One Project Down, Two To Go

Alright, so here was the icky wallpaper strip.  Now that this is completely gone, we only have one more wallpaper strip in the house.  If I remember correctly, there were four when we moved in. 

This came off relatively easily.  The bits of paper stuck on after the big rip were easily tackled by wallpaper removing gel. 

The walls looked like this for a day.  I had to let the Spackle dry so I could sand.  

 There were a couple of spots like this where I started to scrape off some chipped paint and it resulted in a hole.  But look at that mint green color? We also noticed a layer of orange. 

I just wanted it to look clean.  I have to say, it was terribly difficult to restrain myself in the kitchen.  I want to be rid of the green, and repaint the cabinet doors.  (Or replace them.)  I had to hold back.  In time, kitchen, in time. 

Doesn't that look much better?

It will do, for now.  On to the bathroom. :) 

Meanwhile, the cats are two peas in a pod.  Petra loves to follow Smudge around.  They both now have the morning routine of bombarding me for food.  Petra tried to go outside this morning with Smudge and I to get the paper-- I almost had a heart attack.  She is just not ready for the big outside world yet. 

♥♥Happy New Year!♥♥ 

PLEASE do not drink and drive.

Normalcy

The house is quiet today! Yesterday, as well.  We are slowly creeping back to normalcy after the Christmas celebrations. Do you see that ugly wallpaper strip?  I know I have actually highlighted it's beauty before somewhere on this blog.  I finally ripped it off. 

Here is a halfway photo.  I was really excited yesterday because Christmas was all put away.  This house is spotless.  It feels large and empty.  I love it! Time for a project.  Rrrriiiiiiippp... scrape... scrub... sand...  Then I realized our Spackle is hard as a rock.  My painting project will wait until this weekend probably.   I'm painting the wall white for now because I have the paint already.  Christmas is over.  Let the home improvement projects begin!  We are starting demo on our bathroom in January.  I will keep you posted on that project. 

We spent Christmas Eve at my parent's house.  We had a very nice time with family!  I truly felt like I had a break.  (I even wore those jammies for THREE days.) That's my future sister in law in the back row far left.  She recently told my big brother "YES!"  So now I have two little sisters. ♥ Look at my sweet grandma, she always holds her pose so gracefully.  

I love this shot.  Those are my parents helping Aiden decipher a gift tag.  Dogs helped, too.

I love the hustle and bustle going on in this shot.  Everyone is moving, everyone has something going on.  This is how the majority of our Christmas break went.  Busy busy busy!  

We hosted Christmas day at our house.  I LOVE to host and feed people.  We had a great time talking with family and just relaxing and having fun together.

I always praise God when we have a houseful of people.  It makes me so happy!

Our kids were getting into their stockings on Christmas.  Stuffing stockings is something that Adam and I are pros at.   I'm so glad we are on the same page about it- if there is a stocking to be stuffed at our house, it will be your best stocking.  

My family spoiled me!!!  I have never asked for one of these but pause and sigh every time I see one at the store.  The price tag makes me move away quickly.  Hallelujah chorus, praise the Lord almighty- there is a Kitchenaid mixer in the house!♫ 

Kudos to Adam- he knows me almost as well as I know myself.  He went into a local antique shop and brought home a stack of antique seed packages in an old bread pan.  

For now, some of them are resting inside of this beautiful old soda pop crate on the wall.  I have plans for them, to be executed soon.  I'm keeping the plans hush hush for now, but will have to share later.  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas time with loved ones.  We are always thankful for the joys and lessons learned throughout the past year and are ready for more. ♥

♥♥♥Happy Friday!♥♥♥

Cat Toy Gift

It's something we all enjoy doing at Christmas for our kitties.  I sew up a couple of cat toys and we stuff them completely full of catnip.  We then wrap the toys and put them under the tree to see how many days it takes for the cats to unwrap them.  This year was so funny because Smudge knew right away upon entering the house that I was up to catnip mischief and proceeded to follow me around BEFORE the wrapping even happened.  I just gave in and let him have one.  He is so good.  Petra, however, does not seem to care at all about catnip. 

She is much more interested in the paper.  She found this piece this  morning after our kids were finished opening up their Christmas Eve jammies. 

See how busy she is?  Paper scraps are her favorite toy right now.  

 The kids are so happy with their comfy jammies.  Merry Christmas!♥♥♥

The Greatest Gift

"Do you remember what their names were?"   I asked as I pointed to the mom and dad.  "Joseph and Mary!", a few of them answered.  (They were rewarded with an MNM from the Good Job Jar. )  "Why were they important?"  I asked.   The answers varied. "They saw and angel."  "They had to sleep in a barn."  "Baby Jesus."  

"Why is Jesus important?" I asked them. 

(Silence and blank looks.) 

"Because He came to save us ALL!" I tell them. 

The kids created their small nativity ornament.  We continued to talk about how Jesus is the greatest gift of all.  I am not sure that they understand that.  

They know the name of Jesus, though.  I try to get them to remember to tell everyone.

We created small baby Jesus in a manger.

Labeled for anyone who does not know. :)

"Be very careful with Jesus!  He is Gods greatest gift!"  They walked slowly.  It was really sweet.♥

Meanwhile, fun with Smudge.  He is such a good boy and is warming up to Petra.  They play together a little, but Petra is so much smaller than Smudge that she gets scared and hisses.  But wherever Smudge is, there is Petra.  She likes him.  He's putting up with her. 

That's a goood baby.  

"Whatever." 

It's pajama day today at Henle House!  Our Christmas vacation begins tonight at closing.  We are all enjoying a free day today.  Happy first day of winter!

♥♥♥Merry Christmas!♥♥♥

Snowmen

Western Washington has been dotted with bits of snow here and there.  We haven't had any yet at Henle House, in fact, we are usually the last in our area to have snow on the ground.  We did see some falling this morning, but it's really heavy and slushy.  We had a fun day yesterday with snowman art.  Actually, we had three projects to choose from. 

The first was a sticky snowman project from Oriental Trading that came with all of the snowman parts.  The kids just chose the parts and stuck them to the sticky foam piece.  So easy!

This project is great because the kids can decide how much time they want to spend on it. 

Project number two was to bead a small wreath ornament.  Only one child chose this, and she did a great job!  She paid special attention to the pattern. Three green beads, one red, repeat.

Complete!

Finally, a sticker scene completed our craft time yesterday.  I love sticker scenes.  We got out crayons and foam snowflakes to add to our scenes.  The rest of this week will be kind of relaxed.  We are all looking forward to FRIDAY because we are going to have pajama day!  

I know that many of us are still raw about the horrible Connecticut tragedy.  As our kids left the house this morning I worried.  God reminded me though that I can rest in trusting Him.  While these horrible things happen in this world, God has ordained them for reasons we do not know.  My worry changes NOTHING.  We need to be strong as parents and not run into hiding the minute our cozy world is interrupted. 

 So we move forward. In faith.

♥♥♥Happy Wednesday!♥♥♥

Leaning On God

♥Please pray for all children and staff returning to school this morning.♥

Christmas Count Down

One year I remember making the count down chain at the beginning of December.  The kids needed bags to haul out their giant chains!  This time we waited until the 12 day mark.  

I loved the triangle trees that the kids recently made, so we used this again to decorate our count down project.  The kids counted the triangles and remembered that they are green.

These pre cut strips were an amazing purchase from Oriental Trading!  There were so many strips that they have lasted long enough for every child enrolled in December for the last three years to complete a chain.  I am sure I paid about five dollars for them.

The best part about them is that there is an adhesive on the back of the strips.  Just lick and stick like an envelope.  I love that!  No glue = no dry time= instant hanging on the art wall with out the mess.

The kids learned how to build a chain.  We created a red and green pattern.  

With each loop, they were happy to hold up the chain and see how long it was.  :)

Really?  Only 12 days left?  Wait- make that ELEVEN.  

I hope the kids remember to remove a loop each day!♥

 Beautiful! Did I mention how much I love this job?  I really do.♥

♥♥♥Happy Friday!♥♥♥

Waltz Of The Flowers by Tchaikovsky for The Nutcracker.  Will someone please bring me a pair of ballet shoes size 8 so I can just dance around the house and pretend? Please?♥

Cooperation

We learned the word 'cooperation'.   What better way to cooperate than to put together floor puzzles?  Puzzles are great activities for kids to help each other with.  We've been talking a lot about cooperation and sharing.  SO important!

This little guy is very smart about puzzles and took the lead right away.  He is like a puzzle foreman.  Everyone looks for his advice in the correct placement of pieces. 

They completed several puzzles!  Each one was a VICTORY!  They ran to me, cheering, pulling me to see the finished product.  Of course they were congratulated and proud that they had been cooperating.  I think it's best to have one puzzle out at a time to avoid puzzle pieces being mixed together.  The kids had a satisfied sense of completion that day. ♥

♥♥♥Happy Thursday!♥♥♥  

Please pray for our Smudge, he hurt his shoulder somehow and is limping.  He seems about 50% better this morning than he was last night, but please pray for continued healing.