Holiday Traditions Swap

I participated in the Holiday Traditions Swap at Sew Liberated. I am so glad I did!! My partner, Rebecca, from California sent me this lovely package: Can you see the amazingly cute chickens on the cloth napkins? I absolutely love them. Especially because we have been trying to make the switch to cloth napkins... and have been pretty successful. It will be made easier with an extra set of super cute napkins now!! Hooray! I also recieved a recipe for potato latkes that I will have to try out sometime soon. And the girls went nuts over the dradle. Isabel laughed her little head off with every spin. It was so cute. Especially because she has fallen ill with croup the past few days. I put our two humidifiers in our room... and it helped so much last night. We slept pretty well until about 6am. But while she is awake, she just sits pathetically on my lap and won't be put down. I guess it is going to be a baby-snuggling day! Oh, and back to the swap... I made these shoes and a simple apron for Rebecca:

I used the elf clog pattern from Allsorts and shrunk the pattern by half I think. I was trying to go for the European tradition of St. Nicholas Day that we actually celebrated this year! The pattern was really easy and I want a pair in my size to wear! Last night we took the girls to a Winter Wonderland light display at a local park. It was a little chilly, so Nick gave Anastasia his warm shirt and she looked really ridiculous.

The fresh. cold air is supposed to help the croup cough, and it must be true because Isabel didn't cough once during our walk. We even got to see Santa!! A very unenthusiastic Santa. Ugh. He was the worst Santa I have ever seen to be honest, but since we missed our chance to see Santa a few weeks ago because of snow, that might be all the Santa we get. Atleast she was able to tell him what she wanted for Christmas: a Milo cat (translation: a black beanie baby cat that she lost on our trip to the dollar store). Hopefully Santa's ebay purchase makes it here by Christmas! haha.

And so it has been icky sicky around here. No storytime for us this week. I have not done any of the activities on our Christmas-countdown chain. There is always next year right? Today I am sending out one of my last two items in my shop! And I am hoping Anastasia and I can make Nick's Christmas present todady. Oh, I came up with a great gift idea for our dog: a loaf of bread shaped like a bone!! lol. I swear our dog would turn her nose up at a steak in favor of a loaf of bread, fresh from the oven. And one last picture to insure your cute quota is met today:

Happy third week of advent!!! Hope it is a good one! 9 days until Christmas! Woohoo!