Merry Christmas

This is the Christmas letter I sent out ....

I hope this letter finds you well and I hope this year has been a blessed one.
This year has brought forth many things for this family and probably for you too.
In May we packed up and moved to the Central Coast. We have been so fortunate to have a great house in the country.
Eric has a great job and I am home with the kids.

Kira turned four in April and has been such a delight. She is such a learning sponge. I love it.
She can write her letters and numbers.
She is constantly asking me how to spell things.
Kira is very eager to read, so we might begin basics in January.
She is excelling in her speech class and is getting all her sounds so much better.
She still loves to draw and is an amazing artist.
She got second place in a local coloring contest!
I really enjoy teaching her and she is such a helper around the house.

Enzo had yet another amazing year.
He was able to get transferred to therapy up here (did take forever though).
He loves his Occupational therapist (OT).
Enzo was receiving In-Home therapy through the school district.
When he had his evaluation at 2 and 1/2 he scored at 3 years and above
for many of the educational skills and therefore does not need it!
He did start speech therapy with a great teacher and I can already hear a difference.
At our Mommy and Me class just last month he had a major break through.
We were peeling clementines and he held it with his right hand(good hand) and started peeling with his left side(weak side). I was almost in tears. This is the hardest bilateral movement he has done.
We have been working on taking his shirt off with minimal to no help.
Well, he can do that too! He will initiate doing it too.
I think the light bulb has gone on and it seems like he is very aware of his left side and wants to use it without me coaching him to.
Praise God, for He is good!

We as a family have had a great year with lots of change, but good change.
We hope your Christmas is super and that you have a blessed New Year.

Christmas in the Air

Oh how I love this time of the year. It is cold and all I want to do is curl up in a blanket and crochet, knit or snuggle with the kids. But I have been doing quite a bit. I crocheted the cutest slippers and hat with ear flaps for Kira for Christmas morning. Made Enzo some Spiderman mittens and hat with ear flaps. I used a red skein and a blue skein of yarn together and crocheted Spiderman type of design. I am planning on making him slippers and her mittens so they each have the same set.

The rest of the list for handmade gifts is as follows:
Pajamas for everyone
Felted Knit Slippers for Eric
Finish the Dolls for the Kids-
*Pirate (Jack Sparrow)
*Pirate (Will Turner?)
*Girl (Lucy)
*Girl (Kira doll) Last year Kira doll had a few flaws and has been so loved but has holes so I am refurbishing her.

Doll Cradle (hopefully we will get this made but if not Her birthday is in April and we will do it then)

I think I am biting off more than I can chew but we will see:)

The past few weeks we have been busy making Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments for teacher gifts. We handed them out yesterday and everyone loved them. What an easy but beautiful gift for teachers. Inexpensive too and the kids had so much fun making them.

This last Saturday we went to see our friends who are here on furlough from Kenya for a month. What a blessing to see them and hear how God is using them to minister to the people there.

My parents are coming on Friday to visit until Sunday. They got an amazing deal at the hotel and Saturday night we are staying there and having a mini vacation with the kids.

We will spend Christmas Eve with Eric's parents and Christmas day we will be home all day at our house making new memories and traditions as a family. Breakfast will maybe consist of cinnamon rolls or something yummy and probably going to make a Honey Ham and scalloped potatoes for dinner. Lots of down time.

What are your traditions? What do you make for dinner?

Thanksgiving!

I am thankful for my beautiful family.
I am thankful for our house in such a wonderful place.
I am thankful I have food to feed my family.
I am thankful for clothes on our backs.
I am so very thankful for a loving and merciful God who takes care of all of us.

When I asked the kids what they were thankful for, these were their responses.

Kira said "I am thankful for Jesus died on the cross"

Enzo said " I am thankful that Jesus is in my heart"

I could not be more blessed with those responses.
I am so thankful!

Going No Shampoo

Okay I have tried and failed before but now I am really serious. It has six weeks since I used shampoo on my hair. "Gross" some may say, but I am doing it. I knew there was a transition period of a few weeks but nothing like I have gone through. I was starting to get frustrated and I almost went back to my shampoo. But last night I had a revelation. It is the hard water! I read another gal's blog about going no poo as people call it. She was having the same issue but noticed when she stayed at a hotel her hair was soft and shiny. So she realized it was the hard water. Thank you, thank you. I used her method last night and my hair is almost perfect. I think I need more solution because my hair is sooo thick.

Here it is for you hard water folks

Boil 1 quart of water
Add 1/4 of Baking Soda (now be careful because I did not think about it and it overflowed on me, so pour in slowly)
Mix and let cool
Put it in a squeeze bottle and use like the normal solution
Get your hair wet in the shower
Saturate hair and rub in scalp and rinse
Follow with Apple Cider Vinegar solution for conditioner and rinse

My hair is soft and I can actually run my finger through it.
It looks great and I am so much happier

And it is cheaper too

Homemade Toothpaste Recipe

• 2 Tablespoons of coconut oil
• 2 to 3 Tablespoons of baking soda
• few drops of pure Peppermint extract
  

I made this last night for the kids because I ran out of the Tom's Maine fluoride free and did not want to pay $5 for another tube. Simple Mom had these recipes and more.

I used this recipe last night minus the peppermint extract, I did not have any, but the kids liked it. Cool!
I love making things cheap and natural.

Kira's Recipe for Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Recipe
By: Kira

Step 1:
Use a mixing bowl and hundreds of flour

Step 2:
Mix it really hard and pour it into a cookie jar

Step 3:
Then put them into the oven to cool

Step 4:
Get the raisins on the cookies

Step 5:
Then you put them into the candy bowl and almost done,
then you eat them with milk and put them in the fridge

Now that is my kind of recipe!

Crayon/Marker Roll-ups

So I had theses two slings that I had bought, one for Eric and one for me, that we never really used. They had a great print and I am trying to re-purpose things. I seam ripped it and used only a portion of it to make a crayon roll-up and marker roll-up. Now the original fabric had seems already so I did not want to hassle with re-doing those so it is a little longer than the pattern calls for. I just made extra pockets. For Kira's I used a ribbon and button to close it up. Enzo can not do buttons so I used elastic to close his up. I did not take more than two hours in total between distractions and all. Fun and easy and re-purposing. So my camera is working but the dial up on my computer is taking forever to download the picture. Sorry, yet another craft without a pic. I will try to go to the library this week and use their wifi.

Sewing Machine and Sewing Kit for Kids Giveaway!

Skip to My Lou is having a super giveaway. An ALEX sewing machine for kids and a sewing kit. I have been teaching Kira how to sew using yarn and those plastic cut out shapes, like a star. She has been using a plastic needle and loving going down the rows and doing it right. Well I have wanted to get her a sewing machine because she constantly asks if she can help when I sew and she wants to know how it works. Here is my chance and yours to try to win a sewing machine or sewing kit from ALEX toys. Go to Skip to My Lou and either leave a comment, add her on Facebook, add ALEX toys on Facebook, add either of them on Twitter for entries. I hope you enter but I hope I win....haha! I really never win anything so I am hoping this is the one!


Good Luck All!