Projects and Elk

I've been working on a lot of things, many of which I can't post about because they are Christmas presents and I don't want anybody to get wind ahead of time. But a few little updates are in order.

I got the idea from pinterest and was excited to have a visual reminder for birthdays for our large family. I have yet to successfully remember a niece or nephew birthday and would like to amend that neglect. I used a nice 1x8 piece of wood, had Eric saw off 8 inches of extra, and painted "family birthdays" on it. The colors match the blue/green/neutral colors of our living room. Hammered on alligator tooth hanger to the back. Then Eric drilled holes in all those wonderful disks. I painted them and added birthdays. Eric screwed in 12 eyelet screws, turned wire into a coil and cut individual jump rings. I put the thing together. Eric hung it on the wall.  Total cost was about 10 dollars (but it would have cost twice that much if I'd purchased all the supplies I needed at once, rather than spreading it out over monthly coupons). A nice joint-effort project! and now I can remember all those important days, as well as easily update as the family (on both sides) expands. 

Because I'm absolutely positive that my mom doesn't read my blog, I can post a picture of this project and not worry that she'll preemptively find out her Christmas present! This one for my parents is slightly different than ours, sporting a color for each family (rather than by gender) and hearts for anniversaries. She said she liked blue and purple, so I went with it. 

Another significant addition to our family... We have a couple of new critters in our home, courtesy of my FIL who shipped them out to us. This elk is super heavy and sat in our garage for a week until our good friends were over for dinner and Eric asked if he wouldn't mind helping to hang it. It took some careful finagling and maneuvering, but we managed to get him up on the wall high enough that I didn't bump him when I walk past while still avoiding puncturing the ceiling with those tines. It was kind of miraculous!

Caroline loved him from the moment he came out of the crate. She wasn't frightened at all, but just wanted to smother him with kisses and hugs and even tried to ride on his back (but she couldn't get her leg over him). She greets him every morning with her version of an elk call and wants to be lifted up to give him kisses. 

We made some fun things for Valentine's Day, most of which I didn't even document. But here are some fun projects. 

and our Valentines this year were owls because my girls both love them. It was perfect. We made these for Family Home Evening to mail to family.  

I will try to post more often because I feel disconnected when I take off too long. But with my new church responsibilities and the massive task of a thesis dominating my 'spare' time, I can't promise regular updates. I know that is going to hurt my already dwindling readership, but it is what it is. :)

there you have it, a brief update!