Superbowl

Leif has fun playing his Tools Memory Game in his newly set up room.

I did a lot of work bringing in some furniture and getting his room set up for homeschooling.

So far, we're both loving it.

I'll do a post on that later, though :)

Jason and Leif watch the Superbowl.

I liked the food, but pulled out a gardening book and then worked on a chart for Leif.

Football, I spose, just ain't my thang.

Leif takes a nap in my bed...the light was gorgeous at the time (see the stripeyness on the pillow above his head?) but I couldn't quite capture it without a tripod (which I didn't feel like doing, so...)

Leif plays with his matchbox cars during the Super Bowl.

He had a late nap so he could stay up late for the game (which he wanted to watch with his Daddy, he said).

We've been busy working (Jason), playing (Leif), and working on an infinite amount of projects all at the same time (moi).

I'll blog more later on our homeschooling efforts and Leify's "new" room (which is still in the process of changing.

So stay tuned (but don't hold your breath, it could be a while!)

:)

Sickness Made Fun

Grandmom and Leify snuggle up in a bundle of colorful blankets to watch "Nanny McPhee Returns."

Leif hasn't been feeling well the past few days.

He's been coughing a lot, and his temperature has been slowly rising. After a fitful night of musical beds (long story), he clearly was not getting better.

So today I took him to the Dr. and the diagnosis was...

Strep Throat!

He's been a champ through it all, and his fever is down below 100 now, so I think he is feeling much better.

He's taking his medicine very well (although one is bubble gum flavored and one is grape flavored, so I was half-tempted to try it!), drinking fluids like he should, and laying low.

I got him a few movies so that is what he's doing tonight...snuggling on the couch with Grandmom, watching what he calls, "kid movies" (ie, not boring grown-up movies).

Hopefully, he'll sleep well tonight and be quickly on the mend.

The Dr. said that he is highly contagious until he's been taking the antibiotic for 24 hours...in fact, he even wore a mask in the Dr.'s office to prevent from spreading anything. He hated it, but he was a good boy despite that.

That picture was taken mere seconds ago...they are still in the same position now! :)

That's our story, then. G'Night!

Little Elf in the Snow

Little Elf playing in the snow
(in typical boy fashion, picking up big chunks of snow just to throw it back down and smash it).

He had so much fun doing this.

Jason and Leif made two snowmen in the backyard, a big Daddy snowman and a little Leify snowman.

Later, driving through the neighborhood, we saw that most of the yards had snowmen in them, and that was a real treat! :)

We love the Snow!

MORE Snow Pictures

 

Lifting big snow chunks with big muscles.

Climbing big snow chunks.

 

Sitting on big snow chunks.

 

Falling over carrying big snow chunks. 

HeeHee.

More Snow Pictures

More Emily Dickinson-esque-ness.

Making sure the boat is in pristine shape for Spring's Madagascar Expedition.

Climbing up "rocks" as he called them - large chunks of snow created by the snow plow truck blasting through.

Big steps for Leify-kind!

snow, Snow, SNOW!

It snowed! 
And little Elf went out to play.

He flopped in the snow (a lot), and floundered about most happily.

There's a certain slant of light... ;)

And there's a certain slant of Leify, playing in the snow.

Nativity Peg Dolls

 

Leif poses with the small army of Nativity People (and Animals) that I made for all the little local cousins as Christmas presents.

As a  child, I loved to play with our creche, but I was in constant fear of breaking things, especially the camels' spindly legs!

I figured Leif and his cousins might like to play with the Nativity People, too, and it would be nice if they (and their parents) didn't have to worry about anything breaking.

Enter the wooden peg people Nativity Scene.

From the Left, Sheep, Donkeys, Camels, Angels, Shepherd 1, Shepherd 2, Joseph, Baby Jesus in front, Mary in Blue, Wise Man 1, Wise Man 2, Wise Man 3, Star.

Each of the Wise Men carries a present (each of the three carries a different one), and each Shepherd carries a Shepherd's Crook.  The Angels have little wings on their backs :)

It took me around 5 full days to paint all of these little peeps, animals and stars.

I was going to leave the little Baby Jesus' heads bare, but I asked Twops and she said to do the little curly cue hair on his head.  I did, and now that's my favorite thing of it all! :)

This is an individual grouping (what each family got) pulled out from the large bunch.

They were each packaged in a little muslin drawstring bag (Susan made them) that I had stamped Joyeux Noel onto, and tied with a Christmas-y or plain ribbon.  Of course, I forgot to take a picture of all that in the Christmas rush.

 

Close up of the little faces and terrific haircuts that I gave some of them (heehee).

Overall, I was pleased with how they came out, but when I saw how some other (more artistic) people had painted their peg dolls online, it made me want to cry :\ they were so good.

Nevertheless, Leif loves to play with his set, and I think it will help build his understanding of Christmas as he plays with them each year.

Maybe next year I'll add in King Herod and soldier characters for an element of good v. evil.

Or not.

:)

Quick Leif Story of the Day: As mentioned in previous posts, Leif has actually taken to Mary Poppins after watching it twice.  The other day, I began to sing (song bombed by the movie playing in the background as I baked the day before): "Oh, it's a jolly holiday with Mary...." at which Leif burst out in song, "Mary makes the sun shine bright!" <3

A Mid-Winter Tea Party

Katie, Sarah, Sophia, Amy, Leif, Lisa and Grandma Mil enjoying an afternoon tea in the sunroom.

Yesterday, everyone came over for a Mid-Winter Tea.

In my opinion, a Mid-Winter Tea is the perfect antidote to the Wintertime blues.

But that's just my opinion.

The real reason for everyone getting together was distributing hand-me-downs (from Twops, previously from Spring), but I thought just doing that alone would be boring, so we had a Tea, too.

The Tea was just as much fun to prepare as it was to enjoy for me.

I spent yesterday afternoon baking up the sweet treats, setting up the table, and then the morning of prepping sandwiches and the like.

I hauled in the teacups (all my Grandma's passed on to me) from the shed, teapots (wedding present from Grandmom and Granddad) from the basement where my "fragiles" are stored, silver trays from all over.

I even pulled out my good silver for the teaspoons :)

And I was finally able to use a present Amy and Marnell gave us from their honeymoon trip to Italy - a gorgeous Linen tablecloth from Venice.

I hadn't the proper size table to use it with before, but it fit like a charm on the table in the sunroom.

All in all, it was a nice coming together of all of the beatiful things I've been collecting since Jason and I married, all comprised of gifts and inherited items.

But a Tea isn't just about pretty dishes, it's about FOOD!  And tea.

The Menu was Thus:

Cucumber Sandwiches
Roast Beef and Horseradish Sandwiches
Smoked Salmon Mousse on Pumpernickel Toasts

Russian Tea Cakes
Citrus Tea Cake
Dark Chocolate Tea Bread
Chocolate Peppermint Triangles

Fresh Citrus

To Drink:

Earl Grey Tea
Lady Grey Tea
Tea of Choice*
Cranberry-Citrus Punch


*A Teapot of Hot Water and selection of individual tea bags so people could choose the tea they wanted if they didn't want the Grey Teas.



I made everything except for the Chocolate Peppermint Triangles, which were cookies from Whole Foods that I cut into...triangles.

All of the sandwich and tea cake recipes came from Williams-Sonoma, with the exception of the Russian Tea Cakes. 

My Mom always used to make Russian Tea Cakes around the holidays, but my cookbooks are all in storage, so I went with a recipe from Allrecipes, which was excellent and tasted just like my Mom's anyway.

So that was good.

I wasn't keen on the Dark Chocolate Bread, but I loved the Citrus Tea Cake.

It was so much fun to put on, that I think it would be fun to have one each season - a Mid-Winter one like this one, Springtime Tea, Summer Tea, and an Autumn Tea.

Lots and lots and lots of pictures below, so keep scrolling down.

I think I put up like 6 or 7 posts today, so it's a lot.

Enjoy!

Earl Grey tea with Lemon.

And a Cucumber Sandwich.

This was my teacup, my favorite that I inherited from my grandmother.

Cucumber Sandwiches (topped with a dill sprig) interspersed with
Crackers topped with English Seaside Cheddar and Pepper Jelly on my Nana's silver tray.

The savory hit of the tea party: Smoked Salmon Mousse on Pumpernickel Toasts.

Close up of the Cucumber Sandwiches and Cheddar and Pepper Jelly Crackers.

The table is set for Tea.

That tea cozy in the back made everyone smile (it's Grandmom's) - it was the unanimous favorite!

The Citrus Tea Cake, Peppermint Chocolate Triangles and Russian Tea Cakes.

The Russian Tea Cakes seem to have made it into every picture. They were so glowy and white and lovely.

And they tasted really good, too.

A Teacup waiting for Tea next to Roast Beef and Horseradish Sandwiches.

The Russian Tea Cakes...again.

I dropped little stars of Star Anise as decoration around the cakes (even though the tea cakes don't have any anise in them at all).

I thought they were so pretty in contrast with the white round tea cakes.

Kids at Tea

Sunshiney Sophia enjoying her first Tea.

Little Lillian at the tea table. This picture, and Lilly in general, make me giggle and want to pinch things. :)

Leif enjoyed the Tea, gathering all the goodies on his plate, and drinking out of a fancy cup :)

Post-Tea Shenanigans

Leif and Sophia had a ball playing IN the storage bin of the Window Seat.

Sophia, Leif and Aunt Amy drive to New York where the kids decided to go on a whim. Aunt Amy is holding a box that Leif gave her (to take to NY). Leif is driving and making Vroom Vroom noises, hence the lips :)

Leif and Aunt Lisa watch Mary Poppins together.

Leif watched it for the first time in a long time yesterday and he was actually interested in it this time round, laughing at the funny parts and telling us all about the parts he loved, "They jumped into a picture!" :)