Merry Christmas!

I am sure I won't be around tomorrow to wish you all a Merry Christmas, so I'm doing it today. I hope your day is filled with love, joy and peace. Oh, and laughter, we can never have enough laughter.
Here is a little something to start the laughter.

And, some pictures from this month. We've loved it, the snow, the baking and S taking pictures :)

Tuckered out on Emma's birthday. He insisted on party hats. I love that boy.







Here is Miss A with her favorite way of nursing. Yes, she is nursing in that picture.




Here is a little bit of my Holiday Crafting. S and A are getting crowns for Christmas. We are also making S a sword and A a wand. But, neither are ready yet (come on, it's only 3:30 on Christmas eve, there is still time!). But, here are the crowns I made for them. I also made A a sweet little dress. I got that fabric this summer and have enough to make myself a skirt also. Love it!

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Emma. Today you are 5. I just can't believe it. It seems like yesterday and a million years ago all rolled into one.
Today we will celebrate your life and miss you immensely.

Love,
Mama, Daddy, S and A.

Getting Ready

Tree up? Check.

Ornaments on? Check.

Gifts bought? Check.

Gingerbread house attempted? Check.

Treats for friends and neighbors done? Check.

So, that leaves...um, everything else! I still need to finish the making part of gifts. I am making a skirt, wand and crown for A and a lucky little girl who is the same age as Emma whose Mama can't afford to give her gifts this year. I also need to finish the crown I'm making for S.

This weekend I've been a busy bee. On Friday night, we decided to make a gingerbread house. I bought a kit at Michael's, and it looked pretty easy. That is until I tried to do it with a 3 year old and 18 month old. Then it just turned comical.

We bought our tree on Saturday, it is BEAUTIFUL, even if it does take up half of our living room :) The kids love it though. A kept saying, "Tree!" last night. I do love the smell of a fresh tree.

I also made marshmallows this year. Every year, we make treats to take to our friends and neighbors. So, on Saturday night, I made candy cane marshmallows. They turned out so fantastic that I decided to try my hand at chocolate marshmallows. Oh.my.gosh. They are HEAVENLY!

Really, these pictures don't do them justice. I've packaged them all up so that I don't eat any more of them!!! They are divine though, and super easy to make. I am going to find some vegan gelatin for the next ones though. They are super yummy.

My plans for this week are to make J a hat for Christmas. We found this one and he really likes it. So, I'll get going on that.

I've also decided that I am not making a Wallaby for A. She is going to get Swing Thing .

I've been a long time admirer of this pattern and have decided to finally make it! I think she will love it. I'll make it big enough so it should fit her next year too.

Other than that...I'm just going to veg this week. Emma's birthday is on Saturday. I can't believe my baby girl would be 5 this year. I've been teaching the 5 year old class at church this year and it has really been an experience to see what she would have been like. I miss her. I just miss her so much.

Good Gravy.

So many reasons not to take a 3 year old Christmas shopping. This week, we've heard these things said in our house by the boy.

"DAD! We got you some old man slippers!"

"Mom! We got you some new pajamas!"

Good thing he's cute.