Smart Cookie

A little fuzzy but I love her face in this one.

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before but Anna is a pretty smart little kid. I'm keeping her Christmas presents in the trunk of the car for now and she knows exactly where they are. One day we went to the beach and I was trying to keep her from looking in the trunk as I was trying to get out the beach toys and such. Apparently that made an impression because a few days later she informed me that she knew where her Christmas presents were. I tried to play it cool and may have even said something like, "I can neither confirm nor deny the presence of presets in the trunk." Unfortunately I had told her that day at the beach that she wasn't supposed to look in the trunk because that's where the presents were. Oops.

Once we established the location of the gifts, we talked about why we don't want to try to see what they are, even though we can. I told her the story of when the older kids in my family were little and they had a babysitter who showed them how to unwrap their presents very carefully to see what they were and re-wrap them again. It was one of the saddest Christmases for them because then there were no surprises on Christmas morning and they wanted to play with what was under the tree before Christmas but couldn't. After telling her this story, she seemed to fully understand that it's better to wait.

Then the other day, Anna asked if we could put her tutu under the tree. I wasn't sure what she was talking about (although I did get her a tutu for Christmas) and Anna told me that she saw it in the trunk the other day when Jason was getting something out of the trunk. Oops. At least I wasn't planning on having it for a Santa present. I told her no and she hasn't brought it up since. Of course with her, I know it's not forgotten. Good thing Christmas is coming so soon.

Ornaments

Since our Christmas decorations are all in storage, I decided to try making our ornaments this year. The thought being that it would be more economical. I'm not actually sure if it was or not but it turned out fun and Anna even got to help on some.

I divided them into two kinds, those I could do with Anna around and helping and those I needed to do on my own. The latter category included those that needed a glue gun. With Anna, we made clothes pin reindeer. Mine looked pretty standard. Anna, not to be tied down by convention had a whole slew of different looks.

Most of them looked like the one on the far right. We decided they were girl reindeer (so no antlers). The other kind we made together are pom pom snowmen who are not quite done. They are put together but need faces and such. I'll post those when they are done.

The ornaments I made on my own are mainly things glued to styrofoam balls and fun with buttons. So, here are the styrofoam ball ones, mostly involving ribbons. I made two of each one.

I especially like the way the red ribbon looks on this one. I wish I had thought of it before I did the white ones but oh well.

These are split peas. They took a bit a work but I really like the way they turned out. I divided the ball into four parts and alternated the round and the flat sides of the peas for variety.

Then onto the button ones. I first got the idea for these from Martha Stewart and went from there.

These are more red and burgundy. I'm not sure why they look so pink. Then I worked on putting buttons on the styrofoam balls.

This one is a tad harder to see because of the way Anna is holding it. It's a Christmas tree out of buttons with the buttons getting larger as you go down.

And a snowflake. Anna helped a little bit with these last two and discovered the hazards of the glue gun. Mainly that the glue can come through the button holes or ribbon and burn you.

We also noticed that we lost the baby Jesus for our nativity set so I glues ribbons on the rest of the characters and put them on the tree (Joseph is in the picture with the red and green wreath).

So this is what I have been doing with my evenings when I'm too tired to go shopping but have enough energy to sit up at the table. I'm quite pleased with how they have all turned out and hope to hold onto them for some time.

Christmas Decorations

I feel like I've been a bit behind with Christmas decorations this year. After all, we only just got our tree up this past weekend. Here are some of the things we have put up to make our place feel just a little more festive.

We got a wreath for our door and added the ribbon. It's a real wreath and it's kind of nice to have that whiff of pine scent when we open the door to go in or out. A trick I learned from my sister Kristen for hanging wreaths is to use a ribbon wrapped around the wreath and just stapled to the top of the door. I love this because then you don't have to deal with the hangers that inevitably make the door hard to close.

We got a light up garland to go around the door to the bedrooms. I don't know if you can tell because the picture is dark but I added little ribbon bows all around the door for extra fun. Side note on bows, these ones are made with wire ribbon which is great because even if your bow doesn't turn our perfect (and whose does?), you can just manipulate it until it looks how you want it to and it will stay.

A simple Merry Christmas sign like our Halloween one. I thought about using shapes and then adding the letters in black but I was afraid they wouldn't show up as well on the darker colors of red and green. That is also our count down to Christmas candy chain. I wanted to find a chocolate advent calendar like we had when I was growing up but couldn't find any and wasn't willing to drive to every Longs Drug in town so we just made one. I got a thing of European chocolates and Anna loves cutting it off every night. We don't mind the yummy chocolate either.

Our tree part one. Sadly, it covers up our sign but oh well, this was really the only place to put it. It took us a couple of days to get it decorated and Anna was getting a little impatient so she decided to take care of it herself. Here she is posing (in her jammies) with her decorations of white pom poms and the Christmas cards we had gotten up to that point. She was also putting all kinds of toys under it and calling them birthday presents.

And here is Anna with our tree once we got our real decorations on it. I'll do another post on what's on there because we made all the ornaments ourselves (not counting the candy canes of course). We do still have to stick a star on top and I have one more ornament to make but this is pretty much it.

How Do You Know?

Anna is still figuring out the difference between Christmas Day and the Christmas Season. As we talk about it being Christmas time, she will ask, "It's Christmas?!?" To which I calmly explain, again, that it's not Christmas day but the Christmas season and she will know when it's Christmas day. We've put up an advent chain to visually help with this concept, I think it might be sinking in.

Along those lines, the other night she came out of her room and asked, "Are you sure Santa is coming? How do we know he's real?" I was able to evade the questions by pointing out it wasn't time for Santa yet and to go back to bed but it got me thinking. As other parents have said before, it's a little strange to lie to her about something so significant in her life. Generally I try not to bring it up too much. She has been able to pick up the whole Santa thing from the world around her but we don't use him as a threat to be good or anything. Of course, if she's asking pointed questions like that at 3, I have a feeling I'm either going to have to spill the beans while she is quite young or start lying through my teeth.

The other part that got me thinking was how Anna knows that the things she can't see are real. My initial thought was to tell her that he is real because we, her parents, have told her he is. I found that I was wary to say that because the same can also be said of Jesus and I don't really want to create a crisis of faith when we tell her the truth about Santa. There are some similarities between the two men: you don't see them, only what they leave behind, there are books and songs about them and they are both very kind and do nice things for others. Yet, there is a big difference in that one is real and the other is not. Fortunately, there is the Holy Ghost who can testify of the reality and divinity of Jesus. I realized that as we teach Anna about Jesus, we have to be sure to point out when the Spirit is there so she can recognize that feeling too and be able to know the difference between what is really real and what is just her parents lying to her.

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a lovely Thanksgiving in Hilo with Jason's parents. Sadly, even thought we took the camera, we forgot to take it out and actually take any pictures. Alas. It was more of a low-key weekend anyway, not much to take pictures of. Mostly we ate and chatted and hung out.

Before Thanksgiving, Anna and I did a craft of a turkey crown. I remembered this idea from the Hilo library where they made them after story time last year. We started with a plain paper plate that I cut the bottom bit off. Then I cut out feathers from all the colors.

She loves doing crafts. Her bangs were cut not long after this.

Anna used her trusty glue stick to glue them onto the plate.

While she was working on this, I made the turkey head for the front. I cut out what kind of looks like a bowling pin and colored it brown. Then a little orange triangle for the beak, a bit of red for the wattle and some googley eyes.

Put them all together and you get a turkey body. I thought the eyes were a bit big and gave him a bit of a Nick Park character look but Anna said he was cute so we went with it.

I cut out a strip of paper for the band and put it all together. I used the glue stick for this too and I have to say, if you let it dry without touching it, it's surprisingly strong. She wore it to a ward Thanksgiving dinner and was running all around the church and while she occasionally lost a few feathers, the band held the whole time (which is especially impressive since it's a bit back heavy).

It was really cute and she loved wearing it until almost all the feathers were gone and it was driving us crazy. So that was our Thanksgiving craft this year; simple, cute and fun. We are working on Christmas crafts which I plan on posting throughout the season. Hope you had a good Thanksgiving!

Gratitude Tree

As I was lamenting having to take down our Halloween decorations, a friend gave me an idea to keep up our tree. We turned it into a gratitude tree. Now, every night before we read scriptures and say prayers, we each choose one thing that we are thankful for, write them on a leaf and tape them up on the wall. Anna loves this. She reminds us if we forget and likes the put the leaves up (although she may just like to stand on the back of the chair to reach).

We each have our own color leaves and can't repeat what is already up there. It's been really really cute to see what Anna says. She has put up the nature ones like the Earth, shade, trees and wind. She also frequently wants to say friends but we have to keep reminding her that we have that one already. I try to list something to be thankful for that came up that day. It's getting a bit harder as we have so much already up there but it's been a fun way to keep an attitude of gratitude through the Thanksgiving season.

Funky Tree Friday

A little while ago, we went on a hike and found this tree.

I don't remember what the rest of the tree looked like, I think it's a kind of palm. I can only assume these are roots but they kind of look like worms or fingers coming out of the tree. Creepy.

New Appliances

You may remember that my oven was a bit wonky. At Marrisse's suggestion, we looked into getting it re-calibrated but in looking into it, I read that if the oven was more than 35 degrees off, there was more going on than just needing to be re-calibrated. So we talked to our landlord and he got us a new oven! So now, not only does it work but it's better in several ways: there is a window on the oven door with an inside light (Anna loves this part), there are more numbers on the stove knobs and best of all, it's deeper so my cookie sheet fits in it without leaving the door open. Add to all of this the weather cooling off and I can now bake to my heart's content. Now if only there were more of us to eat it all.

Around the same time, I started to look for a washing machine. We have hookups but I've been using the coin machines across the way. With my growing belly, this was getting tricky, especially carrying the wet clothes back up the stairs to hang them out to dry. I found one on craigslist for $35 (woohoo). It's not new and shiny by any stretch of the imagination (the knob is a little broken) but it works and is on our back lanai. It's amazing what a big difference these seemingly little things can make in my life.

This weekend we went to the beach with some friends. There was another pregnant woman (due in December) that I had only met once before and we were chatting. Part of our conversation went like this:

Her: When are you due?

Me: February

Her: Really? I thought you were farther along than that.

Me: (polite smile)

Her: (chuckling) Sorry, I hope I didn't offend you.

Me: (chuckling) I'll try not to be offended. Of course it is my second one, so, you know.

Subject change.

All in all, I think I handled that rather well.

Halloween Fun

As you can tell, she is very excited to be in her costume. It also came with a wand with a flower on the end.

We had a fun filled Halloween weekend. It started on Friday night with our friends' Halloween party. It was the first time I let Anna put on her costume (it was staying in my closet for protection) and she was so excited. That first night, I put make-up on her and did her hair like Rosetta in the Tinkerbell movies (the other nights she didn't want to do all that).

It's a bit blurry but you can see the make up.

She looked great but it was strange seeing her with make up. Then on Saturday we had our church party with games and candy. Anna is getting old enough that she can actually participate it all of the throwing games. Side note: have you noticed how when they have parties where each group has to come up with a game, they are all throwing games? It kind of bugs.

For these two parties I dressed up as the sun. I figured I was already big, round and hot so all I had to do was become yellow. Sadly, I didn't get a picture of myself (sorry) but I wore a blue shirt with a yellow dress over it. Then I glued silver strips all around my belly to look like the sun's rays. It was pretty cute.

Monday, we had some friends over in the morning to play and decorate sugar cookies. We had a lot of fun although the younger kids are still figuring out how to do it. One little girl thought the frosting was finger paint and just put her whole hand in the bowl. It was a good way to use up the day until it was time to trick-or-treat.

Again this one is blurry but that is a face of pure joy to eat that cookie.

That night we went to a neighborhood where they have houses instead of apartments. It was a nice night and we saw lots of other kids going around. Anna is still figuring out how trick-or-treating works. After a few houses she started saying "Happy Halloween" when they opened the door. Also, if they asked what she was or tried to guess, she would specify a garden fairy, not just a fairy or Tinkerbell, and would correct people if they guessed something else. Anna was a trooper and we were out about an hour before we had circled back to our car and it started to rain. A good time to stop.

We got a good amount of candy and have all been enjoying it. Fortunately Anna realizes that her bucket is not just for her but for all of us.

Pumpkins

Last Sunday we carved our pumpkins. After getting the one at the pumpkin patch, I got a bigger one for Jason and myself at WalMart. First Anna and I planned out what she wanted her pumpkin to look like. Just like with choosing the pumpkin, she knew just what she wanted it to look like. Once we had it all planned out on paper, it was time to start cutting. I cut the top out and Anna helped me pull out the guts.

I wasn't sure what she would think of it but she seemed to enjoy it and had no problem helping. Then Jason did the carving for her.

For our pumpkin, we first had to decide what we wanted it to look like. Jason went online to get ideas. We found one that looked cool and like something we could do: a pirate pumpkin, complete with eye patch. I hollowed this one out while Jason was carving Anna's. Side note: he is not a big fan of things that are messy. While he has gotten better, he still has a way to go. Back to pumpkin carving. I actually carved out our pirate pumpkin except for the mouth, which Jason did. It was fun to plan it and carve it. I discovered crayons work well for writing on the pumpkin for planning purposes and a magic eraser takes off any mistakes without difficulty.

Here are how our pumpkins turned out. Sadly, I forgot to get candles so we never actually lit them but they still looked good outside out door.

Anna especially loved them.

Halloween Decor

One great thing about having our own place is complete control over holiday decorating. Here are the things Anna and I did for Halloween this year.

This is on the wall and can been seen when you first walk into our place. I cut out the pumpkins using a cookie cutter for the stencil and Anna put on the letters. For the pumpkin I just colored the face on with a sharpie.

I'm really pleased with how this tree turned out. Jason made it out of black streamer. The smaller branches are where he cut it in half length wise. We were going to make some tissue ghosts to go on the branches but we didn't quite get around to that.

Sorry about the bad picture quality but I had to take this one at night and the lighting wasn't the best. I figure no holiday is complete without an appropriately colored chain. Rather then use it to count down, we used it for the window.

And finally, our spider wall. I have pictures of us making these ones so I'll post those tomorrow. That way you can see the closer up pictures and how to do it yourself. I love the way this one turned out.

As you can see, we've had a lot of fun decorating. It's been fun to bring Halloween into our place (especially since the weather doesn't feel at all like fall) and boy will our place be bare once we take it all down. I'll have to start looking for Thanksgiving decorations. Either that or just put some pictures up on our walls.

Pumpkin Patch

Me and our pumpkin, about the same size.

A little while ago, we took Anna to a pumpkin patch. Of course since this is Hawaii, they don't actually grow the pumpkins at the patch. It was more like a patch of dirt with pumpkins spread around. We were ok with that. Anna went walking into it with meaning, purpose and direction. I don't know exactly what she was looking for but she knew it when she found it.

We did tell her that she had to be able to carry it herself. We are so unreasonable. Sadly, that meant this one was out.

Here she is with her pick.

Anna had to compete with the boys for tractor space. For some reason, she was the only girl on there.

They had a few other fun things to do. There was a tractor that I'm guessing was only supposed to be a backdrop for pictures but how can you have a tractor and not climb on it? There was also a hay ride and corn maze. We weren't able to do those though because we were unprepared for the cash only place (it's a good thing Anna's pumpkin wasn't any bigger).

We were able to have some shave ice at the end though so it was all good.

Funny Monday

On Jason's blog, he posts funny things on Friday. Naturally, we have a lot of fun looking for things to put up. Last week he put up some videos we found on youtube called How It Should Have Ended. There are lots of good ones there. For some reason, he didn't post one of my favorites so I'm posting it here.

It just cracks me up every time I watch it.

I also found this one based on New Moon. The animation is not as polished but it's still hilarious.

I think my favorite part is where he rubs oil on himself.

Gettin' Crafty

Now and then, Anna and I do crafts. Here are some pictures from the times I thought to get out the camera.

This started out as a simple macaroni necklace. Of course that wasn't fancy enough for Anna. She wanted to paint the macaronis first.

As you can see, she loves painting.

Then, once they were dry, she strung 'em up.

Here she is wearing the finished product, and so proud. I don't know if this was a different day or if she had just changed her dress. I'm betting on changed her dress; she loves to change clothes in the middle of the day. I've found myself saying (as apparently my mom did before me), "One outfit per day in the laundry."

Then, we played with glitter. I read about this one in a book I have called Unplugged Play. It's a pretty cool book with lots of ideas for things for kids to do. It's broken down by age group and kind of activity. In the book it says to use confetti but they didn't have it at the store when we went and what's more fun than glitter?

I love her look of concentration as she sprinkles the glitter on the glue. What you can't tell from the picture is that she's shaking that container with all her might and generally getting it just to the side of where the glue is.

Our picture. For the most part, I put down the glue and she added the glitter. I think we added a little bit more before we stopped.

We've been working on some Halloween crafts but that will have to be for another post. Let me just say, looking at cute crafty kids blogs is totally dangerous. I have a new favorite one: Frugal Family Fun. The stuff is way cute, actually looks doable and uses simple supplies. Another one I like to look at is Little Page Turners. This one has tie-ins to children's books. We haven't done any of these ones yet but I like looking at them and thinking I might some day.

Half Way

Here are some pictures from the ultrasound. We got the one 2d picture and some 3d ones. This one is the crispest even if it's only half a face.

I am just past my 20th week in this pregnancy so I'm now half way along. All in all, things are going well. A couple of weeks ago, we had our ultrasound and found out we are having a little boy. Fortunately, we've been preparing Anna for this for some time so she isn't disappointed that it's not a girl. (At first she would say the new baby could only sleep in her room if it was a girl and a boy would have a sleep in our room. She is now willing to share a room with her little brother.) He seems to be growing well and all looks fine.

I am feeling him move around quite a bit now and his little kicks are even strong enough to be felt from the outside. Unfortunately, they are more like isolated kicks so it's been hard to have Jason or Anna feel them. Anna says she has but based on her reaction, I don't think she has. I always feel like when he kicks it's like him saying, "hi Mom!"

My biggest complaint these days is being hot. The weather is always the same, upper 80s. This may sound nice but frankly, it gets hot. I hear from people that live here that it will get cooler after October. I really hope so because frankly, I've never been good with hot. The heat is then compounded by the support hose I get/have to wear. Other then the fact that they make me more hot, I don't really mind them. I can tell a big difference with how my legs feel when I wear them and they make doing things possible. They do lengthen out how long it takes me to get ready in the mornings (since I have to put my feet up for 20 minutes before putting them on) but with lower expectations, it's going well.

Between the heat and getting bigger, I've had to scale down what I can get accomplished in a day. Generally by around 3:30 or 4 I need to have what we call Mommy break time. This is pretty much just time when I sit with the fan on me and rest for a bit before I have to get up and make dinner. If I don't do this, dinner becomes something like salad or even just leftovers.

Anna has been a rock star during this whole ordeal. She lets me sleep in in the mornings (she gets up before Jason leaves so he gets her breakfast and turns on a show), mostly leaves me alone during my break time, understands that when my feet are up I can't do things for her and just generally takes good care of me. Earlier on, she wanted me to see something outside so she set up two chairs in the doorway: one for me to sit on and one for me to put my feet up.

We took this on Saturday while we were out hiking. As you can see, I was on water bottle duty.

So, we have gotten through the sick, just looking fat part of the pregnancy and are embarking on the uncomfortable, so when are you due part. Should be fun.