Fun, inside and out

The boys are getting better at sharing toys.  Sometimes.  Occasionally.  Every once in a blue moon. Here they are co-occupying the tent-tube. Both lads were pretty pleased to find that the other was not shoving him out.

Then out to the snow on this balmy 40 degree day! Here is Bear looking like a dumpling with a dinosaur hat.  (The mittens are a lost cause; he never keeps them on for long.  The next really cold day that we are outside, I will be putting tube socks on his hands/arms to keep those digits toasty!):

Rabbit built an orchard, which he hopes will bear some fruit in springtime:

My little dreamer:

Snow storm

Yesterday we woke to the wonders of a whole bunch of snow. We did not get as much as some of our slightly more southern neighbors, but it did provide it's own challenges!

Bear was actually quite content to look at the snow from his window perch:

Rabbit was hot to trot out and SHOVEL! We bundled him up and he and Steve went outside with their respective shovels and got busy. Well, Steve got busy; Rabbit rolled around in the drifts:

At some point, Rabbit decided to take off his gloves, at which time he learned that snow is really quite cold; it does not feel good on bare hands.  There were tears.  There was sadness.  After a lot of hugs, a cup of hot cocoa and a cookie, he told me that he did not know that "snow could be so cold."  I think it was a betrayal, of sorts.  Ah, the lessons of youth!

Bear in a box

As you might expect, this box is the most favored Christmas present today....

Christmas morning 2010

Just the pics...we had a wonderful Christmas morning and the boys loved it all.

(this is a hug, folks..Rabbit is not strangling Bear....)

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Here comes Santa!

with his sleigh, Rudolf the Rein-moose, Max(from the Grinch) and Radish...Ho ho ho!

Christmas Eve, and Advent Calendar II

Today marks the end of our Advent Calendar, and we opened the last remaining door to find a familiar fellow.  (You can see the entire set of calendar goodies in our flickr set.)

Happy Christmas and Warmest Holiday Greetings to you all!  Blessings galore in 2011!

a Tackle-hug for Daddy

Is there any wonder why I love this man so much?

Flap-hats

 'Tis the season and the region for stylish toppers that protect tender ears.

Gear-head II, with cheerful chapeau

The gears present many good photo opportunities for a kid that is usually very quick to blur a frame.

Gear-heads

Here are the boys cooperating while playing with magnetic fridge gears:

Or, at least it is the appearance of cooperation!  The fridge gears are a fun little find from our library thrift store; they are pretty much a perfect big-and-little toddler toy!

First Snow of the season

Last night was the Winter Solstice, a date that I have long honored and celebrated in my own fashion; last night's Solstice was an especially wonderful one as it featured a full Lunar Eclipse, which I hear looked amazing.  We were socked-in with clouds and snow flurries, so I missed the spectacle.  Maybe I'll catch the next one in 2094.

The good news is that there is snow.  Not a lot, but enough for Rabbit to go nutso-bananas this morning.  So I wrapped the boys up in fleece and snowbibs and jackets and hats and gloves and boots(anyone need to use the potty?) and we trooped outside. 

Rabbit was in his element:

Bear, despite his heritage, was not so sure that snow was his element, and preferred to sit in the wagon and get pulled around the yard:

 He did touch the snow,

 but he tried to give it away.  Not that you can tell, but he is shaking his head side to side, saying "no."

So we had a short snow jaunt for today.  Rabbit had a great time; like most kids, he feels that snow is just a great big toy gifted to him by Mother Nature.  Bear--not so much, but I am sure that my little dumpling will cotton to our climate by the end of the snowy season....in May.

Jingle Bells Project

Toddlers like projects.  Rabbit, in particular, likes projects with "steps" to them so I devised a little activity to keep us occupied for a couple of mornings:

The Jingle Bells Project!

You will need:
a cardboard egg carton(we had a dull gray carton, if you can get white or some other more cheery color, that would probably be better!)
magic markers
glitter glue
yarn
jingle bells!
(bits of felt, sequins, stickers, puffy balls, colored paper and what not would also be good additional steps, but I kept it simple for this go-round)

First I cut up the egg carton so that we had little "bells" to decorate. The bells were then handed over to a magic marker wielding Rabbit to do the first phase of decoration:

 

Once all of the bells were colored, we pulled out the high octane decorating tools: glitter glue!  The gloopier the better!

 

 

(Magic Johnson seemed to really like this project....)

The bells were then left to dry for a FULL DAY.  Do you have any idea how difficult a notion that is for a kid?  Really tough.  But it has to be a full day because those globs of glitter need that time to dry so that you can do the next step.  I convinced Rabbit that he did not want his globs to get wrecked, so that our patience would be rewarded by intact globs on the finished product.

 

 

 
Day #2: Threading the bells with yarn and a little jingle!  I poked a hole in the top ahead of time, and then we pulled out our trusty yarn needle and set to work(this threading business needed a bit more parental help):

 

Hooray!  A finished chain of Jingle Bells!  They actually do sound very sweet,and Rabbit is pretty delighted with them, as am I.

 

We hung them up so that they are just out of Bear's grasp, but can still be jingled...

some very Fine Art

Rabbit: "This is a picture of two friends and a ghost-friend on a spaceship"

 Yes, it is.

Stockings for good little monsters

Our fourth and final Monster Stocking arrived in today's post, and it makes the holiday cheer in our house even more jolly!  Hooray for Monsters and their stockings!
These festive footies are designed and handmade locally to us by a woman who sells them on her website and through Etsy.  I had tried to get a fourth stocking for Bear last year, but the artist wasn't making them.  This year we were lucky enough to get the olive-furred, silver-toed Bad Bird Monster stocking, which fits right in with our stompy menagerie.

Mine is, of course, the white one with the flower pin(I found it tucked along with our new stocking--thanks Hilary!) and the red toes.  The others are all "boy monsters" according to Rabbit, and are essentially interchangeable among the fellas of our family.  For this year, Steve is the brown Dragon-toe, Rabbit is the red Dragon-toe, and Bear's is the new addition.  Who knows who will claim what next year, but I feel pretty confident that I will be able to keep my flowery red-toed stocking! 

All Done

(First phrase!  Woot!)

Sew crafty!

We made some felt ornaments today. They were decorated with bits of felt and sparkle glue by Rabbit, some of which I sewed, and some of which Rabbit sewed.  They are puffy-fied with sewn-in cottonballs.  My stitches are okay, but his are downright artistic!  He loved sewing and I think that it will prove to be a good rainy/sick day activity for my otherwise bouncy boy!

Here are the joint efforts:

 Here are two of Rabbit's own creations: Frog and Orange Thing:

 

This one was the inspiration for the project.  I made this when I was a kid; not sure of the actual vintage, but let's just say it was early on in my Christmas cheer career.  I am amazed that the decorations are still attached after all of these years, but I know that stuffing will not ever escape thanks to my excessive stitching!

I think that our next project will be making catnip toys for the kitties.  Unless they find these ornaments first, in which case I will need a new project idea!