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.

Christmas Eve

We had our traditional Olsen style Christmas Eve celebration.


One of our stranger traditions involves everybody wearing a Christmas "bib" for dinner.


Elsa feasts on some celery.

After a delicious dinner we performed the nativity story. Amelia assigned everybody their parts and took her role as Mary very seriously. She insisted that her camel be the baby Jesus. She also had to have her own script to read from.



She assigned Ben to be the donkey.





Amelia with the "manger" and some very large frankincense.

Acting out the nativity is always one of my favorite parts of Christmas Eve. Followed by our chocolate fondue dessert feast. After we stuffed ourselves with chocolate, we attempted to watch "It's a Wonderful Life" but didn't make it very far before we headed to bed.

Christmas morning excitement...

The first morning we were at my parent's house, Amelia woke up and inspected the family room and then said "Santa didn't drop in last night." She continued to check every morning so when she came out Christmas morning, she was happy to say that "Santa DID drop in." Christmas morning is so much fun with kids. Because Amelia had stayed up so late the night before, we were all awake before her and finally had to wake her up around 8:30 because we were growing impatient.

She was thrilled with each item she received. She carefully removed everything from her stocking and would say "oh beautiful"...she was even excited about the small pack of tissues in her stocking..."oh wow, my very own tissues!"

A few weeks before Christmas, Amelia started requesting a pink guitar and was pretty sure Santa was going to bring her one. She was so excited to discover that Santa had heard her request...




Amelia inspects her Santa pile.


Everyone watches Amelia look at her Santa gifts. She was definitely the center of attention Christmas morning.


Ben presents Amelia with a giant check, er, guitar.


Unwrapping gifts.


Elsa is overwhelmed by all the chaos.


Amelia unwraps her other Christmas wish, a Baby Alive. This doll is seriously high maintenance. I had an easier time potty training Amelia.


Amelia rocks out.


Elsa examines her gift with hesitation.


She looks to James for answers.


Amelia poses with her loot and it becomes clear that she was completely spoiled.


Elsa was pleased with her loot as well.

Rock Band for the Wii also showed up Christmas morning so we pretty much spent the next several days rocking out.

Amelia joins in with her recorder.




There was also a lot of puzzle action. Amelia was really into it as well and actually found several pieces.

Green Bay excursions...

It was fun to drive around Green Bay and check out old hangouts and see how things have changed. We all had lunch at one of our favorite places, Zesty's. Delicious frozen custard, fried cheese curds, and butter burgers...yum!


Ben attempts the Zesty Burger...a combination hamburger and brat.



We headed to the zoo to see which animals could withstand the cold and snow.