Belated Christmas Craft

This year, I was in charge of finding a craft suitable for a 3rd grade holiday party.

Enter clear glass ornaments, paint and glitter.

I tested my craft on my kids:



Put a few drops of paint in and swirl around or use a straw to blow it around. Sprinkle the glitter with the aid of a funnel.

As you can see by the background, both my sewing maching and ironing board are out.



The craft was a big hit with the kids and parents alike.

Go me.

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I've still been struggling with the recent turn of events. I go between cautiously optimistic and down-right dread.

Champagne Wishes and Caviar Dreams

There are only a couple things I'm looking for next year. I don't think they're too much to ask.


#1 - That the kids will sit still for one reasonably good picture.

One.

This is where the boy tries to kiss his older sister.

This is where she pushes him away. The kissing? Purely to torture his picture.

Ok. Reasonably good. Now, if someone could do something about the crappy lighting.

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#2 Next year I want to get my projects done earlier. Say July.


Quilt for my MIL. She really liked it.



Quilt for my mom. She cried. My husband was worried we didn't do enough for my parents this year. Until he saw my mom's reaction to the quilt. First off, it's beautiful - if I do say so. Secondly, she understands the time and effort that went into it. Third - it's from the heart. I knew it was something she would cherish - and you can't buy that.

My dad's quilt:



My dad and daughter both love sudoku. This one's set up the same - only with fabric instead of numbers. I had my oldest solve a sudoku, and then I made it into a quilt. She picked out the fabric (I added the red) and determined which fabric would be which number. It's backed with black fleece, so it's perfectly warm and snuggly - no batting required.

Three quilts for Christmas is a pretty tall order. Next year I'll have to scale back or start earlier. Like today.

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#3 Peace on earth, goodwill toward men. And women. And children.



What did you think I wanted, a baby?

This picture does make my uterus ache.

Just a little.

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Part Poo, I Mean Two

I'm sitting here today at my sister's house, trying to make order of the mess.

And by mess I mean what happens after we open presents. Every year we promise each other that we'll "cut back." Every year it doesn't really happen. But I digress, on to Part Poo - I mean two.

We celebrated Christmas with the inlaws Sunday night. The kids had a wonderful time, and I must say it was very nice that the adults exchanged names. The pressure was off.

Sunday night I was relegated to sleeping with the Toddler, who, with the stomach flu, only wanted mama. Fortunately, she hadn't thrown up for awhile, so I should have been pretty good.

And pretty good I was. At 8:30, with nary a backward glance, we went to bed. The other two were left to their own devices with their father and grandparents. Within 30 seconds, her eyes were asleep, and within 60 mine were. She coughed once in the night which caused me to jump about a foot off the bed, looking for the barf bucket. An unfounded alarm, I promply fell back asleep.

Other than that, we were fine. We being the two of us. Around 2:30, I heard the toilet flush several times.

My husband was sick most of the night.

The toddler and I bounded out of bed, ready to start the day.

Only to discover that my mother in law was sick as well.

Yikes.

How am I supposed to ignore my children if there is no back up Alpha Female?

Not to be out done, my son tried throwing up twice in the morning, only to be thwarted with an empty stomach.

This day was not going to be good.

As I could see there were cracks in my mother in law's brave face, I sent her off to bed. My husband hadn't gotten off the couch yet.

My oldest is very sensitive to other people throwing up. Just the hint of a gag, and she pretty much looses her appetite for the rest of the day. Hearing her brother in the bathroom sent her to the basement with her father, to inhabit the other couch.

My father in law had escaped to work. Traitor.

That left me. I tended to the sick, provided nourishment as tummies would handle it, and washed my hands at every opportunity.

Given I'm the only one that didn't get sick, I'm just thanking my lovely stars.

By Tuesday, it was looking a bit better. My oldest had perked up, the toddler and the boy were completely fine, and my MIL was doing better - still pretty tired, but better. My husband managed to get off the couch.

Wednesday we hit the road, bringing our germs to other parts of the country.

Would anyone else get sick? Only time will tell...

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Part one - complete

Around Wednesday, we noticed the weather wasn't going to be any picnic for driving Sunday.

Friday, my husband thought we should leave 'as soon as possible' for his parents house.

We hit the road Saturday at 11 am.

What should have taken six hours took closer to nine.

The first two thirds of the trip were, in one word, horrible.

In more than one word: ice, wind, snow, slick, white-out conditions, and down-right scary.

At one point, we came upon a car sideways in the middle of the interstate. Sideways.

There was no time to stop, we were in the left lane and a semi was on our right flank.

We both managed to get around the car.

Barely. Threading the needle.

Cars would pass us, and we'd come upon them in the ditch a mile out.

One of them hit the back of a snowplow.

The I-35 Corridor from the Twin Cities to Mid-Iowa was no place to be Saturday.

We discussed the merits of the multiple 4 wheel drive settings for the Suburban: Auto 4WD, HI 4 and LO 4. Though it is by no means "four wheel stop," it is significantly better than a rear-wheel drive vehicle in the conditions we were in.

Unfortunately, I'd spent the night with a very sick four year old. She was vomiting from 1:30 am to 5 am, and had a couple messy poops in the morning. We ended up in the family room with her on the couch and me on the floor jumping at every little cough.

Fortunately, she 'hit the bucket' every time (after the first, when she barfed all over her sister's bed). That came in handy when in hour seven she needed 'the bucket.' A quick stop later and we were on the road.

We made it in one piece, though.

Today brought Christmas, Part I.

Not sure about tomorrow, but I have a couple gifts to finish up for Christmas, Part II.

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It's not a lack of love on my part

This year, we won't be doing Christmas cards.


Seriously.



Sixty pictures and half an hour later, this is the best one:


Merry Christmas to you and yours.

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After several days of -1 F being the high, it's a balmy 13 degrees. Unfortunately, it looks as though a storm front is moving through and we're expecting 5" - 9" of the fluffy white stuff. Fortunately, living in Minnesota, the road crews are rather adept at handling it.

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Cutting Back

Seeing as we've decided to 'cut back' this year on Christmas gifts, I'm making several of our gifts.

The good part about this is I already have all the materials I need.

The bad part is I have no excuse to buy any new materials.

Ah well. I managed to make a couple Market Totes for etsy. Two are brown and two are green with ladybugs. Here's hoping to getting them posted tomorrow.

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