Merry Christmas!

Here's the highlights from Christmas, and maybe an explanation of why I haven't blogged since November...

I found the cutest Christmas tree (live in a pot) that's not tooooo small, but sits perfectly on top of our desk in the living room. The presents don't fit up top with the tree, so they go under the desk. It's maybe not traditional, but it works great. I couldn't find my tree skirt and it wasn't high enough on the list of handmade priorities... maybe next year. I did decide on a whim to make a fabric garland from scraps of Christmas flannel! It turned out super cute! And the cinnamon gingerbread garland is from HERE!

Thanks to my new Pinterest addiction I may have gone slightly overboard with handmade gifts this year. Here's a rundown of what I REMEMBER making and links to where I got the ideas (if they weren't my own):

Sugar Scrubs for hands and feet

Rice pocket warmers

Citrus Coasters

Tree Stump Coasters

Peppermint Marshmallows

Silhouette Ornaments

iPhone/iPad Gloves

French Macarons

iPhone clip case with zippered pocket

Panda phone/camera case 

"Whatever" Clock

Money Gift "Wallet"

Braided Bracelets

Mug Rugs
Ruffle Pouch
Letter from Santa (to explain why Ethan was getting a used video game....)

(The pictures in the links are the inspiration. 
I forgot to take pictures as I was making stuff!)

Whew... I was a little busy. During that time I also learned how to make my own deodorant and laundry soap!

We had a very nice Christmas celebration. We started off with a Christmas Eve service at the German church where all four of us played a part. Rob was playing the piano the whole time, Haven, Rob and I all sang, and Ethan played the HARP!! That's right! He was at the practice with us and kept trying to play Ariane's harp, so she just brought the baby one for him. And he performed on Christmas Eve with the rest of us! It was SO cute! I don't have pictures yet, but hopefully some good ones were taken.

Christmas Eve was lovely and quiet and full of music and friends and food and fussball!

And then there was the storm of wrapping paper, ribbons, tissue, and squeals of delight this morning! I was busy notating everything the kids got as they shredded paper, so there aren't many pictures... 

These are just a few things I snapped pictures of. The circuit board on the bottom is pretty cool. It's like legos in that it snaps together, but there are real wires and circuit boards to connect and make it run stuff. Ethan loved testing his own designs and then trying to figure out why they didn't work! The kit came with instructions for 100 different circuit configurations!

I heard about the book "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" from a blog I read and Haven bought it for me for Christmas. The pictures in it are really interesting to me. They are all vintage photos which are clearly manipulated, but BEFORE photoshop. So those editors had some skills! The funniest quote of the day came when I opened the book and Haven said, "Don't drop my bookmark! I'm not finished reading it!" HAHAHA!! Yes, she was pre-reading her gift to me. Whatever, as long as she reads. :)

And the other really exciting gift for me (which I get to talk about since I'm the one typing...) is that Rob got me a Jo Totes Camera bag! These bags are super cool! I swoon over how organized my bag is now. I can fit all my junk in it - in an orderly fashion - AND fit my DSLR camera!

Presents are nice, and we are very grateful for the things we received. But the main thing that was so touching to us is the gift of family and friends. With all the "interesting" and, to be honest, painful experiences of 2011, we treasured our Christmas together. We survived 2011 and we have faith that God will continue to direct our paths in 2012.

And if the zombie apocalypse happens to occur, I know how to sew clothes, make soap and deodorant.
So I guess we're set.

Froehlichhe Weihnacten und einen guten Rutsch!!

That's a Christmas color... right?

Braces and blue hair. My baby girl is growing up! :)

Childhood Memory

Anyone else remember the Snoopy Snow Cone maker? I saw this at the PX and wanted my kids to also have the pleasure of slaving away grinding ice cubes for a tiny cup of shaved ice. =)

Halloween

This year both the kids wanted to be animals. Specifically, 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle

And a furry panda.

Easy peasy! Once Ethan decided he wanted to be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle there was no convincing him otherwise. So that was easy. Haven took some time planning hers. She got the hat downtown for her birthday and we had ordered the furry leg warmers sometime back. She wanted everything to be right, but then wouldn't let me paint her face! Silly girl. Oh well. They were both cute. 

Tropical Islands

While we were in Berlin we took one day to visit the indoor water park Tropical Islands. This is so cool! It's built inside of an old Zeppelin hangar! They did a really good job with the inside, including real plants, birds, and beach sand. 

Inside they have two swimming areas with "beaches." They have places you can stay inside the park, either in tents or in little lodges. We didn't stay overnight, but I think it would be fun to stay in one of the lodges.

Once you are inside you pay for everything with a chip in your wristband. For lunch we had an all you can eat Asian barbeque that was AMAZING. You choose all the raw ingredients and then they cook it for you.

The kids wanted to spend the whole time in the pool, but I did get them out long enough to take a hot air balloon ride around the complex. 

It was pretty fun! The balloon is strapped to a guy who walks it around the grounds. Seriously. It's strapped to a guy. He weighs the passengers ahead of time and then weights down the balloon so we don't fly away. Say hi to Rob on the lounge chair!

Berlin

Over Columbus Day weekend we went to Berlin. We've been living here almost 10 years and had not gone there yet! This was a good time to go because Ethan was old enough to understand and remember what he saw there. Here's a few shots from our tour of the city.

The portion of the wall still up is a kind of outdoor museum. There is a display you can walk through with a timeline and pictures from before and after WWII.

 

Checkpoint Charlie is a tiny little building in the middle of a street. The guys standing there with the flags look kinda grumpy but they were actually very nice! The guy on the left stamped my passport with "Checkpoint Charlie" in several different languages.

These are a few pretty sites from our bus tour. I don't remember what everything was.

The Brandenburg Gate was pretty neat. I bet it was quite a site back when it was in use. It was one of the gates to the city back when it had a protective wall. (1730)

This was pretty interesting. We didn't get out and walk around this area, but it was emotional just driving by. It's called Bebelplatz, and was a site for Nazi book burnings. Do you remember the scene from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade? 

This is the Memorial to the Murdered Jews.

The city was a little less emotional than I expected, I think due to the fact that we had both kids with us. That kept us moving, kept us out of museums, and divided our focus. The one thing that actually helped me stay focused was that Ethan kept asking "why" over and over. Why was there a wall, why was it torn down, why were people mean, why, why, why. He wasn't the only one who wanted to know why.

Work Clothes Round 3

This picture is painful to post, but it was the best one out of the bunch. My dear sweet teenage photographer did NOT want to help me tonight, and by the time I realized all the pics were blurry it was dark. So... what are you gonna do.

The bodice is a black jersey and the skirt is a plaid knit I found at fabric.com. The pattern is Simplicity 2724 with some modifications.

Here's what I did:

Since the fabric was plaid I didn't want to cut all the pieces for the straight skirt. So instead I used the pattern for the a line skirt, but made it only as wide as the bodice piece (eliminating the pleats). That worked fine. And since it is knit I didn't put in the slit. After I had it all together I realized it pulled weird at the waist (the skirt part is heavy) and I needed an empire waist instead. So I made that modification, but then the hip was way up at my waist! Oops. So I had to take it in more on the sides. It's still a little funny under my arms and I'm not really sure why. But it's wearable and comfy. I made it a few weeks ago but had to wait for fall weather to wear it. There are some positive things to the colder weather here - like tall boots with new dresses. :)