Big Picture Post. Not Dial-Up Friendly =)

Our first Christmas away from home went really well. We had a good day and the kids had a lot of fun. I have to admit I was a little worried about how to keep things busy and full all day so they didn't feel like they were sitting around on Christmas day. But we just spread things out and it turned out great.



Christmas morning, Jimmie and I were the first ones up. I was awake at around 5:30 a.m. and was too excited to go back to sleep. Jimmie was up right after that and we made some coffee and waited for everyone to wake up.



By the time it was 8 o'clock and the girls were still not up we decided to go and get them. Marty and I jumped on the bed and Jimmie and Reece followed us in and we sang a Merry Christmas song to wake them up.



The kids opened their stockings first and while they were munching on their treats Marty and I got things ready. We brought a big box inside to throw paper into to try and help corral the mess.



Soon it was present time. We did our presents first, then took a break to eat. The kids spent some time playing with their new things and we helped them put everything together. By the time that was finished it was naptime. After nap, we had Christmas dinner which came out really well! That was a relief, haha. We waited until that evening to open presents from family and I'm glad we did it that way.



Anyway, on to the pictures!

We made Russian Tea Cakes the night before Christmas Eve. They didn't turn out as perfectly as Nanny's pretty little dome shaped ones but they tasted the same!

Christmas Eve we had a picnic in the living room. That was a lot of fun and we all watched a movie.

This is a little set of woodland gnomes I made for the kids to play with. They like playing with little characters and people and things. I have some rocks collected and plan on making them a gnome abode, haha.



Here's the gnome teething ring I made for Quinn. This was one of his Christmas presents. The head fabric is organic cotton tricot stuffed with cleaned and carded wool stuffing. The body and hat are made with organic bamboo velour....the softest material ever!!!! I wish you could all feel it. But anyway, I definitely wanted to make sure it was safe for him to chew and gnaw on. =)

This is the scrappy hat I made for Lexeigh. It looks super cute on her.

This is the London Beanie I made Jimmie. The wool is Mosaic Moon's "Blue Goblin" colorway. For all you knitters, you have to see Mosaic Moon's colorways, they're beautiful! Definitely one of my favorite dyers.

A set of hand puppets I made for Ella which she really liked. We plan on adding hooks to each end of the play stands (pictured below) so that we can hang a puppet theatre front onto it with a dowel rod. When we get that finished these should come in handy!

Here are the Waldorf play stands that Marty built. I think he did a great job! We ordered the rainbow silk scape from threesisterstoys.com. I love their website. They sell all natural toys. They do sell play stands there and other places online but we saved a lot of money by making them ourselves. I really like the natural look so we left them unpainted and I used a non-toxic, eco-friendly beeswax and orange oil finish on them. It made the wood look beautiful and smelled really pretty too!

ETA: The basic concept of a play stand is that it can be many different things. It's a very open ended toy and can be anything the child imagines. It can be a hospital to play doctor in, a house, a fort, a store to play shop, a space ship, etc. Definitely a multi-purpose toy!



This is the baby that I made Ella using the Waldorf materials I ordered. I really like using the skin fabric. She still needs a name. =)

Marty and I took the baby to Walmart to find her a little sleeper so she wouldn't be naked. I wanted something solid colored but this was as close as I could find. She fits into preemie clothes perfect.



Lexeigh wanted me to make her a Waldorf mermaid and I had wanted to try making one anyway so it was the perfect excuse to whip one up! She wanted her mermaid to have a rainbow tail so I used LWI (low water immersion) to dye this piece of organic bamboo velour for her mermaid's tail.


Here she is. I think she turned out pretty well. I ordered the "mermaid hair" from Weir Dolls and Crafts. It's a mixture of different natural fibers and gave the hair a really neat texture.

I also gave her button jointed limbs so that they'd be movable.


Lexeigh named her Nerissa which means "daughter of the sea". An appropriate name for a mer-person I think.


She's slept with her everynight since. Ella calls her "that fish baby" haha.

Part of our Christmas surprise to the kids was to redo the play area for the kids. I really wanted to give them a Waldorf inspired play area with some natural, open ended toys. We replaced their plastic kitchen with a wooden kitchen I ordered from Oompa.com and they play with it much more than they played with the other one. I think the other one was too distracting with all the lights and buttons and sounds. Simple toys just seem to keep their attention much longer than the flashy, electronic toys that think for them instead of letting them think for themselves.



Here's the new play area. The easel, kitchen, playstands, and cradles are new. The cradles were gifts from Aunty Shelly's family to the girls. They love them! We recycled the bookshelf since it wasn't really being used. I also recycled the wicker baskets from elsewhere in the house to put their toys in so they can easily choose what to play with and so that things are on their level. This picture was taken on Christmas Eve after everyone was in bed so the baskets and shelves are mostly empty waiting for the new Christmas toys to fill them up!


Quinny on Christmas morning. He didn't know why he was so happy but he saw that everyone else was so that made him smile. Haha

The first thing they did was head into the play stand. Before Reece even opened one gift he said, "Oh thank you Mommy!" So sweet.


There's nothing like Christmas chocolate at 8 in the morning.



Ella made a hearty effort to eat every single thing that was edible in her stocking.


And also tried to force her baby to do the same...

Jimmie used his own money to buy presents for his siblings this year which was so very sweet of him. Lexeigh loved her present and nearly knocked him down with gratitude.


Ella and one of her presents.



This is the only picture of Reece not in his knickers. Haha. He likes to feel wild and free...

After he opened his skateboard and Very Hungry Caterpillar helmet and pads set he shed those pesky jammies because he said, "Those jammies aren't working. Only my feet work on my skateboard". LOL


Jimmie modeling his new hat. =D



When Ella was first given a present I don't think she quite knew what to do with it. She must have forgotten how to open gifts since her birthday. What a short memory a two-year old must have, haha. She sat and smiled at it till we showed her how to tear into it.


I had ordered some wooden play food for her to use with the new kitchen. Only the company sent it in a cute little baggie. I had to use a Jiffy corn bread box to put them in. She opened it and stared at the box and Reece said, "OH! IT'S CORN BREAD!!!! Ella you like corn bread don't you?!?!!" Hahahaha

Then almost immediately after that he took the box and asked me, "Why did Ella get CORN BREAD for her present??"



Daddy helped Quinn open all his presents.





He got the coolest toy from Oompa.com. It's a wooden pounding toy with different colored wooden balls. I just might take a video of one of the kids playing with it if I can because it's really neat. Quinn's only interested in the balls yet though.

I love love love this picture. Ella really liked her hand puppets and always asks me to help her put a new one on.


Lexeigh and her new ruby slippers. Haha.



Quinn during Christmas dinner. He swept most of it onto the floor to the dogs so how did he get so much of it on his face? I'm not sure but either way he was wicked happy about it.


I love this picture too.



This is one of my favorite pictures from this Christmas. I think because no one's pulling any weird faces and because it's near impossible to get pictures of Reece let alone pictures where he cooperates, haha!

I hope you all had a great Christmas. We were thinking of all our family that day and wishing we could be there. But we kept busy and had a fun time together. I hope yours was a Merry Christmas!

Handmade Christmas...again

Just a few pictures tonight of some recent projects. =)
This isn't a recent project but it's still cute. Quinny fell asleep on the living room floor in his bear suit. He was tired so we let him sleep. He stayed there for about a half hour before he woke up smiling and sweaty.

Here is Jimmie's elf as he requested. The lighting in the room wasn't very good so the leaves on his vest aren't showing up well. I still need to bind off his feet. Jimmie pointed out the hair at Hobby Lobby one day and said it looked like elf hair. So I picked it up the next time I was there alone.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I was waiting on a Waldorf making dvd. It was worth every penny! I can see a difference in using Joy's techniques already. She just retired though and I'm sad to have found her almost too late.

Here is Reece's boy. I think this is my favorite so far. Traditional Waldorf dolls don't have noses because the features are meant to be as simple as possible but some of the bigger dolls do. I decided to make this one with a nose and really like it.

Reece wanted his boy to have "lellow" hair like him so that's what he got. I made the t-shirt with some fabric I had that I was originally going to use to make some trainers or knickers for Reece. I made his pants out of a pair of recycled jeans that didn't fit anymore. I may make the little boys shirts like this, it was very easy and cute!

Kiddo Pictures and More Handmade Christmas

We all had a great time during Nanny's recent visit to Texas. The kids really enjoyed spending time with her and even Quinn remembered her! He smiled right away and held his arms out to her as soon as she came into the house. I plan on doing a larger update on Thanksgiving and Quinn's birthday but there's lots of pictures to resize and upload so that will have to come a bit later. For now here are some recent pictures of the kids!

Here is the doll I made for Lexeigh for Christmas. She turned out better than Ella's. I can see that making Waldorf dolls is a craft you get better at each time you do it. Marty let me order the dollmaking dvd from Joy's Waldorf Dolls. I'm so excited to get it! I'd love to make these more often. I'm also going to make a few more before Christmas for the rest of the kids. Yes, even the boys. Haha. I've seen some adorable boy Waldorf dolls and some are elves and whatnot. Very cute.


Here she is. I did a few things differently with her and adjusted the pattern a bit from the way I constructed Ella's. I also did the hair differently and used a different wool for more realistic hair. Mom helped me crochet a cap for her that I sewed onto the head so I could latch each piece of hair in individually. This was probably the most time consuming but wasn't hard. I made some coffee, put on a movie, and by the time the movie was over she was finished!

Lexeigh picked the fabric. Although she didn't know what she was picking it for. =)


She needs a name too. Any suggestions? I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. I miss you all!