christmas 2014

This was a good Christmas for me.  For all of us, really.  I bought most of the gifts and didn't make as many new decorations.  Tried not to spread myself too thin and just enjoy the time with the kids.  I took the time when I would have been sewing to help Max and Lola make gifts.  Sweet little wonky ornaments and vases that you just can't not love. 

Even though it was more laid back I still made a couple things.  You can see what I made in the past here, here and here.  This year I made homemade chocolate hazelnut spread.  Oh. My. Gosh.  It was yum.  I don't even have a Vitamix and it was out of this world delicious.  I found tiny packages of shortbread cookies at the store, and included those, and a little wooden spreader with each gift.

Max is doing a lot of writing, mainly without any help.  I just can't get enough of his sweet little handwriting- how words don't have to be in the correct order or even on the same line.  And how he sounds out words.  Love.  So I created stationery for each of the grandparents.  I had Max write out "From the Desk Of" and then each name.  I am positive there is an easy way to do this, but I outlined every one of those letters in Photoshop and pieced together the documents.  Then I just printed them on nice cardstock. 

We hosted another great dinner with family.  The menu on Christmas Eve is not to be altered.  Kapusta (cabbage soup), mashed potatoes, rye bread, honey filled wafers and sparkling juice.

I adore John's grandpa.  He turned 85 just before Christmas.  When John was little, grandpa would do a magic show for all the kids on Christmas Eve.  To honor and celebrate him, we decided to do a magic show for him.  Max really got into it.

Learning from the master.  The new generation has a lot to learn... but Max caught on quick.

Late that night Santa came...

Santa forgot stocking stuffers for mommy and daddy... I ended up with a lint roller and a jar of raisins.  

They both slept in on Christmas, yeah!  Then we got dressed for party #2.

This one is called, A Girl and her Grandmas.

I have no idea what is happening here.  Burning off all the candy?

A girl after my own heart...

We went back to my parents for new jammies, a slumber party, and Christmas #3.  They are watching Frozen- Lola was so ticked it was just on TV.

And more presents the next morning!

"Is the sun out"

And finally back home.  With Lola napping, John and Max Legoing...

And some me time with a gorgeous new cookbook, planning a little holiday detox.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

max's room tour

Just like Donnie and Marie used to sing, "I'm a little bit modern, he's a little bit superhero/LEGO/gold obsessed". At least, I think that's how the lyrics went.  One of my faults is that I am never done decorating.  I think it's because I'm a stay at home mom/work from home person.  I stare at these walls every day.  Every minute.  With the kids rooms, I wanted to decorate them big so I could look at them and say, done!

The batman decals are from Urban Walls and the pillowcase is from Little Pop Studio.  Those were the first things we got for the room.   Whenever he gets nervous at bedtime by himself, we talk about how batman is watching over him.

I took this photograph while I was working on Max's Pirate Lego Party Invitations.  I just printed it out at Walgreens and framed it.

The lightening bolt pillow and stuffed bat I made (although they are both completely copied from other creative individuals).

I bought all of these green books from the discount shelf at the library.  They were all 50 cents and I knew they would be fun somewhere.  Max was really excited to have "adult" books in his room.  He loves to pretend he's reading them.

This desk has been a long time coming.  I bought it from Craigslist for a steal a couple years ago and it's been hanging out waiting for the perfect place.  The bottom was rusty and painted brown, so I re-painted it white.  

I stocked it with some fun crayons, paper and washi tape.  Now he can create whenever he wants.

Hockey corner fist bump.  The linen hanging I stitched way back when I named my posts after New Kids on the Block songs.  What was I thinking?

Cuddly superhero and costume accessibility.  You never know when you must change into character, or need a quick bedtime companion.

His beloved Lego head is carried up and downstairs pretty often.  And I bought the Cubebot new as another surprise.  Those are so fun.

But these guys are really the stars of the show.  Meet Bag Head.  Laser face.  Darth Santa Claus.  No-Arm McGee.  Guy Who-Is-Extremely-Scared-To-Be-Holding-A-Sword.  And last but not least, Harry Potter with a Turban.  Max will never keep these guys together as they should be and I've learned to embrace it.  He also hates hands.

I set the whole room up while Lola was napping and he was watching a show.  The bed pillows, stuffed ninja, Cubebot, and the art supplies in the desk were all new to him.  The Legos weren't new, but I lined them all up around the room for him.  Seriously people, that wasn't even all of them!  I told him I had a surprise in his room and we went up together.  This is his face when we walked in, priceless!

Checking things out...

Honestly, I did not ask him to try this out.  He sat right down and whipped out an R2D2 drawing at his new desk.

Now, you all know kids.  The room looked like this for half a day, and I was proud of him for even that.  I've tried putting toys away in the closet so they can't get them out without me, but in the end, my kids are more creative when they have their toys and supplies out and ready for them.  These things still have their place, and we are working on cleaning up after yourself... And some days I regret keeping everything out, but in the end, this is how we roll.

That being said, Max immediately felt like that one open wall was just too much.  He sat at the desk whipping out masterpiece after masterpiece and hanging them up with the provided washi tape.  Whew!  Thank goodness we covered that space, now we can relax.

Iron Man and his blasts.

I love his backwards 3s.

And this was his final addition.  Four gold "stars" and a beheaded LEGO man.  Whatevs.