So I decided that instead of writing these beginning of the week type posts in sort of “meme” form that I would sort of deconstruct the idea and just show you pictures from the last week and weekend and talk about what’s been going on lately. It’s really the same ideas as the “daybook” or “currently” posts except I’m not restricting myself with topics. Liberating, no?
Yesterday we got the first legitimate snow of the season. By no means a large accumulation, but enough that I grumbled a bit when I had to leave the house and drive somewhere and had to clean my car off when I left said place to go home. Luckily I got snow tires for the car last month so I had no troubles cresting my not yet cleared street and driveway (both pretty frightening hills) – I’m hoping this is a sign that the whole winter season will go as well.
This picture is literally from the day before – taken at the playground at a local Christmas Tree Farm. We weren’t actually there to buy a tree, we went to visit with Santa, check out their little store with tons of awesome ornaments and enjoy the playground and some apple cider and popcorn together – a relatively free excursion that we thought the kids would like – and we were right! As you can see, it was cold enough for winter jackets and hats but not even a whisper of snow was to be found. Kind of amazing to look at this picture taken only two days ago and see the difference in weather so dramatically. I’m torn between hoping that the snow on the ground magically sticks around until Christmas without actually having any more snow fall. I know the odds of that happening are like nearly impossible, but it won’t stop me from hoping.
Our advent calendar from memere continues to excite the kids. They are so cute each morning, begging to open it right away, never even remotely disappointed to open another car or eraser (for him) or hair bow or squinkie toy (for her). That meme of theirs is pretty clever! We’ve also been enjoying the book box I made, reading a new Christmas story every night. I got them an assortment of holiday books, some short chapter books that are really just for MM but I read the first chapter aloud at night and some board books and easy peasy picture books that appeal more to her, but he enjoys listening to them anyway. I have a few really exciting books coming up that I’m looking forward to reading with them. Most recent exciting book was The Joy of a Peanuts Christmas, a collection of Christmas-themed Peanuts comics in book form. MM loved them and I think we have a new comic lover in the house now.
Last night we watched Home Alone with the kids. I wasn’t sure if MM would “get” it, but I need not have worried. All that slap stick comedy and 8 year old antics really appealed to him and he laughed throughout the whole movie. I found myself cringing a lot at how dangerous a lot of those antics were and Dan and I collectively decided to insert comments like, “Wow riding a sled down the stairs is really dangerous!” “I bet his mom would have told him not to do that if she were home!” etc. One of the biggest things MM was concerned with was whether or not the family would come back and if the boy would be okay. We assured him early on that everyone would be fine so he was able to enjoy the humor without getting too scared. It’s always interesting to watch movies I enjoyed as a child as a mother now – lends a new perspective.
It was also pizza night – check out the cute Angry Birds pizza that Dan made. I saw this idea on Pinterest forever ago, but I showed it to Dan while I was menu planning last week and he loved the idea, so we made it happen last night. It came out pretty cute and delicious. We used mushrooms and black olives for the eyes, more black olives for the eye brows and cheddar cheese sliced into triangles to form the beak. You could also use American but I couldn’t bring myself to buy American cheese – I knew the rest would never get eaten. We made another pizza to use up the rest of the black olives and most of the mushrooms, delicious.
