Go outside...

So... today I was doing the unpleasant job of putting all the decorations away... from the tree and from around the house... It's unpleasant because it not only involved putting them away, but involved sorting them a different way so things are easier to find next year, and getting rid of things I never take out... as well as realizing constantly that there was yet another something way up on the third floor that I'd forgotten about and I'd have to reorganize a bit...

It's also unpleasant because it means yet another Christmas is over... the magical feeling has faded away and all that is left is a dying tree that no longer has a special evergreen smell... that's okay... but it is wistful and bittersweet.

This took much longer than I thought, but it was okay because the boys were running around playing and having fun together... singing... making crafts... playing games.  However eventually I thought that there wasn't much daylight left and we hadn't gone outside yet... so I quickly went onto Pinterest and found outdoor activities we could do at home and out we went!

We tried this:

http://www.ivillage.com/winter-activities-kids/6-b-317446#317462

but our bubbles weren't working... weird!  I'll have to try to find more bubble stuff in our house!

So then we moved on to this:

http://simple-whimsy.blogspot.ca/2011/12/preparing-for-solstice.html

and made some outdoor decorations that will freeze.

Here is the little guy's:

and the big boy's:

and one that will become an outdoor tea light holder:

then we went to play in the back yard for a bit.. ahhh!  Some fresh air!

Would like to try to do this as well... but I don't think I have any balloons here right now!

http://queenvanna.wordpress.com/2012/02/01/ice-ballons/