Ham House: The Easter Egg Trail

Last weekend, we headed out on Saturday to Ham House to take the kids on an Easter trail.  It started snowing as we were waiting to buy our tickets, but other than the cold, it was lovely.  It is a bit different than the Easter egg hunts that we typically do, where there is a collection of brightly colored plastic egg scattered across a lawn.  This is more of a scavenger hunt, with questions to answer and clues leading you all around a huge garden, and a large egg as your prize upon completion.  This new set up was perfect for our eager little detective.

The setting was beautiful.  I can't wait to come back in the spring when the trees are filled out and the gardens are covered in beautifully manicured blooms.I think the photos are pretty self-explanatory, so, then end. :)

Read More

Advent

I am one of those people who think that the anticipation of something is almost, if not, just as fun as the main event.  When my birthday rolls around, one of my favorite days is the first day of my birthday week.  It means the fun is just beginning.  (Though we often "celebrate" by me getting my way in things like what we have for dinner or what tv show we watch.  It's not that I'm showered in gifts all week.  But picking dinner or which show sometimes feels like a gift.  End of rambling.)Anyway, I think this is one reason why I love celebrating Advent with Jayce.  It's hard to not get swept up in the excitement of Christmas with him.  

Also, it takes some of the pressure off of Christmas Day itself.  If we spend the month anticipating the fun, reflecting on the meaning, spending time together, talking about important things and just for fun things, then it's okay if there is a bit of crankiness, or impatience, or anything else on the actual day.  It lets us all be human on the 25th without having lost any of the meaning behind the holiday.  That's what I think, anyway. 

So this year, I made Jayce a little Advent calendar with the supplies that I had on hand.  I had been dreaming big for what kind of Advent Calendar I might make, but on December 2, already a day behind, I just pulled out my little tub of supplies and went easy on myself.  I removed a (never used) shelf from the bottom of our coffee table, wrapped it in festive paper, and propped it against the wall in the living room.  I taped up little clotheslines, stuck numbers to cards strung on the line, (leftover from last year's calendar), and hung little ornaments from each clothespin.  To start, I left all the cards blank, and I filled them in one at a time, usually on the night before.I know that some people do really amazing things throughout the month of December, but I decided to keep ours fairly low key.  I got a small stack of Christmas books from the library, and a smaller stack of Pound Store goodies (like the Dollar Store, but in pounds, obviously.)

The first few days I wanted to remind Jayce of what we were celebrating at Christmas, so he unwrapped a book with the nativity story.  Later in the week his activity was to set up the toy nativity set.  This was serious business.  He kept the box nearby and looked back at the book for reference as to where all of the animals and people should be placed.  There was usually a countdown as to how many days until Christmas as well.

One day he unwrapped some festive window stickers.  

One day we made a wreath together.  (I was so proud of him, it's great, right?  I cut out the leaves, he glued them.  Then he wanted to punch out the berries and I glued those. I love it.)

One day he unwrapped some ribbons for us to wrap presents with, and another day was stamps (that I already had) for him to make Christmas cards.  Another day he got this little tote to color in.  Several days he got a "new" (library) Christmas story to read at bedtime.

Some days I just wrote down things that I knew we were going to do anyway, like watch a Christmas movie and have a family picnic, which we've been doing on Fridays.  Some days he got to have a piece of Christmas candy, and pick out one for each of his family members as well.  He didn't get a present every single day, but it's funny how even basic things can sound fun when described with a little enthusiasm.  "Do you want to write Christmas cards for your friends at school?  Yeah!  Let's go!"

With less than a week until Christmas and no travel on the horizon, I think that the last week of the Advent Calendar will be filled with at home family goodies.  Cookie making (and maybe delivering), popcorn and a movie, hot cocoa with lots of marshmallows, books read with funny voices, and heightened anticipation.  I can't wait.  Neither can Jayce.

Read More

She's A Chef

I considered not having Hannah dress up for Halloween this year.  Everyone kept telling me how Halloween isn't really celebrated much here, neither Jayce nor Chris had classes the week of Halloween so there would be no school parties, and truthfully, my mind has been in Christmas mode since September.  But a few weeks ago I noticed that the coffee shop that we love had a few child's aprons for sale.  I tried one on Hannah, it was HUGE but she looked insanely cute, and it immediately sealed the deal for me.  She had to be a chef.

It also works into my plan to subliminally plant the idea that "cooking is fun" in my kids' heads, so that they can take over for me sooner than later.  

Right Hannah?  Right.

Anyway, I made a quick trip to my favorite little fabric shop, spent entirely too much time agonizing over trivial details about the design, (1 large pocket or 2 small?  Trim it with bias tape or no?), and 3 days (aka: nap times) later was completely finished.  

I LOVE the teeny tiny little pleated pockets, the perfect size for those teeny little hands.  I made the pants with a fun citrusy-patterned fabric using Dana's pajama pants tutorial, and found Delia's perfect pizza hat tutorial literally the morning after I finished the apron.  It was fate.  And people have been going crazy over that tiny (but floppy) little hat.  Including me. 

The pants fit perfectly.  And it reminded me of the age-old truth that EVERYTHING is cuter in miniature.  Her little apron is smaller than a dish towel.  Do you know how cute it is to see a baby walking around with a smaller-than-a-dish-towel sized apron?  Insanely cute.  It's a happy maker.

I have been planning to get the kids a little kitchen for Christmas and make a few little homemade items to go with it.  So now I can cross this off of my "Halloween costume" list and my "Christmas to do" list!  Except that Jayce has requested his own apron and hat.  Oh well.  Sewing the second is always faster and easier than sewing the first, so it will be no problem.

Chris came home while Hannah was cooking in the kitchen.  The photo on the right is when she heard him come through the door.  She loooves her daddy.

She also loves to bang around pots and pans while I cook, so this is a common occurrence in our house.  Now she just looks the part.

Eventually, all of that cooking wore her out, and she had to retire with her bear and recouperate a bit.  I can't blame her.  Even fake cooking can wear you out.

Read More

Easter Stuff

A few years ago on the Monday after Halloween, a blogger I read started out her post by saying, "Today across America, every parent with a blog or facebook account is uploading and sharing pictures of their children in their Halloween costumes."  I laughed because it was so true, on my blog too.  

The week after Easter is the same.  You will see egg coloring, egg finding, Easter baskets, Easter outfits and everything in between.  But that is part of the fun, right?

So, in order, egg coloring...

egg finding...

Easter baskets...

but our Easter outfits were pjs.   

Jayce was so funny when he was hunting for eggs that morning.  Right now, for some reason, he gets really excited/incredulous about things.  It's hilarious, and typically appropriate.

That morning, several of the eggs had quarters in them, because the tired Easter bunny didn't have any small pieces of candy to put in the eggs.  When Jayce discovered that one egg had 2 dimes in it instead of a quarter, he said, "Mom, look!  When quarters are teeny tiny, they're called dimes!  How did they do that?!  It's like magic!!"

Or when he discovered that a few of the eggs had candy in them instead of coins, he squealed, with his hand on his forehead, "What?!  Some of the eggs have quarters and some have candies!!  That's amazing!!!"

There is nothing quite like the enthusiasm of a 3 year old.

Hannah managed a few smiles despite a sick and miserable night,

and Jayce got busy on a few puzzles that were in his basket.

And that is all for now, because this post is already dangerously long and picture heavy.  

Read More