2013 in snapshots

January

We became godparents.

John and I PR'd in Disney races--my second marathon, his (?) fourth half-marathon.

February

John and Anna's first Sweetheart Ball.

Our first trip to Hawaii. (Must go back!)

March

A certain little lady turned four.

April

John and I celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary.

May

Will turned seven and completed first grade.

June

Nana, Missy, Laurie, Anna, and I had a fun time celebrating Nana's birthday in DC.

And we started a lot of fun summer activities, including VBS and swim league at the Y.

July

Our family trip to Jackson Hole, Yellowstone NP, and the Grand Tetons was the highlight for July.

August

Another school year began--second grade for Will, and Anna's last year of preschool, sob.

September

John got a new car!

And we went to my College of Medicine ten-year reunion.

October

I celebrated yet another birthday (they just keep coming!) and Grandma became an Ormond Beach citizen for a few months.

And we had a princess and a ninja visit for Halloween.

November

I ran my third marathon.

We found out we would be getting a new family member via a Facetime chat with Cindy and Shawn on Thanksgiving Day.

December

Well, December was full of all the fun craziness that December brings.  And was well-documented on this blog.  Yay for (almost) daily blogging--I'm done!  

Anna B, Unplugged

I think we've driven everyone nuts with Anna's hula-dancing, but she decided to favor us with a performance of her favorite tunes from her Christmas program a few weeks ago, and I recorded it.  And I love it!

Christmas in Orlando

We went to Orlando yesterday to celebrate Christmas with Grandma, Cindy, Shawn, Foxy and Pepper.  We first stopped by a surprise baby shower for Cindy and Shawn (I think that cat is out of the bag to everyone now--we are soooo excited to be getting a new niece/cousin!!), and then went to Grandma's apartment for dinner and presents.

Anna and Will playing with Foxy:

Pepper was there, too, but the kids left her alone!

Both kids played elf this year:

Helping Foxy with a present:

The princess boots were a huge hit with Anna last year...and now she has a new pair of boots to enjoy this year:

And her first Barbie doll:

I thought we'd get a lot of requests for a puppy after this, but the kids just said they were sad the dogs had to go back to California.  Whew!  I think we'll stick with hermit crabs for now.

That wrapped up all the gift exchanges, but I am totally keeping the tree up until Epiphany this year, so we are still in Christmas mode.  Anybody have suggestions for celebrating the Twelve Days of Christmas? :-)

Handmade Holidays

I didn't make very many handmade presents this year.  I did squeeze in a knitted cowl for Leah:

And I finished my Facebook craft pledge gifts with an Advent pillow and an Advent package (not very handmade, but at least it was hand assembled):

I sent that one to Yomary for the kids to do; I used Advent verse printables from here and had candy for each day, along with nativity figurines for several days (from the Charlie Brown nativity) and some other activities and gift cards.  It was so fun to put together.

After Anna's refusal of my offering to make her a princess dress, I realized my years of sewing for my children--and having them enthusiastically accept the results--is limited.  So I decided to do a few holiday sewing projects for them.

I made the Puppet Theater from Little Things to Sew.  It's sewn on a canvas drop cloth and sized to fit in a doorway on a tension rod:

In action on Christmas Day (thank goodness for puppets in the Dollar Spot at Target, perfect timing!):

Both kids love to draw pictures and are very, very proud of their artwork.  I decided to print out fabric using their drawings (via Spoonflower) and make them some PJ's.

I have no experience with manipulating graphics (and no applications in which to do so), so I just scanned their pictures and uploaded them to Spoonflower without alteration, then tiled them on fabric.

Will's whale:

Anna's rainbow:

The fabric (cotton poplin) turned out well, although I wish I'd figured out a way to saturate the colors.  Anna's fabric was more faded than her original drawing.

I made the pants from the Oliver and S Sleepover Pajamas pattern.  Spoonflower fabric is expensive, so I just ordered enough for the pants and then appliqued some t-shirts from Old Navy to complete the set.

Kids modeling their new jammies on Christmas night:

They were a hit!  And I was thrilled they liked them as much as their new store-bought jammies. :-)