Snow Day Essentials.

#1 Make a fort for a read-a-thon.




#2 Enjoy the scent of fresh baked bread, courtesy of one of my favorite kitchen appliances, the breadmaker.


#3 Play in snow.


The mini snowman. This was our first snowfall of the season, and in true Virginia style, it was a whopping one inch. But we take what we can get.

#4 Sip hot cocoa.

The only way to deal with January...

...is to pretend it's June.

On Saturday we decided to bundle up and head to Great Falls State Park for some hiking, a trip usually reserved for the warm summer months. We enjoyed a picnic in the car and then checked out the falls. They were beautiful with all the ice that had built up on the rocks. We walked around until the cold got to us, and then headed home for some hot chocolate.






Amelia loved walking on all the ice.










Enjoying our car picnic.

Inaugural Crafting...

I decided I would use the Monday and Tuesday holidays to attempt some projects I have wanted to do for awhile. A little while ago, Etsy posted a "top 100 tutorials of the year" list from another craft blog, which had compiled the list from several other craft blogs, and I just decided to pick a few projects from the list and get to work.


The 1-hour bag from Ric Rac. This took me much longer than 1 hour for my first attempt, but it was pretty simple.


The Black Apple doll by Emily Martin. Emily Martin is one of the top sellers on Etsy, and rightly so. I have some of her prints hanging in Amelia's room and they are beautiful. She demonstrated how to make these dolls on Martha Stewart awhile ago so the video makes it very easy to follow along. My cousin Brooke made some of these incredible dolls and when Amelia saw them on her blog, she became obsessed with them and really wanted to make one that matched her bedroom. She refers to them as hair dolls because she is fascinated by the felt hair. She had fun helping me stuff the arms and legs. They are so fun to accessorize that I think we might have to make some more.


Amelia named this one Sally and she enjoys a lovely perch on her shelf.


The Matyroshka doll tooth fairy pillow. This was super easy to make. It's a fun little pillow with a front pocket to store your lost tooth. Bring it to bed with you and hopefully the tooth fairy will leave a lovely surprise for you in the pocket!


The crayon roll. This is super simple and perfect for any extra felt you have laying around.




I made this felt book for Amelia for Christmas. It keeps her entertained for a long time so I cut out more pieces for it during the Lost premiere last night, including the entire alphabet. Not so easy to cut small letters out of felt.



And finally, I must showcase my mom's delicious creation! My mom made these cupcakes over Christmas after I purchased the pattern, hoping to learn to crochet. I never got around to learning...maybe next time. It is obvious that I get my love of creating things by hand from my mom and my Grandmas.

Inaugural Crafting...

I decided I would use the Monday and Tuesday holidays to attempt some projects I have wanted to do for awhile. I have found myself spending all my time looking at craft blogs and websites and bookmarking about a hundred projects, but not actually making anything. It is amazing how many crafty things you can find on the internet now. I remember when Etsy was first started and I could actually browse through an entire category in a reasonable amount of time. Now it seems like everyone and their dog has an Etsy shop and a search for "diaper bag" will give you over 7,000 products. Exhausting! But it's great for people to have an outlet to showcase and sell their handmade work, and it's especially fun to share ideas with others.

So a little while ago, Etsy posted a "top 100 tutorials of the year" list from another craft blog, which had compiled the list from several other craft blogs (see, it's exhausting), and I just decided to pick a few projects from the list and get to work.


The 1-hour bag from Ric Rac. This took me much longer than 1 hour for my first attempt, but it was pretty simple.


The Black Apple doll by Emily Martin. Emily Martin is one of the top sellers on Etsy, and rightly so. I have some of her prints hanging in Amelia's room and they are beautiful. She demonstrated how to make these dolls on Martha Stewart awhile ago so the video makes it very easy to follow along. My cousin Brooke made some of these incredible dolls and when Amelia saw them on her blog, she became obsessed with them and really wanted to make one that matched her bedroom. She refers to them as hair dolls because she is fascinated by the felt hair. She had fun helping me stuff the arms and legs. They are so fun to accessorize that I think we might have to make some more.


Amelia named this one Sally and she enjoys a lovely perch on her shelf.


The Matyroshka doll tooth fairy pillow. This was super easy to make. It's a fun little pillow with a front pocket to store your lost tooth. Bring it to bed with you and hopefully the tooth fairy will leave a lovely surprise for you in the pocket!


The crayon roll. This is super simple and perfect for any extra felt you have laying around.




I made this felt book for Amelia for Christmas. It keeps her entertained for a long time so I cut out more pieces for it during the Lost premiere last night, including the entire alphabet. Not so easy to cut small letters out of felt.




And finally, I must showcase my mom's delicious creation! My mom made these cupcakes over Christmas after I purchased the pattern, hoping to learn to crochet. I never got around to learning...maybe next time. It is obvious that I get my love of creating things by hand from my mom and my Grandmas.

What's worse than 2 million people on the National Mall?

Two million people on the National Mall who need to use the bathroom...


When we arrived on the Mall over the weekend, we were greeted by endless rows of porta-potties. Apparently there are about 7,000 that have been set up for the events. That is a serious amount of potential, uh, waste.




The calm before the storm.

I know we're within walking distance of a metro station and have the chance to "be part of history" by being present at the Inauguration (by present I mean standing in the cold with millions of others watching the Inauguration on a jumbo screen nowhere near the actual event) but we're sitting this one out. It's hard enough to navigate the metro during rush hour or any D.C. event, and forget attempting it with children. It seems like a recipe for disaster. Ben was even sent home with a "procedures manual" in the event of an "incident" that would not allow anyone to return to work on Wednesday.

All that being said, we are Obama supporters and will most definitely be watching all the events unfold from our living room.

The frigid weekend.

Our friends the Dyckmans stayed with us this weekend and we had such a fun time. Amelia was thrilled to have Ethan around again and we enjoyed having some adult company around. We had fun staying up late playing games and eating food.

Despite the frigid temperatures, we headed downtown on Friday to the American History Museum and to catch a glimpse of the Inauguration set-up.


Amelia and Ethan on the metro.


Even our many layers didn't quite do the trick. We pretty much ran to the museum.


The Dyckmans in front of the American History museum.


Proof that Elsa was with us.


Ben and Stephen.


Amelia and Oscar.


Warming up back home with some hot chocolate.


Elsa and Jonah.


Elsa checks Jonah's pulse?

My 2008 movie pick:

I thought this movie was spectacular. When it comes to movie reviews and movies in general, I should really turn things over to Ben. So I'll just say that I highly recommend this movie.

During our Christmas vacation we finally got around to seeing The Dark Knight. It was good, although I think I liked Batman Begins better. We also saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and while I did enjoy it, it was a bit long.

Two other favorites from this past year (although released earlier...I'm a little slow) were The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and Once.

Feel free to share your favorites...

Breakfast of champions.

There is no better way to start the new year than with a delicious breakfast.


Chocolate croissants right out of the oven and dark chocolate gingerbread hot cocoa.




Amelia struggles with the concept of time. She refers to everything in the past as "last night" and it's hard to explain tomorrow vs. next week vs. one month. So to have an entire holiday based on time was a bit difficult for her to grasp. But she always likes a good party.


The Happy New Year pose. And our New Years Eve dinner of appetizers.