Girls Weekend 2013: Finding Fairy Doors

The girls in my family enjoyed our annual girls weekend this past weekend.  The last couple years we've spent the weekend with my sister, so in researching things to do down by her my mom found that a neighboring city has fairy doors at several of the businesses.  Well, how fun for a 6 year old girl!

 

We started off by going to another town so I could pick a couple things up at a cross-stitch store...I could have stayed all day in that place coming up with a million projects to do ;-)  Then we went to the city with the fairy doors for lunch and to hunt for fairy doors.

 

On our way to the restaurant Morgan found her first fairy door.  She couldn't have been more excited!

This was at Alexander's Custom Clothier, but the Fairy Proprietor is "Taylor Hemalot" of "Hemalot's Custom Fairy Clothiers"

A poster of several of the fairy doors.

This was in the building with the restaurant.  Such a beautiful idea!

After lunch we continued on the fairy door hunt where Morgan actually caught sight of a fairy by one of the doors!

This was at the Great Harvest Bread Company where I couldn't help but stop in and taste, then buy, some Cinnamon Chip bread! Of course in the fairy world, it is actually "Twinkle Biskett Bread Co." and the baker is "Barley Biskett".

It was always exciting to catch site of a fairy near the fairy doors.



As you can see Morgan thought they were pretty special! :-)

As we neared the end of the little hunt (or so I thought), we found that some fairy doors were actually inside the store!  This was at Uniquely Yours, a flower shop.  The fairy there was "Lilly Bokay" of the "Flowers & Seeds Store".

The woman working there was trying to close, but took the time to get a rose together for Morgan and give it to her. :-)

The next place we went was Stampeddler Plus Memories or "Old Church Craftalot" (it was located in an old church), Proprietor "Mother Stamperior".  A woman there played hot & cold with Morgan to help her find the fairy door.  We also learned that there was a coloring book to go along with finding the doors with places in the book to have stamped at each of the businesses when Morgan found the door.  Since we were nearing the end, and I had taken pictures at each place, I decided we'd be okay without it, but my mom purchased it anyway....then of course we had to walk all the way back around town trying to get all the stamps we could!  Morgan ended up with 17, but several businesses were closed and we missed a few as well.  (As you can see by the pictures to far the weather was unseasonably beautiful!  Sunny and 60 on a day that would typically be snowy and freezing.)

We stopped at the Northville Gallery on our way back through town collecting stamps and discovered the husband of the fairy door creator.  He told us all sorts of fun facts, including there had been 700 doors made (some to paint yourself, others pre-painted and then the custom made ones.)  65 businesses in town have or have had a fairy door.  Some doors have sold on eBay or at auction for $300 and $465!  (They sell in the store for $65 pre-painted or $85 custom made.)  Since the creation of the doors, the town has started a Fairy Board, has fairy festivals and will be creating a fairy garden walkway in the future!

In the Northville Gallery with a Fairy House.  After looking at other fairy houses in another business where signs were posted I realized I wasn't suppose to take a picture here...it scares the fairies away :-/

These are Morgan's Coloring Book, the Fairy Flight Path (map of where she could find doors) and the fairy that she brought home.

If you look at the bottom of the map, you'll see the "Roaming Troll".  Apparently he moves from business to business and if Morgan were to have found him, she could get a special stamp in her book.

 

The rest of the time spent on our girls weekend was talking and crafting at my sister's house.  We tried watching a movie together, but after the long day of finding fairy doors, we all fell asleep shortly after it started.

 

Definitely a fun and beautiful weekend! :-) 



Christmas 2012

When I thought back on our Christmas season, the word that came to mind was 'busy', but after looking through the picture and reminiscing about all that we did 'busy' doesn't seem as fitting as maybe 'fun-filled' or 'memorable' :-)

 

Morgan was able to have a friend over at the end of November, which turned out to be the only time that we took the time to be creative together.  We made these reindeer and the hands and feet angels as fun activities although they played enough that they really didn't need anything else to do. ;-) 

 These angels made cute gifts for my mother-in-law for Christmas since she loves angels.

Blake finished up his art class.  He truly enjoyed his class and this seemed to be his favorite thing he made.  We're hoping he can get into another class soon, but with basketball coming up it'll be tough fitting something else in.

We found our Christmas tree by the side of the road this year.  I'm not kidding.  We literally stopped at the side of the road, crossed the ditch, cut down a tree and took it home!  LOL!  It did happen to be a tree that was at the corner of a field the family farms and was going to be cut down anyway since it was in the way.  It's hard to tell from the picture, but the tree was super uneven and looked goofy, yet it was my favorite so far.  I loved the imperfection of it and it always made me smile :-)

We attended a local hockey game to see my nieces figure skate between periods.

The fire Christmas party was nice as usual and kids enjoyed their gifts from Santa!

 

The next day was the kids' Christmas Sing at school. Blake's was first, then Morgan's.  I thought the scene/backdrop was pretty!  They both sang Away in a Manger as part of their programs and it felt wonderful to hear it sung in a public school.  Made me love our schools even more :-)

 The kids hamming it up for the camera after they were done and had enjoyed the cookies and punch.

 

The kids got out of school a little early from their Christmas sings, so we came home and decorated the Christmas tree.  Rich had taken the day off to see them sing, so it worked out great not having to wait until after dinner and rush to do it before bedtime :-)

That Wednesday, was 12-12-12 and my Uncle and his fiance decided that they were getting married that day at noon.  It was a super small event, but very nice :-)

Much of my spare time was spent making gifts.  These are bird feeders that made wonderful gifts for Rich's grandma and mom who really enjoy feeding the birds during the winter.

I cross-stitched these for my nieces.  One loves turtles and they both figure-skate, so I thought these were perfect for them :-)  I also cross-stitched and sewed Blake's Christmas stocking this year, and sewed a few rice heating pads as well as make a fabric book sling for Morgan to match her current bedding.

I had an annual cookie exchange that is always enjoyable.  On top of that my sister and my friend/roommate from college (one I went to see get married in Vegas) attended Greenfield Village's Holiday Nights.  We're hoping to make that an annual tradition as well.

 



The kids both had their Christmas parties at school.  Morgan's was the Wednesday before break and Blake's was that Thursday.  I'm thankful that they still had school despite all that was going on at that time between the school shooting and the end of the Mayan calendar.  Many schools in the area ended up closing due to threats or rumors of threats.  I'll admit I was skeptical about sending the kids to school, but there was definitely a police presence that week which put my mind at ease.

 

I thought this was a nice addition to put under the tree this year...to remind us what the best gift of all was. :-)

 We have been enjoying a lot of hot cocoa and popcorn with the snowy weather...this was the treat the last day of school starting Christmas break.  (We got our first real snow that day.)

We had all our usual parties to attend, plus one, and they were all crammed into the weekend before Christmas through Christmas day.  Seven all together!  I did a lot of baking, cooking, preparing food and trying to make sure we were on top of things at home since we were going to be gone so much.  I was asked to bring a pretty dessert to one party and made this.  Looked neat, but when it was cut it looked terrible!  LOL!

 

Blake received a dino egg that he had to dig a baby dino from at a Christmas with Rich's aunt and cousins.  He was a MESS from the plaster....

...but he finally got that baby dino out!

 At the Christmas with my family we always have a cake to celebrate Jesus's birthday.  I try to make it so the kids can help each year, but I decided with all the other things that were already planned for that day to keep it simple and just make the cake myself and just talk about the meanings with the kids.  Each thing on the cake has a meaning even the type of cake and the frosting.  I did forget the star, but those spruce pieces on the top are there to make up for it ;-)

The kids with their cousins.

This had us laughing pretty good!  Blake loves Hulk right now and he got these from my parents.

Morgan received her own camera and didn't stop playing with it until the batteries went dead ;-)

Christmas morning before looking in stockings, but after finding the pickle on the tree :-)

Blake with his brand new Christmas stocking.

 Morgan loved her fairy wings that Santa brought her.

 

Blake loved his Hulk plush and was his choice to take with him that day when we went to Rich's grandma's for breakfast...it's a Christmas tradition in his family and Grandma thinks they counted 43 people this year!  It was packed! :-)

 

Our final Christmas gathering with Rich's parents and brothers on Christmas day.  Blake decided we were opening one present at a time and directed who was next.

 Morgan was so happy with the presents she got from her uncles that she ran and gave them big hugs. :-)

After Christmas was the usual finding places for all the new things.  The day after Christmas we went to see Rich's brother off...he in now on his second tour in Afghanistan if you would like to keep him in your prayers.  Thursday we went sledding. Friday Rich and I went to see The Hobbit with some movie tickets I had won and did some shopping that Rich had been looking forward to doing.  Rich's brother watched Morgan and Blake for us...when I say watch, I mean played with them like he was a little kid again ;-)

The weekend was slower.  Rich had a class Saturday, but I spent most of the day cleaning up and recovering ;-)  Sunday and Monday my parents and Rich's parents & brother stopped by.  We spent New Years Eve at home this year then went for breakfast at Rich's parents' New Years Day and to see Rich's brother off before his long drive to Pennsylvania.

The rest of Christmas break was spent visiting friends and the kids having friends over...plus taking down Christmas decorations of course.  Always sad to see them go, but I'm also aways in awe at how much more room we have without the tree! :-)

That was the gist of our Christmas!  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas as well and have a Happy & Blessed New Year! :-)

Snow Fun!

With the kids back to school Monday I was finally starting to get back into my regular routine after the busy Christmas season.  I planned on blogging sooner, but I couldn't load pictures from my computer through blogger,  so I waited a couple days to see if it would be fixed.  Since there seems to be no change yet, I ended up downloading Picasa so that I could share pictures...my blog posts would seem kinda boring without them ;-)

 

We ended up getting some snow the day after Christmas lasting into Thursday, so we met up with Rich's cousin's kids who were here from Virginia.  The kids (and Rich) went sledding on the hill at his Grandma's and had a blast!

 

Morgan and Blake enjoy getting together with their cousins, although a they're like 3rd cousins, they're the only cousins on Rich's side that are close to their age. 

When the weather warmed up a bit and snow was better for making snowmen, the kids were busy in our yard getting creative!  This is Blake's little snowman.  Bear felt the need to sit in on the picture...just plopped down next to Blake like he belonged there ;-)

 

Morgan very proud of her snowman.

I love this of Blake...carrying it around like a baby :-)

It was nice to have snow this winter for the kids to play in unlike our very warm winter last year.  And the fact that they got it over Christmas break when they had time to enjoy it with family made it perfect! :-)

Thanksgiving 2012

We had an....interesting...Thanksgiving break this year.  The kids get a 5 day break starting the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, so that Tuesday was pretty exciting knowing we had 5 days to enjoy together....

 

Well, Tuesday night Rich went to take the truck to go to the fire hall and it wouldn't start!  We had only had the truck for a month at that point and we'd already had problems with it blowing heat through the vents when the defrost was on AND the horn had stopped working.  So when it wouldn't start, we were quite upset thinking we'd bought a 'lemon' :-/

 

Wednesday, I had plans to do some fun activities with the kids and my Dad was going to stop by to look at the truck and change the fuel filter to make sure that wasn't the problem...turns out that wasn't the problem.  I ended up calling the dealership we bought the truck from and they were going to pick up the truck free of charge and look at it for us...

 

In the meantime, the kids and I were quite busy!

 

This is actually an Indian that Blake drew in school from watching his teacher draw one.  I'm always amazed by his abilities for only being 5!

 

We made little Pilgrim hats to share at Rich's family Thanksgiving.

 

 

 

The kids went to work shelling the Indian popcorn.  This is a small portion of what we ended up shelling.  What they did is going to be part of their teachers' Christmas presents this year. :-)

 

 

The kids' hand and foot turkeys.  Blake's ended up having his head tilted because he put the eyes on a little crooked...which I think he did on purpose...it sure turned out super cute! :-)

 

 

Wine cork turkeys.  We ended up making 4 so my nieces could have one too.

 

Thanksgiving day, I made Green Bean Casserole for Rich's family Thanksgiving.  Blake wasn't feeling right and had to run to the potty a few times, but we figured he was better by the time we had to leave.  We had a really nice time, but Blake ended up falling asleep on my lap by 4ish, which isn't like him.  We figured he must have felt under the weather still and we'd get him home and rested and he'd be better the next day. :-/

Friday the kids and I were suppose to visit friends and Rich was going to help my dad with a project.  The dealership sent their tow truck first thing and got the truck, Rich went with my dad and the kids, my mom and I went to do a little shopping for a couple things Rich had wanted to get but wasn't able to being he was helping my Dad. We had to cancel the plans with friends with everything we had going on.  That night was the town's Christmas Parade which Morgan danced in with her studio and Rich and Blake rode in a fire truck together.  Afterwards we were able to go get our truck.  Turned out that the problem was a fuel pump relay fuse, which the fixed free of charge.  (We decided not to fix the vent/defrost problem and they ordered a horn for us, but the horn started working again last week!  And Blake didn't eat much all day but seemed to be acting fine.)

Saturday was nothing like we planned for.  Blake had thrown up in the night.  We hoped he felt better enough to make it to art class then go to my sister's for Thanksgiving there. (Morgan was with my parents, so she was going with them.)  We went back and forth several times as to whether we'd go.  Rich ran the stuff to go to my sister's to my parents' house in case we didn't make it.  I took Blake to his class, then Rich met us there to head down to my sister's.  We drove for about 10 minutes and Blake threw up in the car...needless to say, we didn't make it to Thanksgiving at my sisters...but Morgan did! :-)

Sunday we stayed home.  Blake rested and I spent most of the day cleaning to babysit a couple little ones Monday.  A friend called Saturday morning to ask if I could watch her nieces.  Her grandma had passed away over Thanksgiving and the funeral was Monday and I was the only one she could think of that wouldn't be working.  Not a problem, but Blake being sick worried me.

Blake seemed more chipper Monday morning and went to school.  I was able to babysit the little girls, but worried about Blake all day.  I could barely get him to eat that morning and he seemed tired again by the time we left to drop him off.  Thankfully he made it through the day but didn't starting eating well again until Wednesday.  Whatever he had had him down, in one way or another, for nearly a week, but never had a fever, so would act fine...it sure was a puzzler of an illness :-/

Well, that was our Thanksgiving!  At least Morgan was able to enjoy the whole break and our Wednesday off together and most of Thanksgiving Day were good :-)  And despite the few setbacks of the weekend there were, and are, still countless things to be thankful for :-)

Melissa & Doug Terrific Twenty Giveaway is Back!

Melissa & Doug is feeling super generous this Christmas season!!  They brought back the Terrific Twenty Giveaway for a second time for even more chances at winning some great toys for the kids in your life!!  :-)

 

Be sure to check out the wonderful toys on the Terrific Twenty Holiday Gift List, then make your way to the giveaway form.  Again, you only need to enter once and you're entered to win for every day of the giveaway!!