The yummiest snowflakes

Advent Calendar activity: make homemade marshmallow snowflakes.

Soft and delicious! And not as hard and involved as I thought it would be.

The Sweet Shoppe

On our advent list was a visit to Ridgefield's Main Street to see the decor and visit the Sweet Shoppe. The kids got to pick out one treat to have. With the 29 degree weather plus the wind chill factor they all of course picked ice cream. I chose marzipan and Kent chose nothing. He's not much for chocolate and ice cream is developing into an allergy for him. I wish I could develop an allergy to junk food.

A tour around town

We live about 1 mile south of Ridgefield, CT and we're right on the border of NY state. I am falling in love with the charm of this place more and more each week. I think it will actually break my heart a little to leave here when our time is up. It looks exactly like the kind of place I've always wanted to live. It's very Norman Rockwell-esque. We drove to Ridgefield's Main Street to get a treat at the Sweet Shop, see the decorated street, and look at the beautiful houses. Here's a little tour of some of my favorite charming houses around Wilton and Ridgefield. Keep in mind that my house looks nothing like any you are about to see, unfortunately.

This one is just up the street. It is adorable and I love the red door.

One of my very favorites is this one below. It has a wrap around porch and sits on a ridge overseeing a valley. It's plenty big for us, but not too big to be ostentatious. It even has an old wooden sled adorning the front porch.

the back This house in Ridgefield actually is used as a community center for nice parties or receptions. But it's gorgeous and used to be a house.

I love the colonial styles. But I also like the smaller farmhouse styles around here. Many of the farmhouse style homes have plaques on them telling you who used to live there in the 17-1800's. This colonial is on St. John's road coming back home from Ridgefield.
On Silver Spring Road, this one is just south of us. I can see it from our front yard. I love the blue door.
On St John's road too. The wreaths were made of lemon leaves or something (not fir trees) which made them look classic but modern.

The style of decorating around here is wreaths in the windows outside, and candles (battery powered) inside each window. Not many light strands hung on houses. I really like the "old" style of decorating. We put up the battery candles in our home and it feels like the old days. And it saves a bundle on the electric bill. Did I mention Connecticut is the 2nd most expensive electricity in the country (behind Hawaii).

There are a million red barns and converted garages. Isn't it picture perfect.

And a little red school house dating back to 1756. It is just oozing with charm!

3 books

It looks like I won't make it to my 32 books for the year (the goal I set last year). I'm going to blame it on the move :) I'll have to try again next year!
Anywho, here are the last 3 books I've read.

The Grimm Legacy

by Polly Shulman

About teens who work in a special library where there's a "Grimm" section with magical fairy tale items. Of course antics ensue. It was alright. I'm sure it goes with the Percy Jackson genre, but a little less interesting to me. I would recommend it to pre-tweens and tweens.

Number the Stars
by Lois Lowry

The story of a little girl and her Jewish friend in WWII Denmark. Another interesting perspective on the war. Denmark had a very successful safe people smuggling rate. I know we are in an economic downturn, but it is nothing compared to what they went through some 50 years ago. I can't even imagine rationing food, shoes, and electricity. We really don't have it that bad after all.

Year of Wonders
by Geraldine Brooks

Based on a true Plague town that quarantined itself to prevent the spread of the disease. This is the fictionalized story of what it may have been like. I liked reading about the plague and how it might have been like for those poor people. The heroine of the story Anna, starts out as a mindless waif and turns out to be a modern minded strong woman. I felt it may have been a bit out of context for the days and just bent to form to modern times idea of what a woman should be and what she should want for herself. Maybe there were truly people like her, but it felt very modernized and I wished it would have been truer to the period in that regard. I was also discombobulated when someone who was kind and good throughout was vilified in the last 20 pages and left for naught. It was disappointing. In all a good story about the Plague life and the way it changed life as they knew it.

Tis the season

Our only presents under the tree so far are these beautiful ones that McKinley has made, and packaged herself. She is so excited to be secretive and give something to everyone in her family. I used to do this kind of thing for my family when I was little. I remember scraping together my allowance to buy little presents like rootbeer, or gum or some candy bar I knew they liked. It always made me so happy to give something to everyone. I'm glad she thought to do this herself. It's very sweet. I love my little girl.

These are a few of my favorite things

Brown paper packages tied up with string.

Two sweet packages arrived this week from kindred spirits (I'm dying to open my Anne of Green Gables DVD's that I'm getting for Christmas but I'm supposed to pretend that I don't know anything about--I had a dream with an appearance by Gilbert Blythe this week...but I digress).

I loved my surprises. I am thankful for thoughtful friends who are miles away. And my kids are giddy to be remembered too! Thanks Misty and Ashley!

And Ashley if you made that jam, I MUST have the recipe! I have never tasted a better raspberry jam in my life! No lie!

low maintenance

I love the age that my kids are at right now. They are still low maintenance with their toys. Sawyer has been playing with empty pop bottles to play bowling, or take in the shower and fill with water. McKinley keeps snatching up any box I'll let her get her hands on to turn it into something.

A little house for her Chipmunk girl, which also acts as her acorn storage :)

She made a house for "Eddie" (our Elf on the Shelf). It has a bed, a christmas tree, a light (courtesy of lite brite), and portrait of Eddie on the wall, and a picture of McKinley on the bed. He slept there one night and stayed a little too long and got caught there in the morning. Luckily he scurried away to another spot later in the day.

I am grateful that it doesn't cost a lot to make them happy and I hope it lasts MANY more years!