STAR WARS Finger Puppet Brag Post

This is just a brag post to show off some stinking awesome finger puppets I made.  A friend and I got together and cut out all the pieces (a set for each of us) and then we both went home and stitched them when we found the time.  I really enjoy hand stitching crafts like this.  It's relaxing and fun for me to make things I know my family will enjoy.  The pictures aren't great, but there's a lot of them, so enjoy.  :)  Ha ha ha!

Han Solo:

 Chewbacca:

 Princess Leia:

 Ewok:

 Yoda:

 Luke Skywalker:

 Obi Wan Kenobi:

 Darth Vader:

 C3PO:

 R2D2:

 And since the colors were kinda washed out in the above pictures, here's some with the flash so we can see the colors better.  :)

 Here's the whole gang.  I kinda love how they turned out.  :)

Christmas Eve 2013

One of my favorite Christmas Eve traditions is acting out the nativity story.  We have to get creative with only 4 people, but we made it work.  :)  Here's our version of the nativity story.  :)

"And the angel came in unto [Mary] and said, Hail, art thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.... And behold, thou shalt coceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.  He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest.... And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to they word."

 "And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.... And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.  And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, unto Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem.... To be taxed with his espoused wife, being great with child."

 (Knocking at the Inn.  "Sorry, there's no room.")

 ("But my wife is about to have a baby!"  "Well, I have a stable over there you can use.")

 "And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes."

  "And laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn."

 "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night."

  "And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round them; and they were sore afraid."

 "And the angel said unto them, Fear not; for I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.  And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

 "And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us."

 "And they came with haste and found Mary, and Joseph and the babe lying in the manger."

 "Now when Jesus was born in Belehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him." 

 "When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy." 

 "And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshiped him; and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts: gold, and frankincense, and myrrh."

We of course, also did Christmas Eve Pajamas.  :)

 And here's a picture of the tree Christmas morning.  Yes, there's a strand of lights burned out.  It happened a week before Christmas and I didn't want to deal with getting new lights and changing it out.  :)  It still looks good enough for me.  :)

 We also had this mini tree that I decorated with one of the family gifts: STAR WARS finger puppets.  More on those in another post.  :)

 Here's our cute kiddos on Christmas morning ready to open their presents.  :)

Merry Christmas!  :)

December 2013

Here's a quick update on what our family has been doing this December. :)

We kicked off the month with Mike defending his PhD dissertation. The official title of his PhD dissertation is: "Examining Phosphatidylethanolamine Externalization on Cells and Microparticles in Hemolysis and Hemolytic Anemia.”  Basically he studies micro-particles (debris) in blood and came up with a way to make blood last longer and be safer when donated.  Here he is right before he walked out the door for his defense.  He is so handsome!  :)  

He did great and received great reviews from his committee.  And now he's done!  :)  yeah!  He'll start 3rd year rotations in January.

CANDY CANE LANE:
A neighborhood nearby has a huge lights show called candy cane lane.  About 300 homes participate by going all out in their decorations.  Mike was so excited and tried to get a bunch of pictures, but taking pictures of lights in a moving van didn't work too well.  This house was our favorite, mostly because of the Yoda in a Santa suit.  :)

 Most of the pictures turned out more like this one:

Mitchell Domes:
Milwaukee has 3 indoor botanical gardens that are nicknamed the Domes because they are contained in three domed greenhouses.  I love going to the domes in the winter because it feels great inside and I can still enjoy the sunshine.  :)
Here's the kids "shooting" their daddy with some sticks they found.

 We were all enjoying ourselves.  :)

 One of the domes has a special theme every quarter.  This year's theme was the Nutcracker. I'm always impressed with how much they're able to decorate.  :)

Officer W.
We have a friend who is a police officer.  We had his family over to dinner a couple weeks ago.  We had mentioned beforehand how much Aiden is obsessed with police officers, so our friend showed up in his police uniform.  Aiden was THRILLED!  :)

 Aiden just wanted to play with Officer W's gadgets, not stop for a picture.  :)

 When officer W was showing Aiden the handcuffs, I suggested he cuff Mike.  Aiden immediately got nervous, thinking Mike was in trouble and going to be taken to jail.  See how nervous he looks in this picture? So Aiden would only let officer W cuff one of Mike's hands.  This actually turned out to be a really good thing because officer W soon realized that he left the key to the handcuffs at home.  Oops!  I thought it was hilarious and we all got a good laugh.  Thankfully Mike was headed over to that neighborhood that night so he stopped by and got the cuffs off.

 Aiden had so much fun playing with the gadgets from officer W's belt.

THE JINGLE BUS:
There is a Christmas bus called the jingle bus that drives through downtown and lets you see all the Christmas lights down there.  Aiden loves buses and so we decided to ride the bus for a family outing.

There ended up being a bit of a wait, but never fear, there was this animatronic symphony of teddy bears that kept the kids attention for quite a while.  :)

Esther and Mike on the jingle bus.

 Mommy and Aiden on the jingle bus.

 Here's Aiden showing his Cole blood by putting olives on his fingers.  I'm pretty sure he ate half the can of olives that night.  :)

LARSON FAMILY CHRISTMAS CONCERT:
Every Christmas season we host a low key Christmas concert.  Basically we just invite all our friends to join us and we share our musical talents.  We have more friends than we have space at our home, so we had it at our friend's house this year.  Thanks again E family!  :)

After church a couple weeks ago we tried to get a family picture with our family looking all snazzy.  As you can see it didn't go over very well with the kids.  :)

 Oh well!  Such is life! (please be sure to note Aiden's socks: one red, one green.  It was totally his idea)

We went out to play in the snow and after I had bundled Aiden up he was wandering around the house saying "whoo whoo whoo!"  He makes an adorable owl if you ask me.  :)

 Esther looks about like this every morning when we bundle her up and send her off to school.  They have outdoor recess unless it's below 5* F.  Brrrrr!!!!

SCHOOL CHRISTMAS CONCERT:
Esther's school put on a cute Christmas concert.  Esther had so much fun practicing the songs.  It was fun watching her perform, although we snuck out of the concert after her class was done performing (there were 4 other grades performing and no available seats for this pregnant woman).

CHRISTMAS EVE SLEDDING!
We got all bundled up to go outside and build a snowman, only to discover that the snow was too powdery.  So we grabbed the sleds and headed over to a nearby hill for some sledding instead.  Mike pulled the kids up the hill, which they loved.  :)

 Aiden had so much fun trudging through the snow.

 Esther is a pro at making snow angels.  :)

 I had to take a break and rest on the sled.  Sledding at 8 months pregnant isn't the easiest thing to do. :)

 I love spending time with this guy!  Can you see the icicles on my eyelashes?  It was a balmy 12*F.  :)

 Mike went down by himself and managed to take a spill.  The kids thought it was hilarious.  :)

 Aiden went exploring by himself and managed to get stuck.  He said "rescue me daddy!"

 So Mike mounted a rescue effort and got Aiden unstuck.  :)

 Aiden and I took a fun and it was super fun.   :)

 Here we are going for another run.  :)

 Here I am with my kiddos.  I sure love them!  :)