The Solar System

One of the gifts Orion got this year was a kid of various things relating to space.  There is a neat rocket, a light up planetarium and a solar system model to build.  He really liked the model, and it opened up a discussion about what a day and a year actually is.  Being able to explain it with the model was really cool, and it seemed to totally blow his mind!

Is it a Tower?

No! Akasha called this a very tall cucumber sandwich lol!

The Jolly Old Elf Strikes Again

Just a peek at our Christmas morning. :)  Here is Orion's side of the room:

And here is Akasha's side of the room:

This Hello Kitty that dispenses little figurines in balls was the biggest hit of the day.  The kids played with it for HOURS.  The rest of the stuff barely got looked at!

Here are a couple of the little dudes:

Foolin' Around!

Later that day, the kids were fooling around on the couch, and Akasha took some of her first pictures!  Just a heck of alot of cuteness here.

Cooooooookies v.2011

We didn't decorate cookies until Christmas eve this year. Maybe that could be a neat tradition! The first two are before and after, so to speak.

Make sure to notice the bottom row in the above picture.  Akasha insisted they go this way because they are not bells, they are acorns!!!

Hard at work.

The face of concentration.

Wanna taste?

I was impressed with Orion's careful outlining skills!

Snack break...

I really liked this one too!

I swear the cookies taste better than this face!

And yes, I made her wash her hands before going back to the batter lol!

Solstice Happenins

Had a quiet Solstice this year. I didn't originally think of this one as a Solstice photo, but when I was getting ready to add things and noticed the date, I realized how appropriate it  was because these kinda look like ice crystals.  This is actually a sort of accidental science experiment!  I had dissolved some epsom salts in warm water to make a spray with, but not all of it fit in the bottle.  I left the pan on the stove with a thin layer of liquid in it and forgot about it.  When the water had evaporated, this is what was left!  They were really quite pretty!

Here are some seeded pine cones we made to decorate the tree outside with.

And this year's candles for the light and dark ceremony. Orion wanted his blank this year.

I made special foods to represent the light and dark half of the year as well, as I have done in the past, but didn't get any pictures this year.

What a Find!!!

We discovered this little local shop thanks to Richardson Rock Ranch. They gave me the number for a guy who cuts and polishes geodes, and it turns out he runs a store out of his garage! It is amazing, with semi precious stones from all over the world, many that I had never heard of. And he knows them all by site and has books about their properties. This guy is the real deal! Just a tiny sampling...