January from the fifth lamp

As some of you know, I am trying to take pictures of the river throughout the year, to watch the seasons change.

I started in October, and I was sure that I could take a picture a day.
I have discipline.

Then I went to once a week when the weather was not as nice.
We have a drafty stroller, and I can't walk with both of the kids to the spot where I take the picture as it's on a busy street.

Now I am resigned to once a month.

That said, here is the official January photo.















I will not preclude myself from taking as many as I am able throughout the month, but this is the official one.

So, without a camera these past few weeks, I have had no pictures of the kids' gifts this birthday and christmas season.
Here, therefore, is a picture of the gift from Brian and me for the younger Hug-a-Bug on his birthday- You can see the Elder Hug-a-Bug's puppet theatre in the background.

















For christmas we gave the Hug-a-Bugs a set of blocks from Beka, and dyed them to make them bright and fun.
The Elder H-a-B's favorite new activity is building corrals for her dolls.

Here she is mid construction, "I'm not quite finished with my corral"












And here is her photo of the finished product-














I hope that all who read here have a healthy and prosperous Tuesday.
See you soon,
Jess

Hug-a-bug birthday part 1

Our elder Hug-a-bug turns 4 on wednesday.

We had the family party today.

It went pretty well considering my total and complete lack of planning.

We had intended, long ago, to make this a kid-ful party with games, crafts, something...

Anyway, we decided that we had left it too long to invite anyone.

This morning H-a-b asked if her friends were coming to her party.

I made some last-minute calls, to no avail.

Luckily our friend who just had a baby sent herhusband and daughter anyway so H-a-b had one friend here.



The big present from us was a bookshelf turned puppet theater.

I found a bookshelf with two shelves and no back at my favorite junk/antique mall and removed the upper shelf.

I then reattached the shelf vertically and added some curtains and trim. The whole thing took about a whole day with paint drying.

I think it came out pretty cute.



















I lost my camera, so I don't have any pictures of the process, but it was pretty easy.


have a great sunday,
Jess