This is the BEST Present Ever!

What is more fitting for the first post of the year than pictures of the coolest present?! We just opened our Christmas presents yesterday (We didn't get the homemade presents done in time for Christmas day, so we waited a week!). This is a present from Elizabeth and Dad to me. Dad cut them out and put them together, and Elizabeth did all the painting. She is absolutely amazing!!

I'm just nuts about the movie Secondhand Lions --- particularly the cartoons that appear in Walter's workshop and the end credits. Elizabeth has painted two wall plaques and framed a pencil drawing of some of these cartoons. We've chosen another cartoon that, one day, she's going to paint as a mural on a wall in my baby's nursery. Pictures of that stuff to come.

This time she made a set of pull toys and a giraffe. They are all made of wood and she did all the painting! She's amazing. Walter is the leader of the pack and has a nice long rope with a big wooden bead for a handle. Then comes the cute little pig, followed by Jasmine the Lion! Of course, Walter can be pulled by himself or with either of his little friends, but who would want to leave any behind?! The giraffe is just too tall to be a pull toy, so Elizabeth says she'll make a table lamp out of him. All of the tails are made of painted cotton rope. This is definitely the best present ever!