all hands on deck

Slice up the fruitcake

 

It's become our custom to put up the tree and decorations the day after Thanksgiving. We have the day off, we are avoiding the mall at all costs, and the kids love it.

 

                             Papa hauls the tree out of the basement and then the rest of us get to work.

                              I like telling the stories of the ornaments, who made them and where they came
from. Most of them date back to my childhood or older, many are handmade. Unity and Brixton have
added a few "heirlooms" of their own creation, involving glitter and popsicle sticks.

 

I know it's early, but who can wait?

Weekend Jam

This weekend marked an exciting milestone for us. Our local farmer's market has opened for the season! It's still early, so all I bought was pickles and apples, but it was so exciting to take the kids and stroll around visiting all the booths and seeing neighbors.

 It also inspired me to clean last summers fruit out of the freezer to make room for the coming bounty.

                                          Thus, cherry jam. With just a hint of vanilla. And just in time too, we are down to our last jar of jam from last summer.

Also we got out a step stool and introduced Unity to the wonders of the washing machine. Hey, if she's going to change her clothes three times a day... To her credit she is actually really excited about helping out around the house and has been asking if there are any dishes she can wash. Well, if you insist. I give most of the credit to her Montessori school for making practical life skills fun.

Linking with Amanda for Weekending.

Helpful!

This weekend we helped Reuben celebrate turning one whole hand.

                                  
                                   His birthday was a Western theme, based on a favorite movie.
                                   We haven't seen it yet, but it's supposed to be a good one.

                                  Everyone wore a cowboy hat, even Baird.

                                      The birthday boy had lots of help opening his gifts.

                                          Speaking of helpful.....the kids assisted in the garden this afternoon.
                                     Chris and I planted squash, cukes, spinach, beets (again, after the last planting didn't come up) and carrots (ditto.) Brixton poked at stuff with a trowel and called it weeding.

     

Unity cuddled with worms.

helping