TONIGHT'S SHORT: The Joy of Books

THIS WEEK'S MOVIE NIGHT SHORT.
My Dad found this one. So good. Enjoy.



>>Friday night is movie night in our house and we like to start with a good short or two. To see others we recommend check out some previous posts here.

Resolutions. Right On Track.

Well, my New Year's resolution was pretty standard. We recently signed up for a family membership at the Y and we are taking full advantage. The little Bub is in swimming lessons and Hubs and I collectively have taken in yoga, spinning, water running, and Latin Funk. Yup! It's awesome.

Spud had his own list this year. "I want to try 2 new sports and 1 new instrument, preferably a brass instrument, like the sousaphone." OK. First of all I want to say, what's wrong with something simple (and small!) like a recorder, my little friend? But we will tackle that later. In the meantime, 2 sports? 2 ticks.

First, curling.

This is our view. We sit behind the glass, watch, sip coffee, get caught up with each other. We even brought some paperwork with us last time.

And this is where we are sitting. Seriously. It's like we've been transported in both time and space. It's a beautiful 90 minutes I will miss dearly if Spud decides curling is not for him.

Anyway, on to sport 2, skiing!

So far we have a winner. Spud is happily going to curling each week but he is still a little unsure about it. Skiing on the other hand? An instant hit. He's had one lesson and one full day on the bunny hill with Daddio. He has been heard to say "I think I was born to ski!" Now that's not to say he's careening down the hill on his own at any great speed or anything, he's a cautious kid, but he loves it. And that's what counts. I'm sure this crazy-awesome "magic carpet" that replaces the need for any dreadful rope tow, has got to add to the love.

The Red Balloon

THIS WEEK'S MOVIE NIGHT SHORT

OK, The Red Balloon (1956) was actually last week's movie short, but it was so great, I would watch it again. If you have never seen it, a large red balloon befriends a young boy in the streets of Paris in this visually beautiful example of mid-century modern movie making and it's just so darn charming. Spud was naturally a bit disturbed by the big boys' destructive behaviour in the latter third and he re-wrote the ending because he felt the original was too sad but all in all he gives it a big thumbs up. 


Note that it's more like medium short at around 30 minutes. It's cut up into 3 sections on YouTube and the quality is so-so. If you have an opportunity to see a good quality version, do it. It's beautiful. Here is the first 12 and half minutes.

The second part is here and the third part is here.


>>Friday night is movie night in our house and we like to start with a good short or two. To see others we recommend check out some previous posts here.

Makes Me Happy: Coffee Filter Snowflakes

To see how we folded them check out this post and check out last year's snowflake curtain.

Best of 2011

Here they are. My top 12 favourite posts on weelife over the past year, in no particular order.

1. First Crack at Book Binding

2. Drilling and Threading Glow in the Dark String

3. TED: Life Lessons Through Tinkering

4. Making Slime

5. Homework Caddies

6. Playful Learning: Poetry Box

7. DIY Stop Motion Movie

8. Granny Square Blanket Done!

9. Homemade Ketchup

10. New Skewer Pack: Flowers

11. No Flour, No Bake Pie Crust

12. Classic Paper Chain Garland

Portable Easel and Sketchbox

I had this idea, of Spud owning his own portable easel that housed a sketch box, for a couple of months. I searched high and low for one locally, that wasn't too big, too plastic-y, or too expensive. I found all kinds of things online but they were in the US which meant too expensive to ship or they wouldn't ship at all.

Finally, at good old Opus, I found the Sooke Mini Table Easel for $25! I filled it with 3 Niji waterbrushes (these are genius for al fresco watercolour painting! They hold the water in the brush handle, simply squeeze), 25 Sharpies (so many colours! and they don't run when you paint over them), 2 bamboo mechanical pencils, kneaded eraser, watercolour pencils, all of which were chosen for their portability. And a sketchbook with heavy paper that can withstand a lot of water without getting wrinkled. 

I love it because he can use it at home, but we can take on adventures and document what we see. Our first adventure was on Christmas Day. It was a wee chilly. Next time we will bring gloves.

Here is Hubs practicing the new ukelele that Santa brought, at the same time! Art and music on Christmas Day. Wouldn't have it any other way.

Santa Ornament 2011

I recently posted about Santa's habit of adding an ornament to our tree. Look! He did it again ... that's one cute Robo-Santa!

 Thanks Santa.

Santa's Cookies 2011: Toblerone Shortbread

OK, I'm not really a "Kraft" kind of girl but this recipe just looked so darn easy AND delicious, I couldn't resist. And they are both those things: easy to make and so delish! Santa only left crumbs behind. They must have been good.

The recipe we used, unchanged, is here.

Cookies for Santa of Christmas's past posted about here, here and here.

Happy Holidays!

More cards, from our Christmas's past, here and here.

Living Room Sleep Over By the Tree

Spud: "This is the best morning, ever!"

Wish this could be a Christmas tradition: a family sleepover on the living room floor, dozing off to the Christmas tree lights, waking up with a movie and breaky in "bed". Maybe when Christmas Eve lands on a weekend, and we aren't travelling, and we aren't entertaining the next day ... so once every 14 years? You're on!