Decorating Mom's Tree

Mom usually puts up an artificial tree, but this year we decided she'd go with a real, smaller one. 

And here is my strong sister lifting the tree.

The cat (Thing 1 I think.  Yes there is a Thing 2 as well...)  enjoyed playing with the lights. 

Lights!

My sister's shoes are made of catnip apparently.

My mommy!

Me!

And my strong sister!

Christmas decorations

Just a few pictures from our Christmas decorating this year:



We lost two four-legged family members this year (Max the dog and Callie the cat), and this is the first year all our stockings fit together on the mantle.  *Sigh.* 

I have several snowmen and Santas, although I don't actively collect them anymore.  The wooden decorations on the left and the middle were decorated with help from my two sisters many years ago.

Macy was so over the decorating, once she got through with her annual "barking at the tree." 

Here I am hanging our 2011 ornament.  It reflects somewhere we went for the first time this year, Virginia Beach. 

This is as good as family portrait as we could get this year.  Gabby the cat was thrilled, as you can see.  Ha!

And Macy had to get into this one too.  :) 

Christmas snacks

Part of Mr. GV's family is headed out to Arizona for Christmas, so we had our Christmas get together with them last night.  I made some snacks to take along.


Vegan sausage balls---Lightlife sausage, Daiya cheese, and Bisquick.  So good, and all the non-vegans (meaning everyone other than Mr. GV and myself) thought they were good too!

Homemade Chex Mix.  I couldn't find bagel chips that didn't have several chemicals thrown in, so used pita chips instead. 

Fudgy Oatmeal cookies from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. 

Were they good cookies?  Please see Exhibit A below; Mr. GV enjoying the last of the dough out of the mixer bowl.

Park time

One day in November J and I decided to go to the park.  I think we picked the coldest day possible!  We were the only ones there (it was during school hours) but J seemed to stay warm running around in the sun. 

Learning to balance...

As we were walking to the car, J spotted some tiny acorns and decided he should take them home for the squirrels at my house.  I guess the squirrels who live at the park are on their own!

Flower power

J is just learning to use scissors.  Right now he's using his left hand, but we'll see see if that sticks.  (He also does a lot of writing with his left hand.  His great-grandfather, great-uncle, and his Ahna are all left-handed, so it wouldn't surprise me if he sticks with that.) 

We cut out some shapes together and glued them on to craft sticks.

He decided one of the flowers would be for his mommy, and one for his daddy, as a welcome present from him.  They arrived a few days before Thanksgiving.

                                    

Pinecone bird feeders

In November, J and I made pine cone bird feeders.  I just happened to find the project listed at an online kids' site, and J's mommy had told me he had been wanting to do this same thing since he saw Agent Oso do it on his show.

First step was to collect the pine cones.  We had a pine tree that fell along the edge of the woods a couple months ago, so there were plenty of pine cones to be found.

J decided 5 was enough.  I think he was tired of his hands being pricked through his gloves. 

The next step is to smear peanut butter all over the pine cone,

which takes a lot of concentration of course.  lol

Next you roll the pine cones in birdseed.

You might get messy, but that is half the fun!!

Then you tie some twine around the end. He was SO PROUD of what he made.  This was the most excited I saw him get over a project. 

Then we tied them around tree branches and near the bird feeder.  On the way back in he said "This was so much fun!! " We checked the next day and it appeared the birds had been nibbling.

It's not fall without a leaf pile

One October night at bedtime, J and I were discussing what our favorite season was.  We both agreed fall was our favorite.  He said he couldn't wait for fall.  I clued him in that fall had been around for oh....about a month already.  lol We talked about our favorite things to do in fall, and his was jump in a pile of leaves.  So naturally, I had to oblige!  I mean really, what is easier to do than that?

There's that look of concentration.

He decided he wanted to rake up a pile for me, so that I could jump in. 

Boys playing

Friday afternoon we went to my aunt and uncle's house so J could play with a couple boys near his age--a cousin and the cousin of a cousin.  That's how we roll in a small town, when both sides of the family are from the same place.  We grow up knowing not just our cousins, but the cousins of our cousins from their other side of the family. 

 Naturally if it's fall, there's got to be some time playing in leaf piles!

They discovered the old well.

 Uh oh!  Here comes Great-Uncle Stanley/Papa!

 Oh OK, after he talked to us about the well, he got in on our light saber fight.

 And then D, J's daddy, got in on it too.

 I love this picture because it looks like J has picked his daddy up off the ground. lol

 Cousin Leslie throwing the ball to J, while his daddy helps him at bat.

 Rolling down the hill in the house where his great-grandparents lived (and now his great-aunt and uncle live there.)  He hasn't quite got the rolling-down-a-hill thing, but he's getting there!

 Posing a couple of 3 year old boys who just finished a long session of playing?  Not easy.

 Cousin K had his finger in his ear, so J decided to do it too!

 After we went back to NaNa's house, J and I spent some time outside visiting with the horses.  We pulled grass and J practiced feeding them out of his hand. 

 And there was some kitty-loving happening too.