Happy Family Times #34--Holiday Fair

Today I thank God that Hazel fell asleep without Ducky since we haven't been able to find him since this morning. She cannot remember where she put him. Ugh!!

Have you done something new with your family or was it something relaxing, whatever it was Kelly from Happy Whimsical Hearts and I would love to hear about it. Please share below! We collect family activities each week in hopes of inspiring all of us to have more quality time with our families!

This weekend was the Holiday Fair at Hazel's school. On Friday I spent the afternoon helping to set up and then went back after dinner for a bit of shopping (I was good and did not have any of the wine).  The night before they do a preview for adults only with most of the vendors there. They serve wine and refreshments as well since it is adult only. It really is a lovely evening. 

The next morning I left early to go work my volunteer shift in the Wee Folk Shoppe at the fair. Steve brought Hazel later. We let Hazel go through the Wee Folk Shop and then got some lunch. Then we stood in line to get into the puppet show, but the cut off was before us, so we went to decorate a gingerbread cookie. they made the cutest paper plate holders for the decorated cookies so the kids could wear them around their necks and nibble on them. (See it in Hazel's picture above.)

We also visited the Pocket Lady a few times. Hazel loved picking which gift to get. She did this three times.

She got a gold painted pine cone ornament (which she hung on her tree), a number rubber stamp--either 6 or 9 and a rose quartz (which is on her nature table). She loved doing this.

Next we decorated a candle and a birch candle holder. This was our favorite activity of last year. Last year we made four of these. Each of us did one and Hazel did two. This year we only did one.

By this time Steven had to leave for an appointment, so it was just us girls. We headed out to try our luck at dragon slaying. Last year I was afraid the dragon might be too scary for Hazel so we did not check this out. This year she asked to go try it. I was hoping Steve would take her, but he didn't get a chance before he left. You got three arrows and a bow and had to try to get an arrow in one of the holes on the dragon. If you did, you got a jewel. We did not. We almost hit the dragon once, but with both our hands trying to work it, it did not go too far. This year they moved the dragon slaying outside in the nursery play yard. It was fun, but next year I'll make sure Steve takes her to this activity.

Then we went to the Wee Folk Shoppe again. Hazel got a felt mouse and an applesauce cinnamon ornament from her two trips there. Not what I would have picked of all the treasures there, but she likes them. The whole way home she was making up a story about the mouse.

Then we went into the school store and bought a couple more things and headed home. Overall it was a very fun day!


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Happy Family Times #33

One more day to vote for your favorite Halloween costume!! Please come help me choose a winner!

Also make sure you enter my current giveaway for a Melissa & Doug toy!! Oh, and while we are talking giveaways, Kelly at Happy Whimsical Hearts (our co-host) teamed up with Hinterland Mama for a worldwide giveaway. Go over and enter to win their fabulous homemade prizes!

Have you done something fun or different this week with your family? Kelly at Happy Whimsical Hearts and I would love to hear about it. Please share below (and visit Happy Whimsical Hearts to check out what Kelly and her family have been up to this week).

Ok, this week we were recovering from having Steve working so much the previous week dealing with the power outages of Superstorm Sandy (apparently it was worse than a hurricane since they are calling it a superstorm now). Then of course he got called into work (on a day he scheduled to take off) because of the Nor'easter coming our way. Luckily it was not too bad here so he only had really one night of lost sleep. Anyway between his crazy work schedule and all of us fighting off colds, we did not do much as a family besides relax. However over the weekend, Hazel did ask for us all to play a few games and do some puzzles. However I did not take pictures since I was busy playing, but here are what we played together.

We played several games of Zingo!! Hazel got into having her animals and dolls take the other cards so we would play with the maximum number possible. We had fun.

Ok, this is one of those games that is very simple, but Hazel loves it because it has the princesses on it. Not a very exciting game, but she loves it.

This game is one where you have to spin to get all the things needed for a birthday party: invitation, hat, noisemaker, drink, dessert, gift, and party favor. Whoever gets all the things first wins though we play until everyone wins. You can also play that you cannot get any of the items until you get the invitation, but we do not do this yet. Another game that she loves.

Today I thank God for my friends who are always there when I need them whether it is for a favor or to vent.

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Happy Family Times--In the Garden

Have you done something fun with your family this week? Kelly at Happy Whimsical Hearts and I would love to hear about it. Each week we collect great family activities to inspire us all to have more quality time with our families.

One bag of daffodil bulbs

This week we had a lot of Mommy and Hazel time while Daddy was working overtime for the power company. So when the weekend came and Daddy was finally home, we took advantage of some family time. One thing that has been on our to do list was to dig up the dahlia and gladiola bulbs and to plant some daffodil bulbs my father gave us. Since they are predicting a possible snow storm this week, we figured we better get moving on it. So Saturday afternoon we went outside and started digging. Steve removed most of the gladiola bulbs and I got the dahlia bulbs in the back. 

Then Steve went to dig up the ones in the front while Hazel and I started to plant some daffodils. I had apparently forgotten that my father gave me some daffodil bulbs in the spring and accepted more from him in the fall so we had two bags to plant. Hazel went off and started planting in what was her sunflower garden.

Then we joined Daddy in the front and planted more daffodils. I cannot wait until the spring to see all of our pretty flowers!

After doing our yard work, we went for a bike ride/walk. Hazel rode her bike while Steve and I walked. Then of course part of the way Hazel decided to walk so Steve brought her bike home for her.

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Happy Family Times--A Bible Presentation at Church

Have you done something fun and exciting with your family this week? Kelly from Happy Whimsical Hearts and I would love to hear about it. Please share below.

This week was a very special day at church. Hazel received her first children's Bible. This year they started a new Sunday School class for three to five-year-olds since we had a good number of kids in that group (based on baptisms) and we are trying to get more of these families to attend more regularly. As a result it was decided the families should receive a copy of the Bible story book being used in the class, so we can reenforce the lessons at home or help fill in gaps if they miss a week. Today was the day of the Bible Presentations. So the three-to five-year-olds received them with a parent, then the third graders got theirs and the ninth graders got their adult Bibles.

As with anything that happens at our church that involves Hazel, Steve's mother and Steve come to church with us. (They are Catholic and attend mass at their own church usually.) This of course excites Hazel. She loves having her Nonni at our church. Since it was a special day, Hazel got a new sweater dress and also wore her necklace I bought her for her Halloween costume. After the Bible Presentations, the children went to their Sunday School classes.

After church we went with Nonni to get lunch out. Hazel had a wonderful time!

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Happy Family Times #30--Visit to the Iron Works

Have you had a fun adventure with your family or a relaxing time? We would love to hear about it. Kelly at Happy Whimsical Hearts and I are collecting our family activities in hopes to inspire all of us to have more quality family time. Please share below!

Pop, Hazel, and Mimi waiting for tour to start

This week we had my parents visit for a long weekend. We did some fun things with them, but I think the most interesting was visiting the Iron Works. It is a National Historic Site. You may remember in September I blogged about going to an iron pour there. This time we went for the Industrial Site Tour. A group of tiger scouts went as well. They kind of took over the tour and Hazel did not have the patience for the entire tour, so we left a bit early. It was really interesting though.

Iron Works--View from above Blast Furnace

So the Saugus Iron Works is first place in America to use this method to make iron. It was started by Governor Winthrop who wanted Massachusetts Colony to be independent of England. Originally they tried to start one in Braintree, but that was a failure due to poor choices. Then they brought over an engineer named Leder to build it. He choose this site and got it working. He also insisted on bringing in people from Europe to run it which of course the Puritans did not like since they were not as strict about their lifestyle.

Blast Furnace

The most interesting thing is that this site is celebrated because it went bankrupt. As a result all the trained workers spread throughout the company starting new iron works and developing the iron and eventually steel industry in America. Going on the tour, they actually do have some of the wheels turn and do some of the actions of the iron works. All of this site is rebuilt. Since it went bankrupt, the original went into disrepair. They found the foundations and some parts and rebuilt it where the buildings actually were.

We also went into the Rolling and Slitting Mill. Here again they spun the wheel for us, but even more interesting was that they used the large hammer and anvil. We had to cover our ears.

After this Hazel got antsy, so we left the tour. We missed going into the Forge. We however got to enjoy looking at the map which is where the tour started but the tiger scouts were crowded around so we could not get close.

Hazel enjoyed feeling it. The Park Ranger had poured water in it to show us how it would have run back in the 1600's.

Overall it was a fun visit! We know we will go back again and see the rest of the tour. Check out the museum some more and go on the tour of the house.

I must say fall was a beautiful time to visit there though!

Saugus River

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Happy Family Times--A Baby Shower

Have you done something fun or different with your family this week? Kelly from Happy Whimsical Hearts and I would love to hear about it. Please share it below!

This week Hazel went to her first baby shower. Although she had a chance to attend a baby shower a year and a half ago for her godparents, she was not at a point of being able to handle it that day, so she didn't. So this week, we got invited to a baby shower that the library staff was putting on for the children's librarian. Most of the guests were library staff, but somehow we got on the list even though it has been  four years since I volunteered there and the staff has mostly changed since then.

Hazel was so excited to get to go to the shower. She told everyone about it. Then while there she sat next to Ms. Bethany and also was the one who passed her which gift to open. She also enjoyed two pieces of pizza, salad, and M&M's. She was going to spend the night at Nonni's who was not happy she ate so much at the library when she had cooked dinner, but it ended up not mattering since Hazel caught yet another cold and had to come home.

For a gift, we finished up the baby quilt I started making for Hazel. Our nursery was Beatrix Potter themed so her quilt was as well. It seemed like the perfect quilt for a children's librarian. All I had to do was quilt the border and bind it. I also added some ribbons so she could use it for tummy time and give the baby something to play with.

I didn't take too many pictures at the shower, but thought I would share our mother/daughter time which was spent in a traditional female event. She loved the attention of being the only child there, but did get bored after awhile. Of course we had a long day with hair appointments (her first full hair cut), dance class and the shower. It was a fun time which unfortunately ended with her complaining of a sore throat.

The Favors

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