Snapshots

This is quite a few more snapshots than I typically have, but there have been a lot of good moments captured over the past couple/few weeks.

Snow!  I love snow so much. //  The girls playing in front of the Christmas tree.  //  A little candid of Poe.  //  An old head vase sitting next to a jack-o-lantern that Hope made in pottery class.  I just can't bring myself to put it away.  //  A special play area for Poesy-- I put down her beautiful blanket and set up some toys.  A good way to get her to play with toys she'd otherwise ignore.  //  One of the many, many, many, many batches of ornaments that went out over the past couple of weeks.  //  Screen time.

We've spent a lot of time at home lately because of the last trickling of ornaments and customs I've been scrambling to finish up and the weird amount of snow here in MO (weird for December, at least).  It's been nice, but I have definitely gotten cabin fever more than once.  It's almost time for my sewing season to be entirely over and to really just enjoy the rest of the holiday season.  I can't wait!

Homemade Ornaments

Every year we make a little homemade ornament with the date stamped on the back.  It's a little tradition Hope looks forward to, and Poesy is starting to catch on.  Last year we painted store-bought ornaments, and the year before that we made little little vintage-inspired ice skates.  This year we busted out the Sculpey and baked our own!

Our theme was "favorite treats".  Hope went with ice cream, I made a little donut, and I helped Poesy make a sucker.  Once I finished helping Poe with hers, I just let her have a chunk of clay to do whatever with.  We baked the 3 ornaments, but I also threw in her "snake" that she kept making and breaking.  :)

I used wire for hooks and inserted them before we baked.  They stayed put nicely.  We let the ornaments cool for the rest of the day and painted them in the evening.

This is one of my very favorite traditions we have.  If you don't have Sculpey on hand, you can use this recipe:
4 cups flour // 1 cup of salt // 1 1/2 cups warm water mixture
Bake at 325

Do you have any favorite holiday traditions?  We probably have too many.  (Just kidding.  You can never have too many!)

For more ornament DIYs, click right here.

Christmas Love List: Coats

I have a thing for coats.  Over the past couple of years I've tried to cool it down on the coat collecting, because it was getting difficult to store the amount of coats I was acquiring.  They are so special and fun, and wearing a lovely coat makes going out in the bitter cold something to look forward to instead of something to whine about.  I've found A LOT of coats I'd like to own this year, some of them pictured above.

1  2  3(on sale) 4  5  6(on sale)

What's on your Christmas list this year?  Even if Santa doesn't bring me a coat, I think I'll still stay warm.  ;)

A Snowy Birthday

This morning we celebrated Johnny's birthday with a giant made-from-scratch breakfast and homemade gifts. Hope and I got up before the sun to get started, and when we peeked out the window the ground was covered in beautiful white snow.  Hope worked for 3 days for hours and hours and hours on a very special personalized book that was sweetly written and terribly funny.  Such a treasure.  The girls went out with their daddy to play in the snow after breakfast and we've been enjoying the rest of the day in the quiet warmth of the indoors.

Happy Birthday, Johnny.  We love you very much.