The Eve of Christmas Eve

The girls are ready for Christmas. They have been loving the advent calendar, and Wren has been surprisingly patient for Christmas to come. 

But to be honest, she has been loaded up with Christmas the past few weeks, and has watched nearly every kids Christmas movie out there.

Oh, and we dug out the reindeer antlers. Ellie enjoys shaking her head around to hear the bells jingle. 

Wren insisted that Ellie wore the antlers that were flopping down a bit on top and she got the nice straight ones. One day, Wren, one day Ellie will catch up and not let you get the best of everything!

This is Ellie's "cheese" for the camera. "DEESE!"

Speaking of facial expressions, can you see Ellie's little furrowed brow as Wren tries to boss her away from the doll house? That face she makes is the cutest. And she knows it.

But when Wren moves on, Ellie sneaks in. I can tell there will be a lot of happiness and fighting over their new presents. 

And flashback to last Christmas when Ellie was the heftiest reindeer of all!

Merry Christmas everyone! I will post pictures again in a few days, because I'm sure there will be some gooders. 

Christmasy home

Do you decorate for the holidays?

This year I didn't want to go too crazy, but each Christmas I notice how I don't have very much decor from the Christmas before. So I dig stuff up out of the basement in their boxes and root around to see what I have that I want to put up. 

We also try to make a few crafts, so I thought I'd "show you around" to see what we did this year. 

Now, this isn't new, we did the candle in mason jar thing last year. But it's soo easy. The hardest part is teaching Ellie not to touch. 

Get some pine or spruce branches, cut them off and stuff into the bottom of the jar. Pile some real cranberries from the grocery store on top. Fill up with water. Plunk in a tea light and there you go. Probably a good idea to replace the water every few days until it all looks sad and you might have to do it over again because the berries don't last forever just sitting there.

See how interested she is? Any time there is a flame around, Ellie goes "Fooof! Foof!" to blow it out. 

"Foof!"

I attempted to make this wreath that was featured on a blog. Alas, I just don't get what they are talking about when they say "wrap this here and do this there". You know how DIY online tutorials can be- freaking impossible at times but they make it sound soo easy. 

So i made up my own bunchy version with scrap fabric and red burlap and glue-gunned it on. And beside it I have put the little mason jar snow globes. That was a tutorial that actually worked. I found the fake snow at Michael's. 

But my big project turned out to be an advent calendar. I have nothing against the little chocolate filled paper ones from the store, but I just wanted something...bigger? And that I could fill with fun treats for the girls but also could look nice in our house. 

It's actually a bulletin board wrapped in brown paper and then lightly spray painted with gold (lightly..because I was running out of paint). I tacked up the strings, and then hung the brown paper bags using clothes pins that I also spray painted gold. I painted the numbers on each bag, rolled the bags up a bit so they'd fit after filling them with candy canes, chocolates and such. 

The girls love it. Wren will ask throughout the day if they opened the bag already for that day. Yes, yes you did. At 6:30am. 

The only...issue, if you can call it that, is that now Ellie will walk by it and point and say "Mo!" for 'more'. Ha, that baby loves her treats. 

Oh, and bonus, if you sent us a Christmas card (or letter!), it gets hung up on the days that already passed.  Thanks to those who sent us one! We love getting them. Until Canada Post makes it's crazy changes and then maybe we won't in the future but hey.

I may have already talked about this in a previous post...but I found small packages of 3 styrofoam ornaments to decorate at the Dollar Store. They came with glitter glue but I wasn't letting Wren near this craft. Once the girls were in bed (like all other times I craft), I found some "old" yarn downstairs, and glue-gunned and wrapped the yarn around the styrofoam ball. Tis the season to glue-gun!

You may have noticed I also added the dried oranges...again. To be honest, I wasn't going to do it this year. I usually burn half of them by forgetting them in the oven. But Kenton had bought a big bag of oranges that no one was eating and I couldn't stand watching them shrivel in the fruit basket on the counter. So I sliced, and dried, and they turned out so nice. Ellie actually likes to go around and pick them off the tree and collect them. And...because they're oranges...she can break one or five and it's okay. 

Wren has also brought home an ornament or two. Here is her "stained glass" bell. Ah, brings back memories of making these as a kid in school too.

And what tree is complete without your kid's face on it? Haha. She made this one at school too. This is why I send her. Keep bringing home awesome projects Wren! Oh, and naturally, it's coloured pink.

And these clear ornaments I found at Michaels. I have seen these on Pinterest a lot but I don't understand how they get crazy stuff in there like toy cars, mini Christmas trees and other objects that seem impossible to jam into the top of the very small and delicate opening of the glass. It's a mystery to me. 

Oh and to answer a previous question, I didn't make the tree skirt. It's actually from HomeSense and it has little mother of pearl (not real) buttons sewn on it. Which Ellie has started to pull off. But it's nice and simple. 

And stockings. Kenton kind of insists on using his childhood one, unfortunately not in this picture. If I remember I will take a picture of it and update this post. 

Who doesn't love a monogrammed mug? "WE" do. Ha...ha...

And mini fabric wreath below. Just because.

And lights. Lights have a way of making a home feel cozy and pretty. Ellie's face was priceless when we plugged these bad boys in. "Oh WOW!" she said. 

I tried to get a pic of the two of them together. This is very hard when no one smiles at the same time or even remotely looks at the camera on cue. Sorry, I am not able to take a sweet candid shot of them being "natural" either. I just don't have the knack. But I managed to get two, so this isn't too bad.

They are holding their Lucy and Linus from Charlie Brown Christmas. 

When Ellie sees a camera now she says "DEESE!" and gives a big smile. Wish I caught it. But how cute are they?? Sigh.

Wren and I made a couple of cards for her teachers. She drew a picture in each. I asked her what she drew in the first one and she said "Oh it's dinosaurs dying. Dey are being stinkct." I almost died and tried not to laugh..too much. I wrote the description of the picture in the card, as I'm sure her teacher will love it. The other one was just "Santa". But dinosaurs going extinct definitely says Merry Christmas to one and all!

At Wren's preschool today there was a small Christmas concert put on for the parents. The kids had snacks and treats and then went to the carpet in front where their teacher led them in a few Christmas songs. Wren somehow made her way right to the front of the group and put on a perfectly serious performance face. She was almost half a head taller than her little lady friends, it was crazy! 

Kenton and I loved going to do something so sweet and fun like this concert for her, and we are totally looking forward to more fun school things like this in the future. It's a bit of a novelty right now, our first one!

And one last pic...the little Miss Jeske. What a grin!

Catching up

I don't have time to blog anymore! Have you noticed? I am not keeping up to even a once a week schedule. To be expected I guess, it's the holiday season soon and I'm trying to get stuff done like everyone else. 

But here are a few cute pics of the girls lately...

The girls have been "helping" with some Christmas baking. And when I say Christmas baking, I mean we baked one batch of Christmas Russian Teacakes. That's it. That's all. 

These two scrap a lot, but lately Ellie will say "hug!" and hold her arms out to Wren. She likes having Wren take care of her like that. 

We've also had to fully rid Ellie of her beloved "bubba" or bottle. Having a bubba to hold in her hands all day was becoming a crazy obsession to the point of driving us insane. So naturally we obliterated every last bubba in the house cold turkey. She's been in some withdrawal over it but is getting the hang of life off the bottle. Hmm..I could reword that...

Anyway, I'm excited to be off work for 2 weeks as of this Thursday. Well, sort of. I actually like working because it's a break from the daily routine of home life, haha. So we will see who goes squirrely first around here :)

A circle of support

I have never read this woman's blog before, I only saw it linked on facebook (Kenton's facebook, I don't have one for those of who you just said "What!") from a friend and had to read the post. 

And then I couldn't stop thinking about it. 

And then I honestly felt a little bummed out because she totally pin pointed exactly how I've been feeling these days. 

I'm not going to lie, the post was a little long and wordy, but she hit in the nail on the head for moms out there trying to just be...moms. 

In a nutshell, the writer talks about feeling how kids are a "joyous burden", how moms need help and support (from other mothers, sisters, our own moms, nannies or housecleaners, friends or whoever it is around us, if we have it), and how our culture and society is set up in a way where we are kind of isolated from each other in one way or another. But honestly, she says it better, read the post, or skim it. 

These parts really hit me specifically and nicely sum up what she's talking about-

"I love my children.  There is no other way I’d rather spend my days on earth.  I truly desire to serve my husband and children. And yet, most of these years, I have struggled in my role as a mother. Depressed. Feeling like a total failure. Exhausted. Stressed.... Years of going through days upon days of feeling completely alone and yet longing for some precious time just. to be. ALONE."

"These feelings of desperation, are not a result of a young mother’s failure.  They are the damaging and unfortunate side-effects of a world that has completely rejected the value of a woman, of a homemaker."

"What young mothers are truly lacking, is a culture centered around family.  Where families are not being ripped apart from every angle of society.  Where older women are there to teach and encourage the younger women in this extremely important vocation of wife and mother.  Where there are actually other women around to help one another out on the home front."

It's hard reading that and knowing how you'd like things to look in life, and remembering the reality and trying to make the best of it. 

I feel incredibly lucky that Kenton and I have the support from our parents and family members with raising our girls. They give us more than we know what to do with some days and we are so thankful for it. 

I still do wish I lived closer to a lot of our good friends too. I wish I could talk to them more, laugh and cry more, help each other with life and kids more. Be more a community in a closer proximity. Instead, it feels impossible at times to schedule one dinner out or a coffee with a friend to connect again. Play dates across the city just aren't practical. 

I appreciate how she doesn't say "do more, have more programs, get involved in more stuff!". It's just about having a circle of support around us, and that will look different for everyone.

On a brighter note however, a while ago a friend of mine that actually lives in our neighbourhood was reminding me that if I ever needed one or both of the girls watched just to run an errand or get something done, that I was always more than welcome to drop them off to play with her kids for a while. And I did take her up on it last week when Ellie had an appointment and I didn't want to haul both girls with me.

I knew that dropping Wren off was also a win-win as she is good friends with their son and they would like to play together, and it was 2 minutes from my house which added zero stress of driving and helping me stay on time for the appt. 

Just knowing I can call on a friend nearby is amazing. It seems somewhat of a small thing at first, but it meant so much to be able to do that, and vice versa if the need arises. 

Some days I get really worn out. Some days I think I will lose my mind if I have to look at the inside of my house for one more minute, or spend 20 minutes bundling my kids up just to play for 5 minutes outside. Sometimes I don't feel like making another trip to go pick up Wren from preschool because it's so much effort. Some days I don't want anyone banging on the bathroom door or bursting my personal bubble of space. 

Sometimes I need to just call someone up and ask them to take my kids for a bit. Or go out for coffee with a friend and vent and laugh about how annoying husbands are but how much we love them. Or take another mom friend a treat when she's holed up in the house with sick kids for a week just to get outside of myself. 

And sometimes, I need to remember that if I don't make all the Christmas crafts I wanted to this year, or get any baking done, or get all the "extras" on my to-do list done, that it's okay and no one will really notice anyways. I might just have some sanity left in the end. 

For the record, I mostly have good days. I also have really bad days too. I wasn't born wearing rose coloured glasses, but I'm always trying to work on it. I think I've come a long way. But I would still really like it if all of our friends lived in our neighbourhood. So come on guys, we've got a famous liquor store over here! (I'm so not kidding).

Okay, Ellie is up now and yelling "MO-MEEE!"

She's getting so big. They both are. Sheesh. 

Putting up the decorations

 While Wren was off having a good time with her grandparents, we got the decorating itch at home and went ahead and set up the tree without her. Ellie loved that she got to "help" and not be bossed around anyways. 

Ellie had lots of "Oooohs" and "Ahhhhs!" as the lights went up. At one point she grabbed a loose end of lights off the tree and tried to run around the corner. Sigh. 

She has been actually really good since the tree has gone up, so maybe the worst of ornament grabbing is over.

Um...how cute is this?? Love this munchkin. 

Then this morning we found some empty dollarstore gift boxes downstairs and put them under the tree for some pretend presents. Naturally Ellie saw this as an opportunity to open a lid and sit in a box. 

And then she found a tinier box and decided to sit in that...

Oh why not make the tiny box and lid into a pair of shoes?

Bye bye Ellie!