to throw things out first, and ask questions later.

At the same time, some of it is incredibly special: really nice artwork she's made, the first "E" (excellent) she got on a spelling test, awards she's gotten at school, or just something that has made me smile. Also, I have nothing of my own that I made as a kid (I think I get my desire to throw things away from my mother!), and I'd like the kids to have something of theirs to look back on when they are older. So, my compromise to myself is to take photos of EVERYTHING (I guess in digital photography I'm a bit of a packrat, but that's ok - it just takes up hard drive space!), and keep only the things that I think are really, really special.

Natalie isn't necessarily a huge fan of this practice (which I get - it is something that she made!), and so I of course try to not throw things out in front of her. But she understands I can't keep it all, and has helped me to go through her projects some. Not a lot, as I still do most of this on my own after she goes to bed, but at least she now has a better understanding of why I only keep some things.

With that introduction out of the way, I bring you: my highlight reel of Natalie's first grade projects! I'm going in roughly chronological order through the year, starting with early projects and ending at the end of the year.

This one she drew after she, Henry, and I participated in a 1K fun run!

 This was after Halloween

 

All through the school year, as she's learned more and more math, she's loved practicing at home. Here is a sheet of some of the practice problems that we did one day, using a number line.

 In December she was in the Nutcracker, which prompted a whole bunch of dance-inspired drawings and craft projects. Here was one she did of a dancer on stage, spotlight shining down, and audience watching.

 And this one is Henry on stage during his recital, with us watching in the audience.

 Now back to some school assignments from the second half of the year...

 This was the beginning of a story she was writing titled "Will Mommy wake up?" I'm not quite sure where she was going with this, as she never got past this first page. I'm really, really hoping that Mommy woke  up!

 Here's a plan she made for one Sunday at home:

 I really love this. Evan and Natalie made drawings that go hand-in-hand. Can you tell how?

 If you didn't figure it out, I'll tell you: Evan drew the top picture, with the little fish in the pond on the lower right. Natalie then drew a close-up of what the fish is doing in the pond. Cute, right?

Back to school again, with a math story:

 And on this, we were really proud: she went on a pretty good run at the last couple of months of school of getting "E" on all of her weekly spelling tests. This was the first 3 weeks in a row!

 This was done a little earlier in the year, during winter, in art class. I love how they learned about shading to give the drawing depth!

 I honestly don't remember Natalie making this one for me, but I guess it was on a day when I wasn't feeling well? Very sweet either way.

 And a spring time poem!

 Finally, here's a drawing that she did at home, copying the still life of the tulips in the vase, on the table with two chairs in the background. Really, really good work!!

I've realized one flaw in my plan of "only taking photos of the things that I'm not keeping", which is that the stuff I do keep is really (in my opinion) the best of what she's done - and I don't have a digital backup copy of that, as I didn't take a photo of it! So my resolution for second grade is to take photos of everything, whether I keep it or not, so at least there's a backup  if the box that the projects is in gets ruined, or something. I'm really glad to have this record of what she's done...and honestly, it was fun looking back over her first grade work to see the growth during the year, and remember these papers!