Another Handmade Christmas

Who doesn't love a handmade gift? Or, perhaps a better question, who doesn't love making homemade gifts? Ok, maybe not all of us, but with Pinterest we can at least imagine right??
I for one have really come to love both. They are personal and sentimental and I get to be creative and artsy-fartsy.
I have wanted to re-do/DIY a play kitchen for Charles for a while now but lack of time or finances or 'that-perfect-entertainment-center-to-turn-into-a-little-kitchen-that-fits-my-imagination-and-small-apartment' have forced me to put it off. Until about four days ago. A good friend of ours found this at a thrift store and being the nice woman she is, thought of us. Thus, the beginning of my last minute DIY project to get done before Christmas morning!

In need of a little work but with not much time to do it in, I decided to simply paint it and change out the knobs for now. So on Christmas Eve I headed to Home Depot, bought some paint and hardware and got to work.

I wont get into the details of the struggle it was at the beginning to get this thing painted but let's just say that my mom came home to see me trying to rock a screaming Lawrence in his car seat with one hand and paint with the other. Needless to say she came home at the right time! 

Here is Charles' face on Christmas morning when he saw his new kitchen. 

Worth it.

Nana and Papa got some pots, pans and dishes too

I am so happy I was finally able to get this for Charles and I know he will have lots of fun with it. Big thanks again to our friend who found it for us, you know who you are :)

Speaking of handmade gifts, here is the quilt my Grandma Betty made for Lawrence. We picked out the fabric together while she was home for Thanksgiving. I love it, it's perfect!

And for the grandparent's gift this year I made shadow profiles of the boys. I love how they turned out!

Carrying the Banner

This is the first year Charles has really participated in Halloween. Chris and I weren't sure we were going to do anything but decided that we would give it a go. Our good friends the Hildens invited us over to their house for pizza and trick or treating in their neighborhood so after a stop and Nana and Papa's house so they could see Charles, we headed out for some Halloween fun.

I had wanted to dress Charles up as a garden gnome but he was not having it. What did he want (agree) to be? A NEWSIE! Be still my Jack Kelly loving heart. It was a bit last minute so I had to make do with what we already had. Good thing I snagged this hipster vest at Goodwill a few months back.

'neva fear, Brooklyn is here!'


We switched out his conductor's hat for a more newsie-esque one that Papa lent us. With a paper tucked under his arm the costume was complete. "a penny a pape!"

'what's a matta? You scared a Brooklyn?'

It was so fun to see the little kiddos dressed in their costumes. Max was Max from Where the Wild Things Are- isn't he darling?? I could eat him up :)

'let the wild rumpus start!'

'look at this, 'Baby Born With Two Heads'.. must be from Brooklyn'

Charles had such a fun time. Thanks Hildens for inviting us!


And Jess, this one's for you:
'dear me, what is that unpleasant aroma? I fear da sewer may have backed up durin' da night'
'nah, it's too rotten to be the sewers.'
'it must be... the Delancey bruddahs!'

I will most definitely be watching The Newsies today.

Fourth of July

This was our first fourth of July back in Minneapolis and boy was it a hot one! A whopping 101 degrees to be exact! We left the comfort of our air conditioned apartment and headed to a friends house to bbq. Luckily there were water balloons, squirt guns, and just plain old buckets of water to keep us cool.

 

This was the first fourth of July in four years I think that I didn't make 'my' flag cake (I say 'my' because I got the recipe from Pioneer Woman who got it from Barefoot Contessa.) In reality, with this heat, the icing stripes would have melted away within a few minutes. Instead I made chocolate chip cookies and lemonade cookies, both of which have been part of my cravings as of late. When it comes to cravings I have been wanting chocolate chip cookies and lemon dessert-y stuff. yum yum yummm.

While I don't have a picture of the cookies, I do have a photo of Chris' three meat creation.
Behold, a bacon wrapped burger stuffed with shrimp. oh yes

 

Despite the heat, we had a really good time. We are thankful to be back with old friends and for the new friends we have here too.
As the evening went on we could hear people setting off fireworks and Charles didn't really like the loud noise. He wanted to see them but not hear them. We got home just when the real fireworks were starting and could see some from the front of our building but after a few minutes he wanted to go back in. Perhaps next year he will be more into it.

 

"nothings says 'U.S.A.'s the bomb' quite like a bomb pop".. S. Kirby

Happy Christmas

Our first Christmas back in Minneapolis was pretty nice. The weather has been amazing- much like a NYC winter- and I am so Thankful for it. Who would have thought Minnesota could pull a 45 on Christmas Day??
We had made ornaments with Charles for gifts this year. So fun and easy!

 

Christmas Eve we spent with Margaret and Anthony. We stayed until midnight so we could see Anthony open his gift from Margaret.. he was sure excited about it! 

I finished my ABC book for Charles. 

But to be honest, after opening his gift from Nana and Papa he wasn't really interested in anything else. Every morning since then he has woken up and asked to play with his train first thing in the morning. When we were out at a friend's house the other night he wanted to come home and play with his train. Needless to say, I think he likes it!

   

As part of our new family Christmas tradition we made a birthday cake for baby Jesus and sang happy birthday. 

All in all it was a good day. Time with family, good food, and celebrating the birth of our Lord. How was your Christmas?

cut-out cookies

Growing up my family had a certain tradition that fell between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Usually right after Thanksgiving actually if I remember correctly. We would make cut out sugar cookies for Christmas. I remember standing around my Grandmother's kitchen table rolling and cutting out the cookies (and sneaking bites of dough) and then my favorite part, decorating them! This is something I have always and enjoyed and continued to do with out friends in Brooklyn.

Last night the tradition continued in our kitchen here with us and my parents. (missed you Grandma but will save you some cookies)

Charles helped press the cookie cutters and even frosted a few. His favorite was the polar bear. Perhaps not the traditional Christmas cookie shape but hey, he liked it. 

 

 

 

Advent

We have been in Minnesota for three months now. Crazy. It doesn't feel like it has been that long and yet our last summer in New York seems like so long ago. And now Christmas is only two weeks away! Two! I can't believe how fast it has come. My goal is to make our Christmas presents this year, at least the majority of them, which means I have a lot to do before Christmas. I was able to get our advent calendar finished for the countdown to Christ's birth. I had bought this vintage printers drawer on etsy in June not really knowing what exactly I wanted to do with it, and then had the idea of using it as an advent calendar. Perfect!

The little cubbies are kind of small to have a treat or gift in each one and I also like the idea of having a special activity to do so instead I wrote down on folded paper something for each day. A few of them are little gift for charles like a box of goldfish, a hot wheels car, a book. Others are crafts or things to do as a family like movie night, go to the Holidazzle Parade, story time at the library, make a cereal/popcorn garland, bake cookies, go to the play land at Ridgedale Mall. 

 

On Christmas Day we will bake a birthday cake for baby Jesus and sing him Happy Birthday. 

Showing Our Patriotism