Live Love Laugh Learn

Decorating the tree

Oh, and Ryan also chose this night to begin his knitting career!

Christmas Trees

On December 1st Grammy and Grampa took the kids out to hunt for a Christmas tree while Mark and I were on a trip.  They had only a bit of snow so it was pretty easy getting around while they looked.  Here in Oregon you can get a $5 permit to cut your tree in the Deschutes National Forest, so there really is a fair amount of hunting involved!

A couple of weeks later we were finally able to go out and get our Christmas tree.  We decided to drive up the Black Butte road this time.  It took a while, but we found a mighty fine tree also!

Christmas Lights

Every Christmas Chloe and Ryan spend at least one night in December sleeping in the living room under the Christmas tree.  They used to sleep right on the floor with the lights on.  They've since graduated to wanting something a little more comfortable so this year they slept on the furniture.  I didn't know if they'd make it through the night, but they were still out there come morning. 

Photos with Santa

Chloe has never been afraid to sit on Santa's lap, but Ryan always has.  I don't think we have any photos of him with Santa, though I haven't looked through my woefully unorganized photos for one.  We got lucky this year when Grampa J was in the play, The Christmas Express.  He played a character who dresses up as Santa at the end of the play.  It's a nice story and we all enjoyed the play.  Afterwards, my kids got to have their photo with Santa and it wasn't scary at all!

And here's Santa and Mrs. Claus (otherwise known as Grampa and Grammy).

Bend Christmas Parade

We went to the Christmas parade intending for Chloe to be on the Campfire float, but we got there just after they had started.  I didn't think we could catch up to the float so we went to watch the parade.  The day was bitterly cold.  We didn't manage to stay to the end because it's so long!  I mentioned before that the Sisters parade is perfect because it's only 20 minutes long.  This one must have gone for close to an hour and a half.  We stayed for about an hour. 

My favorite entries are always the animals.  The llamas are so proud!

The children's librarians.

This is the Caddishack!  The woodstove in front had real logs burning in it.

The Keep Santa Fat contingent.

Candle dipping

In early December we finally got around to trying out candle dipping at home.  Chloe and I had done it at Waldorf Holiday Faires in years past, but, although I've had the beeswax for years, we never tried it at home.  It turns out that it's pretty easy to do with an old crock pot or with a soap melter.  We borrowed both of these from friends and you only have to be sure to have water in the pot so that it acts as a double boiler. 

For holding the wax I bought a couple of juice cans at the supermarket.  They worked out pretty well.  You do need to keep refilling the wax so it's deep enough to keep your candles long.  Do plan ahead though because it can take a long time for the wax to melt.  I melted it on the stove (again in a double boiler) and then transferred it to the juice can.  The stove is much faster for the initial melting.  Put on some Christmas music while you dip and it's very relaxing.  The wonderful scent of beeswax just adds to the experience.  We tried it at home first, then the next day we did it at the Campfire meeting.  The kids did a great job at taking turns, so it wasn't as chaotic as I thought it would be.

Thanksgiving and Christmas begins

We had a very laid back Thanksgiving at my parent's house.  We played games and had a great meal.  I didn't get any photos of the whole family, but the kids seemed to have enjoyed themselves.

The day after Thanksgiving we went to Sunriver to attempt to see the Grand Illumination.  We were disappointed to find that the lights wouldn't be turned on until 6:30 and we were pretty hungry for dinner at 5:00 so we looked around at the festivities including the gingerbread house display and then headed back to Bend for dinner.

The gingerbread houses were amazing!  Click on the photos to see them better.

This next one is based on the High Desert Museum here in Bend.  Notice eagle on the roof.

And here, the otter in the stream.

We're taking notes for the next time we build a gingerbread house!

To round out the weekend we went to the Sisters Christmas Parade.  This one is only about 20 minutes long- just perfect for us!  Scrabble got quite a few comments on his little outfit.

Portland trip

We went to Portland in mid November for Chloe's semi annual doctor's appointments.  We had a great time at OMSI and walking around the city.  We do love to visit cities in small doses.  Some of the most fun is in seeing the old buildings.

Chloe and Mark play a game at the OMSI penguin exhibit.

Chocolates in the hotel just before dinner!

Chloe clowns around with the umbrella man.

Veteran's Day Parade

Chloe's Campfire troop marched in the Veteran's Day Parade in downtown Bend.  It was cold, but the rain held off and we had a good time.

Catching Up- Alpacas & Felting

Well, the year is almost out and this blog has been sadly neglected.  while I did the National Blog Posting Month on my other blog it always seemed there was never enough time to update this one.  Then the thought of updating seemed rather daunting.  I really want to get to it so we can start the new year fresh, so here goes, probably in several posts.

November was busy with activities with COOL group and with the start of the holidays.  We had a marvelous trip to a local alpaca farm with COOL.  It was a gorgeous day and the kids had so much fun learning about the animals and what you can do with their fleece.

 

We followed that up with a day of wet felting.  Several of us brought lots of colored wool which we used to make some really cool felt squares using this technique.

First you fill your zip lock bag with a bit of wool, any colors you like.  Then you add a little hot soapy water and pound it. 

In a little while you have a beautiful piece of felt that only needs to be rinsed and dried.  This project is great for little kids on up!