One Hook Wonder

It's Like Living With Evel Knievel

Over the last few weeks, Pita Pocket has morphed from Zen Baby into Demon Monkey.  If it's climb-able, electrical, or in any way dangerous, the boy is ON IT.  At first it was pretty cute, like the time I found him inside of the suitcase:

 

 

Unfortunately, his habit of pulling up on things is not backed up by a clear understanding of spacial concepts.  He consistently tries to pull up on the table pedestal, thereby insuring a bumped noggin:

 

He also pulls up on objects that are only a few inches off of the ground, like an overturned toy basket:

 

He also likes to pull up on objects that he's sure to be quickly shoved off of, like a stool that Short Pants is standing on:

 

The other day The Mister let me sleep in.  In the space of 2 hours he said that Pita Pocket managed to pull up on the cage surrounding the Christmas tree and begin ripping off ornaments and climb halfway up the stairs (for the first time).  The Mister found him sitting halfway up playing with an electrical cord from the lights wrapped 'round the railing.  Oh, and worst of all - Pita Pocket crawled into the bathroom, pulled up on the tub, and managed to fling himself head over heels into it - resulting in a bloody lip.  I've caught him a few times starting to sidle whilst holding onto the couch.  Clearly he plans to continue his reign of terror by beginning to cruise soon.  

I'm A Winner

Oh yes I am.  The luck gods smiled on me this month - I won not one, but TWO blog giveaways.  (In case you're now picturing me signing up for bazillions of blog giveaways like some crazy lady hoping someone shows up at her door with balloons and a check, rest assured that I do actually read these blogs)

But I'll freely admit to the crazy.

First up is a giveaway from over at The Toby Show.  Jonah Lisa very generously had a package mailed out from Stubby Pencil Studio.  It doesn't get much better than green art supplies.  Green as in environmentally friendly, not green like the color.  Wait.  Hmm, well, some of the art supplies are in fact green, but...*gives up*

At any rate, check out the loot:

 

Crayons, markers, pencils, colored smencils, a sketch book, pencil sharpener, a tote, and a couple of recycled greeting cards.  One of the cards has already been colored and mailed off to a nephew with a birthday.  This package was perfect since we do so many art projects around here.  Thanks so much, Jonah Lisa!  (Make certain to check out her blog - very funny, plus there is a lot of brand-new baby cuteness going on over there!)

Next up is a package of 6 handmade ornaments from Tresa at reese dixon.  They arrived on Christmas Eve - talk about timing.  These were a huge treat because even though I'm a crafter...no one crafts for me.     Check out these sparkly babies:

 

They look great on our tree, but I do have a bit of a confession.  One of them is now missing a small corner.  Boba thought he'd be cute by pointing out that they're shaped like a stick of gum and pretending to take a bite out of one.  Oops...did I say pretending??  Yep, my 13-year-old bit a corner off of one of my brand-new handmade Christmas ornaments.  *heavy sigh*

Make sure to check out Tresa's blog too.  I have to warn you, she's a bit of a Put Together Person.  But - she's the kind of Put Together Person you can actually befriend.  She's not afraid to show her Scruffy Person side and freely admits to her crafty screw-ups.  Oh, and there's a lot of baby cuteness over on her blog as well!

Yep, He's a Baby Genius

Pita Pocket began waving and saying, "Hi" today completely out of the blue.  He is truly amongst the next generation's best minds.

Christmas was wonderful and chaotic here.  First we have the obligatory "kids in front of the tree Christmas morning" picture, in which Short Pants looks as though he's being bullied by a gun toting maniac into smiling:

 

It's a sweet image, no?

This picture could be my favorite though.  In this one The Mister is clearly wondering, "Why in the hell did we have so many kids?  Calgon take me away":

 

Part of the bleak look on his face could have been due to the incessant noise from Short Pants' new wooden drum.  Who the hell was stupid enough to buy a 3-year-old a drum to open on Christmas morning?  Oh yeah...that would be me. 

The kids all loved their gifts, which is always fun.  Boba received a bunch of new Bionicle stuff, which means that we didn't see him or hear him for a few hours after the gift opening.  The boy is obsessed:

 

Bean told me that her favorite gift was the doll that I made for her.  She was toting it around in one of our slings today.  I love the juxtaposition of a sweet waldorf doll being carried around by a girl wearing arm warmers with skull buttons and chains on them:

 

And yes, our Christmas tree is in a cage.  Don't forget, we have a baby.

Short Pants totally and completely SHUNNED his new doll.  When we tried to get him to play with it, he said, "Pita Pocket can have it."  When The Mister asked him what its name was he replied, "Nobody.  His name is Nobody."

Nice.

Happily, Short Pants came around once I grabbed the doll and began pretending to feed it.  Nobody else was gonna play with his present.  He spent some time tucking it into bed and named it "Jackie.":

 

Jackie was shunned though again that evening and wasn't even allowed to sleep in Short Pants's room.  Luckily today The Mister pointed out to Short Pants that Jackie has underwear and a butt.  Butts are very popular around here lately.  Short Pants thinks he's really sly if he slips the word in, like asking for "butt cupcakes" for dessert.  Yep, that's our boy.  Now Short Pants and Jackie are the best of friends.  What a way to get your kiddo to love the handmade gift you gave them. 

At least the felt money I made was an immediate hit.  No need to bribe with butts:

 

Just for kicks, here's pictures from Christmas morning last year and the year before.  *sniff*:

 

Almost Ready

The Mister is downstairs wrapping presents as I type.  This is such an extraordinary event that I'm pretty certain I'll hear the news chopper circling above any moment now.  NEVER before have we actually had the children's gifts wrapped before Christmas Eve.  Christmas Eve for us in years past has involved staying up till 2am wrapping, yawning, and praying that the kids fall asleep soon.  Go us!

Last night I finished up Short Pants's new Waldorf doll.  It's not perfect, but I'm pretty happy with how it came out.  The Mister says it looks just like Short Pants, even down to the wild hair:

 

I'm interested to find out what Short Pants names him.  His doll from last Christmas ended up being christened "Baby Two" (and no, I don't know why).  Whatever he names it, I just hope he likes it:

  

The only things left to do are to run out quickly tomorrow morning for some goodies for The Mister's stocking, and to sew up some felt play money for the Haba cash register Short Pants is receiving.  Oh, and get rid of my nasty cold.  Santa decided to bring me a sore throat for Christmas this year...ugh. 

Happy Solstice!

As we were out of town visiting family last weekend and didn't get back home till late in the evening, we waited to celebrate Solstice till tonight.  The kids and I spent the morning making some special treats for our local wild birds:

 

Winter time is actually one of my favorite times to bird watch.  There's something so loyal about the black capped chickadees, blue jays, and tufted titmouses that show up every day despite how nasty the weather is.  Lately we've had a pair of red-bellied woodpeckers come to visit as well.  Hopefully they'll all enjoy their Solstice "feast" of popcorn, cranberries, and oranges:

 

Our human Solstice feast consisted of Solstice Soup full of yummy veggies.  You can find the recipe here.  I love the pretty orange-yellow color of it:

   

We (meaning mostly me while Short Pants threw flour 'round the kitchen) also made some homemade rolls to go with it.  Of course, the kids' favorite part of the feast was the sun cake:

  

And yes, that is a lot of sprinkles.   

Before dinner we sat in the darkness for just a moment, and then slowly lit each candle on our holder while giving thanks for different things in our lives.  Candle #1 was the fact that our human needs of shelter, warmth, and food are met each day.  Candle #2 was lit in gratitude of our good health.  Candle #3 was in appreciation of the natural world, and Candle #4 symbolized our gratefulness for each other.  Candle #5, of course, was in appreciation and celebration of the return of the light.  The whole thing was short and sweet, but very lovely:

 

Our original plan had been to have a bonfire out in the yard after dinner, but it's been bitterly cold, and Pita Pocket has a runny nose and I have a sore throat.  Instead The Mister and I relaxed with coffee by candlelight while the 3 big kids ran around playing hide and seek and generally raising a ruckus.  We'll save the bonfire idea for Summer Solstice. 

I almost forgot - I also switched over to our winter nature tray today:

 

I hope each one of you had a Solstice as sweet as ours!

A Bit Of Magic

I always forget how magical needlefelting is till I do it again.  There's something very special about taking bits of plain old wool roving like this:

 

And using it to create something like this:

 

King Winter will adorn our winter nature tray soon.  He stands about 9 inches tall including his crown.  I never thought I'd love a man with a beard, but I do.  I'm thrilled with how he turned out:

 

 

I'm thinking a tomten to join him just might be needed.

But first...off to begin the super-intimidating-waldorf-doll-that-I'm-stupidly-afraid-to-begin-but-have-to-because-there's-only-11-days-till-Christmas.

Little Things

I've been procrastinating on the Big Thing I have left to make for Christmas - a waldorf doll for Short Pants.  And yes, I'm well aware that it's December 11th, ok? 

So instead of making the Big Thing, I've been busy with some little things.  Like making a few cookies with the kiddos:

 

Did you notice Boba's Darth Vader cookie made from a bell?:

 

I fear the Dark Side is strong in that one.  Notice the red eyes - he's like a young Emperor Palpatine:

 

Short Pants and I also made some applesauce and cinnamon ornaments the other day.  This morning we strung them up in the kitchen and they smell sooooo good:

 

We also made a couple of orange pomanders to add to the nature tray:

 

We have an odd little place in our living room under the eaves that we call the "nook."  After trying out many different things with it since we moved in 4 years ago, it officially became a little play area several months ago.  Right now the play kitchen is in there, along with a train table and the farm toys.  I've been slowly (because we never do things fast around here, remember?) working on making it a magical type of place for the littles.  I've strung some fairy lights up and am soon going to swap out the train table that never gets played with for either a quiet reading spot or a dress up area.  Last night I added a 9 foot rainbow silk pinned to the sloped ceiling using this fab tutorial.  I did mine with kool-aid, and I love how it came out so mottled and soft looking:

  

   

Yay for little things and big things that will get done eventually!

Important - Help Save Handmade Toys!!!!!

Pressed for time tonight, but this is super important.  Here's a link with info:

http://saras-toy-box.blogspot.com/2008/12/important-email-forward-from-quiet.html

First Word

Due to a visit to a friend's house along with some errand running, Pita Pocket didn't get his usual naps today.  By 5 pm I had a very tired, very grumpy, and very determined-not-to-sleep baby on my hands.  Finally I put him on my back in the ergo so that I could get dinner started. 

As I was boiling water for pasta The Mister came in the door.  Pita Pocket had been content and quiet so far.  "Hey," (this is hick for "hi") I called to him.  Suddenly, from my back, I hear a little voice say, "Hey."  Pita repeated it twice before I proceeded to freak out screaming, "OhMyGoshHeTalked!!!!"

Of course, no one else had really heard it and maybe thought I was nuts.  But then again, after some prompting, came that sweet little voice - "Hey." 

I think every one of us - me, The Mister, Boba, Bean, and Short Pants - hugged Pita about a million times and told him how clever he was. 

Damn I have a good life. 

Tis The Season

I have 4 boxes of Christmas decorations, plus a fake tree, awaiting me.  I still have gifts to make and more gifts to buy.  The Mister and I are arguing over what kind of new vacuum cleaner to purchase.  My elbows are dry and my throat is kind of sore.  I'm trying to focus on the positive.

Short Pants woke up to a new nature table scene this morning.  I made a few simple gnomes last night and brought back out the root children

Oh my gosh

I just went downstairs because I heard running water.  This is always a bad thing when the little boys and I are the only ones home.  Short Pants is sitting, nude from the waist down, on the bathroom sink with his feet in the bowl.  He has a water bottle that he's attempting to fill.  Oh, here I need to mention that on the way to the bathroom I noticed our fridge door hanging open and a package of ham on the floor.  When I asked him what he was doing, he replied, "Eating ham.  2 pieces of ham." 

Umm, yeah.  Don't you eat your ham naked on the sink? 

Back to our regularly scheduled post.  Since Pita Pocket began crawling last month I had to move the nature table onto a shelf.  I wasn't very happy with it since Short Pants couldn't reach it easily.  The Mister, being the brilliant guy that he is (and you know it kills me to say that he's brilliant when I'm pissed off at him over a vacuum cleaner) suggested a nature "tray" instead that can sit in the middle of our table.  I'm much happier with this solution.  Sorry for the blurriness:

 

This scene will only stay put for a week or so, but since we've been singing about gnomes during our circle time I thought it would be a nice tie-in.  I think my favorite part might just be the acorn cap fire ring:

 

We've decided to celebrate winter solstice for the first time this year, and I'm really looking forward to that.  We're using our new candleholder to count down the weeks (with an extra candle for the actual day) and plan on having a bonfire and feast:

 

I love the teeny people:

 

If any of you do anything special for solstice I'd love to hear it!