National Cathedral, Washington DC

"Mankind was never so happily inspired as when it made a cathedral."  -- Robert Louis Stephenson

Not a Pinterest entry, but something that I really wanted to share.

Every year, the day after Christmas, we have gone downtown into Washington, DC to see the miniature trains set up at the Botanical Gardens.  To find out more, check out their link here:  http://www.usbg.gov/

If you have never been and are planning to be in the Washington, DC metro area around Christmastime, I highly recommend this as one of your must sees.

But this year, we tried something different.  We were busy the day after Christmas and it didn't seem right to go on a different day.  So we completely broke tradition and decided to tour the National Cathedral since we had never been there.  Looks kind of like Notre Dame in Paris, doesn't it?


                                    

The Cathedral is famously known for its gargoyles and grotesques and we managed to get a few good shots of some of the lower ones.

 

We were actually trying to find the Darth Vader grotesque, but it was too high up, even with our telephoto lens.  There was great debate from the family over whether this was it, but upon zooming in with the camera, we found out it was just a skeleton head.  Still pretty cool.

 

 

 

 Inside the Children's Chapel, 20 angels for each of the children killed in the Sandy Hook/Newtown shooting.

 

 

 

 

The Cathedral’s Pentagon Cross is made from fragments from the face of the Pentagon attacked on 9/11.  On the tenth anniversary, it was presented to the Cathedral as a gift by the U.S. Army chief of chaplains “in recognition that we are united in memory, united in freedom, and united in faith, hope, and love for God, our nation, and all humankind.”

 

 

 

 

 And of course the space window.  In the very center of the large red circle is the small, dark moonstone.  It is was presented to the Cathedral from the crew of Apollo 11.

 

 

There was so much to do and see, that we did not get a chance to see it all.  Definitely check out the observation gallery on the top floor, the Bishop's Garden, and the pinnacle that came crashing down during the 2011 earthquake.  It is HUGE!!!


This is definitely a place that requires a revisit.  For more info and what to see with children, check out this link:  http://www.nationalcathedral.org/pdfs/families.pdf

Busy Bags

"As busy as bees...."

--William Chaucer

Have you ever heard of busy bags?  If not, then look it up.  You can find a bajillion links and sites dedicated to them.  Basically they are little ziplock bags filled with a simple project or game for little tykes.  Usually they are homemade activities that stimulate the brain and encourage fine motor skills and what have you.  And apparently there are busy bag swaps.  You make a predetermined number of these bags, then go to the swap where everyone gets one of yours and you take one of everyone elses.  A cookie-swap for kids.

Now I wish I had known about these when my little guys were, well, littler.  Now you just hand them an electronic device and they'll be quiet and our of your hair for hours.  Not so for little ones.

So I have these adorable nieces (see the November 22, 2012 blog) who I thought would be perfect for these busy bags.  Their mom, my sister-in-law, is crazy busy with the three of them, who are only a year and a half apart.  So, why not?  So here is what I came up with.

 

For these, I bought little wooden square at the craft shop.  Only a couple of dollars for like a hundred of assorted sizes.  Then I cut out pictures from some of my scrapbook pages, mod-podged them on, and voila.  An easy matching game.

 

 

I got some paint swatches from the home improvement store.  (I got two of each color palette.)  I cut up one and glued it to some clothespins so there would be a matching color.  Another easy matching game.

 

Finally, I glued more scrapbook paper to some popsicle sticks, then cut them with an exacto knife, and here's an easy puzzle.

 

They were then put together in a cute colorful bag from the dollar store.  So these projects were cheap to make, although a little time consuming.  I hope the girls enjoy playing with them.  I plan on adding more activites to the bags after the holidays.

Elf on the Shelf

Okay, I am just going to get this out there.  I LOVE ELF ON THE SHELF!!!  There are 2 camps on this one.  You either love him, or you don't.  (Actually 3 camps, because there are a lot of people out there who don't even know who the elf on the shelf is.)  And for those of you who don't, here is a link to help you out:  Elf on the Shelf. 

Long story short.  The elf appears before Christmas.  The kids find him, he secretly flies back to the North Pole at night, reports to the big guy what went on during the day, then flies back and is in a new place in the morning.  Here is the key point to remember.  You CANNOT touch the elf, or his magic will be gone.  We were visiting my best friend, and there was the elf, lying in a pile of stuffed animals.  My youngest child, B, saw him and very sadly told me, "All of the magic is gone from E's elf."  It was very sad.

This year, thanks to Pinterest, I have gotten TONS of ideas for what to do with this elf.  And now that the kids are getting older, it's getting fun to be creative rather than just placing him on the chandelier or what have you.  Now I agree with those people who think that they are not going to pick up after the elves.  Why would I create more work for myself?  Keep it simple and easy, and then it's fun.

So here is what our 2 elves have been up to so far this Christmas season.  (Yes, I have two elves.  I have two kids, therefore I have two elves.)

Chubby Cheeks found the stash of Halloween candy

(B was NOT amused)

 

 

They were found getting into some more candy and apparently were captured by the miniature toys.

 

 

Found watching the movie "Elf."  What else?

 

Reminding us how many more days we have to behave.

 

 

Playing Christmas Scrabble.

 

Attempting to help with the outside lights.

 

So as you can see, they've been providing some fun, benign mischief around our house.  (They even wound up in the car on the morning we drove up to New England!!!)  And believe it or not, both boys can tell them apart and even know which is which - Chubby Cheeks, and Zack.  They even know from year to year.  I don't know, they look the same to me.

 

 

 

 (From my "Have a Holly, Jolly Christmas" board.)

Melted Crayon Ornaments

"Every child is an artist."

--Pablo Picasso

This is one of my all time favorite things that I have seen on Pinterest.

The first tricky part was finding the clear ornaments.  They must be glass!  Plastic will melt when trying to do this craft.

Second thing, and this is the most important.  This is NOT a craft that a child can do by him or herself.  Why?  The bulbs get so darn hot with the hairdryer, that you can't even touch them.  I had to use an oven mitt to hold them, and even then, I could feel the heat coming through the glove.

 

 



 

 

 

We swirled ours around a lot more so that it coated the entire inside.  It took me a while to figure out how to manipulate the bulbs, but the boys actually liked them better this way.  The ornaments I purchased had this kind of rainbow-esque opalescence in the middle, so it gave it sort of an ethereal kind of look, which is kind of cool. 

 

Anyway, everyone LOVED these ornaments and they really stood out on the Christmas trees.