Elf

Nativity

After completing homework this afternoon, Amy was on a mission - she wanted to make her own nativity scene. Thankfully she didn't ask for my help, because I could not have done nearly as good or clever a job as she did. 

She wrote out the story, taped it to her display, made Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus and a manger and that was that. Project complete. I so admire her earnestness and focus. 

For Me

If you will indulge me, I need to take a quick minute away from the joy of giving and talk a little about the joy of getting. After a hefty order of Christmas presents and much-needed cold-weather clothes from Kohl's I found myself with $40 of Kohl's Cash burning a hole in my virtual wallet. 

All season I have kinda-sorta wanted a pair of riding boots. But I don't consider myself a terribly fashionable person, and at $80-100 for even fake leather boots, it just didn't quite rate as something I really needed (or wanted) to spend that kind of money on. 

But, an Early-Black-Friday-Cyber-Email-Bombardment highlighted the very boots I've kinda-sorta wanted for the slim price of $29.99. Take 20% off of that with a coupon, toss in free shipping and my Kohl's cash and they were basically paying me to take these boots. 

Oh, okay, if I must. 

I thought I might wrap them and put them under the tree, from Santa, of course, but they arrived this morning and I tried them on... and they fit so perfectly and felt so warm and snug and good and I (for once) looked so cool that I just couldn't put them away. 

So there, that's me and my new boots. 

PS - I know you can hardly even see the boots in the skinny-mirror picture above... sorry.  I can't stop looking at the chaos of the dress-up bin in the reflection, the sunken Frozen balloon left over from Amy's birthday... and the other random toy bits strewn all about the floor. If I got paid per item for things I pick up off the floor these days I'd be a rich lady.

Little Moments

There were a whole bunch of little reasons to whip out the phone and snap a picture today, but I'll start with last night. I gave myself a big ole mommy pat on the back for carrying on a game of Battleship with Amy, cooking burgers on the Foreman grill, AND holding a sniffly, clingy baby. Go me. 

Moving on to today. We had our chimney swept which was exciting, William and I made cookies, I made baked oatmeal and "opened up" our fourth pomegranate of the season, and finished up a couple of Christmas present paintings. Interject some box and cupboard hijinx and toss in a spontaneous post-school mall trip and that was our day. 

So, even though I constantly feel like I never get anything done, photographic evidence suggests a pretty full day. I think I need to realign my expectations. 

Advent Blogging

I'm hoping to spend the Christmas season popping by here once a day with at least a picture, if not a few brief words. Perhaps that is overly ambitious as I am already a day behind, but we will see. 

Seems I have a little mouse in the house these days. Keeps getting into my pantry drawer, stepping on my pretzels, rooting through the tea bags and fruit snacks. But she's a cute mouse and this keeps her remarkably well-entertained so I try not to mind picking up everything off the floor. Again. 

She did this by herself, too, though I'm not quite sure how. 

Back with more soon! 

This and That

This girl is really cute (especially in her new shoes). 

That cat should not be out. 

This (half) week was rather busy. 

That orange hose is totally unnecessary. 

This post will be quite short. 

That grass is awfully green. 

This rainbow was simply amazing. 

That is all for now. 

Happy Thanksgiving, folks! 

A Week or So

Flipping through pictures as usual here and once again marveling at how many little moments and memories are packed into the most ordinary weeks, and I just love it. Does make for an eclectic blog post though, if I don't keep up with it.  Here are some themes of the last week or so - the kids have had a few days off for Veterans Day, conferences and such, and I'm never quite sure if having everyone home makes a day more busy or less. Anyway, without further ado, I present:

Butterflies:

Figs (from the tree in our backyard!):

And Beans, also from our own garden:

Dentist: 

Super-cute, Super-busy Girl, who is closing in on her first birthday.  What? 

Rainbows, three in one day!: 

Tree, Christmas, up already! Not decorated, just lending a bit of light and warmth to cold evenings: 

We even sneaked in a Nutcracker viewing. It was lovely. And later in the same weekend we tried out our fireplace for the first time! 

So just add in some swimming lessons and you pretty much have our week. I think I finished Christmas shopping today, for the kids at least, so I'm hoping to shift to a season of fun and festive making without feeling as busy and stressed as I've been with these last few busy weeks. And maybe I'll get around to blogging more than once a week!