snow play scene

I came across this cute kids' project from Sun Hats and Wellie Boots the other day.... elf trees made out of paper plates and twigs.  So I pulled out all my green paint, some brushes, and glitter glue, and we got right to work.

Diego and I made several, and then I prepped some more for the big kids to do when they got home from school.  They are always much more interested when they see the finished product than if I suggest, "Hey, let's do a fun craft together."

I scavenged the yard for sticks...which are a little more hard to come by since JP's been burning them.  Plus they had to have certain qualities...no fungus, no bugs, and a certain thickness.  Then while trying to figure out how I'd get these things to stand up, I thought of making a little play scene.

And here's what we ended up with:


Each tree is so unique.



Diego and I sifted through our giant cheese ball tub full of plastic figures to find the ones that are most winter-like....plus a blurry dragon in the background.



I love it!  The kids haven't played with it much yet, but I've pulled out the bag of army men and am waiting for a wintry battle to begin.



Here's a few tips if you'd like to make one:
* I used a sturdy mailing box for the base.
*Punch holes for the sticks with a screwdriver or something similar, then wrap the box with paper (I just reversed some Christmas paper to use the white side) and repunch the holes.
*Before you close the sides of the box, duct tape the sticks to the box from the INSIDE of the box.  That way they won't fall over when your kids play with it.
*Seal the box and finish the sides.  (I was too excited to do that part!)

a quick and easy advent calendar

This idea came to me by chance.  I'm sure someone else has already thought of it, but this is actually something I did NOT look up on pinterest.  Sitting in the car, waiting for the kids to finish TaeKwonDo while Diego naps in his carseat, can really bring out some creativity.

We had gotten our first Christmas card this year....from a business inviting us to some open house we would never attend.  While I contemplated throwing it in the trash, I remembered the super easy way to recycle cards, and so I mindlessly turned it into a box.



Then I remembered this tedious advent calendar I tried one year.  And I realized it would be so much easier and colorful to use old Christmas cards from years past to make the boxes.  Unfortunately, I only had nine total...two being from our realtor that sold us our house almost five years ago.  Nowadays,  we all send those photo cards...my family included...but this idea doesn't really work with those, unless you want to see the folded faces of friends and family as they grew over the years.



When we got home, Isabela helped me whip out these nine boxes in no time.  It's addictive, simple, and very forgiving...they don't have to be perfect.  I added some sticker numbers for the countdown and some stick-on magnets to the back of the boxes.

The magnets aren't that strong, so you couldn't put more than a piece of paper in these...but my other thought was to hot glue just the bottom part of the box to some kind of picture frame or something to hang on the wall, and they would be much sturdier.



This year I'm hoping to do the "twelve dates of Christmas" with Juan Pablo...and we'll use these boxes to put the date ideas in.  We've each thought of six inexpensive, fun ideas to reconnect with each other during this busy season.  I hope we'll follow through with it!



For next year, I hope to have sewn one, maybe something like this...I love the ones where you move an object to the next pocket each day....a lot easier than thinking and doing 25 things during the busy month of December!

Do you use an advent calendar? Let me know if you try this one!

giving thanks

Thanksgiving is growing on me as one of my favorite holidays.  It's always hard to outdo Christmas, but there's nothing better than relaxing with family and being thankful for all we already have.

Thank you so much to my uncle David and aunt Leah Ann for always welcoming our rowdy crew.  I imagine they're happy when we leave, but hopefully happy when we arrive, too.


So glad to spend time with our hard-working daddy.  I actually did the driving this year...he got to snooze a little in the car and I was not worried about tickets or fast-male driving.  Smile.



Someone is very ticklish.



But this one has quite a story to tell after this Thanksgiving.



My uncle, Joaquin's great-uncle, is an avid cyclist.  He was going for a morning bike ride on Thanksgiving, and we suggested Juan Pablo and Joaquin go along...they're mountain bikers and have been blazing trails together for many months.  This would be a little different....paved trails and streets.  But in DC, there'd be lots to see and the excitement was flowing through all of us.



The plan was to meet us at our aunt's house near the National Zoo, after seeing the sights.



Did I mention they started in Alexandria, VA?


Thirty-four miles later, they arrived...tired but exhilarated by such a great accomplishment.  We were all thoroughly impressed, and it's something they'll talk about forever, I imagine.  Me, too...I'm so proud of Joaquin...and JP, too.  This could be a new tradition.



And someone sure looks up to his big brother.



Here's the Thanksgiving crew...my two uncles, a close friend of my aunt's, aunt Beth, us, and Beth's dad.  We shared a wonderful meal and had lots of laughs.  Sometimes it takes an imperfect holiday, like last year's, to help appreciate the oh so very good ones.



The rest of the weekend was spent at home...pulling out Christmas decorations and making bike trails through our own little woods.
 I'll be busy making presents for the next few weeks...my favorite time of the year...you can tell by the smile on my face :)

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

old fashioned fun

Part of my job as mom is making us do fun stuff.

So last weekend, despite grumbles from the peanut gallery, I made everyone bundle up and head out to an old part of town, Sycamore Square.  This is a quaint, little, cottage-style shopping area that was the place to go when I was little.  I remember going grocery shopping at the Ukrop's there and buying my new white Keds each year at the Tootsies shoe store for kids.

Neither of those stores are there anymore, and actually we never go to this shopping center, so I wasn't sure what to expect at all.  The only thing I knew for sure was that they were having horse carriage rides for free, and we'd never done that before.

We got there just before Santa did and saw him pull up in the carriage and adjust his beard.  The kids gave him a shy hello, but his strong southern accent gave away the fact that he wasn't the real Santa.  So we headed off to the horse carriage line, about six families deep.

A shop keeper came out quickly and handed out a slip of paper....if you visit nine certain stores and get a stamp at each one, you could win $100 gift card.  It was a brilliant idea.  Now we had a purpose, a scavenger hunt, and a reason to explore what stores were actually in these few square blocks.  So while JP and Isabela held our spot in line, the boys and I headed off to get some stamps.

Along the way, we found a balloon lady who made Diego this sweet snowman which he loved.



We also came across free bowls of clam chowder, chocolate cookies, and hot apple cider.  We hurried back with our discoveries, then JP and I switched places.  They came back with a bag of popcorn and only one last spot to stamp.  By then, it was our turn on the carriage!

A view of the horses backside.  They jingled all the way, and it was very merry.





We huddled under the red blankets they provided and enjoyed the clip-cloping of the horses hooves.



One quick pit stop later at Awful Arthur's, a seafood restaurant, and we think we discovered a new place we'd like to eat at.



The kids were still hungry, so we had seconds on clam chowder, popcorn, and cookies.  Happy faces and excited talk filled the car on the way home.

Just goes to show you, sometimes you have to force the fun.

kids' rooms tour

This is what Joaquin's room looks like everyday.

A room that Joaquin and Diego share together.  Diego's bed is a trundle and pulls out from Joaquin's bed.  Every morning, Joaquin jumps out of bed, makes Diego's bed, pushes it in, then makes his own bed.  It's quite amazing.

The wall shelves we made from this post and eventually moved into the boys' room to hold books.  There's a longer, lower one on the opposite wall for Diego's books.



The animals are arranged in this mock battle every morning, as well.  And as much as I love how he always keeps his room clean, I have to remind him that it's Diego's room, too.  He does NOT like it when Diego rearranges things.



And speaking of animals, Joaquin and I whipped up this hippo one day with material I had picked up at IKEA a long time ago.  Originally, he didn't like it, so I put it away somewhere.  I found it stuffed in our storage a few weeks ago, pulled it out, and sewed up the last hole.  The kids now fight over it.
It really is easy to whip up your own pattern, cut it out and sew it.  And we learn lessons by trial and error each time we do it.


I just put up those ABC pictures for Diego the other day. I got them at a consignment sale about a year ago and finally took them out of the box.  Obviously, I have no decorating theme here...I guess you could just call it eclectic, or random...but it makes it easy to change, right?



This is Isabela's room after we rearranged it.  My big goal here was to move the bed so the light hung over it and she could read at night.  Her desk used to be in that corner, but she never sits at her desk.



Now it's over here and we love it.  And what a difference closed closet doors make.  Her room does NOT usually look like this.



Currently, the kids have some clean room bet going...something they thought up themselves, probably Joaquin's idea.  I only ask that they pick up their clothes and make their bed each morning.  Now I just have to remember to do it myself!

an annual tradition comes early

Every year, we load up to see the annual tree lighting at our outdoor mall and meet up with our friends  somewhere near the free giveaway table.

This year, the giveaway was a light up wand.  My favorite year was when they handed out the giant jingle bell on a wooden stick.  I'm still not sure why they haven't done that one again.




Diego had fun lighting up daddy's backside.



But be warned...these can make you zone out.



Diego's at a great age where he understands so much, but everything is still amazing.  His expression was completely still as the crowd counted down from 10 and the huge tree lit up.



I think it's even bigger than last year.  They turned the snow machines on, too, but only for five minutes.  Even they agree it's too early for snow.



A trip around the build-a-bear store is also part of the tradition.  We never buy anything, but it's fun to look.  Except for Joaquin...he always goes in with the understanding that we're NOT buying one, but comes out brokenhearted and sullen.  It's something about that store, because as soon as we're away from it's magic spell, no one is thinking about build-a-bears anymore.



The next day, one of our local radio stations started playing all Christmas music.  Usually, they start the day after Thanksgiving, but I have to say, all this earliness has got me in the mood.   I've been making lists, checking them twice, and more importantly, pinning away ideas for our handmade gifts this year.  You can check them out here.  I'm still narrowing down the ones I can actually do in time, but I plan to get started this week...shhh! Don't tell the kids!

leaf man

This is the softest coat you will ever feel.  Apparently, it's also a leaf magnet.

Our stream of smoke signals has started up again.  Fall is one of JP's favorite times...burning leaves, sticks and fallen trees.  I managed to salvage a fallen cedar tree from the burn pile to turn into blocks.  Now we just need to add some marshmallows and it's a perfect fall day.

Happy Veteran's Day

To all who served and still do, we thank you.


(Joaquin's veteran's day program.)

a fall park adventure

Days off from school can swing one of two ways....lots of movie watching and house cleaning, or big time adventure.  Tuesday was the latter when a friend invited us to go with her to one of our very favorite parks ever.  I just call it Dodd Park, but I'm not sure that's what others call it.

Diego took a peek at the map before we started off on the trail.  Too bad the rest of us didn't.  The trails had changed since the last time either of us moms had been there, and after about 30 minutes of wandering, we decided to go back to start because there really was a plan to all of this.



The kids played on the playground, and we had lunch before we started off again.  The first question out of Joaquin's mouth every time we go to a park, "Is there a playground?"  I asked him why would he rather play on a plastic, boring playground instead of an ever-changing, adventurous trail?  Silly question, mom.



There are some interesting buildings around the playground.  I think this was a former civil war battle area, but I didn't read the info this time.



Walking sticks are necessary on this trail.  Steep hills, coupled with a floor of gigantic round acorns, made it somewhat treacherous.  Diego found this reed, but it definitely wasn't strong enough.



And boy was it chilly!! Hats, scarves and gloves for everyone!




This bridge was our ultimate destination.  A low lying metal bridge over the marsh.  So fun to cross...minus the dead beaver we saw right beside it.  That brought forth lots of guesses as to what could have killed him.

But for me, the thrill here is taking pictures.  They are always amazing.  This has to be one of my all time favorites.  It looks so serene....back in time.



Brothers on the bridge.  Just the two of them.  You'd have never known....



....we were a motley crew of nine kids and two moms!  What a great adventure day.

find out day!