My first award on the new blog!

Today I was blessed and happy to open my email and find that Nino's Mum had nominated me for the Proximity Award. I have been truly blessed by the connections and friendships that I've made in the "blogosphere." It truly has made me realize how much we all have in common and what a small world we live in. Thanks so much for the award. I am humbled that someone on the other side of the world has found their way to my little corner and been touched by what they found. So amazing! Thanks again!!

What I've been up to

The camera battery is dead, so this is a sans photo post. I finished the Shutterfly photo book of our "Christmas Memories 2008" and ordered it today! I am so excited to get it in the mail soon. (Not to mention VERY excited that I already got it done!) I have a Christmas Memories "old-fashioned" scrapbook that I update every year with a 2-page spread of our Christmas highlights. It is really fun to go back and look at, so I will continue to add to it over the years. However, if I am pleased with the Shutterfly book, I can see myself also doing the "digital scrapbook" thing. It was so easy to complete. I also like that I can go back and order more copies of it or even order copies in a 12X12 size if I want to. I may start doing a yearly highlights book for the boys as part of their birthday gift every year.

Another thing I've done today is to start going through our "old" toys and books and choosing some to donate so we can make room for our new things. So far I have several piles downstairs waiting to be donated next week. I am going to work on more weeding out over the next few days. It makes me very happy to purge some of our material items, though I am sad to say no one would walk into our home right now and notice that anything was gone. I have to accept that it's an on-going process and just keep plugging away I guess.

Oh, we also went to a teacher supply store so I could laminate a bunch of the stuff I've been printing off for our learning shelf at home. The learning shelf that hasn't been set up yet, that is. Even though I am a Montessori teacher (and have another whole blog devoted to that), I have yet to set up a "Montessori" shelf for my boys at home. That is on my to-do list for SOON. Now I've blogged it, so it must be done, right? Be prepared for some photos and posts about this soon. Until later..........take care, relax, and be well.

Christmas Memories Book

My oldest son became quite nostalgic last night about Christmas coming to an end. He can be very sweetly sentimental about things. This morning I asked him if he would like to make his own Christmas Memories book to draw and write about his favorite parts of our Christmas. He definitely wanted to do it. So, I took 2 sheets of white printer paper and folded them in half. I then took a 12X12 sheet of scrapbook paper and trimmed it down for the cover. Then I just stitched down the side using a zig-zag stitch. He used some of my scrapbooking alphabet stickers to make a title for the book.





After doing the title, he immediately got to work on his first page, drawing and writing about his favorite gift, the Mousetrap game. This will be such a great keepsake for him and for our family.



I worked for quite a while this afternoon uploading our Christmas/December photos to Shutterfly into an 8X8 Photo book. I have most of the photos in and just need to add text and order the book. I'm excited to get that done so we can pull it out next year and reminisce about Christmas 2008.

Also today, I printed out a bunch of stuff for projects I want to do with the boys in January. I enjoyed doing the Advent stockings so much that I am already thinking about making and doing something similar for January. I hope to get started on that soon so I can share it here.

The Mumps Quilt

I have a GREAT story about this quilt that I blogged about a few days ago. If you remember, my aunt gave this to my mom to give to me. It was a completely unexpected gift, but a very welcome one since I love quilts. I did not know much about the quilt when I received it other than that it was made by my paternal grandmother. Today after our Christmas meal, I asked my aunt about it, and this is what she told me. I LOVE this story!

When my dad and my aunt were young, they both contracted mumps at the same time. Since they weren't allowed to be in school, they were home and needed to be occupied with something. (NOTE: My dad is 87 years old and my aunt is a few years younger..........so this was before you could plunk your sick children in front of the TV or DVD player.) So, my grandma rounded up all the scraps of blue fabric she could find and had my dad and my aunt keep busy by cutting them into little squares. She then used the squares to make a simple 9-patch quilt, the very one that is now on the back of a rocking chair in my living room right now. Isn't that the greatest story? So now I'm calling it the "Mumps" quilt, and thinking about what quilt I'm going to make in 2009.

A late Merry Christmas, Blog Friends!!

I would like to wish everyone a blessed Christmas. I realize the holiday is almost over. I've had a hectic past 48 hours. We've had a wonderful Christmas together and have made many special memories. I just wanted to take a quick second to thank all of you for reading this blog and blessing my life with your comments and thoughts. I am so enjoying writing this new blog and have lots of thoughts and ideas and projects to share with you in the future. I hope you have all had a fun-filled and relaxing day and wish the best to each of you in the coming new year! Here are a few little glimpses of our day.



Here are the gingerbread men my little boys left out for Santa last night. He left them a note saying he enjoyed them very much!! :0)



Here are the cupcakes I made for Jesus' birthday. I actually made these this morning while the boys were playing with their new Christmas toys. Grandma Donna (my fantastic mother-in-law who is visiting us) had the great idea of decorating these with M&Ms after my original idea for decorating them didn't pan out. They looked very festive.



I didn't get very many photos without faces today. However, this photo shows the absolute hit of the day. My oldest son received the game MouseTrap from us today and played with it ALL DAY!!! He claims it is hands-down his favorite gift. I have my husband to thank for this one because he saw it and realized how much our son would enjoy it. I am more of a catalog/educational/book type gift-giver when it comes to my sons. I am so thankful that they have a daddy who can think of the best most funnest (I know that's not a word, but it sounds good here, OK?) toys to give them. We are all so very blessed that he is our daddy (and hubby)!
Signing off now to put the boys to bed (and to rapidly collapse there myself)! Take care!!

Advent Activity--Day 21--Snowy Trail Mix

For our 21st Advent activity, we made Snowy Trail mix for a snack. We've actually been skipping a few activities these last days before Christmas, which is odd since we are all home all day and should have plenty of time, but it hasn't worked out that way. I saw this recipe in a Family Fun magazine, but hadn't tried it until now. It is SOOOOOOO good. I'm already thinking this would be a great gift mix for Christmas next year.



First we put all the dry ingredients in a big bowl: pretzel sticks, Chex cereal, pecan halves, dried cranberries, and cashews.



Then we melted a bag of white chocolate chips in the microwave and poured it over the dry mixture.



My oldest son helped mix it all together. You can see his fingers in the photo as he couldn't resist sampling it right away! Me neither!!



After coating the mix, we spread it out on a waxed paper covered cookie sheet until it cooled slightly. Then it was ready to enjoy. Very easy and VERY VERY good! I can't stop eating it! This is definitely a recipe we'll be making again.

Serendipity

Today my mom stopped by to pick up my oldest son to take him to a playdate at her house. When she arrived, I was in the midst of the cleaning/de-cluttering frenzy I wrote about in the previous post. Therefore, when she informed me that she had brought me a "few things", I was not in the frame of mind to warmly welcome anyTHING else into my home. I think I even said something like, "It better not be any more CRAP to clutter up my house." Sorry, Mom! (I'm sure you're used to me by now.) Anyway, she told me that the "things" included a quilt that my aunt gave her to give me. A quilt that my OWN grandma made!! (Sidenote: I only got to know one of my grandmas, my father's mother. My mother's mother died a month before I was born. It's one of my life's regrets that I did not ever get to meet her.) I LOVED the grandma that I knew. I have so many memories of her, even though she died before I reached high school. Anyway, I was quickly remorseful when I realized that my mom had unexpectedly brought me such a treasure. I own another quilt she made for me and gave me when she was alive. It is one of my most prized posessions. It was on my childhood bed for many years and is now on a quilt rack in my bedroom. My dad made the quilt rack, so it's special too. Below is a photo of the quilt. It is so pretty, and is hand-quilted by my grandma. I am not sure whether it is hand-pieced or machine-pieced. I'll have to ask my aunt or my mom.



The reason I titled this post "Serendipity" is because it was very serendipitous that this quilt arrived when it did. (NOTE: I just looked up the meaning of serendipity to make sure I'm using it correctly in this context. Webster's defines it as: "the faculty of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for." Definitely the case here.) I have just finished reading another Elm Creek Quilt novel by Jennifer Chiaverini. The one I read is pictured below and is called Circle of Quilters. I love these novels. They are easy to read, well-written, and have a lot of quilt info thrown in. After I read the book, I was thinking that I would enjoy making a quilt. I've made a few quilts before, but not since I had children. My mom has gotten into quilting in her retirement and does them completely by hand, the piecing and everything. I'd like to make one totally by hand. I may just make a wall-hanging; we'll see. The arrival of this new and treasured quilt gives me the motivation I need to try a quilt of my own in the new year. So look for some posts about that sometime in 2009.

If you are a quilter reading this post, I'd love to have you write me a comment. I am wondering what would be a good pattern to try for my first hand-pieced quilt. Let me know if you have any ideas.