we made it...

We made it through all the hustle and bustle of the last couple of days.  I hope everyone had a very nice Christmas.  It's actually hard to believe Christmas Day is over.  I love that day and wish there were more than 24 hours to it.  Luckily I found some stashed cookies in the back of the pantry {smile}.

Isn't this snowglobe the most adorable little thing?  I love it. 

Happy Tuesday!!

Merry Christmas...

Joy to the World.  That says it all.

Merry Christmas!!

i can't help but smile for bokeh...

I love bokeh.  I know I've said it before, but I absolutely love what it does in a photograph.  I actually even love it when I'm watching a movie and you see bokeh in the back of the shot.  I'll be watching a movie and I'll have a conversation with my husband that usually goes like this:

me: ooohhh bokeh
my husband: what?
me: the pretty little blurry lights in the back
my husband: what?
me: the pretty little blurry lights.. never mind {smile}

This week has been crazy.  I think Snickerdoodle is even overwhelmed with all the hustle and bustle this time of year brings.  We are so thankful that he is part of our family.

Happy Wednesday!!

twinlke twinkle little star...

I just can't keep up the way I would like to these days.  Does anyone else have this  problem?  Please tell me I'm not the only one with this problem.  This time of year I wish you could just put it in slow gear and take off the cruise control. 

We did get to spend two night this past week enjoying our kids Christmas concerts.  The oldest plays the french horn.  I never played a instrument, well that's not exactly true.  I did try the violin in grade school but the teacher told me she thought it was best if I didn't pursue it any further.  What?  I loved that violin and nobody played Twinkle Twinkle Little Star like I did.  Looking back maybe that was the issue {smile}.

The youngest sang a couple songs at his concert.  They were so adorable singing All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth.  The middle child escaped without having to do anything this year.

Back to the french horn.  I walk, actually sometimes trip passed this thing everyday.  It's beautiful.  It draws my in.  I want to make beautiful music come out of it like my daughter does.  How does she make it look so easy?  Here's the thing, I am a very competitive person, anyone who knows me knows this about me.  Several times now in the trance of this beautiful instrument calling my name I have tried to get a note out of it.  Just one note that's all I'm asking for and I just can not do it.  I don't defeat easily but that horn beats me every time.  So I guess I'll have to just enjoy the music my daughter magically plays.

Happy Friday!!

joy you can't buy...

I made chocolate chip cookies last week for the kids.  To be honest, it wasn't really just for them to have cookies to eat.  Mainly it was so I could see the excitement on their faces when they walked in the door and and can't drop their backpacks fast enough to get them.  Isn't is funny how the easiest little things light them up.   Even though they don't know it, I get the biggest reward {smile}.

It's starts with a few simple ingredients...

... and ends magically like this...

For the record, I did eat all these cookies at one time {smile}.

Happy Tuesday!!

scents of the season...

I love how the house smells this time of year.  Fresh baked cookies and pine trees.  The smell of the Christmas tree has to be the best.  I do medicate myself because I'm allergic to it but I just can't break the tradition of going with my family to the tree farm and picking out the "perfect tree".   Call my crazy.

But this year we had a new scent..wet dog.  Poor little thing he can't help that it's been raining so much.  He's still so adorable no matter if it rains or not.  Hopefully some of that rain turns into little white snowflakes.

http://www.iheartfaces.com/


He makes me SMILE.

Happy Monday!!

reindeer please...

Monday I showed you a couple of boxes I was planning to use for a project.  Remember?

Well it's finally finished it.  Ready?!



I made a cardboard Rudolph for each of my boys.  My husband used to hunt before we had kids.  The boys are starting to show some interest but they aren't old enough yet.  So I thought I would make each of them their own deer head display for their rooms. 

This project was free.  I used some cardboard from boxes or if you don't have any you could buy some flat pieces of cardboard.  I think they sell them at office supply stores.  I'll post the link for the directions.  If I'm out and see a decent priced wreath like the one they used in the design I'm going to add that also.

Hope you think he's as cute as I do!

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/holidays/christmas-ideas/scandinavian-christmas-decorations-reindeer#slide-3

Happy Wednesday!!

transformation...

I wanted to have this box transformation finished to show everyone this morning, but other things came first this weekend.  Like snuggling up on the sofa and watching the Santa Clause movie with the family. 

My new goal is to be able to post it tomorrow, wish me luck.



For now I'll show you what I started with.  Two boxes that packages were dropped off in.  I can't wait for my kids to see these.

Happy Monday!!

pencils please...

We have three school aged children who bring home homework everyday.  Why is it that everyday we can never find a pencil.  Oh wait, I should correct that, we can never find a sharpened pencil.

This drives me nuts.  What happens to them.  Is there a lead eating fairy that comes and destroys pencils at night? {I know there really isn't, but that's the only conclusion I could come up with}

So I've declared war.  It's me versus the pencil.  Let's take a look at all the options we've used.

Option #1 the little basic sharpener.  Makes a mess and doesn't do a good job.

Option #2 the bigger basic sharpener.  The kids thought the bigger one would work better.

Option #3 the electric sharpener.  It just eats pencils. Oh and don't try this for crayons, just saying.

Option #4.  We decided to go old school.  Turns out it may be the best purchase I've ever made.



It's fabulous.  This sharpener offers eight different size options and man can it sharpen a pencil.  I love that it can sharpen the larger pencil my youngest uses.  And even though I didn't time it it seems like it only takes two seconds flat to do the job.

Look how pathetic these poor things look before using all the other options.

Now, look how nice and pointy they are after just a few cranks in the new sharpener.  Can you hear me singing with joy?  Actually, you don't want to hear me sing, although I do know every word to Keith Urban's songs {smile}.

I think I sharpened  give or take 57 pencils last night.   Thank you X-Acto KS.  I love you.

Happy Thursday!!







Advent Calendar...

My kids love doing advent calendars.  They love getting a little treat everyday from December 1 through Christmas.  Usually we do one with little chocolates even though it doesn't always go shall we say smoothly.  One year my middle child tried to open as many as he could before I caught him {smile}.

This year we will once again be doing one with little chocolates.  Except for the youngest who hates all things chocolate.  I wonder if he was switched at birth {just kidding}, actually my other two eat enough to cover his share.  He'll get a swedish fish everyday and I'll be forced to eat the little chocolate {please stop twisting my arm, it still hurts from surgery}.

I picked up this really cool Lego Advent Calendar this year.  All three kids have to share it so we picked numbers who would go first and then wrote their initial on the numbers they would get to open.  It worked out great they'll each get to open 8 days.

This collection will then be added to the rest of their little city they have built on a table in the family room.

 {men at work getting the horses ready}

 {the chopper, I mean who doesn't need a chopper on hand?!}

 {football goal}

 {pool}

 {four wheelers}

 {computer workstation}

 {horse stable}

 {little tools to keep horse stables clean}

I love their little imaginations and I hope they never lose their love to create.

Happy Wednesday!!

they're here...

I love to send Christmas cards.  Last year I don't know what happened, but they never got ordered.   This year I was determined to make it happen.  They arrived the week of Thanksgiving {smile}. 

Usually I like to design my own card {as if I don't have enough to do} but this year I used Shutterfly.  They turned out so nice and were so easy to make.  Now to get them addressed and mailed.

And for those of you who like to watch the holiday classics on tv... Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is on CBS tonight at 8pm est.

Happy Tuesday!!

zzzzz....

Exhausted.  That word sums up Monday morning after a fun packed holiday weekend.  Maybe it's all the turkey I consumed that is making me so sluggish.  Maybe it's that the kids have off school again today.  Whatever the reason it's going to be slow paced today.

Only thing on the list today is to go see the new Muppets movie.  I think I might be more excited than the kids.  I can remember going to see a Muppet movie when I was a kid and loving it.

And I think Snickerdoodle will continue doing this for the rest of the day...

p.s. 
For anyone doing any cyber Monday shopping, I saw Amazon has Real Simple magazine for $12.00 for a year subscription.  Love that magazine and it has great stuff in it every month.  Check it out!

Happy Monday!!

slow this train down...

This past week has been crazy. 

My baby turned seven {I don't even know where seven years went}. 

It rained five out of seven days.  Snickerdoodle was not digging the rain.  {Neither was I in case anyone was wondering}.

Thanksgiving was celebrated.  Even though I like to be thankful everyday, not just the one day on the calendar.

I slept in this morning.  There is nothing I need to stand in line for.  I think it's wonderful some people {not naming names...my crazy sister} enjoy Black Friday shopping.  But it's just not my thing.

The only thing we shopped for today was our Christmas tree.

Every year we wonder through acres of Christmas trees begging us to take them home.  This year a blue spruce won.  Well actually I won, I picked the tree.  According to my youngest son it wasn't fair.  So I think starting next year from now on one of the kids will pick a tree.  Wait, I didn't mean we'll get three trees as they seemed to understand it.  I meant each year they can take turns.  Now to get it in the house and decorated.

Happy Friday!!

who lives in a pineapple under the sea....

My youngest turned seven last week.  I don't know how he is seven already, he's suppose to be the baby!

The kid had one thing on his birthday list.  Fish.  Okay, I don't know about you but I've never had good luck with fish.  Many of goldfish won at local festivals over the years have made their way back to the sea via the toilet {Please tell me I'm not alone here}.

So we got him a 10 gallon tank a few Spongebob accessories, because who else would live with fish he told us {smile}.  Six fish were added to the little freshwater tank.  It's more than I was asking for.  These little things are work.

And I may not be doing a good job, two fish have returned to the sea already!

This gives me so much more respect for the people at the aquarium {smile}.

Happy Monday!!

snow-doh...

I've always wanted to make my own play-doh.  For some reason I always pictured it as something that would be hard to do.  Turns out I was wrong. 

It's actually pretty easy and you probably have everything you need already.

Here's the recipe I used...

1 Cup Flour
1/2 cup salt
2 tbsp oil
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 cup water
food coloring (where rubber gloves so you don't stain your hands while mixing)

Heat the oil in a pot. Remove from the heat and add food coloring and water. Stir in all other ingredients. Continue to cook over low heat until mixture is firm, about 4-5 minutes. Remove from heat, and set clay mixture on wax paper to cool.
Store in an airtight container.

Note... I didn't use the food coloring for the batch I made.  We left it white and added glitter until we thought it looked pretty.

We started to make these snowmen with it.  Can't wait to finish them.

Happy Thursday!!

thank you Monday for being over this week...

Monday was kinda a rough day.  

I flooded the kitchen.  Well not exactly the whole kitchen.  You could say the counter actually looked like Niagara Falls.  I hate it when I start to fill a pan with water and forget that I was doing that.

I forgot a load of laundry in the washing machine.  Ughhh.  Not that I had to do a lot, just push the buttons again, but it still was a pain.

Twice I brought mismatching socks down stairs.  I don't think anyone noticed.

Went to the store to pick up a birthday present for my son and got mezmorized with the Command Strips display.  Got home and realized all that was in my bag were the Command Strips and gum, no present.

A man accused me at the park of stealing the starving squirrels food because I was collecting some acorn caps.  I didn't know squirrels ate the caps.  I apologize Mr. Squirrel if I stole your food.

And finally, I caught Snickerdoodle someplace he's not suppose to be....

...my bed.  It's a good thing he's so adorable!

Happy Tuesday!!

Christmas lights...

I've been married for thirteen years and for all thirteen years we've put white lights on the Christmas tree.  Even when we switched over to LED lights to be more "green" they were still white. 

So this year there's going to be a big shake up at our house.  You guessed it, multi colored lights it is.  The weekend before my shoulder surgery I went and picked out new multi colored lights.  My husband thought I was crazy that lights were the only thing I needed to pick up before surgery {smile}.

Can't wait to get the tree.  Bring on the turkey baby,  I'm ready to get this show on the road.

Happy almost over Monday !!

oh Christmas tree...

I can't stop thinking about Christmas trees.  I love them.  I mentioned earlier this week that we put one up because of my {third}shoulder surgery.  I think know it's making me feel better {smile}.  We get a real tree the Friday after Thanksgiving, it's a tradition at our house.  We bundle up and go to a local tree farm and pick out the perfect one.

And every year I do this knowing for the next two weeks my sinuses are going to drive me crazy.  But once I make it over the two week hump I'll  fine.  I love self torture.  I mean I love the smell of fresh trees so I'm willing to use Kleenex for two weeks.

I love looking at how other people decorate their trees.  Lately I've been clicking through all the beautiful Christmas trees and decorations people have posted on Pinterest.  You could get lost for hours on that site.  Here are a couple I love...


I love how chubby this one is...



{BHG}

I love the snow on this one... { should have thought of this before we got a dog}...

{ BHG }

Love the comfort feel of this one....



{source}

Wow, can you imagine coming down the stairs to this one...



 

{source}



And finally, here is our first Christmas tree in our new house back in 2005.  This is one of my favorite pictures of my kids....



Hope this post helps you to get in the holiday spirit.  I know it helps me {smile}.

Happy Friday !!



take five....

We needed to take a family picture for our Christmas card.  It's not that we haven't had any family shots taken this year, just none I wanted to use on our card {why is it everyone can't look at the camera at the same time?}.  So we gave it a try last night when the kids got home from school.

We weren't going far.  The front yard was going to have to do this year.  Luckily the tree in the front yard has waited to change and drop it's leaves.  So before I took a nap yesterday {surgery medication is still kicking my butt} I told my husband.. "don't rake those leaves we're going to take a picture there when the kids get home."

I woke up a little groggy to the sounds of the boys raking and jumping into the leaves.  My first thought.. I must be dreaming since that's the last thing I said not to do before I layed down.  My second thought... on my word they're really raking up my leaves!!   

I hollered for my husband to get them {sounds terrible I know, lol}.  And when they found out that they weren't allowed to rake the leaves because we were taking a family photo there.. well lets just say they were less than pleased.

Finally after getting a sweater on {which is not the easiest task since I had shoulder surgery Monday} we headed to the front yard, only to discover my camera remote battery was dead.  Rats.  And to make things just a little more difficult this year {as if we needed more difficult at this point} trying to get Snickerdoodle {our mini Goldendoodle} to look at the camera, well let's just say we had many takes.

Take one.. "kids look at the camera not the dog." 
Take two... "why are your eyes closed?!"
Take three.. "puts the leaves down." 
Take four.. "seriously Snickerdoodle, stop watching me as I walk back after setting the timer {lol}." 
Take five... "cheese!!"

Take five it was.  That is the one that made it to the card.  Whew...we're done!!

Happy Thursday!!

one project at a time...

This weeks project is one I've wanted to try for a while....glass etching.  I found some very cute ideas for teacher gifts on pinterest.  So before I tried gifts I'll be giving away, I thought I could do something for our house.

I made new toothbrush holders for my husband and I, only his says Mike, not Tina {smile}.

Now here's a look at each step it took to make this adorable new cup.



I bought these cute little cups, brought them home and washed them.  They need to be clean before you start.  When you pick out your glass piece to etch, think about what you are using it for.  Knowing what you want to put in it will help you pick out what size glass piece you need.



Next I cut out my name on contact paper using my cricut.  You'll want to keep the negative part of the image {that means pull out the letters you cut out sit them aside for another project}.  Place the contact paper on the glass where you want the etched word{s} to be.  The nice thing about using contact paper is that you can reposition it until you get it exactly where you want it.

I decided to use Armour Etch.  There are many different products out there to use and at $25.00 a bottle I think this is a little expensive.  I waited until I had a 40% coupon and brought the price down to about $15.00.  The great thing is that you'll be about to get a ton of projects out of this bottle.

Safety first.  Always wear rubber gloves and eye protection while using this product.  Follow the directions on the bottle to apply etching cream.  I did this project outside just in case there were fumes.  Another side note ** Make sure you tape off the rest of the glass so the cream doesn't get on any areas you don't want it on.  Once it touches glass it does not come off**



After waiting five minutes, wash according to directions, take contact paper off and tada your very own personalized piece. 

The teachers will all be getting one with their names on it.  We haven't decided if we're going to fill them with pencils, pens or candy.  But any of those will be adorable.

So use your imagination and give it a try.  The project ideas for this are endless.

Happy Wednesday!!