12.31.2015

New Year's Eve

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{lighting our "wish" paper}

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{watching her wish fly away}

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{Jackson's wish flying high}

12.28.2015

Our Homemades

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This was the gift Grace and Jackson made for Nora.  Needle felted gnomes and animals, inspired from a toy in the Magic Cabin catalog.  I helped a little but they did most of this themselves.  The three of us tucked away in the "present making room" many nights as Ryan put Nora to bed.  They turned out so sweet I think.

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This was the game Nora made for Jackson, Grace and Ryan, which we named "Bean-bag-sketball".  Bean bags are always such a good project for the littlest ones to sew.

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These were the library bags I made for each of them.  We often leave the library, each of us balancing a huge tower of books in our arms.  I'm looking forward to never having to do that again.  Although I guess I should make myself one.

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{Nora's}

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{Jackson's}

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{Grace's}

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Inside of the library bags I made each of them a little book to color and write in.

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This was the beautiful bed Jackson made for Grace for her dollhouse.  He found the wood and Ryan helped him build it.  Then I helped him sew the pillow and blanket.

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The gifts the kids made for me the most amazing to me.  They all brought tears to my eyes.

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This is the placemat Grace made for me.  It is reversible.  She sewed this all on her own.

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(Also the candle there is one of several beeswax candles we poured, scented with essential oils and gave as gifts)

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This is the necklace that Nora made for me (with some help from her big sister).  There is another beautiful beaded one she made too.

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This is the painting Jackson made for me.  Ryan helped him put it in a frame.

Ryan's gifts were shown in my Christmas post- the castle he made for Jackson and the kitchen he made for Nora and Grace.  Grace also helped make the crossbow for Jackson.

I haven't been very good about recording our gifts from the past few years and I know I will regret that someday.  This is such a special part of our holiday.  This year especially was so lovely.  The kids were so excited about giving their gifts, maybe even more excited than receiving them.  I wish I had Nora on video as they were opening her gift, jumping up and down and yelling, "Did you see??  There's bean bags in there!!  There's bean bags in there!!"

12.27.2015

A Winter Hike

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Christmas at Grandma Lee's

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{The next day, sledding and hot chocolate with the neighborhood crew}