Happy 2nd Birthday, Cecilia!

Cecilia turns 2 on January 26, and we celebrated her birthday this past Saturday with family! She had a snowman party, since she has a winter birthday. I came up with the idea to make a snowman cake, and the idea grew from there when I saw snowflake plates and cups at the store. We leave all our snowman decorations out well beyond the Christmas season - because snowmen are for winter, not just for Christmas! - so they added to the "theme."

We invited extended family to celebrate with us. Cecilia's grandparents all came as well as her Aunt Sara and cousin Andrew. Right after Cecilia's nap, we began the party with some snacks and drinks: artichoke dip with crackers, Mexican layered dip with tortilla chips, and some sesame sticks and bunny crackers for the littles.

Here's the hodgepodge assortment of paper products!

Cecilia with Gran

After we had some snacks, Cecilia opened her presents. We didn't have a whole bunch of them since we'd just gotten plenty for Christmas!

Grampa helps her open the first gift - a new water bottle! I am ditching the sippy cups and all their annoying straw pieces that get torn (uh, chewed) up - once and for all! That is, for Caroline and Cecilia. Future children would likely have to start with the straw sippy cups again, because the water bottles aren't easy to manage for very young toddlers.

Cecilia was very impressed with her new water bottle... I didn't think she'd care too much, honestly. She asked for water in it right away (I had already pre-washed it, so I filled it up for her). Then she kept drinking, and drinking, and drinking... and dribbling it all over herself as she practiced sipping with the stronger flow. I asked her a few times, "Would you like to open another present now?" to which she responded, "No. I'm drinking."

Cecilia opened her gift from Gran and Grandad (who had also bought her some new cloth diapers to replace the rags we'd been using, but we didn't wrap those!) - she got a new book and a shirt. In this picture she is holding up the shirt so Gramma can see it and saying, "It's a pants." Hee hee. Gramma and Grampa gave her some new board books.

And here she is tearing into her gift from... well, technically, it is from my grandparents. they sent it when she was born, and we put it away for her until she was old enough to enjoy it. We figured Caroline would just play with it herself if we got it out when Cecilia was a tiny baby, and we ddn't want her to get attached to Cecilia's toy!

It's her very own baby doll! This baby has a beautiful smocked dress and bonnet.

Grampa was given the camera to take photos of Cecilia blowing out her candles... and we found that he'd taken this funny shot! Does anyone have a preschool-aged child who actually likes being photographed??

Cecilia blew out her "2" candle with one big blow! Yay!!

Eating her cake

And here's the snowman after being partially eaten by everyone... kinda sad, huh? I made his eyes, mouth, and buttons with raisins (as you can probably tell from the first picture). For the carrot nose, I came up with the idea to use an apricot fruit leather and cut it into a triangle. Then I had the idea to also use fruit leather to cut out a scarf, so I used a red one for that - strawberry, I think. The arms of the snowman are extra cake... I baked the cake batter in two 9" round pans, and then for the one that became the head of the snowman, I trimmed it smaller. The scraps from that became the arms easily with a little more slicing.

Here are Cecilia and Caroline playing with their cousin. They were so excited that he was coming, and talked a lot about how he was going to hold a chicken, and go in their playhouse... they even set up a tea party for him before he arrived!

Caroline and Cecilia also made these marshmallow snowmen, with help from Gramma the preschool director and Grampa the engineer. Cecilia wanted hers to have a nose... I just used Elmer's glue to put them together, construction paper, and toothpicks. Oh, and their hats have those gross-looking "blackberry" candies on them, because I couldn't find black gumdrops... Caroline later took a bite out of the bottom of the middle one, which I had made as an example!

Snow Photos, Finally

So, here's the bit of snow we got... not much, and the girls played in it briefly before they got too cold.

Here is Cecilia in the few minutes before her mittens were too wet and cold for her to smile like this any more!

Eating snow off the table...

The snow was still falling at this point...

And the chickens didn't seem bothered by it, although three out of four eggs were laid on the ground instead of in the nesting box while the snow was falling... confused birds!

Here's what a "snow day" (cancelled school) looks like in the South! Not even an inch of snow on the ground!

Book Review: Happy Winter

We just love the book Happy Winter by Karen Gundersheimer. We first checked it out from our library a year or so ago, and Caroline was captivated by the rhythm and rhyme of the text. What I especially love, for our family, is how the story is about two sisters. The older is brunette, and the younger is blonde, just like my girls. The story is sweet and simple, with little "chapters" about each part of a winter's day... it is a refreshing return to a day where children were unhurried, unscheduled, and had lots of time within the family and the home. It is full of creativity and warmth, with the little girls playing with dress-up clothes, reading books, going out in the snow, helping bake a cake... and not watching TV or playing computer games! It is just heartwarming to read, in my opinion, and makes you want to make some hot chocolate (if your kids will drink it! ;) and pull out the open-ended toys for the kids.

Some excerpts, just to give you a taste for the writing style:

From Morning:

Happy Winter, rise and shine!

I love the early morning time.

My sister snuggles close to me -

Two bugs in a rug, we laugh and see

How frosty patterns look like lace -

Each window has its special face.

From Outside:

Happy Winter, shout and laugh!

I'll be the first to stomp a path

So follow me - my boots make tracks

That wind about and double back

To one smooth place of sparkly snow

Then plop! Spread arms and legs like so

To make an angel shape - come see!

My angel's just the size of me!

Here are my "Happy Winter girls" (as Caroline refers to the girls in the story), dressed "fat, in bulky clothes," although it wasn't snowing here... yet! It is supposed to possibly snow tomorrow! I took this photo so I'd have something to show for the 20 minute ordeal (longer when Cecilia needs a diaper change after being bundled up!) of dressing children to go out in 33 degree weather... we had fun taking a walk and breaking up ice we found in the woods!)

From Baking:

Happy Winter, time to bake

Some really yummy kind of cake.

So Mama flips through recipes

Just like she does for company

And reads them all - her favorite ones

Are Sunshine, Angel, Marble, Crumb.

But we pick Fudge, and no nuts please -

So tie on aprons, roll up sleeves.

From Evening:

And now switch on the bedside light

To shoo away the dark of night.

We read until we yawn, and then

With one last flick it's dark again.

The big black night is soft and spread

Just like the quilt upon my bed.

I'm warm and toasty, very snug.

Then Mama comes for one last hug

And sings a winter lullabye.

The book also includes the recipe for Happy Winter Fudge Cake and the words to the winter lullabye. My only wish is that there was music to accompany the lullabye's words (not that I'd be able to translate it into a tune myself, ha! But I bet somebody could do it for me and hum me the tune!).

And I haven't even mentioned the illustrations yet... Some might call them "busy," but I would prefer the word "detailed" to describe them. For instance, the section where the girls are getting dressed shows each step they take in the process, and all the articles of clothing are shown. All the ingredients for the cake are drawn into the baking section. But the drawings themselves are very simple and sweet, particularly the faces of the two girls. Maybe I will take some photos from it to add to this post (would that majorly violate copyright laws?) - there don't seem to be any images of the book online, perhaps because it is out of print. I was very fortunate to have found a used copy for under $10 on half.com over the summer... right now, I don't see it listed for a reasonable price at all.

This book inspires you to enjoy the coziness of winter and to establish your own winter traditions for your children... taking the time to bake with them and to provide open-ended playthings, for instance.

Here is a new winter idea I have done for the girls a few evenings now since we have been having highs in the 30s lately... turning on the fireplace (gas logs - so it wouldn't be right for me to claim that I had "started a fire," really!) and setting out their pajamas in front of it, so that after their bath, they can get dressed in front of the warm fire. Reminds me of my childhood, when I would get up and sit by the air vent to feel the heat blowing out, and I would tuck my knees under my baggy sleep-shirt and hold it over the vent, trapping the heat inside my shirt... so toasty and cozy. :)

What are your favorite cozy winter traditions and activities?