We managed to get outdoors today and squeeze in some sledding and snow stomping before the storm hit. We are now snuggled up inside thawing out our frozen noses and cheeks--the heat turned up to combat the challenging combination of a drafty house, high winds and cold temperatures.

Watching the snow rapidly fall. The neighborhood kids are out sledding, the adults are shoveling. Currently, we're all loving the snow.

Little Peach has discovered how to crawl and her favorite travel destination is the Christmas tree. She's keeping us busy removing lights and branches from her hands.

I've managed to keep Christmas ornaments out of her reach, but not out of Pooke and Fig's reach. Sadly a number of these ornaments have suffered as a result of curious fingers...

My husband bought me these glass balls to decorate our very first Chistmas tree with. For purely sentimental reasons, I might just have sneak one away to save for myself--then I can rest easy as toddler curiousity destroys the rest!

I've finally started in on some handmade Christmas presents for the girls. As they spent a good part of the summer pretending to fish (using my bamboo garden poles and some jute) I thought some fish and a fishing pole might be enjoyed.

I've been drawing some fish on muslin, stacking some batting inbetween the front and back and machine stitching around the edges. The plan is to place a washer inside the fish and then have a magnet lure to catch the fish with. So far...I think it will work. I'm keeping the batting pretty thin and the fish pretty light weight so they should be "catchable."

And I'm pretty sure the girls are guaranteed to like them. They've already run off with the clownfish prototypes and are requesting more. Phew!

Paint, markers, paper, glue, popsicle sticks, and a little help from Mommy....

...meant that Pookie now had a gift to give to Daddy for Christmas.

(That's a lion in case you were wondering.)

She's very excited about her gift. So excited...I'm worried that present might have to be unwrapped before Christmas.

Want the bowl.

Got the bowl.

Dropped the bowl.

The End

And the whoopie pies were a success! I finished them just in time for the party--frosting the last one ten minutes before walking out the door. My favorite part about getting to take a dessert to a party...

...finally getting a chance to use this vintage platter.

Other tasty pleasures...

...these chocolate filled advent calendars. This year we have two identical calendars. No arguing over who's is who's and no more splitting tiny chocolates in half. Now if only there were some way to solve the "only one chocolate per day" disagreement we keep having...

Successfully found and decorated a Christmas tree. The girls' Christmas excitement has now nearly doubled.

Had quite a bit less success with sugar cookies.

The good, the bad, and the ugly. Crunchy, but still an exciting (and, at least as concerns the unburnt ones, tasty) experience for the girls.

Maybe we'll have more success if we try "Christmas" whoopie pies instead.

We're spending Thanksgiving with family, so I'm only responsible for contributing a few pies to the celebration. I'm attempting the new take on old classics courtesy of Martha Stewart. I'm having some doubts about the chocolate-pumpkin pie, but the apple-raspberry pie is looking pretty good...

and pretty enticing...

Best to keep these pies up and out of reach until tomorrow I guess.

I'm working on some ornaments for the tree that are kid friendly (i.e. unbreakable/shatterproof.) After playing with pom poms for a bit I've come up with this little fellow...

...who appears capable of surviving toddler curiousity. I think he needs a little ice block/sled /skis/something to stand on. I'm still workingon that part.

Some popsicle stick snowflakes (which the girls can help with) will be next I think.

Working on a Christmas-y blanket for the couch which, I am ashamed to admit, I last blogged about two years ago. Yes, yet another unfinished project which will finally be finished.

It's made of a nice soft flannel--perfect for snuggling and cuddling under while sipping some hot chocolate (with whipped cream of course.)

And now I can almost cross one item off my Christmas "to do" list.

At long last here is the fall coat that I started for Pookie (yes, started 3 years ago) and finally finished in time for Little Peach.

The jacket is from Butterick 4009 and the bonnet is from Simplicity 2900. I made it from a blue flannel, so it's nice and soft and perfect for days when only a light jacket is needed. Luckily we've had a lot of those days this year, so Little Peach has gotten a lot of use out of it.

I love the bonnet and as it was incredibly fast and easy to put together, I think I'll have to make Little Peach some more. That is, of course, if I can find the free time to do so...

I'm on about day eight or so of being sick. It's just a head and chest cold, but it's bad enough to keep me from sleeping at night and therefore makes me cranky, lazy, and tired during the day. For the most part these three little ones keep me up and running all day, but thankfully I've managed to find a quiet half or so in the late afternoons to just lie in bed and rest.

And though I hate to find that the daylight hours are getting shorter and shorter, I love lying there and watching the last of the fall sunlight drift through the windows. There is something about it's faint glow that is both calming and cozy. Makes me think I may be ready for winter afterall....

Scrambling to finish up costumes for tomorrow. Struggling because those little models will not stay still while I pin this and adjust that.

Using up old leftover formal wear fabric and gathering up all the miscellanous trim I can find because these princesses want to be trimmed in ribbons, lace, sequins, beads, and glittery buttons. What's a princess without some sparkle, right?

Finding some milkweed...

and sending it flying.

Finding a playground...

and sending them swinging.

Enjoying the fall...

before it starts raining.

I know, I promised pictures of Little Peach's coat for Monday...and it didn't happen. Sadly it's not going to happen today either. Little Peach wore the coat over the weekend and, as babies often do, spit up all over it. It is now in the process of being washed, dried, ironed, and made picture worthy. Hopefully it will be all set for some pics tomorrow.

Something that is ready for pictures--the leaf wreath we made yesterday.
The girls collected some of the prettiest and most colorful leaves they could find and then using some thread and a wire coat hanger (shaped into a circle) I wrapped the leaves on.

An inexpensive, easy, colorful, and very seasonal wreath to decorate the door with. Mhmm, yup, I feel just like Martha Stewart!

To celebrate the end of the week we had our very first tea party...

...complete with mini sandwiches, cucumbers, and hot cocoa for dipping cookies in.

The tea set is from Montessori Services, a company whose catalogue I spend countless hours drooling over.

And here's a glimpse of Little Peach modeling an almost finished fall jacket and bonnet. Finished pics to hopefully appear here on Monday.

The cosmos are the last plants flowering in my garden. I grew them to add a "little" height to the garden. They were supposed to grow to four feet tall, but they must really like our soil because they range from five to six feet tall. The blossoms themselves are gorgeous, but... ..this late in the season, the rest of the plant looks horrific (four feet of droopy gray/green leaves.) I'd cut off all the blossoms and rip out the plants but...I'd feel guilty because these little guys...

are just going crazy over them. And to tell the truth, I like listening to their buzzing while I rearrange the perennials and rip up the weeds.

And so the flowers get to stay...for as long as the bees do.

Attempting more dresses for the girls made from discarded men's shirts.
This is from a polo shirt. The base of the dress is finished, but there's still a lot to be done. Pookie and I just picked out the buttons (and pinned them on to see how they'd look) and finally settled on two pockets (not the "eight, nine, or ten??" that Pookie was suggesting.) We're still debating over what felt animal will be sewn on the front. I've been recommending a white bunny or cat, but Pookie has been requesting a cow...we'll see.
Once this is finished there's another polo shirt to be made over Fig. Plenty to do...and so litle time!

Carefully scooping out all those pumpkin seeds...

and....hmm, refilling a pumpkin with seeds...

picking out eyes, noses, and mouths for Mommy to carve...

and after a long wait it was finally dark enough for...

jack-o-lanterns!

That was an impromptu blog break brought to you by the last of summer warmth and fun! But now that the leaves are changing, the temps dropping and a distinctly autumnal breeze is blowing, I'm spending just that much more time indoors and happily am back to blogging.

So besides playing in the sun, what have we been up to? Mostly packing up the summer clothes and unpacking the winter clothes (a long slow process what with three girls' wardrobes to take care of), but also a bit more painting. I'm slowly getting more color on the walls, which looks great, but makes our lack of wall art somehow all that more noticeable. For the girls' room I've been thinking that these might look cute...

Illustrations by Ethel Everett for the book "Water Babies", a recent used book sale find.

The girls were thrilled with the illustrations in this book as they love this video...

...Disney circa 1935. Don't you love how imaginative the old Disney Silly Symphonies are?

Now I just need to figure out what should go on the walls in our main living area...

I guess that's something I'll have to search for later. I promised two little girls that we would carve some pumpkins today and if I don't help them do it now I'm afraid they're going to start doing it on their own...yikes!

We're going away on vacation for a week, so there's a lot that needs to be done. There's all kinds of washing, drying, folding, and packing to do and a baptism gown that still needs to be hemmed (yes, Little Peach will be baptized while we're on vacation.) Am I doing any of that? Well....kinda...first I just had to see what the newly purchased blue paint would look like on the girls walls...

And two walls later, I'm loving it! And so now it's back to the washing, drying, folding, and sewing even though I'm dying to paint those other two walls...

A dark chocolate cake with raspberry jam between layers and raspberry icing on top.

And the birthday girl.

Only two and already so grown up!

Somebody has a birthday tomorrow, so we're baking some cake!

And then we'll be blowing up some balloons, hanging up some streamers, and wrapping some presents!

Today's planned activity for the girls was to make banana bread. It seemed like a good idea--the girls and I hadn't cooked in awhile and all that banana mashing would be fun, right?
Ooh no...nope...definetly not fun. Just a minute or two into the cooking and the girls were bored, bored, bored. But the unplanned dish washing afterwards? Now that was a hit!
Pookie carefully filled the sink, added the soap, and washed, scrubbed and rinsed the dishes...
...while Fig stayed busy with scooping up water in her cup, pouring it into the thermos, pouring it into the mug, and pouring it all back into the sink...

...and I sat back and observed. It was a good reminder for me that children don't necessarily need carefully planned lessons in order to be learning--they are always at work pursuing knowledge.

So what's the plan for tomorrow? I don't know, I think I'll wait and see what the girls come up with...

Getting some help with the dinner preparation...

which means more clean-up for me...

but seeing how proud they are, after cleaning an ear of corn all by themselves, makes it all worthwhile.