Happy Little Christmas

We did it on the actual day, but the pics are late because of life happening and stuff.

This year, Eleri got the fève!

 

She wanted to crown herself, but that's not fair, so she crowned Rowan.

And with that, Christmas is done for another year.

In other news, later that same night, Rowan was also officially made Tenderfoot.

 

We like to stay on our toes around here.

And for Mom:

Merry Christmas 2013

 

 

Another successful Christmas in the books.

Find the pictures here.

You want a picture of the kids and the dogs, you say?

No, that's not crazy. Not crazy at all!

 

 

Merry Christmas!

Santa visit 2013

Rowan asked for a Telescope. Niall asked for Snap Circuits Extreme. Eleri asked for a Minnie Mouse umbrella.

I've been fretting the evening away though. Sally started out the trip with us, but somewhere somehow she went missing. Eleri has no clue because of the backup Sally, but I've been completely over-emotional about it. I'm hoping Sally is located. We still have 2, and Eleri is unaware, but no one else will know just how important Sally is. I know I'm anthropomorphizing my daughter's stuffed friend, but I can't help it. I want all the Sallies here where they belong!

Christmas pictures are up

Christmas pictures set on Flickr

Christmas is officially over, now. So I made it a point to process and upload the rest of them. Enjoy!

Santa Baby

It's a bit too large, but she loves this dress. Here, she is saying, "I can't hold still, Mommy! I gotta dance!"

Santa visit 2012

There was another one where they were all looking, but this one was too sweet to pass up. Santa and the Pixie are deep in discussion.

Happy Little Christmas!

Christmas is now over for another year. I took the tree out of the house today. The pixie was not happy with this event, and stood on the porch yelling at me. "Hey! What you doing my Christmas tree?!" She did not agree that it was time for it to leave. I took the popcorn garlands off and hung them on our maple for the birds.

For our usual tradition, we went and got a Galette des Rois from La Farm bakery, so we could celebrate the arrival of the 3 kings to visit the infant Jesus.
Niall chose who got what slice because he was the one who got the feve last year. Who got it this year? Me!
And of course, I crowned John the king. Happy Little Christmas everyone!

Thank you, Uncle Ruben!

We've been having lots of fun building Lego Harry Potter!

Merry Christmas!

A small sample of Christmas morning, in pictures.

 

I hope yours was as merry as ours was.

The annual Santa picture

Today is the first day of Christmas Vacation for the boys, and since we hadn't managed it yet, it was high time to pay a visit to the guy from up north. The head hancho. The boss man, himself... Santa Claus.
I was interested to hear what they'd tell him, since they haven't been on their best behavior lately and they know it. But they were both up front and honest with the big dude, Niall going so far as to say, "I haven't been very good lately and I'm sorry." I'm sure he doesn't hear that everyday!
Santa played his part well, talking with the boys about how hard it is to be good all the time, but he knows they don't mean it, and they must be extra good from here on out. Rowan asked for a remote control helicopter. Niall asked for a hexbug set and a playmobil space shuttle - even though he knows that Santa only brings one thing. I guess Santa will decide which one to bring. The Pixie was quite nervous and wouldn't say a word, but I'm sure he knows exactly what she needs. We got the picture

 

and then carried on our merry way back home for lunch. 

But right when we were getting back into the van, right when I'd just gotten her out of her stroller, the Pixie tripped and fell, konking her head on the plastic hubcap of the car parked next to us. The vulture waiting for our parking spot had to sit while I comforted her, because goodness knows you don't strap a screaming and insulted pixie into a car seat for a 20 minute drive home. By the time we got home, it had bloomed spectacularly.

 

It looks ugly, but she's fine. And at least she waited until AFTER we saw Santa.

Teacher Christmas gifts, the 2011 edition

This year, we decided to mix it up a bit when it came to teacher gifts. The oven was questionable, and I had no desire to try to make enough cookies for four teachers plus the hunting down tins and all that.
But, this year we had a new plan. When we were down at the farm over Thanksgiving, Fran gave me a couple of chunks of beeswax to try making something with it. I looked in her book, and on a few internet sites, and we decided that making a beeswax hand salve was just the thing.
It is SUPER easy. The recipe we settled on only had 3 ingredients.

• 1 part Beeswax
• 5 parts olive oil
• a few drops of essential oil

That's it. Fran also loaned us her double broiler that she uses to melt the beeswax, and Rowan picked out a bottle of lavender oil, and we were in business.

I didn't think to take pictures of every step, but all we did was melt the beeswax, add the olive oil, and keep on stirring until it's all melted together.

 

I'd seen it mentioned a couple of places that we should warm the olive oil before adding it, but I forgot that part. It looked REALLY weird, because when the cold oil hit the warm beeswax, some of the beeswax solidified again and it was all sorts of crazy. But we just kept stirring and hoped for the best.

 

It all worked out and everything got all melty again. I added the lavender oil and we gave it another good stir before I poured it out into the jars.

 

I made sure to put some cardboard down on the counter top first, so I wouldn't have to peel beeswax off the counters. Smart thinking there, because pouring it was a little sloppy.

 

It cooled into a lovely salve for the teachers. We all tried some of the salve the spilled on the cardboard, and it was greasy at first, but melted right into our skin and it smelled really good. I have some beeswax leftover, and I'm going to have to make some more for us to keep!

 

I printed off pictures of each boy and used mod podge to glue them to the lids of the jars. Another coat of mod podge over the top of the picture helps it stay nice. Niall's picture is of him wearing the bee hood, and Rowan's is one of him working the smoker with the great big gloves on.

 

Each jar has a label on it telling what it is, who made it, and where the wax came from. I hope the teachers like it as much as we liked making it!

The 2011 Christmas card attempt

Getting a Christmas card with 3 kids, one of whom is a snarly 3 year old, is not for the faint of heart. Telling fart jokes is key.

You can enjoy the whole set here.