stART-The Legend of the Poinsettia-by Tomie dePaola

We love all of Tomie dePaola's books, but I have a special fondness for his Christmas legends and saint legends books. The Legend of the Poinsettia is the book we unwrapped yesterday and I had a plan to make a handprint poinsettia when we opened this wonderful book.
"Tomie dePaola presents the story of a well-intentioned Mexican child, Lucida. Distressed because she has no other gift to offer Baby Jesus, she carries into the church an armful of weeds, each of which suddenly becomes "tipped with a flaming red star"-marking the miraculous blooming of the first poinsettias." Amazon review

The first step in these very easy poinsettias was to paint a paperplate green.
We did this the night before the next step so the paint had time to dry.
The next day we made 5 handprints for the poinsettia flowers.
We learned in the book that the people in Mexico call these flowers: la Flor de Nochebuena---which means, the Flower of the Holy Night. We talked about how they look like stars.

You can't have more fun than this during art time.

Kimmy, as always, is a little more lady like in her artwork.

After the blossoms were dry, we used a q-tip to dot yellow paint onto the center of our flowers.

Very careful, now Kimberly!

Very pretty results!!

Check out other stART posts over here at A Mommy's Adventure.

SNACKTIME; Healthy Peanut Butter Bites

Peanut Butter Bites

1/2 cup creamy natural peanut butter

3/4 cup powdered milk

1/2 cup ground flaxseed

1/2 cup honey

I discovered this recipe here. It is just perfect for a healthy afternoon protein break!

Above, Mark is using my favorite measuring device in the house: the Measure All from Pampered Chef.
It is the only thing we measure peanut butter in.

Mix peanut butter, powedered milk,

flaxseed and

honey into a bowl.

Of course, we double the recipe since we have more than your average sized family.

Get ready to mix, and mix,

and stir and stir. (It is hard for 3 year olds to stir--check out Kimmy's face)

After the ingredients are all well mixed...

rolled into balls, about 1 inch in diameter. Refrigerate for about an hour-and then enjoy!

These can store in the refrigerator for up to a month in an airtight container.

Ours don't last this long....

We had some teeny tiny bites, and some larger bites--perfect for the many different sized snackers around here.

What a "cook", and what a face!!

This goes to prove that you don't need much

to keep little ones entertained for an hour or two.
In this case, it only took a tipped over chair, marbles and pencils.

They were like this for two hours----

making this a priceless activity!!

A Homemade Fleece Gingerbread House Blanket

About 2 months ago I was looking through the Oriental Trading company catalog and came across this very cute Gingerbread house tied fleece craft blanket. It is now sold out (I expect because it was on sale for $5.00) but here is a link to some of the other fleece craft blankets and pillows.
It was soooo simple. The edges were pre-cut, so all Grace and Mark had to do was tie the edges together.
It took them about an hour--they needed to take a few breaks,

it is perfect for the back of our couch during this wonderful Christmas season.

Great job, Mark and Grace!!

Trimming the Tree--in the "little house"-Makes My Monday

Trimming the Christmas tree certainly Makes My Monday, especially when 11 of us are taking part in the annual event .

First we enjoyed a delicious dinner and then it was onto the decorating.
It also Makes My Monday to see how many people we can actually fit in the 12x14 foot living room.
It is a squeeze, but we can do it! :-)

Luke had a "ball" decorating.

I was so pleased that Patrick wanted to come home to help us with this tradition, no matter how chaotic is was.

We actually had to wait until he was available this evening.

Danny can take care of the top of the tree, Mark.-a little bit lower.

Kimberly remembered making these angels last year.

If you look closely at this photos, I can only fit so much into the frame,( I took pictures standing on the couch ) so every photo has arms or legs or the backs of kid's head--mainly because they didn't fit in the camera lens.

Every home should have a nine year old boy--they make life very "interesting"--notice what his shirt says!

It is a beautiful tree, and almost all the ornaments are homemade.

We had a wonderful time. I am soooo sorry Becky was not able to be here, but we saved her favorite ornaments so she could put them on when she gets home.

Does trimming the Christmas tree in the "little house" look peaceful and serene? Just click on the above video and see the truth! This video is entitled "Putting iciles on the tree for the first time"

Also, make sure your watch our rendition of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer on this previous post.

What "Makes You Monday"? Link up at Twinfatuations and share in the fun!

Rudolph-sung by all -- but with only the least shy kids "on screen"

We have some talent?!?!

The easy way to craft in Christmas

I haven't seemed to be able to accomplish much this Christmas season. We are reading aloud and counting down, but basically I have been overwhelmed and quite unproductive.

Which brings me to this post.

The minimalist Christmas crafting--caused by a tired momma!

We had another fun morning at Lowes, enjoying the Build and Grow program.

Today Daddy had to work, so I took Mark and Grace to Lowes and we made some very cute Christmas decorations. (I think I get bonus points for managing on to help build 4 things with NO mess-ups)
Above is the Lowes Christmas tree decoration.

I just love these little picture frame decorations.

Remember to check with a Lowes close to you----this weekly program is totally FREE!!

The other crafts we are doing are from Oriental Trading Company.

They are the perfect crafts for a variety of ages and, most importantly, everything needed is in a little plastic bag--ready to go!

These little bead and button icicles are super easy and very cute.

I also see that they are sold out.

I am glad I order these a few months ago!

Kimberly thinks these would make great earrings.

They looks very lovely on the tree.

Open a package, follow the directions, hang up the ornament, and through away the scraps.

This seems to be the only crafting I am capable of creating this year, but it makes the kids happy, mommy sane, and the final products are great!