Salt Dough Ornaments

This year we added several new ornaments to the tree, including several salt dough ornaments.

Making the salt dough ornaments took a couple days; we baked one day, pained another, and then finally sealed them another day before hanging them on the tree.

Freddie is very product oriented so he was determined to execute his vision.  Hansie is more about the process so he was apply to just fool around with the dough and then the paints.

We soared them with an acrylic sealant to help the glitter adhere and hopefully help them to last for quite some time.  

They were both proud of their finished creations and I look forward to opening the ornament box each year and finding just the right spot on the tree for each of these.

If you'd like to try your own:

• Mix 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup salt, 1/2 cup water to make the dough.  This will make a dozen or so ornaments depending on the size.
• Roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch and cut shapes with cookie cutters.  Don't forget to add a hole with a straw so you can hang them!
• Place on a cookie sheet and bake at 250 degrees for 4 hours or until completely dry.
• Paint with acrylic paints and let dry before spraying with an acrylic varnish.
• Don't forget to add the year to the back!  You'll want to remember when these were made.

Worth it

It was so very quiet...usually a hint that something's amiss.  But there was Freddie reading the Ninja Turtles Pizza Party story to Hans.  So thankful for brothers.  They do really take care of each other.  And so proud of Freddie for his hard work with his reading.  He's right in the middle of the pack in his class, a perfect spot for him.  He's obviously proud of himself as well, which I really like, as he has been super motivated to practice his reading lately and has been challenging himself with more difficult texts.

Holiday Window Walk

One of my favorite NYC holiday traditions with the boys is taking a walk from Macy's to Bloomingdale's to look at the window displays and soak in the Christmas cheer.

Although some times it is so crowded that one might not be so cheerful.  This year the crowd wasn't so bad, we've definitely experienced worse, but we certainly weren't the only New Yorkers visiting the windows.

The boys could look at the windows forever.  So could I!  There are so many details to take in.  Freddie even said this year that he'd like to build display windows one day.  What a fun job that would be to plan and create the display windows.  

The stores are all dressed up for the holidays and it really does feel festive being out in the city at this time of year.

I still really like the show Sak's projects on the outside of the building.

The show lasts a few minutes with about an 8 minute break in between.  We arrived right across the street just in time to find a spot on the sidewalk and watched the show before turning into Rockefeller Center to see the tree.

The tree is just beautiful.  We made our way through the pack to see the skaters and take a few photos.  The boys could also stand here forever watching the people and looking at the tree.  

We finished off the night with hot chocolate and donuts for dinner.  Perfect end to the night.  

One day Hans might eat more than the icing off his donut!

The Holiday Train Show

Each year the New York Botanical Garden has a holiday train show.  Several model trains are running on tracks winding through replicas of NYC landmarks mad elf natural materials such as leaves, acorns, and twigs.

We hadn't been since 2011 when Hans was just a tiny baby strapped to me in the carrier.  It was definitely time to take Hansie since the kid does love trains.

The show was crowded, as to be expected, but the boys didn't hesitate to wiggle in and get a good look at each of the displays.

We even found the Roosevelt Island lighthouse as part of the display.

I have a feeling this may become a new holiday tradition for us.

The Tree

We headed to the burbs, AKA Queens, for our tree the weekend after Thanksgiving.  One day we'll make it out of the city to cut our own, but this year Home Depot tree shopping it was.  

Freddie and Hans proved to be big critics and quite particular.  They had Charlie working, unwrapping trees, standing them up, shaking them out, all so they could decide it it was THE ONE.

I mean they really could have looked at every tree in the lot.  And they were never in agreement!

Finally we narrowed it down to two trees and Charlie made the boys turn their backs while he shuffled them around, hoping they'd both pick the same tree rather than choosing opposing trees just for the sake of disagreeing with the other.  Who would have thought that my kids would ever do such a thing!

After finally getting our tree home and getting on the lights the kids got to decorating.  Hans was more interested in reading the Christmas books that came out of the box where we store the decorations, but Freddie really loved finding a special spot for each of the ornaments.

The ornaments get shuffled around often but so far the tree has remained upright.  We have added quite a few ornaments crafted by the boys this year.  I love this time of year with the boys, and love each of the memories they will have tied to the tree and its ornaments.

In my inbox

Found this photo from Freddie's teacher in my inbox late afternoon.  The weekly homework was A PROJECT!  He had to create a "shape neighborhood" and then present it to the class.  Freddie was thrilled, and I of course thought karma was at work.  I was quite sorry for having assigned all those book reports.  I did, however, love Freddie's enthusiasm and he had great fun putting together his little diorama with toilet paper rolls, paint, and construction paper.  He labeled all the shapes and practiced his presentation.

I am grateful for his sweet teacher sending me this quick picture and especially grateful he loves school.

Skaters

It's zamboni season...er, I mean skating season!  Although the allure of the ice rink for Hans is mostly about the zamboni, Freddie is getting pretty excited about how much progress he's making.

Freddie still likes holding someone's hand when he skates but he is literally pulling me along.  He's getting more confident even with the rink being packed with skaters.  Hans is making lots of progress as well, keeping his blades on the ice and maintaining balance.  These boys are ice skaters!

The Winter Concert

Please note that this is THE Winter Concert.  Freddie has been talking about this since the first week of school.  "The auditorium is going to be packed, Mom!" he'd tell me each time we talked about it.

He was excited to be on stage, and especially excited to get dressed up complete with a tie.  Although the mystique of the tie quickly wore off when I buttoned  his shirt all the way off.  He was still very proud of how he looked all dressed up.

There are six kindergarten classes, over 100 kids, so the music teacher had his work cut out for him.  

I loved watching Freddie cha with his buds before the concert started.  Charlie secured us seats close to the front and Freddie easily found us in the crowd.

I love the sound of those little voices.  Quite a production getting them all up there and settled and ready.

Freddie sang all of the three songs, at least his mouth was moving.  He had been singing around the house for several weeks and so I do think he was truly singing up there.  The music teacher is quite a character and very emphatic about the kids projecting, so Freddie was certainly going to do as told.

And of course a video...

The "kindergarten chorus" performance lasted about 10 minutes, and everyone was completely worn out afterwards.  Absolutely one of my favorite things about kindergarten so far.