12 Days of Crafts: Oh, Christmas Tree

Once upon a time, two perfect little baby boys were born. Unfortunately, they must have sustained serious head injuries at some point, because what other explanation do you have for THIS?Chainsawing the Christmas tree.


Well, when life hands you pine needles... make something.
I drew a tree(ish) shape and let the glue flow. Ta...dah?

12 Days of Crafts: The Slacker's Version

We took a break from hard-core (!) crafting on Thursday and Friday to play with friends and shop, shop, shop. Life is all about balance, right? Tessa and Ethan did a puzzle on Thursday, which I will count as a craft for the purpose of the 4th day. Ethan chose this for her when we were assembling a care package back when she had her shoulder surgery. "Do you think Tessa would like dis?" he asked excitedly, clutching the 100-piece puzzle with a penguin family on the front. "I think dis would help her shoulder feel better." I'm not sure how much it helped at the time, but it was awfully sweet to see them do it together at her apartment.

12 Days of Crafts: Little Baby in a Manger

Laura & Nancy raised the crafting bar with a cute Baby Jesus project. Laura brought little mangers that Emily had made out of popsicle sticks, then hot glued a wooden bead to some blue felt to make a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes. Ethan and Evan enthusiastically glued straw to the mangers and carefully put Baby Jesus to sleep.

Ethan, Evan, Laura, Sarah hard at work


Look closely and you can see how cute the finished product is.


Nancy also has a manger and baby doll upstairs. After talking about the Christmas story a little, the boys just carried the doll around. They both rocked it quite a bit- Evan sings "rocky rocky rocky baby." I asked Ethan what he sang to the baby and he began to sing "I love you... a bushel and a peck." It was so sweet. I am always so relieved when they mimic the nice things I do with them, not just the screechy-sounding "Can you hear my voice?!" that Ethan has been asking Evan lately.

Thank you so much, Laura, Nancy, Sarah, Emily, and Tessa! We had a great time.

Laura & Nancy

12 Days of Crafts: Cookie Decorating

I'm not sure if today's activity technically counts as a craft, but children were definitely expressing themselves artistically and fine motor skills were honed through careful sprinkling. So, without further ado:

12 Days of Crafts: Christmas Tree

As if we hadn't had enough fun decorating our tree this weekend, the boys made their own Christmas trees today. This is a fun variation on plain ol' painting that I found on the blog No Time For Flashcards, which is a great resource for easy preschool crafts. All you'll need are Christmas tree shapes cut from paper bags, green paint, plastic forks, and whatever you have on hand to use for decorations. During breakfast, I read the two books we have about pine trees:FYI, The Little Fir Tree by Margaret Wise Brown is fantastic.

Use the fork to print a pine needle-esque effect on the tree:

Concentrate

While you wait for the paint to dry, take a bath:

make some cookies:

and read a book to your little brother:

Then, decorate! Glue, glue, glue!Remark many times about how soft and cozy the pompoms are, while spreading them out on the table and laying your head on them. Wonder why they are called 'pompoms' instead of "soft little balls."
And deck your halls with the finished product!
* For maximum enjoyment, change clothes at least 3 times throughout the project.

12 Days of Crafts: Gingerbread Houses

Every December of my childhood, my mother and her sisters bravely gathered all 10 of us cousins together to celebrate the December birthdays (Hi Chris & Kyle!) and make candy houses. They would cut cardboard milk cartons into house shapes and stick them on a paper plate, then coat them with frosting and we would create elaborate masterpieces of beauty and tastefulness (haha, get it?). Well, Kirk would. But now my mom is a grandmother, and as Tessa politely pointed out, grandchildren, as opposed to sad neglected children, score real, store-bought gingerbread houses. (OK, they were left over from a kindergarten project. Still.)

1986: Kirk, Jenny, Nancy, Emily

1987: Kirk1993: Jenny (with the rad blue glasses & crimped hair), Emily, Kirk, Daniel

2009:

Step One: Cram as much candy into your mouth as possible, because this must be a dream from which you will soon be rudely awakened:


Step Two: Oh, okay, I guess this is kinda fun too.

Step Three: WOW. An architect is born.

Ethan

Today my firstborn sweet baby is four. FOUR sounds so much bigger than three, although I remember thinking three sounded pretty darn grown up. And I'm not the only one who thinks so. Coming down the stairs this morning, Ethan overheard Evan & I talking about his birthday. "I'm FOUR?" he asked incredulously as he walked into the kitchen. "I'm FOUR," he has announced to every single person he has spoken with today. My four-year-old can sing more country songs than I can and help his little brother find boots to go outside. My four-year-old says he has 12 best friends, and includes his parents and younger brother on that list. My four-year-old changed our lives and has filled our home with joy. Happy birthday, darling boy. We love you so much.