snapshots of Christmas

favorite youtube videos

Theo – hahahaha

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzQUtElQXX0

Seth –store wars

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUi43BCrsH0

Isaac – lego star wars

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O61Do03ZCjw&feature=related

Jon – white and nerdy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xEzGIuY7kw

Jan – mr bean in church

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFw2LxKB4i4

loss and grace

We can't find the box of Seth's artwork anywhere. We spent hours looking yesterday and have exhausted all possibilities at home. The box also includes his school pictures, cards he has received, school projects...everything since his first drawings. I've been feeling sick about it. Last night I braced myself before I told Seth. I was preparing my response to "OK, then we're going to have to throw away everything that Isaac has ever drawn!" Seth saw my teary eyes as I explained. "Well, I can start making up for the lost ones right now," he said as he reached for the markers and started drawing. Our last hope was dashed today when we heard that it hadn't accidentally been moved to Portland with Lois Jean instead of here. I'm thankful for the few that we scanned.

creations

Seth is full of creative ideas and usually has several simultaneous projects going in various stages of completion. Yesterday he created a treasure hunt of sorts, changing the search from presents to stars and trees for today's hunt. The picture with his cousin Annelise is from a play the kids created and performed for the adults. I haven't yet gotten around to taking photos of today's confetti salt shaker or yesterday's duct tape shooter or yarn trap....I guess I'm too busy vacuuming up the scraps and putting scissors back in place.

crawl space

In my parents' new house in Goshen, there is a crawl space in the basement because the Mennonites who built it didn't want to spend the extra change to finish out the basement. Before our last visit, my mom put carpets down and cleared out some boxes so the kids could play there. We took a trip to the thrift store and got 4 strings of Christmas lights, a coffee table, tablecloth, and cloth to hang up to hide the insulation. The kids love the space, and even the adults got in on a bit of the excitement.

duct tape wallet

A few weeks ago I made a duct tape wallet for a friend for her birthday. I got the instructions online at http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Duct-Tape-Wallet

Tonight I was looking at the online catalog hearthsong and found a duct tape wallet kit for kids for $20. I guess it's the in thing now.

fiddling around

During a pause in Isaac’s violin practice tonight, he started fiddling around with a melody he was familiar with, but had never played. We found the piece on our computer MP3 files and he played along by ear. Theo and Jon waltzed together in the living room.