The rest of Gwyn's pictures

Sorry I haven't posted the link to see the rest of Gwyn's photos. I ended up posting it on my (Gianatasio) family's blog and forgot on posting it on here. You may have to scroll down a post or two on my friend's blog to see Gwyn's photos. Maybe you guys can help me pick which ones to print. I love them all I am not sure what to do. Just click here.

Gwyn at 6 Months

So here are a few pictures that my friend took of Gwyn today. She hasn't finished editing any more but sent me these two as a sneak peak. I love them both they are so cute. Thought you might all enjoy. I will post more when I get them.

Christmas revisited

So I forgot to put this video on with our other Christmas stuff. I have some photos coming soon.

If you listen carefully you can here Kali say, "Heck the halls".

Last Week in Review

Like I mentioned in my previous post, Nate was off last week and so we decided to take advantage of it as much as possible. We did several different activities and just enjoyed hanging out with one another. However, it has made for a hard transition this week for the girls. They have missed their Daddy quite a bit. I think since Sunday they have only seen him for about ten minutes total. Just enough for him to tuck them into bed. Needless to say we had to call him tonight at bedtime and let him tuck them in over the phone.

Making graham cracker gingerbread houses.

She decided to fill the attic with candy because she knew she would be

able to have more to eat later.

Playing in the snow with Nate in the backyard.

We went sledding several days before this, but I forgot the camera. Bristol has been wanting to build a snowman ever since the first time it snowed, but the snow is too dry and fluffy that it wont pack. Plus it is hard for me to play in the snow with the girls when I am holding Gwyn and she hasn't been the best of a napper lately to be able to do it during nap time. So they were in heaven that Nate could go out and play with them. I looked out the window at one point and they were all on the ground rolling around, it was so cute.

We bundled up and went to one of our favorite parks here (Cox Arboretum for all of you that have been out here to visit and know which one I am talking about). We never went last winter, but we thought we would check it out this year in the winter. Some of the paths were cleared from the snow, but we got going too late to the park and the sun was going down. Once the sun set it became pretty freezing cold even though we were bundled up. I had brought hot chocolate thinking we could sit on one of the benches, but we instead had to sit in the car where it was a little warmer.

You can kind of see in this picture how the pond is mostly frozen over except for a little spot right in the middle.

Christmas Eve

The girls in their Christmas Pj's.

The reason I have been bad with blogging

Ok so just one of the reasons. I have been busy for probably over a month every night sewing and crafting for Christmas. These are two of my favorite things I made this year. It was a very felt Christmas this year for me and the many crafts I made. I have a new love of felt. These projects took some time, but I love how they turned out.

This is a wreath I made for my mother-in-law. (thanks Michelle for the directions)

It was a craft from JoAnn Fabrics, but I tweaked it a little bit to my liking and what not.

You cut out a ton of strips of felt and fold and roll and sew. Then I hot glued them on to a wreath. I love this wreath so much. I am going to make one for myself too, but I just needed a little break from the cutting, rolling, and sewing. I did buy enough felt though because it was 50% off.

This is an advent calendar I made for my sister. I saw one almost the same in Pottery Barn catalog for a lot of money and thought, "I think I can make that". So as a little picture from a magazine as a guide I just made it up as I went. You are supposed to put a little gift or candy in each pocket. I copied some of the pockets from PB, but made up some of my own too. I was very pleased with the outcome.

It is rather large. I think it is like 60" tall or something. I don't remember now.

The #'s from the one from PB are embroidered on, but I don't have a sewing machine that can do that all nice for me. So instead I printed out the number from the computer and cut them out of felt and hand stitched them on.

I will post more pictures soon of some of our adventures last week. Nate had the week off so we tried to do something fun each day. We did simple things from sledding, to driving around looking at Christmas lights, to making cookies, making gingerbread houses, taking a walk at the park and more. Unfortunately I do not have pictures of all these activities, but I will post what I have. (hopefully tomorrow) I also have some fun videos, but I can't get them to load on my computer.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

So we went the day after Thanksgiving to cut down a Christmas tree. In all the previous years we have used our fake tree that we bought about 5 years ago from Walmart for $19.99. Needless to say it is quite small and scrawny. So this year we decided to go and cut one down. Nate actually had the day after Thanksgiving off and so we decided to take advantage of it. I was hoping to put our Christmas lights up and then go cut down a tree. Well we were getting a later start than I thought we would and said we should just wait until the next day to cut it down. Nate just wanted to go that day and said, "aren't you supposed to go and cut a tree down at night anyways". So I just remembered thinking, "I never remember doing that when I was a kid, it was always during the day". Well once we got there to cut down our tree we soon realized why you go during the day, otherwise you can't see to pick one out. We did bring a flashlight to help guide our way, but it still was a little tricky. It was only maybe 6 o'clock but it was already totally dark. Kali and Gwyn fell asleep on the way, but woke up shortly thereafter. It was a fun time regardless.

I just thought she looked so cute all bundled up.

The next morning

Kali and her crazy bed head.

Bristol Turns Five

So once again it has taken me a couple of weeks to post. Bristol turned 5 on November 10th. I can not believe how fast she has grown. She is full of imagination, loves to learn, draw, dance, and play with her baby sister. We had her birthday party the Saturday after her birthday. She chose several people from school and church. She was so excited for her birthday that she has been planning it for about 7 or 8 months or so now. She was so excited that she couldn't even sleep that morning and woke up early. I hope she enjoyed everything and am glad that all the birthdays are over for the next little bit. Now I just have Christmas left and then I can relax and breath a little.

She wanted a Cinderella cake again. I made one when she was two as well, but it was her birthday so I made what she wanted. This time I made a marshmallow fondant. It was pretty tasty and fun to make. I was tempted to use her Cinderella barbie doll for the top instead of the doll the pan comes with, but her barbie is pretty loved and has crazy matted hair now. So, I opted for the more tamed doll.

I was so lucky that the weather was actually really nice. I was hoping to have her party at the YMCA indoor play area, but it was already booked. I was not looking forward to having all of these five year olds in my house for a few hours. I had one game planned, but I wasn't sure what else I was going to do. Luckily since it was nice out we played some old fashioned games like red light green light, simon says, and duck duck goose.

Present time

The thing about the Cinderella cake is how to put the candles in.

Thought I would throw in a picture of Gwyn at the party to show you how big she is getting.