Gingerbread Crafts

 Last Christmas my cousin brought his precious kiddos into town.  I had them over one morning for a gingerbread brunch.  Blythe and I have been crafting together since she was 6 months old.  Really.  She was more a victim at the time-paint a hand/force her to stamp something with it, at the time, but now she loves crafting and she has a little brother, Jonathan to join her.
I found some bird houses for a dollar and sprayed them brown to look like gingerbread houses.  I decided this would be easier than the 'real thing' this year.

 I found a bunch of glittery foam stickers and jewels and let them go forth and decorate.

The thought is they can maybe even hand these little treasures on a tree of their own....or at least keep them for a fun memory for a month or two.

 We also decorated gingerbread cookies.  I used store bought gingerbread dough and a canned icing.  I bought a bunch of misc candy.

 ...and they put their artistic skills to work.

 I also had them paint some little wooden angel ornaments.  Yes, gingerbread men would have been better, but Blythe and I already did a gingerbread themed ornament one year....

 Blythe wrote her name with a silver pen and I added a bell and a bow to the front.  I appreciate that as long as all the letters are present, it counts as her name.  Cutest.  Name.  Ever.

Gingerbread Brunch

 Last year my cousin's little kiddos came into town to celebrate Christmas.  I love taking a day and doing something special with them that will hopefully build happy Christmas memories.  This year I decided to have a gingerbread brunch.  I sent the Gingerbread Boy book, shirts, and an invite about a month before.  Their Mom told me that they read the book every night.

 I loved hearing them talk about the 'gingerbread brunch' both before and after.  Special memories, even for a moment=success.  I found some little gingerbread house plates at Oriental Trading along with some little suckers.

 Blythe loves suckers.

 I used some little jars I had (from Hobby Lobby) to serve our drinks, along with some waters that I made my own label for.  I found this free printable and taped it on with a red strip of paper.

 I also found these little gingerbread peeps, which I slid down the straws to the other drinks.  The 'squishy things' were Blythe's personal favorite.

 I made a breakfast casserole for the adults along with pancakes and all the fixings.

 For the kids, I used a cookie cutter, spray it down with cookie spray, and filled it with pancake batter.  When side one cooked, I flipped.

 A few of these guys got a little crispy...but then I got a little busy and so....you get the idea.

 I added some gingerbread cookies to the top of applesauce.

 I also put little fruit on these gingerbread picks I got from Amazon.  This was Jonathan's favorite.

 I used a boxed gingerbread mix from Trader Joe's and baked them up in a gingerbread man shaped pan from Wilton.

 After breakfast we made little wooden gingerbread houses, cookies, and ornaments.

 I think the adults enjoyed it as much as the kids, but I sure was grateful for a group that could appreciate some of the finer things in life-apple sauce and peeps.

Family Tales and Bunny Tails

 This is my static electricity, slide riding niece, Blythe.  She came to visit last month, and my heart actually hurts as I write this.  I know most of my blog is more about crafts and food-and I have over a hundred post set to post all craft and food related, but first....I realize anyone visit inghas their own little family to care about, but this little girl inspires me....

 She is the recipient of many a craft, and her personalty fills up my world.
Last year her mama and daddy added this little guy to the mix...

They live in a land far, far away called California, and they come for a visit once a year.  Thus far, we have also been able to get up to see them once a year, but it will never be enough time.  I was able to spend time with them each day they were here for the entire week, but a lifetime of daily Candyland games and singing made up songs wouldn't be enough.

I missed our traditional zoo day this year (boo to staff development days), but we tried out the Rainforest Cafe this year, which was a little scary at 3 1/2.  

At 14 months, Jonathan was less concerned about his surroundings being scary.  He currently stays at a home daycare and his provider is most comfortable speaking Spanish, which makes for interesting toddler babble.  Thus far, the only thing I understand is his request for agua.  He also likes to jam out to any music he hears that originates south of the border....so cute.  I think the hope is to continue this in his life and eventually enroll him in a bilingual program....which gives us 3 years to catch up to this guy.  At this point he's laid back and does those cute baby giggles.  

I had the family over one night for Easter dinner since we won't be together this year and for dessert we made bunny tails....(cotton candy with my little machine).  

 Blythe thought I was saying bunny tickles...until she saw the end product she got really nervous about a what a bunny tickle would be and wouldn't stand close for tail number one....

 We also did our annual craft, or 'crat' as Blythe let the rest of the family know we were making.  We've made an ornament together every year.  This year=macaroni art-so appropriate because home girl could eat (and does when allowed) mac and cheese for every meal.  I cut out some cardboard with a hole punch and I added some glue dots and let her select from some random noodles.

 I sprayed it silver, then added adhesive spray and had Blythe glitter it all up.

 She hung this proudly on Nana's fridge until she left....and then for ornament two....
This one she was the most proud about.....She told me she wanted three noodles only....
After the first one I thought she'd forget about this one, but she asked for it over and over again every day I saw her until I finally brought it....it's kind of my favorite thing right now....

Among family dinners and barbie playdates I stole my cousin Holly and cousin-in-law Lydia away.  We went downtown and I did a live craft segment on GMT.  I took the morning off intending to get out nails done and grab some lunch together at a tea room.  It turns out the show was doing a live audience this morning, and so they snagged my cousins to be a part of the audience.  This made for an even more interesting experience....so fun.  They were forced to dance with props.  

...and now I'm going to apply for jobs in California.  Then Tennessee.  Then Florida.   I can't take all this separation from these cute children.  Jobs, bills, and lack of lottery winnings is really holding me back, man.  

Blythe's Vacation Book

 My family made a trip into town in May.  My cousin brought his precious little kiddos with him.  Blythe is three now, but....Aunt Christy, the teacher has been making 'educational' gifts for her since before she was 3-D (aka....birthed).  Last year, when they came, we went to the zoo, and I made her a book.  I had taken pictures of her looking at each animal, and bound it together for her to read.  She read it to pieces.  She's a fan of parroting, and loved 'reading' the book.  At her parents request, when we visited the zoo again I took more pictures and made another book.  These are really easy to put together, and they help cement some Texas 'memories.'  I printed the pages on cardstock front and back.  I took them to a teacher store and was able to laminate the pages for 25 cents a foot (I had 11 pages and it cost me 1.25).  They also have those little book binding combs for 25 cents.  1.50 later....I had a book.  I just threw the pages together through Microsoft Word.  I'm sure you can jazz them up, but.....Blythe is a little rough and tumble at this age and I think she'll appreciate this 'as is.'  I gave this to her to be able to take and enjoy on the plane ride, and in the land far far away called California :O(....gosh, next time I guess her little brother Jonathan may be getting his own little book to enjoy....let's hope it's so soon 'reading' isn't on the agenda yet for him.  Here are the additional pages.  I tried to repeat as many of the sentence structures as possible with pictures of the animals.  NOT that she needs that because, duh, she's brilliant!