Sledding and skating and 3D movie-ing!

While I wade through a truly extraordinary number of Christmas photos, I'll tide you over with these.

What we did with a sled before Christmas morning . . . yes, Mailman Dan loaded these up for the kids to drag to the house.

And after Christmas, the more traditional use for a sled:

 These are some of the cutest people in the world.

 Elin was totally into sledding, although when she would go down the hill, she would keep her face down so she couldn't actually see where she was going.

The local sledding summit.
Laugh if you will; this is a pretty big hill for our area!

And then Svea got ice skates from Daddy.

It is hard to believe that these toothpick legs can actually support skating, but after a couple mornings out on the rink with Nate, Svea's skating was, um, passable!

More winter fun inside:  going with my main men to see the new Hobbit movie in 3D.  3D glasses have definitely improved.  I was expecting white cardboard frames with red and blue lenses; instead we got what looked like sunglasses.  Viggo lucked out, the kids got red frames and Nate and I were stuck with black.  Glasses fashion aside, the best part of the 3D experience was that all of the sudden I would notice wild arm movement next to me, and it was Viggo reaching for things that he thought were coming out of the screen!

Stuffed Animal Sleepover!

The girls and I went to the library after dinner on Thursday night.

We don't usually frequent the library at night but we could not miss this event:

The annual Stuffed Animal Sleepover!

The only thing I can say is, this is a genius idea.  And the girls were so excited about it.

You bring your favorite stuffed friend, read stories and then - leave your stuffed friend at the library overnight.

That's right - your animal spends that night at the library!

While you are at home sleeping, your stuffed friend has all sorts of fun at the library - and then you get photos to see what your friend did!  We heard that sometimes, they get into mischief!

Our beloved librarian Dezra read stories about stuffed animals.
And we watched a little movie based on the book about a favorite stuffed animal - complete with popcorn and lemonade.  So fun.

Svea and Elin sandwich some friends.  Svea is holding Jojo, a stuffed puppet she actually won during the library's summer reading program, and Elin is holding Lily, a pink bunny that Svea bought for her at a thrift store in Cook, MN.

Our friend Oliver, sitting next to Svea, is holding a goat.  Svea happens to have the same one.  Hilarious conversation about the goat:

Me:  "Oliver, Svea has that same goat!"

Oliver:  "Yeah, I got Goatee when I had swine flu!"

Me:  "Svea - when did you get your goat?  Was that when you knocked your front teeth loose, or broke your leg?"

Oliver's bewildered father:  "There must be a better way to get a stuffed friend than that!"

I agree.  

Elin looks over all the stuffed friends that will be spending the night at the library.  They seem to be a good crew.

Then we went home.  Dezra promised to take good care of the stuffed animals.  We left, already wondering what Jojo and Lily were doing (:

The next day we trucked back to the library.

The girls were given photos of the fun Jojo and Lily had.

Jojo and Lily even got into the photocopier and made copies of themselves!

Those silly animals!

Here are some photos provided by the library:

 Jojo rides through the back of the library on the book return.

Jojo hangs out on the globe.

All the animal friends ride on a book cart in the elevator!

It looks like there was a stuffed friend parade after-hours!

Elin and Svea had so much fun.

We love our library and the librarians!  We are already looking forward to doing this again next year!

The Pee Wee (or, why I am still waiting on cowboy boots)

Nate was wandering around on craigslist this summer when several ideas converged and all of the sudden we had this in the garage:



 A motor.  Old, yes, but it works!

And then - plans.  Plans for a boat.

Nate is building a Pee Wee.  It is a little wooden runabout that is about 7" long - for the kids.
But it's for the children.
This is a practice boat.  After Nate builds this one perfectly, he wants to build a bigger one.

There's no way around it.  We're going to have to move into a gigantic barn because that's the only way we'll be able to store all this stuff.

So when all of this started, Nate was at first going to buy a boat.

I saw my chance.

Housewife secret revealed:  I wait and bide my time and then strike when the iron is hot.  I can't say this is what all housewives do, but I have found that asking Nate for things when he is busy and immersed in an exciting project is the right time to ask for stuff.  Making cookies never hurts either.

I have wanted some cowboy boots for quite some time now.

I'm not a cowgirl and I'm not pretending to be one.  I just want some really cute boots.

I told Nate, "If you get a boat, can I please have some boots."

He said that was fair.

Well all of the sudden he decides to build a boat, not buy a boat.

 Back to the boat building - this was only after a couple weeks.

Please note that Nate is 100% totally amazing.

The plans arrived at our house in a huge tube while he was in Delaware for work.  I had to scan some of the paperwork and email it to him because he literally could not wait to get home in two days to see it then.

Anyway, about the boots -  Nate said since he was building a boat, I could build a pair of boots.

For heaven's sake.

But I haven't been totally left out in the cold.  I get to test-drive the Pee Wee before we let the kids use it; it is too small for a big, manly Swede like Nate.

Somebody's going to have to teach me how to turn on the motor though.

 He still got a wonderful birthday despite the boot-negating.

On his birthday, Nate had to take a break from building the boat to build a wall.

He had to build a wall so he could keep building a boat.  He needed an insulated, heated space to work in during the winter.

He gets a boat and a wall.  Nate told me he was building equity into our home . . . yeah, I know.
I am still waiting on my boots.

I love my man so much I am totally letting him get away with this.

Nate is a lean, mean building machine.  These studs were up in no time.

And then there was insulation.

And later that evening, a wall.  (This photo courtesy of Viggo.)

The wall is painted white now.  And there's a door in it.  I think The Flash built this thing - I blinked, and there it was.

Despite the fact that my shoe wardrobe (and my heart) still has a gaping cowboy-boot shaped hole in it, I am excited for Nate to have his shop fully workable during the winter.  Hopefully I can sneak in there to work on stained glass!

{Letters supporting my right to have boots may be sent on my behalf to our address.}

{To view another post about Nate's passion for building water craft, click here.}

What we did this week

Viggo, Svea, and Elin wore their costumes everywhere this week!  Our middle-earth king and princesses went to our homeschool co-op, a nursing home, and even to visit Nate at work.



 Perler-bead crafting at the co-op with Superwoman and Harry Potter.

 Banana ghosts and pretzel bones were treats made by moms Amanda and Grace (:

Svea and friend C clean out slimy pumpkin innards.

Viggo and friend E work on one too.

The fabulous Amanda makes a pumpkin volcano.

And for lunch we had jack-o-lantern quesadillas!

Fun games!  Mummy-wrapping with t.p.

The boys' team was very precise.

I'm pretty sure they will all be engineers.

The girls were a little more free-spirited in their wrapping.

Friend S, Svea and Elin show off their hard work.

We love co-op!  Usually when we get together things are slightly more educational, but for Halloween we wanted to have a party for the kids.

A couple days later, we went with a group of homeschooling families to a local nursing home and handed out candy to the residents.

That was a lot of fun and the kids were kind and gentle to the residents.  I was very proud of the entire group.  They give homeschooling a good name!
There were some comments on the girls' hair - Elin was delighted to inform anyone who would listen that yes, her hair was a wig.

And on Halloween we went to Capital One 360 to visit the nurse for flu vaccines.  Arwen was a hit!

Welcome to Middle-earth / Halloween 2013

This year for Halloween, Svea, Elin, and Viggo have been talking for months about being Tolkien characters.  I really didn't know how we could pull that off, but we managed!

 

Please meet Éowyn, Thorin and Arwen!

 

 Viggo wanted to be Thorin Oakenshield.

Elin wanted to be Arwen.

And Svea wanted to be Éowyn. 

 

Oh sure, no problem.

 

Just in case you are not well-versed in Tolkien's works, we'll give you a quick primer:  Svea and Elin are Middle-earth princesses - Éowyn is a human from Rohan, Arwen is an elf from Rivendell.  Thorin, a dwarf, is son of Thrain, son of Thror, King Under the Mountain and is trying to reclaim his kingdom.  Éowyn and Arwen are in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.  Thorin is in The Hobbit.  But they all live in Middle-Earth - just at different times.

 

Now that you've got that all straight let's move on to how to dress like a middle-earth princess.

 

 First we start with the princess.

Then we add a satin tunic.

And a sword that Daddy made.

Next, a velvet cape and a fierce expression.

 Finally, hair and lots of it.

Arwen and Éowyn are ready to do battle!
Those wigs.  Oh my goodness.
Elin kept telling people that it was a wig!  No - that is not her real hair.  Hard to believe, I know.

 Thorin, King under the mountain!

 Thorin gives Arwen a kiss (:

 Our hairy little clan. 

 Nate thought I was taking too many pictures.
Do you know how much time I spent sewing all this stuff?  I felt perfectly authorized to take as many photos as I wanted.

Next year, Nate's in charge of the costumes.

 They came home happy after trick-or-treating, with lots and lots of junk.

We offered a buy-back deal:  you give us your candy, we give you cash.  Viggo didn't want to keep this candy, so in exchange he got $2.00 from Nate.

This was how much Elin was willing to part with.  She got a nickel.

But once she saw Viggo and Svea with bills in their hands, she changed her tune and cashed in a little - and I mean a very little - bit more.

It was lots of fun - and I'm glad it's over!  I can't wait to see what Nate comes up with for Halloween 2014!