Even More Christmas Crafting

In a post-move, pre-Christmas bout of apparent insanity I decided that I really needed to sew two five foot long piped cushion covers for the benches in our playroom.  After all, it looked so easy on that tutorial I found on Pinterest--how long could they possibly take to make with all of those child-free moments I have throughout each day?

Well, a week, several bandaged fingers and one semi-tearful meltdown in which I would have quit had I not already bought the cushion foam (so unexpectedly expensive!) later and they are finished.  Not photographed mind you, but finished.  I do think they were worth the effort, although if I had waited until after Christmas to do them it would have been a much more enjoyable project.  And also, you can all expect my Christmas cards to arrive late since writing heartfelt notes to all our friends and family took a backseat to my crazy this year. 

As per usual, David wanted to do what I was doing and, as I was not about to turn over my sewing machine when I was so determined to finish my own project, I set him up with a little sewing project himself.  I cut a quick felt tree out and tacked it down to some fabric scrap I had (painter's tarp?) and set him up with our handy jar-o-beads and he was off.

He literally spent hours picking out just the right beads and buttons and sewing them all on in just the right spot.

I think it turned out pretty cute, even if he did disregard all my suggestions for more colorful bead choices in favor of more black buttons.....it was his artistic vision after all :)

(The blue stripes are a peek at the cushion fabric--I used an old twin duvet cover for this project which just goes to show you that, contrary to my dear husband's belief, I'm not crazy for hoarding saving all the random bits and pieces of 'perfectly good' fabric that flow through our home.)

Now that I've got my major (and fairly unnecessary) projects completed I can get my focus back on preparing for Christmas.  I've got some major baking, house cleaning and yes--Christmas card writing to finish....okay begin....but then finish.

And in case you were wondering, it seems that the dinosaurs have not impeded Mary and Joseph's journey to the manger after all.  In fact, they appear to be helping :)

Advent

I can't believe we already have two candles burning on our Advent wreath.  Oh, our Advent wreath.  We got off to a rocky start this year after I lost the roll-your-own-beeswax-candles-kit that I had meticulously saved from last year and brought to our new house always making sure I knew right where it was so that it would be ready for Advent.  I did know where it was too, until round about Thanksgiving when it completely disappeared.  I kept searching the house just knowing that if I bought replacement candles I would inevitably find it but once we missed the first three days of Advent I couldn't wait any longer and headed off to the nearest Catholic bookstore.

I found the kit yesterday in a cabinet I had already searched twice.  On the bright side, I guess we're all set for next year.

We've got our toy nativities and Christmas book basket set up and our *nice* nativity has its animals for now and is slowly being filled with hay each time the boys do a kind deed to make a soft bed for baby Jesus.  Mary and Joseph are currently in our playroom making their way across our bookshelves for a Christmas Eve arrival.  Their way is actually currently being blocked by several different dinosaurs that David set up in an effort to ascertain if I was the one making them move each night or if they really are doing it themselves.  I'm not sure how the fact that there are dinosaurs in their way will prove anything one way or the other but I do love that he still believes in a bit of Christmas magic.

We've set aside our regular read alouds for Christmas stories.  We've already finished The Best Christmas Pageant Ever and have moved on to the Nutcracker (the version illustrated by Maureece Sendek--so good!).  We might do A Christmas Carol too if we have time.  I also did something completely out of character and bought a Christmas craft kit at the Hobby Lobby which the big boys loved and worked on without complaint--well without much complaint anyway--doing anything without at least a little complaining would truly be a Christmas miracle in this house.  It went so well I got some Christmas craft kits that my internet, to now real-life friend, Rosie put together which the boys did today and also loved.  I might be a crafting kind of mom after all.  Maybe.

In addition to Christmas crafts, I found out the boys love brownie batter and also Star Wars Lego Advent calendars.  Who would have guessed?

And nothing says Advent like Darth Santa ;)

This week we'll string popcorn for the tree and then probably put the ornaments up on Saturday.  And by we I mean of course that I'll string popcorn while the boys pretend to help so they can eat it--it is a Christmas tradition after all.  

Dads and Dresses

If I was a better blogger I would have taken pictures of Chris's first attempt at putting Margaret into this outfit.  He called me into the room in complete exasperation--he had put her tights on first, ruffles in front and then attempted to put on the onesie and couldn't figure out how to snap it because it would cover the ruffles which, again, were in the front.

Girls clothes.  So much more difficult than boys clothes.  And so much cuter.

In other news of baby cuteness, John has taken to demanding that he get to "hold baby!" several times throughout the day and he will not take no for an answer.  I think he must love her, even if she is usurping his throne.

Metro Rides and Museums Without Dinosaurs

We braved the cold and the metro this week on our first trip into the city.  It's only a little less than a mile to the nearest metro from our house so we just walked down took the kids on their very first metro ride.  The double stroller did just fine and the boys were really excited about being on "the monorail"--clearly we've been living too close to Disney for too long.

We were going to take the kids to the Natural History museum because--dinosaurs!!  Unfortunately when planning our visit online I found out that the dinosaurs have been removed from the museum for the next five years!  I cannot begin to describe the disappointment in the Reintjes house when that news was broken.  We promised to take them once the lame (and not nearly as exciting as the old exhibit) on American dinosaurs opens next week which offered some appeasement.

That and the promise of the Air and Space museum.

The boys loved all the planes and space stuff.  I, well I prefer the Natural History museum.......or the art museum.........or pretty much any other museum......

......and I'm pretty sure Margaret agrees with me...girls united against science!  I kid, I kid.....well, mostly..... ;)

Me:  Give me your best astronaut impression!
David:  Like what?
Me:  I don't know, pretend like you're floating in space.
David:  ..... (giving a very awkward thumbs up)
Me:  That's what you think astronauts are doing in space?

It was a fun first excursion into the city and now I'm confident I can handle the metro on my own with the children--I even know where all the relevant metro elevators are, which is a feat in itself!

I think I'll wait till spring to venture out alone though--the circus that is outfitting these little ones in all their winter gear is quite an adventure and the trip home from the metro is all uphill and no one wants to listen to whiny boys with frozen noses complain about all the injustices of their cold cold lives while pushing all their weight up a partially frozen hill.  At least, I don't.

The Move Begins

We'll, we are officially moved out of our house of the past two years--the moving truck is gone, house cleaned, keys turned in.  Chris pretty much handled everything including John Michael while the big boys, baby and I have spent most of the past two days alternating between saying goodbye to our friends and watching live TV in the cabin we rented behind our house--which is apparently an unfathomable nightmare for children whose viewing options are generally limited to Netflix and Amazon Prime:

child:  "I want to watch something different"
me:     "There isn't anything different, this is live TV."
child:   blank stare
me:     "Live TV means shows play one after another, you just have to watch the show that's playing right now."
child:   "Well just pause it then."
me:      "It doesn't pause, it's just TV"
child:   angry blank stare
me:      "It just doesn't pause."
child:   "Well can I at least have that super obnoxious Jake and the Neverland Pirates ship that doesn't even come with Captain Hook/amazing sugar cereal I've never seen before/cruise ship trip to the Caribbean?
me:     face palm

I did manage to make Chris take some unrelated pictures of me and the baby in between all of the goodbyes and television rants so I haven't been totally useless throughout this process.

As much as I don't love the climate in Florida and the fact that I'm pretty sure we are all allergic to the whole area in general, I'm really going to miss it here--especially all the friends we've made and living on base where everything was just so easy.

As I watched our moving truck filling up the reality of our leaving finally hit me.......but that wave of sadness was quickly overshadowed by the dread of knowing I'd have to put all of those things away again come Monday morning--probably with a house full of children running wild and attempting to escape out of the open front door directly into a very busy street.

That's the way it goes.  There's no time to mope when there's so much that still needs to be done.   I'll just have to save the moping for later, right now I've got a long drive tomorrow and one whole weekend to mentally prepare for the unpack......or pretend that it's not actually happening, we'll see how I feel.

I'm sure it will all work out in the end.  It usually does :)