We were starting to think it just wasn't going to happen this year.
5 degrees F today, but so hot in the sauna.
In general, our family is more into people-powered outdoor recreation than motorized, but my sister Danielle & I received a tiny snowmachine as a Christmas gift in 1976 and somehow, coming from a family with no keepsakes, that Kitty Cat is still around & running. All the boys love it:
Christmas is past, December is almost over, gone by in what has become a typical blur for me. The kids love this time of year, I love/hate it. I hate the business and consumer-driven side of it, but love the traditions that the little ones look forward to every year - seeing the Nutcracker, A Christmas Carol, baking cookies, making ornaments and gifts, spending time with family, even listening to carols (WHOM was playing in our house on Thanksgiving Day this year, that was somewhat painful). I try to keep it simple, while including all these favorite things.
One thing I love is going into the forest to find a tree, but we didn't have time to make a trip to the White Mountains this year. As we were figuring out our options, Silas declared that he'd rather have no tree than pay for one (I really love that); luckily, we've got some relatives with a nice patch of woods nearby, so we found a lovely and free tree.
As always, there were some mishaps. Levi fell hard off his chair and onto the table and split open his eyebrow, but has healed up nicely.
On Christmas Eve, Arlo turned 9 months old. What a change we've seen in this little guy in the past month, he has grown three more teeth, become very adventurous, crawling off into dark bedrooms all alone and started pulling himself up to a standing position. His favorite spot seems to be right in front of the lego table, where he is sure to find the most chokeable items. He seems to have a least one heart-stopping (my heart that is) choking episode every day, I hope this changes soon!
I've noticed that Arlo doesn't seem to stop and smell the roses, as soon as he mastered the crawl, he went straight into standing. Are all babies that way?
Silas & Levi both love to wrap up presents, but they aren't so good at keeping those gifts a secret. Silas is slightly more subtle, he just draws a picture of what is inside, Levi goes ahead and spells it out for the recipient.
Our tree Christmas morning, including our new "Hinden-shark"; a 4ft long, helium-filled, remote controlled, air-swimming shark whos home is now anywhere in the upper half of our tiny home.
Can you guess what I got for Christmas? Both boys were jumping for joy as I opened my Ninjago Lego set.
Crazy, busy but good times. We hope your holidays were happy too!
Silas & Levi's friends found an old dump in their backyard and invited us over for an afternoon of archeaology. A very good time was had by all!
The kids dug until dark and uncovered an amazing assortment of old bottles, many appeared to be about 100 years old, most still intact. Besides excavation, they managed to squeeze in quite a bit of tree climbing, fort building and ninja fighting, what more could a child want?
Look at this loot:
A lot of the bottles are from the A.S. Hinds of Portland, ME, a company that manufactured skin creams from 1875 to the early 1900's, you can find many bottles just like these for sale on e-bay. Looks like there will be some historical research in our future!
Levi & Silas celebrated their friend Ian's birthday with him at the rock gym.
By all accounts, the farm sale was a success. The boys had a great time and sold a lot of hot cocoa, cupcakes and snowmen.
One of the best things about the fair was the behind the table bartering that happened between all the young entrepreneurs - cupcakes, cocoa & snowmen were traded for fleece headbands, felt acorns, hemp bracelets, rice krispie treats, hand-sewn bird ornaments, painted note cards and candles.
I love Levi's sign, he decided to make his words "fancy". I think he might share a love of cursive writing with his mother.
The fair took place in a heated greenhouse. It was very cozy, which may have hurt Levi's hot cocoa sales just a bit.
Arlo seemed to enjoy the day too. As usual he was very popular, here is a shot of him with his very good friend Ridley:
Check out the new tooth here (click on the picture for a close-up view - an option probably only interesting to grandparents):
Both Silas & Levi are anxious for future business opportunities. Silas said he likes selling cupcakes, for now, but might want to try selling bigger & better things next!
If you are in Standish on December 3rd, please stop by and see Silas and Levi at the Farm Fair, where they'll be selling their hot cocoa mix, needle felted snowmen and chocolate cupcakes. Silas will get a chance to figure out if selling cupcakes really is a good way to make a living!
A beautiful day at Popham beach yesterday. Note the t-shirts and bare feet in late November!