O Tannenbaum

O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum!
Du kannst mir sehr gefallen!
Wie oft hat nicht zur Weihnachtszeit
Ein Baum von dir mich hoch erfreut!
O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum!
Du kannst mir sehr gefallen!

Hubby is finally home for the holidays so we all hopped into the truck and headed out into the forest in search of the perfect Christmas tree :)

As we drove we climbed higher and higher up the mountain and our view overlooking the lake below became more beautiful...

and we even found some snow *grin*.

We finally picked the perfect tree and the children each took a turn sawing through its trunk and off home we went with our tannenbaum :) We've set it outside the front door for the night to dry off a bit and tomorrow it will make its way into our family room where we can get it all decorated up just in time for Christmas eve!

Sunday saw us light our fourth candle for advent and you should have heard the squeals of delight as the youngest two realized that we were only days from Christmas :) We made our last trip into the city this morning to pick up a few last minute things we needed and now we're ready to snuggle down in our home for the rest of the holidays.

Hubby is home until the day after boxing day and I couldn't have wished for a better Christmas present! We're all together and what a special time we will have :)

Hugs,
Rosina

Handmade Holidays

We had a wonderful Christmas together with family but I gotta say I'm sort of glad all of the pre-christmas mayhem is over! *grin*. I really planned to be ahead of the game when it came to all of my gift making and baking but somewhere along the way my schedule fell totally apart but now I can just sit back, relax and enjoy watching the children play with their new gifts :)

I had promised you more photos of the fairy house my son was making for his sister and here they are. I am SO proud of all the hard work he put into making it special for her. He keeps teasing me that it was really my project but I was just the creative director and he really did all the figuring :)

He rigged up the elevator so that when you crank the little handle on the outside of the house, the dowling on the ceiling spins and the ribbon winds up on the wooden thread spool lifting the elevator up through the hole in the floor and then there is a ladder that takes you up into the attic space :) LOVE it.

He used popsicle sticks to create the little shutters outside the windows...

and here's the little doorway with one of the crocheted rugs I made inside :)

In the dining room we put a small table covered with a little crocheted doily underneath the chandelier :) We just need some chairs now and I'm going to let her help me decorate the windows with little lacey curtains and flower swags. She is so thrilled with it :)

For my mom this year I made her a batch of Canadian Mincemeat using cranberries, maple syrup, port and other goodies and it turned out delicious! I was a little worried that it wouldn't turn out like the one she usually buys since I had never made it before but it was awesome :)

All of the kids got felt bandit masks which hubby is so graciously modeling for you *grin*....

and an assortment of fun mustaches.
This is the crazy wooly one that I made looping thick black wool across the felt making it quite amusing :)

They also got hot lips and full beards to go with their pirate crowns I made them last Christmas :)

Along with all of the homemade gifts we always get them pajamas, socks, one book each and one gift that they really want within reason. So this year my little guy got a lego man flashlight that doesn't require any batteries. You just wind his arm around and around and it charges up the battery inside so he can fall asleep with it at night and we'll never have to replace any batteries! My oldest son got a model airplane to build and my little girl got the fairy house as her big gift because she actually had seen a plastic one that she liked but I thought wood would be so much better *grin*.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas as well and I can't believe that it is only days and we will be ringing in 2011!!

Hugs,
Rosina

Children & Nature Awareness Month + A Challenge

A couple of months ago I had shared with you about one of my favorite authors, Richard Louv, who wrote the fantastic book 'Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder'. It's a look at how we've gone from you and I spending endless hours outdoors creating our own fun, playing in the woods, building forts or exploring nature to the current generation of children that are completely disconnected from the outdoors and spending more time inside with electronic gadgets and how it's so very important to make sure we are connecting our children with nature!

Well Richard has declared that April is 'Children and Nature Awareness Month' and today I happened to come across a new blog called 5 Orange Potatoes where she has challenged her readers to join her and participate in her Great Outdoors Challenge!

The challenge:
“in honor of Children and Nature Awareness Month, go outside everyday, rain or shine; then take a picture each day, for the rest of April, of your children outdoors and post it. Just a single picture will do; words aren’t even necessary. Lets spread the word and go outdoors!“

I am so up for this challenge as I am a firm believer that nature needs to be part of our day to day interactions and it just happens that I snapped a shot of my daughter above outdoors today as she munched on a rather large chocolate bunny that my sister gave her for Easter. All that sugar definitely had her singing in the rain *grin* and even the rain couldn't stop her from heading outside and enjoying nature :)

If you haven't heard of Richard Louv or his book 'Last Child in the Woods' then make sure you take a moment to visit an entry I shared in February that links to a live webcast of him speaking about his book, some of the statistics between nature and children, now and in the past, stories from the book plus more, and has an open Q&A at the end.

If you want to join in make sure you check out The Great Outdoors Challenge and you can also visit other participants and see what sort of nature fun they have been having by clicking on the names below :)

~ Rosina

Fellow Nature Players: lisa, sanders, angelina, phyllis, sarah, christie, jennifer, debbie, dong dong, denise, luisa, joy, stephanie, cori, alex, dawn, kristen, catherine, tricia, becky, christy, ruth, kari, courtney, branflakes, jessica, renee, haiku, brynn, amy, clemencia, sherry, leslie, lise, renee, anet, jenn, marina, amy, ella, marcia, karen, beth, julie, kyndale, kelly, lizzie, eileen, ag, mari-ann, cindy, robin, nicole, debbie, julia, renee, anita, lisa, jenn, montessori, marita, jeannie, hallie, mandy, kangaroo, andrea, joey, carmen, teena, stephinie

Webcast: Richard Louv ~ Last Child in the Woods

I can't believe the amazing weather we are having!! Finally, after flooding three times in 3 months, enduring endless weeks of torrential rain and not a glimpse of sunshine in what seems life forever we are basking in some pretty darn nice days :)

To top off the great day we were having I found out that there was a live webcast of Richard Louv who wrote the fantastic book 'Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder'. It's a look at how we've gone from you and I spending endless hours outdoors creating our own fun, playing in the woods, building forts or exploring nature to the current generation of children that are completely disconnected from the outdoors and spending more time inside with electronic gadgets! He shares how engaging with nature can be extremely beneficial for children with ADD, Autism and more, and how we need to be reconnecting our kids with the outdoors!

I'm not saying that everyone has this problem as I know there are many of us that still make sure that we're getting as much outdoor playtime as possible, but I still think that this book is a must read :)

You can still watch today's webcast by visiting the Blank Family Foundation's website and enjoy the presentation :) The first 5 or so minutes are of the audience talking and getting settled so don't turn it off! You can use that time to get a nice cup of tea *grin*. Richard shares some of the statistics between nature and children, now and in the past, stories from the book plus more, and has an open Q&A at the end. I think I'm going to watch it again as there were a few 'mama I need you' interruptions during the live feed LOL.

Do you have any other book recommendations that you could share? I'd love to add some more to my reading list :)

~ Rosina