In the wee small hours of the morning....two moms were chatting from almost 2000 miles apart. They were seperated by two times zones, 30+ driving hours, a very large mountain range and more rivers than you want to count...but connected by good friendship and four little girls who adore each other....



Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Little Drummer Mouse... in Washington!

Where has this month gone?! I think it's going at warp speed or something! We have been reading so many amazing books lately and working on crafts for fun and for gifts.... but there just isn't enough time in the day to do it all! So... I'm FINALLY getting to my post from last week... I see a New Year's resolution in my future. Maybe someday I'll have this book blog more organized in posting. Thankyou all for sticking with us!!

I thought I would start off by introducing our own little barn mouse who we have effectionately named Templeton (we are big fans of Charlottes Web). He lives in our chicken coop and comes out occasionally for snacks when we are out there... Can't you just imagine him playing a little drum?



Last week's book, The Little Drummer Mouse by Mercer Meyer, has got to be one of my very favorite Christmas books out of our entire collect. I don't know if it's the story, the pictures or just simply the fact that it includes a mouse that has me intrigued. For anyone that knows me, it's no secret that I like rodents. I think that a good portion of all our favorite books have some sort of rodent in it whether it be a mouse, rat or chipmunk! And my holiday list of favorite books is no different! I think there is something about little children being able to relate well with someone little and dainty and it just adds a bit of wonder when you imagine what their lives are like with tiny homes made underground and other woodland friends to explore with ...this book seems to capture that feeling of being small and thinking that you don't have much to offer the world... only to find out that he really had so very much to offer...

So on to the crafts!

This one happened to be fairly simple but I like the fact that they had to take their time and that in the end it will be a real keepsake!



We started off with this manger set from Hobby Lobby...



And then set off to an afternoon of painting! We used water color paint so it would still show the detail of the wood.


Ta da!!



As I mentioned, we like books with rodents in them. I really don't try to seek them out, they just seem to find their way to us! lol

Mortimer's Christmas Manger is another one of my VERY favorites... I know it's almost Christmas but I really think this one is worth reading even if you can't get a hold of it until after the holidays have passed. I like the sweet pictures of course and the fact that it is about a little mouse is just perfect but what I like about it the most, is that the mouse is much like our children this time of year... at times only thinking about themselves. Sometimes it takes a wakeup call to realize what this season is really about and this book captures it beautifully! Definately a must read!



I have hopes of sharing more with you about the next book on our list...



.... but lets be realistic... I might not get there... lol

So incase I don't~ Let me wish you a VERY MERRY Christmas!

I thankyou all for joining us on our very bumpy start to a new adventure and look forward to smoother travels in the coming months! No matter how busy your days get... don't forget to take a break, snuggle up with your favorite little person and READ!!!

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Cobwebs in Washington! lol

No, really... I did just clean my house! lol Perhaps that's why we don't have tinsel on our tree?

The funny thing about this book is that when Jackie and I were picking out our books to read this month we both picked books that had to do with spiders and Christmas... kinda odd I know, to have spiders and Christmas but even odder that we both had this sort of book on our list! lol

 Jackie picked Cobweb Christmas...

And I chose "Allie the Christmas Spider"  (Thanks to One Pink Fish!)




 So of course we figured that we'd make a spider for our tree too!!! We were in Montana when we did this so we got to head out to a bead store with Grandma and picked out some great ones for our spiders!!
 BUT, if you don't want to hunt down your own you can go HERE and get a kit sent right to your door!! :)




It didn't take me long to find some great tutorials online and away we went!!



Now, I have to warn you, this is more of a mom craft than a kid craft... the wires were hard to get just right so it was hard for the kiddos to do and they lost interest in watching me work on them but boy were they excited to have the finished product!! I imagine they will end up living with the fairies in the fairy house but for now they reside in our Christmas tree! It sounds like a good excuse to stop cleaning if you ask me... lol... perhaps we'll have tinsel on our tree come Christmas morning! :)

Christmas Magic in Washington

I'm sorry once again to say that I am late in posting this. Perhaps after the holidays I will get on a better schedule but until then please bare with me and keep coming back to check out the great books we are reading these days!!





For once I was actually going to be on time... we read the book last Monday night and started our craft on Tuesday. I thought for sure I was actually going to be early!!! That's what I get for thinking! lol I had seen an idea for this craft on a blog (sorry I can't remember which one!) and it was making a fall center piece...but after reading this book I thought it would work for making snowmen too!

I gathered all the materials....
And thought it thru enough to cut the bottom flat so it wouldnt roll....


So, in the spirit of my personal blog perceptions post I decided to still share this not so perfect craft with you....while the idea behind gluing beans all over these foam balls worked in my head.... in all actuality it SOO didn't... the girls tried and they tried but in the end we had about 10 beans on each snowman that actually took and more glue on our hands than I care to remember.... So, for now, this craft is sitting on top of my fridge gathering dust until I have time to attack them with a hot glue gun for round two of our "snowman" craft! lol

I know this isn't what you wanted to hear...you are looking for crafts you can actually do with your kiddos! lol  So we went back to the drawing board!! :)

Pictures to follow!