How great are my boys?!

 I hope your weekend went well! Mine was hectic and busy!  Having 2 special needs boys keeps me busy during the week. There are physical, occupational, or speech therapy appointments or one or another specialist appointment. It can get a bit hectic, then add in the day to day things and there are days I just want a spa day! So, I kind of tend to try and take it easy on the weekends. Really bonding with my boys, so no cleaning, no huge meals and no doctors or therapy appointments! Anyway, you get the point as to why on weekends, other than really playing with my boys, I go on strike! The weekend is all about them and maybe me getting in some relaxation or something as close to it as I can! Or daydreaming of someone named Fabrizio, who speaks no English, bringing me a nice cold beverage, while I bask in the sun, oceanside! *sigh* One can dream, right?! :)

So, this weekend, the boys wanted to make ornaments. Since in my home, holidays are pretty much all about them, I have to let go of my inner control freak, which is VERY hard and let them have a little fun with the holiday. I remember being little and seeing every shop, house, tree decorated and how much excitement it instilled in me. I still love this time of year, however hectic it may be. The thoughts of family, good food, friends and the boys running to open presents first thing in the morning. It's just a warm and fuzzy holiday!

Anyway, no amazing finds today, no printables or links even. Just a good old fashioned love fest for my boys and I wanted to show you what they've been up to!

Well, we've had our tree up for weeks now really but, I did it in a hurry, without putting all the ornaments on the tree, (Incidentally, they still are not all on the tree!) and with only one string of lights working and untangled. The boys did not care though, they just wanted it up. So, we put it up. Well, this weekend the OCD took over and I could not take the look of the tree. So, I took everything off while they were doing their ornaments and redid it.

We have a tradition in our house, at least until the boys are older, that they get to decorate the bottom of the tree and I do the top. So, all of the breakable ones go up top and the plastic, paper or whatever else they've made, can go on the bottom. It may not be all Homes and Gardens or even Martha Stewart looking but, it's ours!

Anyway, I always tell people to keep everything for art supplies. Be it pop bottle lids, scraps of paper, pieces of colorful tags, or even saving leftover streamers from a party to be cut up, tore up or crinkled for an art project later. I have a whole wipes box full of scraps for the boys. Yes I said wipes box! They are small enough to fit someplace and be out of sight but, big enough to hold all kinds of small things. I've even decorated them or had the boys do it! Well, I hauled out the box this weekend and it was a mixed bag of fun for the boys. Gave me a lot of time to add another string of lights to the tree, another classic, simple, silver garland and the ornaments given to the boys every year by the grandparents.

At one point, DW, my oldest, got tired of using glue, complaining that it took too long to dry! He also was doing his best and had reached his limit with the glue too. He has SPD (sensory processing disorder), so glue is an issue for him. So, I dutifully handed over some tape for him. These are some of his creations:

How cute was this?! He just wrapped pipe cleaners around a popsicle stick and then used them to hang the whole thing on the tree! 

I have no idea what this one is, he just seemed to love it. :) 

 I thought this was ingenious too! I don't know if you can see it but, next to his snowflake there, he's strung a wire, like you'd get at a craft store with beads and simply bent it around a branch. 

 This was his "guy". When I asked him what this guy did, he true to his sense of humor (or lack of), said to me, mom I just made a guy, he does not do anything but, hang on a tree. He's not real you know! Which of course I feigned a bit of ignorance and thanked him for the clarification, trying not to chuckle.

Along with our festive holiday fun of ornament making and tree re-doing....is that a word? (It's my blog, I suppose I can make up my own words!) I found that we didn't want the holiday fun to end, so for a snack my son, asked for pancakes. To which I was against and told him so but, then he looked at me and said, wouldn't it be great if they had Christmas pancakes somewhere? Which of course got my mind wandering to all  the amazing green and red things you could do with or put on or in a pancake. Then onto shapes, that was my "aha" moment. I grabbed my mini cookie cutters and my son's pancakes, something I always make ahead of time and freeze, and let him have a blast!

He picked out his favorite shapes. He was very methodical about it too! :) How fun is that for little ones to do?! They feel like they've got a stake in their own meals and it makes it not only more enjoyable because it's festive but, because they've done it themselves! 

In our house, the boys always help make their own meals, including my 2 year old! 

 After all that they both helped decorate the buffet for the upcoming holiday festivities.  Which is where we will put all the goodies as people hang out and catch up. DW aka pancake man, in particular, did a great job. It was his creation and I have to say, it didn't turn out too bad either. Just need to hang the stockings on the wall above the buffet and it's all done! When I asked him about the penguin beanie baby and Marvin Martian, he told me that he was going to leave them there for his brother. He said that if brother had something to play with from that area, then he'd leave all the pretties alone! Smart cookie, that boy!

 I had to show you a close up of this because this is my thrifty, creative little man. That white/silver garland is actually two pieces and I was ready to toss them. Not big enough to do a whole lot with really, so I thought I'd give them to the boys' craft box. Instead this is what he does with them!! How adorable is he?!

I know there will be some people who read this and ask why I would let a 6 year old decorate and I say why the heck not?! If you can remember being a child, the wonder and magic Christmas or any holiday for that matter held for you.....remember how it felt to just want to do things, be allowed a little freedom. Maybe my perspective is a bit skewed, having almost lost both of my boys at birth, the oldest one six years ago around Christmas even but, still. Look how much fun he had and how great an imagination he has! I'm so proud of my boys!

*The smaller candles- I bought them on clearance for .50  a couple years back and held onto them. Took the out last year and the holiday ribbon I also found on clearance a couple years back and cut up a piece long enough to cover the whole way around and hot glued it to the back. It's actually two ribbons, a smaller one over a bigger one. I did several different designs though.
The other one, it's simply holiday napkins! I just cut around the picture I wanted from the napkin and decoupaged them on. Then did another coat of decoupage all the way around and then rolled in translucent glitter.
Two cute, VERY cheap holiday presents for someone!

Tip Junkie used to have a really cute printable available to go with a candle as a gift but, I am unable to find it right this second. So, I'll put the poem here and if I can find the link to it, will edit to add it. Here's the story of candles:


The candle shows man’s thanks
for the star of long ago. 
It’s small light is the mirror of starlight.
At first, candles were placed on the tree. 
They were like many glowing stars shining against the dark tree. The colored lights
have now taken over their remembrance.


Many people place candles on their windowsills at Christmas time. 
This practice which originated in the Middle Ages,
was intended to guide the Christ Child to Christian homes.


You can copy and print in any font you'd like and put that on some scrapbook paper for a particular holiday or print onto cardstock or first you can play with it in graphics program if you want.

 Of course I have to show you their finished tree. Like I said before, it's not Home and Gardens, it's not Martha Stewart but, in a home with two special needs kiddos, one of them being a newly turned 2 year old, it's not half bad! :)

Hope your weekend was just as great as mine!