Sibling Presents

He saw me at the last minute and instead of a natural picture I got an "expression."

This year, the kids all made each other presents instead of buying them. We chose a maniacally busy year to try it, but Timothy and I were both very pleased with the results. Mainly, the kids put a lot more thought and time into the presents they gave.

Cowen made Miriam a string art thing.

What would a blog post be without Cowen posing like this?

She's too fat for the chimney (or crawling, apparently).

Harriet's still the happiest baby I've ever been around. She didn't participate in the gift-giving, but she loved the wrapping!

Miriam made Eli a cape aka Ranger cloak. If you STILL haven't read the Ranger's Apprentice series, for heaven's sake do so.

Eli made Emeline a cage--for bunnies especially, but also for whatever other small objects she wishes to enclose.

Emeline made Cowen an airplane.

Timothy did a lot of the prep work, so to speak. He's the man. Or, the dad, rather.

I think this is a tradition we'll be continuing. However, in the future the kids will draw names at the beginning of November instead of December so we can simplify our December a little bit. How long do they call RS presidents???