Local Wildlife

We've had a few exciting wildlife encounters in our area lately. I mentioned seeing the bald eagles on our foggy Christmas Eve morning walk. We drove past them later that day and you could definitely tell they were bald eagles, even without binoculars and all. It was so fun to see them. We all decided we needed to go back again with binoculars and take a walk around the lake next time. We'd had such warm weather for Christmas week that this was totally doable and very enjoyable- such wonderful fresh air. So sure enough, we loaded riding gear for the kids into the trunk and we headed back to the lake for a nice afternoon's walk/ride, stopping along the way to see the eagles, just hanging out on their perch on the island, now and then. We saw one fly off and later come back, too- very cool. And then as we made our way around the lake, we saw swans, too! A whole bunch of them actually. Two at first and then farther along probably 6 more. They were so beautiful and so serene even in our winter blah landscape. I was just amazed. And beyond glad we made the effort to get outdoors a little bit during break. These sightings were treats for us for sure.

Those above pics were from my phone. The camera was a little better. (Jason would be even better, but alas, he was not with us!) I'm so glad we went back to visit the eagles!

Handmade Christmas

I think the best gifts are handmade gifts, especially from the kids. Annabel was a very busy little elf this holiday season- and a very thoughtful one. She sure had a lot of fun sewing things all on her own to give as gifts- from an ornament for me, to a stuffed star for her teacher plus gift card sleeve, puzzle pieces for me, an Xbox controller for Daddy, a stuffed lion for Daniel, little mini trees for grandparents and aunt and uncles, and a stuffed camera for Aunt Jackie. Annabel had a busy month- she was sewing up a storm! AND- she also helped build and paint a little garage for the dollhouse car we gave Josie. Whew! Such wonderful Christmas presents all around!

It all started with this ornament Annabel made for me and then it went from there. Her little mind just kept coming up with idea after idea after idea! So fun to witness. And then she was so very excited to get gift boxes to put each gift into- that was half the fun for her, I think! She had fun shopping.

Annabel's handmade present for her teacher is ready! She'd stitched "Mr.D" onto the star (that's what the kids call him). So cute.

The kids helped Daddy find and cut the materials for the dollhouse garage for Josie.

Annabel is hard at work finishing up her Christmas presents for family. She watched Christmas movies while she sewed away. So cute! One was Little Women (the one from the 90s) and the other was the old Miracle on 34th Street.

Ta-da! Annabel shows off the camera she made Jackie. It had the lens, Jackie's initials were the "logo" in the corner, a screen was stitched on with a "world" colored into it for the view, and it even had the buttons on the back, too, plus a wristband attached. So well thought out!! I LOVED it!

All wrapped up and ready to go! Annabel loved wrapping everything, too! She had them all lined up under her bed and ready to put under the tree on Christmas Eve.

Painting Josie's garage- Annabel chose purple and pink and blue paints and planned out the stripes. It turned out so cute. Later we wrote Josie's name on it on the front, too.

Now Annabel is planning projects for her birthday party! Love this girl's creativity, spirit, and enthusiasm!

Merry Christmas to All!

Merry Christmas to all!

A delightful day of fun, starting bright and early before 7:30! Daniel and Annabel are still young and excited after all and I love that! I love Christmas. It's just so delightful to surprise everybody and watch their faces and see their reactions. The kids are getting older, true, and they are getting smarter and wiser and sometimes harder to shop for and yet easier to shop for at the same time, but they are still kids- they are still just 11 and 8 and I hang on to that for dear life and I soak up all the wonderful moments and all the ways that I am their "one" still, if you know what I mean. I treasure my children- they are my miracles and my presents every single day.

Okay, enough of that...let's have fun!
Here we go!

That first peek at the presents...so fun.

Santa brought the kids colored Xbox controllers! They LOVE these!

Marble-colored notebooks. Annabel was in love already.

Another fave- lip gloss!! Annabel was ecstatic that Santa got her this!

A Christmas lion for Daniel's growing stuffed lion collection- too cute and just the perfect thing from Santa!

Annabel's gift to Daniel...a stuffed lion she sewed together for him! 

His reaction was so precious! She was SO pleased and so proud!

Daniel was thrilled with the whittling set from Santa, too! This is something he's really been wanting to learn. We think this is just great!

Annabel LOVES her new 3D pen from Santa! She makes things with this ALL the time now. It's so fun. I have to confess even I love it!!

A Christmas Stitch! Perfect for our Stitch-loving girl!! She was beyond thrilled!!

More unwrapping fun!

My gift from Annabel...puzzle pieces she sewed for me! They are just darling! I absolutely LOVE them!

One of my favorite pictures from Christmas Day! She's so cute!

I mentioned getting a Christmas pickle ornament in another post recently...this is a picture of the two seconds the kids spent looking for it. They quit after that. So much for that!

Annabel is reading the inscription I wrote in her new book. So sweet to watch.

I took a quick picture of Annabel opening this present...but I knew what it was, so I switched to video real fast...her expression is precious. Her eyes just kept getting bigger and sparklier!

We started right in on building and playing with new things once the unwrapping was all done! So fun!

Here's Annabel and I playing her new thinking putty game. It's basically different challenges to do with thinking putty. This is Annabel making three foods- I though they turned out amazing- apple, turkey, and bread loaf.

Another challenge had us making something behind our backs. Crazy fun.

After breakfast and playing fun, we headed out to enjoy Christmas Day with Grandma Cheryl, Grandpa Gary, and everybody else there.

Annabel was excited to give everybody there her presents, too. Most got an adorable little stuffed tree and Aunt Jackie got a camera (because she's traveled the world and takes lots of pictures). So fun!

Daniel had fun with Grandma's bows and ribbons!

Annabel was delighted to play elf and pass out presents!

More unwrapping fun!

Daniel loves the new scope he got for his Nerf stuff. And this thing works pretty decently, too!

We were very excited to give Josie a few dollhouse accessories for Christmas. When Daniel and Annabel found out I was giving Josie a car for her dollhouse people, they immediately suggested we also build her a garage (like Daniel did for Annabel many years ago). They were so cute and sweet to suggest it. We made it among Josie's last gifts (so she'd have opened the car present at least) and she loved it! Annabel did a great job painting it. It was so fun to watch Josie's delight.

Such a wonderful holiday we had all around! We're still enjoying our new things, still building, still reading, still creating, still playing, still planning, and on and on. I love how the holiday has grown over the years for our family, and the kids have presents that last, presents that reflect who they are and what their goals are. I miss the cute young years with kids at Christmas, but I also love this growing up and maturing, too. It's quite something to know these little people and be the one to witness all of their growing up. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas holiday, too!