Christmas

Christmas was great around our place! The only negative thing was the fact that we were sick just before Christmas. We got better just in time to attend family parties and such, but then picked up something horrible and are still sick again. :(

I guess there was one other negative thing. We lost our camera so we don't have any pictures of the boys opening presents on Christmas morning. The only pics I have are from my mom's facebook page and those came from her iphone.

On Christmas Eve we went to the traditional Nerdin party, hosted by my grandma Nerdin. There the boys were able to see their grandpa who lives down in Monticello and they don't see very much of him. They had a blast visiting with their uncles who were excited to play with them.

After that party, we went to my mom's to make Santa's runway and gingerbread houses and to see Santa!!






Here is the construction of Santa's runway. Then we moved on to the gingerbread houses to await the arrival of the jolly old elf.







When Santa came, Duane was so excited! He loves Santa this year, but Avan is opposed to the whole idea of strangers holding him. Then we opened presents:




Let me say that the boys were spoiled by more than one source! They have so many new toys that we're not sure what to do with them all. They have a lot of people that love them. :)

Christmas day was a slower pace. We woke and opened stockings and the presents under our tree. Then we went to church and came home to play with our babies and their new toys.

Santa brought me a jewelry chest. How did he know I needed one?

Goofy Kids

Some gems we've captured with the cameras on our phones. I think the one of them with suckers in the cart/car is one of my favorites!

I swear Avan wasn't crying. He was laughing too hard to stay still. ;)

Reindeer Noses

I saw this idea and thought it would be perfect for little fingers. I got the idea from this blog.

This is the face Duane would make every time I told him to smile. He's such a ham.

One Happy Day

It was one happy day that we had on Avan's birthday! He ate the attention up!

Duane helped us decorate while Avan was taking a nap.



Avan spent a great deal of the party in his room, doing what he loves best!

This is how the kids broke the pinata. I was reluctant to bring out the bat indoors.


As you can see, he was VERY excited about his cake.

Duane claimed one of Avan's presents. Avan is a good brother and shared.




I'm so glad we have a sweet little Avan in our home. He's such a wonderful and happy boy.

Ideas

Last year we decorated our tree with a few of those little feather birds you find at craft stores. Duane really loved them and wanted to hold them all the time. He still finds them and carries them around for a few days. (I'm not very good at hiding things).

This year, I thought it would be a fun idea to decorate our tree with a theme. The theme, of course, being birds. Since the idea came to me, I've been scouring the internet (ahem, pinterest) for ideas to make ornaments. I've already collected some fallen walnuts for the kids to paint with glue and decorate with glitter. I wanted to do the same with some pine cones, but haven't found any.

Owls. I would make them with Christmas colored fabric and I would make them smaller. You know, ornament sized. :D

Stringy Ornaments. I thought they could symbolize nests.

Glittered Birds The link shows glittered deer, but you get the idea. Simply find birds instead of deer. I love that the kids could do this one.

Button Wreath It isn't really a bird thing, but the kids could make them.

Hand Print Ornaments Again, no birds, but something the kids could do.

Butterfly Leaf Lantern Vase

I made some cute leaf lantern vases! They are really pretty when lit with a proper candle, but I don't have one on hand right now. I will try to add pics if ever I remember when I have a candle that fits nicely.

These are the things I used. I've been collecting leaves every day on our walks and pressed them between the pages of heavy book with more heavy books piled on top. I actually ended up NOT using the ribbon. I thought the vases looked better without it. Here is the finished product:
















I just used the mod podge to glue the leavs to the glass. Next time I will probably get a flat vase instead of a rounded one, it was a little tricky getting all the leaves to lay flush against the glass. I also just painted the bottom of the leaves first, then added a layer over the top when the leaves had set.

Turkey Window clings

I saw this idea for snowflake window clings made from fabric paint and thought it would be way fun to do turkey hands. The snowflake version says to use wax paper. I gave up on the wax paper and used a plastic freezer bag taped over a tracing of the turkey hand instead.

Happy Halloween!!

The boys had so much fun trick-or-treating! Duane was the cutest little pirate and Avan was adorable in his dragon costume. Avan was more or less aware of what was going on. At one point he gave up and got in the stroller, awaiting his candy from his little moving throne. :D Duane was more thrilled by the spookiness than scared. I was a little nervous he would be a little afraid. I love Halloween and hope yours was as much fun as ours!