Little Bird finally gets his first haircut!

You may remember a post a while back about poor Little Bird's crazy hair...or you might have noticed in this post how truly out of control it can be.

It finally became time to face the inevitable. Little Bird needed a hair cut.

For some reason, I had this need to be the first to take scissors to it. Even though I don't really have any idea what I'm doing. Little Bird, however, was smart enough to sit still just long enough for me to snip only once or twice.

{You can see how ridiculously long it is here, all combed out. And yes, he's wearing pink 

pajamas. He's totally jealous of Squirrel's glow-in-the-dark skeleton jammies 

(which she is afraid of), so he got to wear them. And I'm cool with that.}

{This is about where he started getting squirmy, so I tied those sweet little curls in the back 

and snipped them right off to keep for myself in a baby book.}

{*Sniff*Sniff*}

{And the next day, we headed to the beauty college for an actual cut.}

{Again, he sat still for about 30 seconds, so I am short on photos because 

I ended up sitting in the chair with him.} 

{Here's the finished product! It turns out he has the cutest ears ever and 

I am in LOVE with seeing them!} 

{Seriously, look at those adorable ears! And happily, he still has some curl.} 

{Next up for Operation Big Kid...getting rid of that pacifier...}

Merry Christmas!

{This is what "Merry" looks like!}

{And this...gazing at the manger while Mommy reads the Nativity story...

this melts my heart.} 

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."

May your Christmas be filled with love and wonder at the birth and life of our Savior.

The Platypus Complete!

I mentioned a few days ago that I was making this platypus for Little Bird. Well, I finished him last night and I have to say, he is utterly adorable! The pattern was super easy. I used a marshmallow fleece/faux fur for the body, and some faux leather for the bill and feet. What do you think?

I also made these jammies for the kiddos for their Christmas Eve present tonight. They might be enormous...in which case, I guess we'll wear them next year. {The pattern seemed to run a little large.}

I just love this Ooga Booga print, and the green and red was too cute to pass up. 

Christmas Traditions

One of the traditions in the Mister's house growing up, was making graham cracker candy houses. We've done it the last several years with his family because we have spent Christmas there, but this year, we are on our own, so I wanted to make sure that tradition was carried on, both for the Mister, and for the kids.

Graham crackers, burned sugar, royal icing and LOTS of candy make for a sweet Christmas tradition!

{Once Little Bird got down to the business of actually applying, 

rather than eating, all the candy, he was very serious about his task.}

{And then, he was smart enough to figure out that he could add a lot more candy if he FILLED the house with candy. This cracked up the Mister, because he did the same thing as a kid.} 

Merry Christmas! We hope it is as sweet as ours!

{Handmade Gift: Free Pattern from Funky Friends!}

One of the items on my list of Christmas to-dos is making a stuffed animal for Little Bird. I've been looking up and down for something sweet and fun that he can call all his own. (He loves stuffed animals, but currently, Squirrel has the corner on that market.}

As I was looking, I came across this positively perfect platypus pattern. {Ok, that was some spectacular alliteration, and I have to admit I didn't even plan on it!} He comes from the Funky Friends Factory, the brain-child of Aussie Pauline, who designs and sells the patterns in her down time.

{Stock Photo}

As I browsed the website, and was completely torn by which one to buy, I also came across information about a free pattern download for the Honey the Easy Teddy Bear Pattern.

{Stock Photo}

All you need to do is buy any one of her other patterns, OR simply sign up for the Funky Friends Factory newsletter. How cool is that?

The patterns are simple to follow and you can choose to have a pattern mailed to you, OR instantly download it and get started immediately {the option I chose, since I am such a procastinator}!

In addition to the free Honey Bear pattern, Pauline also encourages users to take part in the "Billion Bears Charity Drive" to make and donate as many bears as possible for any charity of your choice.

I was so delighted and surprised at the Honey Bear pattern, that I may even try to squeeze a couple in for  some kids I love before Christmas arrives, and thought I'd spread the word too.

I'll try to share my own versions once I get them done!

{Winter Visitors}

Two weekends ago, we had the fabulous pleasure of hosting my sister and two of her boys here in Idaho for a few days. It was both her and the Mister's birthday, so we spent time playing and celebrating. Squirrel's cousin Rex is her absolute best friend, and it is always such an incredible joy to watch the two of them play together.

{The kiddos played in the snow...}

But after a couple of sled rides down the hill, Rex decided he was done and and announced that he would "never play in the snow again, and never build a snow man and never sled", which may have had something to do with the snowball Squirrel threw at the back of his head. Apparently, she has forgotten about warm weather and couldn't understand why he wouldn't think snowballs were great fun...

So, the Mister decided to try to make dare-devil stunt-sledders out of the babies, 

against my advice...

{...this of course could only end in tears...}

{Luckily, hot chocolate is good for cold fingers and the soul.}

{Bath time with four babies=too much fun!}

And after bath time, what could be more fun than a PJ jump-fest?

{I love these kiddos...}

{AND how much they love each other!}

Of course, it couldn't all be fun on games. On the way back to the airport, we drove in the rain. Unfortunately, the rain suddenly turned to snow, and the wet road suddenly froze. 

We, unfortunately, went sliding out of control and ended up in a bank of ice. 

{No getting out of this one on our own...}

{At least I wasn't the only one...see the cars ahead of us that found their way off the highway at the same moment too?}

 Aunt Lindsey kept the babies happy with made up stories and fun songs while we 

waited for help and I talked to the highway patrolman who stopped to check on us. 

The kiddos all seemed to think it was a great adventure.  

{My lovely view while waiting.}

Thankfully, some good Samaritans with a big old truck and a tow cable came and rescued us before the Mister even made it to us. And we still had plenty of time to make the flight, getting Aunt Lindsey and the boys home safely. 

As we pulled back onto the highway after our rescuers pulled us out, I said to my sister, 

"Who said Idaho isn't exciting?" and Rex piped up from the back:

"Not ME! I didn't say that!" 

An exciting weekend indeed!