A Green Christmas

Last Christmas, while I was up into the wee hours of the morning wrapping and labelling gifts I decided there had to be a better way. I dreamt up a plan to make Christmas Sacs!
 This year, I was on the ball and took the family to Fabricana in November. They were all allowed to choose their favourite Christmas fabric. Then the pressure was on to figure out how to make these Christmas Sacs. I haven't sewn since grade 8 Home Economics class. I don't even have a sewing machine- (I'd be willing to store yours for you though if you have one collecting dust in your basement!) But I was determined. I did some internet searching and found this awesome site: Riley Blake Designs. Then I asked my mom for a quick refresher on how to thread the machine, and was off with my project. If it weren't for the countless hours of babysitting that my parents did, and the use of my mom's machine- these sacs would not exist. THANKS MOM and DAD!!!!
Don't look closely or you will see all the flaws.

Here I am with the first complete sac. It is the largest one of Eva's fabric.

Here they are on Christmas morning under the tree.

The problem was that I had no labels for them, and the tape I used did not stick very well.

So after the presents were all opened, I decided to make a project of it. I enlisted the troops to cut, stamp, colour, laminate and hole punch our new reusable gift tags.

The final products. I am SO excited for next year when I will get to use the tags too!

Opa's Birthday

 Colin's Dad had a birthday in December, so we had them over for some Chicken Pot Pie. They did some crafts with the kids and then we ate some of Mary's yummy Angel Food Cake for dessert. We are
so blessed to have both sets of grandparents near by and so involved in our lives!



                                 

Mr. Tony's Art Class

Mr. Tony is this amazing art teacher at our local arts center. He wear suspenders, has a beard, is really intense, passionate about learning and art and kids, therefore the perfect art teacher.
The kids learned so much, and produced some pretty amazing art work. The best part is that they LOVED going to class each week. Here are some of the projects that they came home with. Sorry about the sideways ones.

Halloween

We managed to get some school work done in the morning and then headed to Vancouver.

A quick trip to the library with a monkey and a panda.

A visit to my Nana and her best friend.

She gave them treats, they gave her hugs.

Pumpkin carving.

Yummmmmmy, caramel apples.

Guess who designed which pumpkin?

The dragon finally appears.

Knock knock

Holding out her shark bag.

Sorting the loot.

Waters Rising

We went for a little walk on the Dyke this morning. We wanted to check up on the wild life and habitats that we see regularly like the lily pads that cover the Dyke waters in the summer, the cows who graze in the pastures, the massive frog that we found at Thanksgiving, or the turtles that sunbath on the little docks.
We were completely shocked to find that the waters had risen so high, they were covering the lower bike path. It made for some different Dyke activities such as throwing rocks into the water, and duck watching. But it was a little frightening just the same. We were quite thankful that the Dyke exists to protect us from such waters rising!!

The field that the cows usually graze on. See the sign in the background?

The water came right up to the platform.

The platform.

The flooded lower bike path.

Throwing rocks.

The new neighbourhood ducks.

Baby Chicks !!!

My friend Helen was brave enough to sacrifice valuable real-estate in her townhouse, for the sake of learning about baby chicks. We were SO BLESSED to arrive about 5 minutes before the third baby chick hatched. What a wonder it was to watch the cracks in the shell grow, and the shell roll around, and then finally the wet chick flop out. Even more amazing, was watching how quickly they get on their feet, and bounce around (they really do look like those wind up toys you get a Easter)! Once the baby chick was all dried off, it was moved over to a big Rubermaid bin under the heat lamp. Here are some pictures.

The two that were already hatched.

Sunshine.

Chirpy

Lots of children, in love with chicks.

Keeping low, in case they hop out.

The one we watched hatched is the one underneath the black one. He had to be moved pretty quick into the Rubbermaid bin, because another one hatched and this guy was pecking at him.

 So we got to watch TWO baby chicks hatch. What a blessing. New Life. Amazing.