Officially Christmas vacation!

Today was Alex's first real day of Christmas vacation. So he stayed in his pj's all day! Maya isn't as fond of pajama days, she prefers more costume changes in a day than that.

We spent the day playing and taking care of some little Christmas prep projects.

We had started yesterday afternoon baking and decorating cut out cookies, didn't get very far and ended up doing the bulk of them today. I wasn't thrilled with the powdered sugar icing I made last year - either taste wise or how it worked out for the kids to use. So I took the easy way out this year and got some packaged stuff that I thought would be easier for them to manage. It did work out pretty well.

I had expected to be able to run down to the local natural food store and get some natural red food coloring to make our own red frosting and maybe even find some red sprinkles there but no luck. I guess it's hard to find a distributor so they don't carry any. So this year we just went without red frosting and when Alex chooses cookies he'll just keep an eye on the red sprinkles. Next year I will be more on the ball and order some ahead of time, research a better frosting recipe and invest in some pastry bags/tips that the kids can manage.

We also made peppermint bark - I got a recipe from a blog that I frequent HERE . It was a little more time consuming than I normally tackle but it looked fun and like it had the potential to be really good. Oh my goodness is it ever delicious. Definitely worth the time!

Alex has a "first" too

His first loose tooth. Here he is showing everyone:

The first morning was a little rough. It bled a little and that caused some drama. Now that he's use to the strange sensation he's pretty excited.

Maya's first haircut

Yes, she's 3 and yes I really mean first haircut! We just got the ends trimmed up but she got the whole experience - hair wash, cut and blow dried and even got her nails done. She loved it.

Alex got his haircut too but I didn't embarrass him and take a picture :)

Alex's class party

Friday afternoon was Alex's class party and his last day of school before vacation. I love the fact that I can bring Maya along to things like this in his class and they encourage her to just join right in. She loves it too. They have 4 stations the kids rotate through - craft, story, snack and game. It seemed to go very smoothly and all the kids appeared to have a good time.

Some holiday fun

We love Playmobil toys. Alex has gotten several sets over the years and they have seen a ton of playing time at our house. They do make some sets that raise a few eyebrows. Several friends have brought these to my attention over the past few weeks while doing their Christmas shopping and I couldn't resist putting them all together here.

First we have a set for learning about the current realities of air travel. Although they haven't gotten up to speed yet with the new scanners or groping techniques. We'll have to watch next years catalog for updates:

Next we address the uncomfortable realities of construction work. I'll be keeping my eye out for the septic pumper truck set for us rural families.

And finally, for those whose young children already have criminal aspirations, we might as well teach them to aim high and go right for museum grade jewel heists:

Some of the reviews for these sets on Amazon are hilarious. Especially the airport security set.

There is no such thing as bad weather.....just bad clothing choices

We like to test that theory. And it seems to hold very true. Alex helped Ben shovel for a while and then played for a while. Maya was having a great time outside even with the wind blowing snow in her face (which she has not cared for in the past). Ben and I were the ones to suggest we go back in the house, they would have stayed out even longer.

So...blizzard conditions, 50 mph winds and a just below zero wind chill - no problem!

Blizzard

The trees are really beautiful today. It's amazing how much snow has stuck even with 50 mph wind gusts!

We did get the driveway shoveled this evening. However it is also still snowing. And there has yet to be a plow anywhere near our neighborhood. So it's a good thing we have a snow day tomorrow!

Those wonderful kid crafts

Maya made this with "Miss Kelly" (she's from the local school district's Way to Grow program and comes to our house once a month to do a project with Maya. Great program, totally free and for anyone). She likes painting the glittery glue on more than actually sticking anything on with it.

Alex made this at the small local library. There was also a cup of candy to put on like a gingerbread house. He ate it. Maya didn't even pretend she wanted to make the log cabin, just said no thank you and ate the candy.

Quick....I see the sun!

We got a brief break from the snow yesterday. Brief. Then another inch or two last night...now it's cloudy and gloomy and we are waiting for a big winter storm over the weekend. I better get out and shovel one more time before we get dumped on!

The snow

The snow continued yesterday, and last night - these pics were taken out the back patio doors this morning. Then it continued snowing all day and is actually still snowing right now. Despite the NOAA websites assurance that only "isolated area totals exceeding 12 inches" we are well over 12 inches at this point.
The kids are having a blast. We played outside for a little over an hour after school today and shoveled (again). Saturday we could see grass sticking through the snow, tonight we have big banks alongside the driveway and Maya can barely walk in the yard!

Now we have the tree and get home

After a very snowy and windy drive with the tree on the roof we are all happy to get home. The tree took on a TON of snow and ice and didn't seem to be melting in the garage so we decide to bring it in and just put a ton of towels down on the floor.
Above you see a cute picture of Maya. Yes, behind her is our tree laying on the floor. No that was not on purpose.
After getting the tree up in the stand and straight and tightening it, it promptly tipped right over. And bent up the stand. We tried again, more tightening. Tipped right over.
Finally we notice the little spikes in the bottom of the tree stand that keep the trunk from slipping are all broken off. Nice.
So we left the tree on the floor and ate lunch.
And then Alex and I went into town to buy a new tree stand. While shopping he suggested that he look for a gift for Maya which I thought was a very nice idea. I love how much care and thought he puts in when looking for gifts for her and he gets truly excited and joyful about giving her things.
He also had been asking for a couple weeks if we could buy a star for the top of the tree this year. We haven't had one in a long, long time - ours broke before he was born and since we went through quite a few years of having no tree or tiny trees in our apt in Houghton we just never bothered. So he picked out a very nice, colorful new star for the topper.
The reindeer antlers they found in a box we were unpacking. I *think* Matt and Amy gave them to the kids last year. They babysat then overnight right after Christmas last year because Ben and I had to come back to Traverse City so I could work the day after Christmas. Well the antlers are a HUGE hit this year and are being worn constantly.
Unfortunately we learned the hard way that Maya should not wear them while decorating the tree. She would lean forward to put an ornament on and stick the antlers right in the tree and pull back knocking a ton of other ornaments off!

Oh Christmas tree.....

Saturday was a beautiful day, we spent all afternoon playing outside. The smarter family would have utilized that nice weather to go cut their Christmas tree. We are apparently not that family. We waited until Sunday. We started off for the tree farm (not the most glamorous or "authentic" tree farm but the one closest to our house) in a light snow. As we get closer to the tree farm the snow becomes quite steady.
Once there we find out that all the fields nearest the barns and parking lot are idle this year and the good trees are out in the back forty. But not to worry - there is a fancy trailer pulled by a tractor to deliver us to the trees. The same tractor/trailer is also used for their scenic "sleigh" rides. So a couple other families and all of us climb on and wait....and wait.......the snow is now what I would consider heavy. The expression seen above on Maya's face never changed the entire ride. Alex was up for the adventure and excited, Maya was not impressed with the ride.
Wayyyyyy out in the field he stops and lets off those of us who want to cut trees, one other family stays on for the rest of their scenic ride. The driver says not to worry, he'll be back in 15 min or so to pick us and our trees up, in the meantime enjoy the bonfire (as he gestures to a smoldering fire pit nearby). He drives away. The wind picks up.
Despite the wind and snow, the kids are having a great time. Maya wanders around eating snow and Alex rushes from tree to tree trying to find just the right one. The other couple in the field with us is done with their tree right before we are and while the woman kindly takes the picture of our whole family the man heads over to try and revive the "bonfire".
By the time we have our tree down he has a roaring fire! And we wait. And it snows harder. And Alex asks if we have to walk back ourselves or if the tractor is really coming back. We assure him that he is coming back and just when we start to really wonder ourselves we can see the tractor lights in the distance!

Playing outside

Today we spent a ton of time outside. It was Maya's first time out this year in full snow gear. The other times we've been out it was either warmer, or very little snow and we just didn't need all the gear. She walked outside, took one step out of the garage and did a full feet in the air, flat on her back Charlie Brown type fall! But she got up, brushed herself off and got right down to playing.

Alex had his heart set on sledding, there really isn't much snow but he shoveled the driveway to use the snow to sled on. Despite the small hill we have in our yard and barely any snow they had a blast.

The second time Maya went down she pitched face first off the sled into the snow. It was in her mouth, down her jacket....thankfully she only cried for a minute and then was ready to go again. She's a tough girl....which is a good thing because she seems to be quite accident prone.

Maya stayed out for two hours and Alex stayed out for about three and a half!

Looks like it will be a good winter here!