What we've been up to so far
The first few hours of the day were jam-packed. Things have slowed down since. It's currently snowing outside, so Holly and I are celebrating with some cinnamon toast.
Henry's Kindergarten class is decorating their gingerbread houses today. I was one of a few people who volunteered to make fresh icing for affixing candies, so that's what I was doing at 7:30AM. We ended up driving Henry in and you should have seen him clutching the bag with the tub of icing in it. It was clearly precious cargo. I hope they're allowed to bring the houses home today; I'm looking forward to seeing his.
Holly and I had an hour to kill before my chiropractic appointment so we went to the grocery store and picked up a couple of gingerbread kits for us to do at home this weekend with some friends. We also stopped by Michael's to pick up some supplies for a couple of presents I want to make for Holly and Henry, as well as a bag of old-fashioned clothespins with rounded heads. Dave was going to toss the giant tin that his popcorn came in but I felt like there was something I could do with it for Holly. I rescued it, cleaned it up, and pondered and thought and pondered some more but couldn't come up with anything, so I emailed a friend of mine who happens to be a Montessori-trained creative guru and asked her if she had any ideas. Naturally, she had tons. One of them was to line up clothespins around the edge. This would help Holly develop her motor skills with the added benefit of making a great noise when she drops them into the bottom of the can (not to mention being excellent drumsticks should the need arise). While Holly was napping I painted hair on the "heads" and drew on little faces.
They came out kind of cute! Holly's not quite dexterous enough to put them on the rim, but she'll get there. She does enjoy the noise they make when she drops them in the can. She also likes making them "run" around the edge.
It was a nice, quick, and fun project.