Good Times

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On the eve of Christmas Eve, we went over to Dyker Heights to view the Christmas lights. That neighborhood is known for it’s extravagant holiday displays. This is another thing I don’t usually go see but we thought it would be something Sienna would enjoy. And she did! We were teaching her her right and left so on the way over, she was calling out the houses with the Christmas lights saying “Christmas lights on the right!” or “Christmas lights on the left!” It was fun. Anyway, it was a really chilly night and initially we weren’t going to get out of the car but then we found a real good block chock full of lights! (84th and 12th Ave for future reference.) Since we were there relatively early (5ish), we were able to find a spot and walk up the block of lights. Sienna was SO excited! She was a blur running from house to house to see the lights! What a joy to see her so excited!
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Sienna has also been adapting my goofy poses (another example here)
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Happy New Year Everyone!

A White Day After Christmas!

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Before I post about Christmas, here are some photos from a little snow we got yesterday. 🙂 It started around 10 am on Sunday and was still going when I went to bed around 11:30pm! This is how it looked when we woke up this morning and went outside.
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It’s very windy so there are a lot of snow drifts. See how lucky that tan car across the street is? The wind blew the snow in a way that made a snow free moat around his car! Not so lucky for that black car on our side of the street!
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Merry Christmas Everyone!

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Breakfast With Santa!

Friday Sienna’s school had a breakfast with Santa event and the parents were allowed to go (it was a paid event). Breakfast included a bagel, fruit cup, coffee/tea and juice. You get a photo with Santa and a small gift. It was nice enough. Sienna cried when I had to leave as the event ended at 10:30 and she had until 11:25 for school to finish. I had a nice time hanging out with the other parents!
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Sienna with Megan
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Sienna with Alexis
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Eli, Costas and their mom Antoinette
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Emily and Olivia with Sienna and Megan
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Sarah with her mom and little sis Sam
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Sienna with Dariny
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Santa is in the building! When I asked Sienna if she wanted to go over and see Santa, she said she wanted to get a bagel instead!
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Sienna ate almost the whole bagel!
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I was a little disappointed that the “photographer” was using what looked to be a point and shoot camera to take the photos. I wonder how it will come out.
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dancing!
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Waiting to head back upstairs
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Sienna and Natalie

Boo at the Zoo

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I totally thought I posted these photos but alas, I did not! It’s from October when we visited the Bronx Zoo’s Boo at the zoo and met up with Tammy, Mark and Baby Zack (we probably should stop calling him that but Sienna calls him that and it sounds so cute!). It was so nice to get some one on one time with them!
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They put these pumpkins in a lot of the animal displays for Halloween. I thought it was funny and in my mind, made up a story of how the turtles were freaking out over this big orange thing in their home.
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I missed the kiss but Tammy sent me the photo (at the top of the post) that Mark caught. So cute!!
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Catch up Crafts

Here are some crafts I’ve done (mostly for swaps) in the last few months that I haven’t posted yet. Either I was waiting for my partner to receive the swap or it didn’t fit into a specific category. It’s a lot of photos and I don’t know if clumping them all in one is going to bore you or make you glaze over them a little too fast. Just trying to keep up to date!
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For the send you handmade specialty (my partner likes Georgia O’Keefe)
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Dia De Los Muertos embroidery swap
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Paris photos and crochet dishclothes (2 different partners) as part of the Etsy Inspire swap (I posted the other projects under the Silhouette machine post)
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Pocket Alien swap (from the Felties book)
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Part of the Handmade Holly Jolly Christmas. The glitter is supposed to be orange and it doesn’t look as bright in the pendant as it does in the bottle. I think I know what to do next time to make it brighter. Also for the same swap, since my partner likes orange and flowers, I made these with my Sizzix:
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And a magnetic bookmark for the same swap/partner (pattern from Pretty Little Presents):
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Photo Scavenger Hunt. I’m bummed that the partner I sent this to has fallen off the swap-bot planet so I won’t be rated and she flaked on her partner.
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Part of the Month of Sundays swap (you send 4 sealed envelopes of stuff so your partner gets to open an envelope per Sunday)
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Domino Book swap. This was a lot of fun to do! I made a travel theme and used my Silhouette to make the negative. I thought it appropriate to use a photo of me and a camera on the back. This one from Chicago circa 2007 was the only one I could find!
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The fabric flowers (tute from Lil Blue Boo), paper flowers (Silhouette) and these 2 carvings were part of the 12 Days of Christmas swap. I’m really digging that tree! Might have to carve one for myself!
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Ornament swap. The photo doesn’t really show the metallic thread I used with the regular thread. Free pattern from Colonial Patterns.
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These earrings were part of the Holiday Lucky Parcel swap.
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This was for the Secret Santa swap in the Nuts for Sewing Group. My partner is a big pen pal writer so I made up this stationery folio for her. And her favorite color is green, if you haven’t guessed!

And last but not least! Not for a swap obviously but I’ve been wanting to do this to Sienna’s room since she outgrew these foam mats we had bought for her when she was a baby. I’m still not sure what to do with the other part of the mats!
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next up for her room is a little vinyl jungle by her bed. Wonder how long it will be before I make that!!

Oh! Christmas Tree!

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After school yesterday, me and Sienna hopped on the train to go meet Yves for lunch and a tree. I usually take the tree at Rockefeller Center for granted, only going if I happen to be in the neighborhood (I missed it last year entirely!). I thought Sienna would enjoy seeing it. First we took a look at the holiday windows at Lord and Taylor (maybe we’ll check out Macy’s next week.)
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There weren’t any ice skaters when we got to Rockefeller Center because the zomboni was out preparing the ice. That was kind of a bummer since the skaters add to the atmosphere.

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Family portrait take 1
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Take 2! Got it!
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Her posing cracked me up!
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We also put up our tree the day after Thanksgiving. Pretty early for us but it was fun to get into the festive spirit now that Sienna is really getting into the holidays. She told Yves that she loves Christmas! Who can blame her? I even joined in on the decorating of the tree! (I’m usually off doing something else)
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All done! Now it’s Santa’s turn!

Here is a video of Sienna “singing” a Christmas Medley. LOL

Christmas Medley from Lisa on Vimeo.

Advent

I decided at the last minute that I wanted to make an advent calendar for Sienna. There are so many cute ideas out there on the web and I could have easily drove myself crazy getting it together. Thankfully, I had my senses about me and decided to keep it really simple. (I’m sure if I had decided to do this a lot earlier, I would have totally done it up! There’s always next year!) I stamped the dates on envelopes in red and green and taped it on the wall by the dining room table. I didn’t put up all the envelopes as I haven’t filled them all yet. I don’t want to put too many candies in the envelopes so I mixed it up with some other stuff. I made things with her 2 current obsessions,(Super Why and Disney Princesses) like magnets and paper dolls. I need to remember to add some Spider-Man and Batman (she picked those books out at the library!) I also included a vinyl sticker for her computer. Yes, HER computer! We set her up with our old 14 inch powerbook. She plays games on the pbs website. I’ll have to take a photo to post. Anyhow, here are a couple of shots.

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Getting the envelopes ready
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Hung them on the wall. Looked a little lackluster so made this title.
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She really enjoyed using the tape to put it up!