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Fluffy White Stuff

More snow means more outdoor fun, for at least some of us that is. Mr. E and I ventured outdoors for some sledding and snow angels. Little Miss is not all that fond of snow (I think I did mention this before). Her dislike, however, has turned into complete fear. She REFUSES to even step in a flake of the fluffy white stuff. I wonder how long it will take her to get over this. Hopefully not too long, considering she is a New England girl. Daddy doesn't mind keeping her company; he is not a big fan either!

Here is Mr. E's first official snow angel; he was quite proud that his came out better than mommy's. I do agree!

The hill in our backyard is the perfect size for sledding down AND climbing back up.

A little screaming adds to the excitement!

“When it snows, you have two choices: shovel or make snow angels” (author unknown)

What is your choice?

Handmade

Every year since Mr. E was born I like to give a little something hand-made from him and now the Little Miss as well. Now that they're older, they actually like to participate in the creating. E tends to lose interest quickly and I have to keep the activities moving, but I'm happy to say I think I've found my lifetime crafting partner in Little Miss; she can sit for a long time and create. On a side note: Today she drew her first person with a crayon. I'll have to scan it and share. Here are some photos of what was created this year.
I cannot seem to figure out how to put the pictures in the correct order without deleting them, so these are a bit out of sequence. My blogging skills are just not there yet; I'm working on it.

Popsicle stick Christmas trees- This was very quick and easy because I bought the sticks already painted green. The kids assembled and decorated as they wished. We only made a couple of these, but I think we'll make some more next year.

Handpainted trees on mini canvases. For Little Miss I used masking tape to make a quick triangle stencil so she could paint green and for Mr. E., he first made a line using a brown marker and then added his "pine". He is very hard on himself and thinks his sister's came out better, but I think his are just as fabulous and so great because they are all his artwork. We decorated them with sprinkles, ribbon, and a star button. We sent one of these to the kids' birthparents. (By the way, I paid $.25 each for the canvases...love bargains!!!)

Although it can get messy, the kids love to paint! It's definitely on the top of their crafting preferences.

Painted wooden snowflakes with glitter. For the grandparents we glued this year's Christmas photo in the center. I kept one of these as well :)

The aftermath of the crafting .... As you can see not a soul could be found when it was time to clean up.

Evan drew a cute snowman one day and so I decided to scan it and use it for gift tags for all his "teacher" gifts.


The end result of the glittered snowflakes. We sent one of these to each of the kids' birthfamilies as part of their Christmas gift.

...and the finished Christmas trees...this was my favorite this year!

A package arrived....

...and it was for the kids. It was a set of gifts from Little Miss' birthfamily. How sweet they are! Both kids were so excited to open their first gift of the Christmas season. E even stopped playing Guitar Hero to play the new game he got- ZINGO. It is definitely a welcomed addition to our limited game collection. We've been playing Chutes and Ladders multiple times a day for the past 2 weeks!

Little Miss was also quite thrilled with her magnetic dress-up dancer and princess.

Thank you birthfamily...we love you!

From the Heart

I finally finished packaging up the gifts for Little Miss' and E's birthfamilies. They'll be in the mail tomorrow. It's been a fun tradition to send gifts each year and now that E is getting older, he is getting more involved in the process.

Now to get to the 49 other things on my list, which includes finding out why I can't load the rest of my pictures onto my computer. I'll have to attempt another post with photos of the kids' handmade ornaments tomorrow.

The First Snowfall

Although there was barely a 1/2 inch of snowfall this past weekend, we still managed to make the first snow people of the season. It's been a while since the snow has been conducive to making snowmen, but this snow was perfect!

Little Miss was not thrilled with the whole snow thing...she spent most of the time sitting on the back deck avoiding the snow and when she was forced to step in it, she would yell, "Pick me up Mommy, pick me up!" A snow bunny she is not! Primping her snowgirl distracted her long enough to forget she was stepping in the snow and she managed to also find a patch of grass to plant her feet in. All was good. At least I didn't have to worry about her wandering...

Here she is in her designated safe zone...Yikes! Check out the mildew on the deck; think it will be time for a power washing in the spring.

Can't wait for the next snow day.

In a flash...

I can't believe this was two years ago...where does the time go?