First 48: Baby Xavier

Was blessed to be able to document Xavier's Nikovanni's birthday!  His dad created his middle name--isn't it a nice one?  I'm working on a slide show, but had to tease you with a few shots first.     OK.  More than a few--but he's so adorable, and his mom is so beautiful.  Holy Hannah! Seriously gorgeous--and after giving birth, too.  It's sooo not fair!

Again, these are just a few and are the less--erm--intimate ones.

Sparks the Elf

We started the Elf on the Shelf thing this December.  It was kind of fun--although the elf IS rather creepy looking.  The kids started writing little notes to him, and he'd reply.  Julia gave him cookies and other goodies, and he got the kids a Christmas ornament.

I forgot to post some photos of the "best of the elf," so without further ado, I present to you--Sparks.

 Helping take out the tree decorations.

Indulging in a nice, sweet breakfast while attending an elf meeting.

Kinda like a ball pit--only with marshmallow "snowballs!"

The kids had a really hard time finding him up here!

I really appreciated the help this year. 

Must get squeaky clean after all that messing around.

I don't have photos of him sharing Christmas cookies with Julia's stuffed animals, diving off a Christmas tree branch, sleeping in the gravy boat, eating from the gingerbread house...which reminds me that I KNOW I took some photos of the gingerbread house and him by it.  Hang on...hmn.  I looked through everything and they appear not to be on my computer, or else they'll show up somewhere odd.  How strange.  He was with us for about three weeks, and got into all kinds of mischief--it's just the mother who wasn't as with it as she should have been with the camera.  I'll have to dig out the little notes the kids wrote and scan them.  They were sweet, and his responses were remarkably wise, considering the mess he made around here...

Groovy doggie

Oooh yeah, we've got one groovy dog.

Cool man...

Lone photos

This Christmas, I took only two photos.  Two.  The rest of the time I just enjoyed being with the kiddos without an appendage.  So here are the photos.

And inexplicably, although I have no pictures of dinner--I have one of the cake.  Why? Not sure.  But here it is:

It's a fudgy brownie peppermint torte, but since I didn't have four 9-inch pans to make it more torte-like, so the layers are thicker and there are only three of them.  Anyway, I digress.  Brownie layers, cream cheese and peppermint filling.  Festive.

And that's that!  Two photos but probably the most relaxing Christmas I've had in years.  

I hope your Christmas was merry and that you have a wonderful 2012.  I'm excited that I can finally write it on my checks.  I've been doing it and having to cross it out for months.  It slides so smoothly off the pen--2012--that it just has to be a great year!

Nighters.

This is for you, Mom!

Lefse day right before Christmas.  I'm pleased to report that they turned out better than any I've done before, I was able to roll them paper thin for once, and Meryl was happy to eat them saying they didn't taste like dry tortillas this time.  Yes, it was a different recipe (sorry Grandma).  Cream and a little sugar makes everything taste better, yes?

Silverware Windchimes

Last year I wanted to make some vintage spoon bracelets and got a great deal on a lot of silverware on Ebay.  Somewhere along the line I saw a set of windchimes made with silverplate and decided to make one for my mother-in-law for Christmas to use the various bits and pieces of silverware that I didn't use for bracelets.  It wasn't too hard to make--although bending the fork tines was a bit ouchy on my hands. I used beads that I had lying around the house.  It was just handy that I had enough to make this! 

They sound really gentle and pretty.

Might just have to make a set for us!

To make:

You need:  A piece of iron.  2 sterling dinner forks.  4 assorted shorter forks/spoons/knives.  Pliers.  Leather.  Drill and drill bit (teensy.  1/16 I think I used).  Hammer.  Fishing twine.  Beads.  Scissors.

Get yourself a piece of iron. I had a small piece from a railroad track. Worked great! Wrap a piece of silverware in the leather, lay it on the piece of iron, and pound it flat with a hammer.  Repeat with each piece of silverware.

Drill a small hole in the top of the handle and center and just above the tines of a fork.  Do the same with the handle of another fork.

Wrap the fork handle with a piece of leather to help grip into the vise and avoid tool marks.

Stick the fork handle into the vise right up to the tines.  Bend the tines, center ones forward and back and side ones outwards.  A lot of elbow grease works, as does a hammer.  Just be sure to cover the tines with leather if using a hammer of pliers to avoid tool marks.

Bend and curl the tines using pliers . 

Be sure to put the leather between the pliers and the silverware to avoid tool marks.

Repeat with second fork.

Drill holes in the handle of 4 assorted spoons/forks/butter knives.

Tie the pieces together with fishing twine and beads as shown in the photo. 

I twisted a piece of wire through the top fork and decorated with a large bead for hanging.

Polish well with silver polish.

Voila!  A unique and pretty gift for a garden lover.

Note:  If I were to do it again, I might drill a little hole in each fork tine of the forks that I'll be curling before I curl them.  That way it would be easier and nicer looking when attaching the chime parts.  Just a thought.

Christmas Card

It seems like I only get out Christmas cards every two or three years, so when I do I like to do something kind of fun or creative.  One year, we did a card that was kind of like those "I Spy" books.  You know, where there's a whole bunch of stuff laid out and you have to find little objects among the mix.  I put out Christmas ornaments, beads, lights--and then stuck in little bits and pieces like a little car, paintbrushes, etc to represent certain things that had happened to us that year.  Another year I did a newspaper type thing (that was fun!).  This year I blatantly ripped off an idea that I found on line.  If you'd like to steal the idea from here, go ahead.  It was quite simple to do in Photoshop, and would probably work fairly well in Publisher as well, although it would take a bit more time probably. 

This year our list was trimmed dramatically, so I posted it on FB as well, so friends could see it there.

And now, for your viewing pleasure, our 2011 Christmas card:

Of course, I COULD send out one like this, but since the idea of my kids taking Swedish lessons to prepare their Nobel Peace Prizes seems rather preposterous, I'm just happy to report that we survived 2011 fairly intact and happy, that we're looking forward to the coming year, and we wish you all the very best!