The end

No, not the end of the blog, although you may have wondered, what with my lack of posting much lately. Instead a photo of the lovely note our Christmas celebration ended on Christmas Eve.

We had a yummy meal and then fun opening gifts with Courtney and her mom and dad. Jess and Alex went the other direction to be with his family, but although we missed them here, at least we'd just seen them at Thanksgiving.

I'll show you lots more next week, especially the project that kept me from blogging much. I just wanted to let you know I'm still alive and kickin'. And sleepy (as I write this Christmas evening). I hope you all had a wonderful time with family and/or special people in your lives this week.

Seeya next week!

Temptation

"Should I?"

5 minutes later....

"Nope, Santa says I'd better be good."

Ornaments and Annabelle

Of course those ornaments made by Courtney and Auntie Jess were destined for a Christmas tree. As you can see, our tree seemed to be a bit top-heavy with ornaments and pretty bare at the bottom. That's because of a certain kitten named Annabelle who LOVED to pull off everything she could get her little paws on! I don't know how many times I had to replace even the strings of lights that were around the bottom half.

Jess decided it would be more fun to hang some of the newly-made ornaments down low especially for Annabelle to have fun with. Hmmm....

So here's the (sorta)fully-decorated tree. Look quick, while everything's still there! (Yes, the tree was leaning a bit, but that had nothing to do with Annabelle. Its trunk was kinda crooked.)

Didn't those hand-crafted ornaments look pretty amongst the store-bought ones?

Even when there were only lights on the tree, Annabelle had begun eyeing it. Actually, when I grabbed the camera for this next photo, she was on the back of the chair next to her, probably wondering if she dared jump. She'd hopped down before I could snap a pic. Wise decision, Annabelle!

(Don't you just love her interesting markings?)

She never actually got IN the tree, thank goodness. I think it was because it was a real Scotch pine, which I've read has the sharpest needles, and they deter cats from climbing. It has seemed to work for us over the years, as I've never had a cat IN a Christmas tree. (Courtney's kitties proved their climbing expertise in their artificial tree, though, I've heard. ;) )

But Annabelle thoroughly enjoyed pulling off every ornament that Jess left low enough for her to reach!

There were many scenes like this:

Over and over and over......

At least she didn't damage them... only pulled them off... so we'll be able to use them again next year - yay!

Happy New Year, everyone! May you all have a great year, filled with lots of times of fun with a pet or whatever you enjoy the most!

Courtney's enterprise

Yesterday I showed you the Christmas ornaments Courtney and Auntie Jess made during their long crafting session. Today you get to see what they did with them next!

Courtney came home with us Monday night for a sleepover after we'd all gone out for supper. She was quite happy to show us the 2¢ she'd "earned" before coming. She had told Mommy and Daddy they could each spank her if they paid her a penny (or something like that)! I guess she liked making money, because she decided to sell the ornaments she and Jess had made. So they set up a little "booth" for her sales:

They made a little box to hold the ornaments...

... and Courtney made a sign for her customers:

Those ornaments sold out REALLY fast! Come back tomorrow and see what happened to them next! (I didn't take many photos over the holiday, so I have to stretch this out as long as I can, okay? ;) )

Crafting with Courtney...

...AND Auntie Jess! Courtney spent Christmas Eve day with us (after all, it was a Tuesday), so since Jess and Alex were here, she and Jess spent a long time making some special crafty things.

They worked really hard cutting, folding, and hot gluing.

Here's what they made:

They turned out so cute! Yes, they're Christmas ornaments. I'll show you more photos tomorrow and tell you what they did with them. Courtney was quite enterprising. ;)

Merry Christmas!

Oooohhh.... look what I did! I guess I bought myself a Christmas present!

A deal popped up in front of me that I couldn't refuse! Not quite as good a deal as the $30 I paid for my other camera. That's been a good camera... good for learning on. But I was ready for something better. This came with two lenses and even a bag!

Now I just have to learn how to use it! I haven't even had time to give it much studying since I got it. I think that's going to have to be an after-Christmas project when things slow down to normal again (whatever that is). Then you can expect to see some really GREAT photos! I hope. Or at least see the results of my practicing. ;)

Meanwhile, I have much to do yet to get ready for Christmas, and then I plan to just have some fun family time, so this is it for me until after Christmas. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday, and please take time to remember what we're really celebrating... the birth of Jesus, our Savior!

See you in a week or so!

Christmas crafting with Courtney

One of the craft supply items Courtney got from LiEr was a roll of Christmas ornament stickers, with the suggestion of making a "People Tree", like her girls did.

Since I don't have a lot of green markers, I bought a sheet of green poster board to shape into the tree. I was planning on having Courtney make a paper chain to wrap around the tree, but due to our unplanned-for trip to the post office, I didn't think there would be enough time for that, so I just cut some red strips with a decorative scissors and hot-glued them on. I cut a star out of construction paper. Here's how it looked with those on it:

The idea of it being a "People Tree" was that Courtney was to write on the ornaments the names of people in her life that she was thankful for. She did that (but only names that she thought were short enough to fit on the ornament), and then she proceeded to stick them on the tree.

She wrote "Jesus" on one ornament, and it got top position... on the star. It's His birthday we're celebrating on Christmas, of course!

She loved how her tree turned out! Here's how she wanted to display it:

:-)

A pre-Christmas project

Time to get back into blogging mode, I guess, although in all honesty I've enjoyed the break and it's tempting to wait till after the New Year begins before I start up again.  But.... my photos await!  I haven't really taken a lot of them, and these are actually the only ones I took during our Christmas Eve celebration here.  I had the camera right next to me, but it was a little too dark in our living room for much photo-taking.  At least that's my excuse.
 
One of the projects I worked on before Christmas was a photo book for Courtney.  Yeah, they weren't all sewing projects!  I'd gotten a great Groupon deal a few months ago, and I knew this was what I wanted to use it for.  (BTW, if you're interested in signing up for Groupon deals, let me know so I can refer you and get some $$ credit myself!)  It took a number of hours to complete, but I was very happy with the result... and I think Courtney was, too.  Here's the front of the book (click any photo to enlarge):

And the back:

And some studying of the pages: 

I'd intended to take a few pics of the individual pages before I wrapped it, but unfortunately I forgot. I'm hoping Courtney/Mommy will remember to bring it back sometime soon so I can do that. And the good news is that now I can take even better pictures! More on that in a future post! ;)

It was a fun project to do, and I've decided that photo books are a great way to store photos (that I never seem to get around to printing these days). I've already bought another Groupon deal for one, so I have another project to work on sometime soon!

Christmas crafting fun

Last week Tuesday Courtney and I decided to try making a wreath from this tutorial.  I traced the leaves for her, and she cut them out.  ALL 30-40 of them!  Very patiently, quickly, and carefully!

I stapled them onto the cardboard as she cut.

She kept cutting.... and cutting....  I could barely keep up with her!

Here's the finished wreath.  Courtney thought Josie ought to have a look at it.

Josie thought she ought to swat at it... surprising Courtney, making her jump back and her tails fly!!

There.  Now just look through nicely, Josie:

Yeah, Courtney... you, too!

So that was a little bit of Christmas crafting fun!  We'll have more fun this weekend.  And so I'm taking a blog break until next week sometime.... to finish getting ready, and then for some family time.  I hope you all have a beautiful Christmas (even if it's not white, which is perfectly acceptable in my book!)!  And don't forget the REAL reason we celebrate CHRISTmas!!

P.S.  Happy Birthday, Grandma H !!

Christmas program time

Courtney participated in her preschool's little Christmas program at a local bank this morning.  It was very cute!  Here are some quick shots of Grandma's little star (which you can click on to enlarge):

And here are some fun videos.  Turn up your volume and enjoy! 



 

[I think the reindeer over there on the left in the red dress must've had fleas (or a wool dress).  She kept scratching through the whole program. ;-) ]

"Oh, dear..."

Courtney helped us all get the goodies out of our stockings on Christmas Eve. When she pulled out what was in the bottom of Daddy's, however, it sorta came apart. The inner box slipped out of the outer part, and all the contents went on the floor. Courtney's "Oh, dear" was so cute.

She tried her best to pick them up and replace them in the box....

(Did you notice that adorable cupcake hat with the cherry on top?)

.... but they kept slipping back to the floor.

It was finally decided that a different container was in order, and we scooped them up, put them away, and went on with the evening.

On that note, we'll end the Christmas photos (because I don't have any more). Later this week, I'll have a surprise for you. Yeah, for YOU! Well, one of you, anyway. Do check back!

What's going on here?!

Remember this post? They seem to be at it again! Look!!

They even got Wispy in on it... and Teddy's tipping over like he's joining them, too. (Josie up in her tower isn't too sure about the whole thing, methinks. I see an open eye.) What do you suppose they're up to this time? Waiting for supper? Waiting for Santa? Or weary-of-winter-already-in-December farmers sneaking in another break? ;-)

Anyway, here's wishing you all a Happy New Year that includes some excited anticipation and some restful times, as well! God bless you all!

Changing

Hmmm... methinks I've been a little bit lazy about posting this week. I guess I've just been doing a bit of relaxing after all the "Christmasness".

Anyway, back to Christmas Eve. Doesn't Courtney look so grown up sitting there in her very own chair?

In that package was the diaper bag plus individually wrapped contents that she's checking out below.

Josie seemed to like the tissue paper bed nearby.

Refolding a baby wipe:

Checking out the Butt Paste to see if it was real:

But Grandma assured her that it was only 'pretend'.

Here she is all set for an outing with her baby! (And pulling on her lip... special pose for the cameras going off, I guess.)

Below you can see how carefully she changes the baby's diaper.

And at that point Grandma had to stop the camera to give a little further instruction on getting that tricky diaper on right. ;-)

(You parents out there always put the baby wipe back in the pouch when you were done wiping with it, right?)

Now I can show you!

This is my latest sewing project:

Yep, I'm still a bag lady! Can you guess what kind of bag it is?

It's a diaper bag! For Courtney. To use for all her daycare babies.

The pocket on the flap will work for a bottle or her cell phone (yes, she does have her own cell phone... a play one) or whatever. And of course you have to put things IN a diaper bag:

We have a pouch of baby wipes:

And a changing pad:

See? Just the right size:

And what would a diaper bag be without diapers?! Here's one:

Complete with velcro tabs to hold it shut:

Modeled by our sweet little baby:

The bag also contained a tube of 'pretend' Butt Paste for when baby gets diaper rash. For those of you out of the baby business these days, there really is something called Butt Paste. See here. It's good stuff... just ask Courtney!

I came across the tutorial for the diaper bag here awhile back, and I just knew it was the perfect thing for Courtney. She loves it, and she had to go to work on a baby right away Christmas Eve. More on that later......