The other night we did a little craft with the kids. We made snowflakes and then glittered them. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking, we gave Honor scissors…. we’re crazy. Actually the only mishap was my fault, I was trying to open the glitter and managed to spill all of it onto the floor. My house will never be the same. Honor took one look at the mess and said… “Oh, mommy’s in big trouble!” It makes me feel bad that he thinks he gets in trouble for making messes. He gets in trouble for playing with the toothpaste in the first place! I guess he’ll figure it out as time goes by (hopefully.)

Last night we made ginger bread houses. I refuse to show you what they look like. I was so sure that mine would end up being better than Jim’s but alas… Really, I blame Martha. I know, usually I’m all praise for Martha, but when it comes to Jim’s gingerbread house being better than mine, I’ve gotta give her the blame.

One thing I know, I’m crafted out for awhile. It’s exhausting trying to keep destruct-o-con contained when there’s a bowl of frosting sitting right in front of him.

Last night, as I stepped over the hot pink stains from the princess toothpaste Honor had squeezed on the kids’ bedroom carpet to make sure he was covered up, I thought, “The reason they are so sweet when they are sleeping is to deter their parents from strangling them while they sleep.”

A couple weeks ago, Jim and I ate lunch at this posh little cafe across the street from our office. Jim appropriately described it as a “wine and cheese” place. And while the food was SOOO good, the portions were teeny. One thing we had was a smoked salmon and cream cheese dip on crostini. It was very yummy, so I came up with a recipe that was pretty dern close.

1/2 loaf baguette, sliced 1/4 inch think on the bias
oilve oil
1 clove garlic, peeled and halved
8 oz cream cheese, softened
zest of one lemon
juice of 1/2 large lemon
3 oz smoked salmon
2 oz rinsed capers
coarse black pepper

Heat up a heavy bottomed skillet or grill pan over med-high heat. Drizzle olive oil over both sides of the baguette slices and toast in pan until crispy and golden. Remove from skillet and rub with cut side of garlic clove. Let cool.

Combine cream cheese, lemon zest, lemon juice and salmon. When fully combined, season with pepper and fold in capers. enjoy!

Wow, what a weekend. It was actually nice and really relaxing. It was probably the first year for the kids that it wasn’t totally overwhelming – which I think is so much better. I think they actually got to enjoy all their gifts.

Now that I’ve given all my knitted gifts, I can show them off.

This is the shawl I made for my mom. I need to take better pictures of it, but here she is trying it on for the first time. It’s made out of two yarns – a rayon boucle, and a mohair/silk blend.

and the fingerless mitts I made for my cousins.

This matches the scarf I made for her last year.

These are made out of Rowan Yorkshire Tweed.

Click the photo below to view the photos from our weekend.

I just wanted to take this time to wish you all a wonderful time this weekend. It seems that amidst the bustle of everything, I usually don’t get to really enjoy the time with my family. I find myself taking a second to try and burn everything into my memory. That would be my wish for all of you – that your time with your family and friends would be a wonderful one and a time that you can truly enjoy.

Tomorrow we will go to my dads house to eat dinner (prime rib) with him, my aunt, uncle and cousins, and my sister. Sunday we will spend with my mom, step-dad, sister, and step-brother, his wife and their son, for dinner we will have prime rib (again!). Sunday night is the first night of Hanukkah and the kids are getting really excited. The menorah is filled with candles and ready to be lit, we’ve collected quite a collection of dreidles and I’ve even found some chocolate gelt.

My love to you all.

“I’m bored with the internet.”

We’ve been trying to plan activities for Hanukkah. It’s fun starting new traditions but when you have nothing to draw from, it’s kind of challenging. Hanukkah starts Christmas night, so we’ll probably still be at my moms. One day we want to take the kids sledding and another night we plan to take them to Chicken Little – it will be Honor’s first movie in a theater, do you think he will sit still? One night I’ll make a big Hanukkah dinner with lamb, and latkes and doughnuts. And we’ll spend New Years Eve at a friends. But I’ve still got a few more days to fill. (That’s the cool thing about Hanukkah – 8 days!)

I’d like to hear what your holiday/winter traditions are?

Monday
Chili

Tuesday
Chicken Devan

Wednesday
Minestrone Soup

Thursday
Tacos

Friday
Pizza

Saturday
Prime Rib at my Dads

Sunday – Hanukkah starts at sundown
Prime Rib at my Moms

So it finally snowed… of course on the day that I had to wake up at 6:45 to drive Honor in the snow to the physical therapist. Honor is not very fun to be around when he doesn’t get to sleep in – let’s not think about what he will be like when he’s a teenager.

The physical therapist was nice. She had lots of toys and was very used to dealing with two year olds. (Many times she commented, “He is SO two.”) The bad news is that Honor is going to have to wear a soft brace under his clothes that has straps and elastic and velcro. It’s better than a hard brace, though. I’m not looking forward to making him wear it, but it will be much better than the alternative – surgery.

Eden was so sad that it didn’t snow enough to make a “snow bird.” But the sky is white and it looks promising that we may get more snow. If not, we’re just going to have to break down and take the kids up in the mountains to go sledding. Because every kid needs the chance to make a “snow bird.”

The felted bag. Oh, was it easy! This is the first thing I’ve ever felted. I made it for the store and the class I’m teaching. The yarn is Paint Box (color 10 I think?) and Cascade 220 held together. The pattern is from the book Pursenalities – the only cool pattern in the whole book.

And my new glasses looking at you through a silly picture. It’s strange to be able to see well. You can see that I didn’t fork out the extra 80 bucks for the anti glare coating. I’d rather spend $80 on yarn.