Christmas 2008

Here we are, coming down the stairs first thing......

The camera battery died just as Elise was opening her gift, so here is what she got.

I love the label on this. Elise, of course. (To Loelle From Everybody.)

This turned out to be the "present opening chair".

Fairies galore!

Yeah!!! A solar-powered car!

Parents waiting patiently.
Owen's booty from Santa:

A snake!

And a head-sitting parrot!
Reading which gifts are from whom.....

That venus fly-trap Owen asked for.....

A squishy octopus!

Family photo using my new cool gorilla pod.

Ollie enjoyed the festivities.

Here is our "thankful" video. We didn't get all of the gifts covered, but we are loving them all. Thank you to "avrebite".

Here is Elise playing with her new fairies:

Winter Solstice II

Got a tree, put it up, and decorated it.

Decorated our gingerbread house. The kids did it all themsleves :-)

Made Sun Bread for the solstice, and

yummy cheese corn chowder to go with it.

Winter Solstice

December 20th was the winter solstice. We usually celebrate this day as a family in some way. Yesterday, we Celebrated with friends at a solstice party in Aspen Park, hosted by Jeannine.
Elise and I with our celebratory bindis

I led a short Nia Solstice Dance, and then Jeannine led a family-friendly yoga class. We then had lots of good food and drink, and henna tattoos.


Elise's sparkles A fairy tattoo! Owen's turtle henna tattoo





My foot henna


And Jeannine getting her henna done - Om




Today we will finish up our celebration of this short day by making Sun Bread and decorating for Christmas

Sugar Cookies

Yesterday we made sugar cookies.


Rolling.


Cutting.

Sprinkling.

The boys made some too, but I forgot to pick up the camera then.

Crazy Hair Day

Today was Crazy Hair Day at school. The kids were all into it.

Today we also gave all of our teachers gift baskets. These were the results of my holiday swap:

The baskets I used were cute blue snowflake baskets from Michael's, 50% off:

Here are the "raw" ingredients before packing:

It was fun to do. I hope to do cooperative trades like this again.

I also finished up a bunch of kids purses. The colors were amazing. These are gifts for my nieces, and for my friend who bought some for her daughter and niece. The bunnies are for my new niece and nephew: