Four

Little Kasper has wondered, watched and counted the days to becoming four this entire Summer and Fall. We finally reached "3 and eleven twelfths" and Mama knew we were almost there and even though she was trying very hard to not wish away the days, you could not wait until this special day came.

 Three was filled with so much - I started the year soaking up all I could of you knowing big changes would come in September and wanting to savor. each. moment. Then September came and you filled the most amazingly huge, big shoes - becoming a big brother, stopping thumb sucking and starting preschool all at once and taking it all in stride. You are a superhero sweet boy. You have blossomed into this funny, silly, wild character that has a soft side that you used to reserve for Mama, but now is all for "Maggie." You love your little brother so and cannot hug, kiss, sniff and touch him enough. You continue to play with your big sister in such wonderful ways and you both astound me with your hours of fun outside or inside conspiring together and making the day yours.

 You are YOU through and through. Shaking up our world with your unique, fun, loving ways and never allowing any injustice to slip through the cracks without a loud shout (YOU FORGOT TO SAY "BLESS YOU!".). You keep Mama on her toes and oh how I love you for it.

We all love you so much. Happy 4th Birthday sweet Kasper - may this fourth trip around the sun be the trip you have been dreaming of!

Merry Christmas!

 Many blessings filled our days this week at home...

 

 

And while visiting family...

And back home again (with a special, already well loved handmade by Boppa)...

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Celebrating the Solstice

Finding light in the darkness...

PEACE

JOY 

LIGHT

Our own little family celebration this weekend was indoors due to the driving rain. We had a cozy time opening handmade gifts from Kap and Fia, drinking tea given to Kap from his teachers from their little preschool garden and watching the wet chickens navigate through the yard happily in the rain. We also ate our last cookies of the advent month, mexican chocolate acorns and made our annual yule log cake. It is a family recipe and so very yummy. I am not a chocolate girl and these are decidedly un-chocolatey chocolate cookies. 

Mexican Chocolate Acorns

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup confectioner's sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix together.

Melt 1 ounce or so of chocolate chips and mix it in.

Add up to 2 1/2 cups flour

Use a tablespoon spoon to shape cookies onto parchment paper.

Bake at 375 degrees for 5 to 7 minutes.

Cool.

Make chocolate glaze:

1 cup confectioner's sugar

1 ounce chocolate chips

4 teaspoons room temperature milk

Have sprinkles in a bowl and chocolate glaze in another. Dip one half of each cookie into glaze (scraping off the bottom of each cookie) and then dip into sprinkles. Dry on parchment paper.
WARNING: You might want to half the glaze amount or there will be a lot left over for your children.

AnaSofia made me a beeswax sign and both kids felted many sweet ornaments for us at school. Added to the painted gourds and pine cones we have done at home, the tree is looking pretty spiffy.

Thankfully Sunday arrived warm and clear so we headed to friends for a star filled Solstice celebration with a bonfire, good food, wild happy kids and a lantern walk to honor the longer days to come. Many blessings of light to you in these good days to come!

 us.

Five handed holidays

Hand me down, homemade, made with love, handmade with love... Five sets of hands working together on Solstice and Christmas projects...

 (go ahead and picture us all on the bed, on top of one another while Mama attempted a photo of all of our hands together... Yes, comical. I wish we had someone from above taking a photo of us all tangled together, it must have been quite the sight!)
AnaSofia working hard on coloring pictures Mama can use as gift tags and cards, Kasper and Mama roaming around in the woods to saw down just the right birch tree, Far taking it to work and cutting it to pieces, and Magnus - sweet Magnus sleeping through it all so we can get this work done.

 And finally, ten little packages sent out into the world to bring some joy to friends. A little later than the start of advent as Mama had hoped, but still in time to enjoy the light for the holidays... We love you friends.
This year we relied on some old favorites I have posted before (look back to our 2009 winter and valentine's day to see photos, I am too tired to link them up! Someday I will do categories and search functions!) that we love to do each year. As the littles grow, so does their skill level and it is amazing to see the changes in these past few years when we do the same project.
Here are a few that make great teacher gifts, add extra glitz to packages or make your own tree beautiful:
:: Salt dough ornaments. There are a ton of different recipes out there but I found this one some years back and we always come back to it for reference.
:: Paper stars. These decorate our house year around and look so beautiful. Even Kasper can do the folds, cutting and glue. I take over and use the hot glue gun at the end to join the two stars together.
:: Paper mache boats. Any paper mache project is pretty special, but a few years ago AnaSofia and I made a boat together from this design and we decided to do one this year for some friends who have a new little girl and together our husbands have a five year plan of our families sailing the Pacific together for a year, or something wonderful and crazy like that...

I am secretly working on some big projects for Solstice and Christmas that I am hoping fit what each little love needs right now. I start December with a huge list of ideas that I continually pare down as I realize I do not have enough hours in the day (kid free and awake anyways!) and knowing I want to enjoy this time too. It is the balance between merrymaking together, secret Santa work and just wanting time to be together that I am still working on... Watching AnaSofia get into the excitement and feverishly creating her own little gifts brings me such joy and I know we are on the right path... Hope you are finding joy in these days of December too!

Advent

 Slowly the traditions of the Christmas season unfold as the days tick by in this particularly balmy December. The house elf built a cabin outside his door this year to leave little notes and such for the kids. He has been busy working around the house fixing toys and other things that needed a little love...

FarMor and FarFar sent a huge package of advent gifts that hang on the calendar FarMor made for Soren when he was a boy. Each package is eagerly shaken, squished and gazed at in hopes of knowing what the contents might be and wondering when it is time to open such package (this has tied well into our homeschooling numbers and time lessons, but hits a little hard on the sleep schedule).

 The tablescape changes and changes again as we add a lighted advent candle each Sunday and the kids decorate around Santa. The amaryllis made it to the center of the table, another reminder to slowly watch the season unfold and not wish the days away until Christmas.

Kasper and I enjoy our two "home days" together baking and bringing him back to center after a few days at school.

I once knew a Mama who baked dozens of varieties of cookies that sat in tins on her back table to eat and share as gifts. This year, we are doing one batch each Advent Sunday while Soren is at work. It is nice to add a little rhythm to those Sundays and although we have not shared any cookies yet, we certainly are eating our fair share!

And AnaSofia surprised me with a little advent calendar of my own. She recycled a hot dog container (insert giggle here) and filled it with little slips of paper. I can shake out one slip each day and the meaning is revealed to me by the maker (most often it is a hug which is all I asked for Christmas this year).

These little reminders to slow down and enjoy each day are much needed by this Mama who makes her list of handmades a little late, a little ambitious and adds in crafts that must be done before the official Christmas crafting starts (more on that in another post, I need to get at it right now!). Happy Advent!

3 months...

Oh my. Really?! You are giggling with full fledged enthusiasm, sucking on that left fist you just found, starting to get suspicious of that sweet big brother who is always rubbing your ears and sniffing your head (Kaassper!), big sister has dissolved into a baby talking, cooing lovebug ("Mama my cheeks hurt from smiling at him so much but I just can't stop because he is sooooo cute!") and you recognize Far when he comes home from work (which also turns him into a mush)... So suffice it to say our hearts are full, we are all so in love with you in our own special way and I am trying, TRYING to slow it all down, embrace these lightning fast moments with you and absorb it into all my cells.