December Daily - Day 8

Today was filled with things to do! I called it Crazy Craft Day but really all we did is make Christmas Tree Sandwich cookies (from Martha Stewart's Holiday magazine) and we painted to make our own wrapping paper. The cookies are amazing... but had so many steps that it took all day to make. I love how they turned out but I think we will be making these a Christmas tradition! The best part is... the are so good and they have NO EGG!

Dave took Dad to the hospital in Portland today to have surgery. When he came home, Ethan had a cookie on a plate waiting at the door for him. It was so cute! When Dave came in he held out the plate and almost launched the cookie at Dave! Dave was surprised!

The items we used to make our own wrapping paper.

Ethan did a great job of adding the powdered sugar!

December Daily - Day 7

Today was Jeremy's birthday party, and Lisa's ;). I would have to say that I love the gift we gave Jeremy this year. Jeremy is pretty hard to shop for since he loves Star Wars. I mean you would think it would be easy, but the guy has IT ALL. So, alas, not so easy. I would have to say that no one could even guess what I made for him!

I found this link online for Yoda's Herb Stew. So, I got all the ingredients together and put it in a sack with a handmade Yoda tag (that could be hung on the Christmas tree or backpack). Oh, my dearie it was so funny! Anyway, if you try the stew at home (ahhh... Kati!) let me know what you think of it.

I love this picture of Ethan. He knocked this down and he went and got Jeremy by the finger to show him! He was telling Jeremy to fix it.

This picture looks almost the same from Brittney's birthday party earlier in the year. Just Ethan is a little taller.

December Daily - Day 6

Today, after Ethan's early nap, we read the story Snowball. Then, I showed Ethan the "snowballs" I made from Dave's sock drawer. I boomed "Let it Snow" from Ethan's CD player and we had our own snowball fight. It was mild to say the least... Ethan wouldn't let go of Gordon, his train.

But we started the snowball fight again when Dad came home... now that was fun!

Web Cam Photo Booth

Deb called and I didn't have the camera set up. So, after I hung up with her I went looking for it. Ethan has been teething all day, so I thought it would be a good chance to get him distracted and have a little fun. We couldn't get Deb back on the phone through Skype so I put some music on and let Ethan look at himself through the web cam. Can you tell what happened?

Yeah, he is asleep in my arms right now... heavenly.

December Daily - Day 5 - Part 1

Today I brought all our Christmas books down from our upstairs library. When I showed Ethan he got excited but when I asked him if he wanted to read a new story, he got upset. I think he thought I was starting his nap/bed time routine. I mean we read a lot but it must have been how I said it or something that he thought it was bedtime... so it took a while to get him calmed down and reading.

He loved the story we read called Merry Christmas Big Hungry Bear! It was so awesome to see him reading some of my favorites and enjoying it just as I thought he would. Afterwards, I asked him to help make our special snack. I call it "Chocoless S'mores." Little E can't have chocolate so we just had marshmallows. He made it all by himself.

I love this look! He so ate that one! I heated it up just to get the marshmallows warm and he sat down and started eating. He kept on saying, "Mmmmm!" But his two year molars are coming in and it might of been uncomfortable eating crackers. Plus, he saw the "sticky" wasn't coming off his hands.

I was kind of laughing but Ethan wasn't too happy. There was marshmallow everywhere! He broke down and I had to clean him up, change his clothes, get his blanket, and rock him to sleep. When I look at the pictures, it makes me laugh... after a hard day of teething, it's nice to smile and say- it wasn't too bad. I think I can do it again tomorrow.

December Daily - Day 4

I know today isn't close to being over, but Becca and I have a bazaar to do in Turner this afternoon/evening so I wanted to make sure I posted our Christmas craft today. I didn't want any emails from family trying to keep me accountable ;) . Today we made Christmas magnets. I thought of this craft on my own last night.

First, I punched scalloped circles out of white shrink film. Ethan then colored them with markers. The markers can not be washable - sorry Crayola! So, Ethan has little artist finger tips in red and green. You can also use color pencils. It will look light when you color it but the heat will make it darker.

Then, Ethan knows to stay back while I use the heat gun. I shrink the film by keeping heat on the piece until it is done.

Ethan loves to watch them shrink. When I finished he said and signed, "More!"

It was good to get Ethan's small motor skills working. I added warm glue and he stuck the magnet to the back. Make sure that you don't use a heavy duty glue gun. It could burn little fingers. We use a small light weight gun - read your gun before trying this!

We now have a great Christmas present. I mean how sweet is it to have your child's drawing captured forever in a fun and unique way?

Pacie - Broken! Blankie OK!

So we are going on a week and a half of Ethan without his pacifier. I have wanted to post this story for a while but had to get over the mama-trauma. Before Thanksgiving, Ethan and I went into town (that's what you say when it takes you 35-45 minutes to get to a decent grocery store or gas station). Our drives are getting worse everyday. Ethan doesn't want to be in a car seat for 2 hours and then in a shopping cart for another hour. I mean do you blame him?! So needless to say, Ethan wasn't very happy about the drive home.

Dave and I only give Ethan his pacifier in bed or when he is tired in the car. Well, this day he had already slapped me in the face, pulled my glasses off my face and threw them, and now was in the car trying to throw things at the back of my head. He has really good aim. It was just one of those days, you know? Kati - I know you understand the embarrassment! All of a sudden, I hear, "Oh-o." I look back and he had bit the nipple completely off the pacifier! All I was thinking of was getting it away from him and "good thing we have another at home."

The next night, Dave was following me home from Becca and Josh's house. All I heard in the back seat was the same, "Oh-o." I knew what he had done. I looked back and it looked like he still had the nipple in his mouth. I didn't want him to choke so I reached my hand back there and said, "Spit it out." He pulled my hand to his mouth and bit down! That's when Dave started flickering his lights at me thinking that he was going to watch his wife and son crash into the ditch!

Ethan was crying and asking for a pacifier. I told him it was broken. He then said, "Pacie broken! Blankie OK," while hugging his blanket! I couldn't help but laugh... or was I really crying? I can't remember.

So everyday, Ethan asks where his pacie is and we show him his empty pacifier basket. He then chimes, "Pacie broken. Blankie OK!

December Daily - Day Three

Today we got a lot done! Ethan broke his first ornament and after throwing it said, "No, no, no!" I think he understands that he wasn't suppose to touch them. Here are my photos from today...

Reading the book Trucking. He is signing "rain."

I love this picture. I just threw the camera up while Ethan was dancing to Christmas music. Dave is really good at this and can actually get more than the nose up. ;)

The first casualty.

December Daily - Day Two

Today we tried to keep an easy at home. We had our Christmas craft after rest time and snack. When Ethan heard "paint" he came running! This is the only shot I can put on the blog since some of his projects are Christmas presents. I like how I hid the project perfectly in this picture!

I had to use the Magic Eraser on our skin to get the paint off. It was a special paint for this project. He did pretty well at keeping the paint off his body. There was just this one spot he got on his leg.
During Ethan's nap I got started on the ornaments in the above picture. They are not quite done yet. I still have to add quotes to the side. I took Becca's design from when she made hers and duplicated it. I am going to take this one to the Oregon Free Methodist Pastor's Appreciation Christmas Party on Friday. They always have you put an ornament on the tree and when you leave you can take a different one home.

December Daily

I was so excited about today! Not only was it our Scarlet Lime debut but it was the beginning of December Daily! Click on Ali Edward's blog on the left to read all about it! So, I had some projects for Ethan to do today to record for my album. I am going to be journaling everyday until Christmas, so keep me accountable! I don't print my pictures at home, so posting on my blog will be my way to remember the events of the month... until I write it down in my album.

Tammy sent me a recipe for cute cookie cutter birdseed tree ornaments. I had the whole project ready to go besides the bird seed. We keep it in the garage. So, I went outside to get a scoop of seed, opened the sealed Rubbermaid container, opened the bag of seed to find a mouse drowned in bird food. Yuck! What I have learned from teaching is to always think ahead. We used honey and brushed it on the bread, baked it at 350 degrees for 3 minutes, and we now had cookie cutter bird toast tree ornaments instead. The great thing is that Ethan had one for snack after the project.

Ethan picked his own Christmas shapes.

He looks so grown up with the large plastic needle and string.

Our honey toast finished and ready to hang on the tree.

Kind of funny... it started to rain a few hours later. Too bad the birds didn't get a chance to nibble. It makes a good picture though. :)

We also made our Christmas chain today. This is a tradition I had forgot about. My family did this when I was young. It was a lot of fun for Ethan because he loves numbers! Ethan, you look so silly in this picture because you are saying "One!"


Tonight was the first time Ethan got to take a number off his chain. We will do this every night before bed.