Winter Decor

Just wanted to share my decorations for January.

Here's a little stitchery I made yesterday. Don't look too close- the one mitten got kind of wonky.

I used my cricut and some vinyl on the let it snow block.

Here's the entry shelf.

And the little black hutch downstairs.

Hope you are staying warm wherever you are!

Christmas Decor

Finally getting around to sharing a few pictures of my Christmas decorations...

my little entry shelf- (a work in progress as I really am not loving this as much as I have in past seasons)

Christmas cheer in the kitchen

on top of the entertainment center

little red chair

little black shelf

the 2nd Day of Christmas

Brought singing, toe tapping and all the extra features. Stay with me though, I promise, the rest of my gifts are Christmasy in nature. This one was just for fun. We will see if the weather cooperates with tomorrow's gift.




Good news, I got all my packages ready to go tonight. Here are some presents that were included in my sister's package. Amber gave me these cute stamps. Originally, I was planning on covering these little boxes with Christmas scrapbook paper, but I had a hankering to use my stamps, so I went that route.




Still left on my to do list:

make pj's for the kids
make & deliver neighbor goodies
wrap all the presents for my family

Ok, so there is cleaning and a few other things I'd like to get done before then, but I will feel really good if I can get these things done before next weekend.

Catching Up- Mega Post

Just wanted to catch up on the past couple of weeks. I am sorry I haven't really posted for a few weeks. I'll try and share what's been keeping me busy...

A few more of my craft show projects:




Now look at Jen & Amber's cute stuff.


It was a madhouse at the craft show and their booth was no exception.


We went and saw Brad Paisley- a concert Troy has been wanting to go to for several years. I don't really love country music- but it was a great concert. Very entertaining. Plus I could sing a long for most of the songs- when Troy does dishes or makes breakfast- he always gets out his Brad Paisley CD's.



Our sorority's annual shoppping trip. Our shirts say "sisters out shopping". It was funny how many people thought we were all actually related.


That brings us up to last week-

We had our first real snowfall- it's just too bad we got the bulk of it when I was traveling to and from Amber's house. It wasn't much fun to drive in.


But the effects of it were beautiful.




Genna turned 5 years old on the 22nd. I can't believe how much she has grown up this past year. She is so into coloring and writing these days. She has a very long attention span and will spend hours working on her artwork. We celebrated her birthday Wednesday night. We went to Godfather's for dinner and ice cream and then home for presents and a movie of her choice.



Then Thursday was Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful time over at Troy's sister's house. I had to bring rolls and green been casserole. Of course, we all ate too much, but we had a great time playing games and just being together.



Friday we to Kansas to visit my sister, Lorilee. Her daughter Ashlyn Sofia was born on the 15th and we couldn't wait to meet her. She is an incredibly sweet baby. We had such a fun visit. I am so disappointed my camera battery was dying and so I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked.



Yesterday, we had Genna's first friends birthday party. Genna loves to draw rainbows and so it was a perfect theme for her party. She had 5 little friends come and it was a blast!





Phew! Sorry for the monster post- it really has been a couple of busy weeks. Not pictured were 2 primary programs, another chest x-ray- thankfully no pneumonia this time, a cub scout presentation on shadow puppets, and me getting utterly and completely engrossed in the Twilight series.

Yep, I think that's it! We did actually get the house decorated for FHE last night, but I'll share those pictures another day!

A White New Year

Well, the Christmas festivities are now over and the decorations are nestled in their snug little tubs. My small collection of snowmen are now on display.



On Sunday it snowed. Except for the scary ride home from church, we were all so excited to see the world change from brown and drab to wintery and white. Sunday afternoon celebrated New Year's Eve, with some good friends. We ate and played lots of games and made a lot of noise to ring in the new year. One new game they got was 10 Days in the USA, it was very fun and educational.



The kids were thrilled to be able to play outside today. They go back to school tomorrow. Although, it has been such a fun break that has went way too quickly, getting back into our old routine will be good too.



Once there was a skater snow dude, tall, tall, tall!



In the night someone smashed him small, small, small.



Apparently, some kids get their thrills by going around and smashing other people’s snowmen. How rude!!

Oh well, he was going to melt tomorrow anyway! And as I was putting my decorations away today, I saw a funny saying on a snowman gift bag- it said, "Don't Flurry, Be Happy!!"

I hope everyone has a very Happy New Year. This year my goals include- being more frugal, getting more organized, making healthy new habits and showing more love and compassion to everyone around me. I will try and share more specifics on some of those goals in the weeks to come. Lara, the Lazy Organizer, has a great goal setting challenge up on her site. Check out the link on the side of my blog.