Saturday, December 10, 2011

ten on ten - December 2011


another idea to try


sorting out the hangars


Mama and David playing chase and saying "boo" around the kitchen (hence the blur)


hanging out outside and ending up getting to chat with neighbors



Costco run and lots of samples eaten


trip to Lowes, selecting lumber to make a Christmas gift





some Christmas decorating


and more


and more



returning

just for fun, see December 2010 here

and more ten on ten entries here

Kelly



Friday, December 9, 2011

Christmas cookies





Another pinterest project completed!



My MOPS group had a cookie swap this week. I had seen these on pinterest and thought they were so pretty so that's what I decided to make.


The dipping and rolling in sugar part was really fun.

I was so thankful that my friend Erin had given me a BIG jar of colored sugar. It came in really handy.




Are you doing any baking this season or participating in a cookie swap?
I'd love to hear about it!

Kelly

Thursday, December 8, 2011

decorating the tree




Last night was tree decorating night at our house.


I have never really had it be an "event" before.

In the back of my mind I tried to have low expectations after reading Ashley's excellent post but truth be told I was pretty excited and hoping for a great time.



I have to say it was GREAT! I won't expect it to be "just so" every year but we had so much fun this year!


David was really into it.

He loved putting the ornaments that look like blocks on especially and he kept saying "block". It was the cutest thing.





All of the breakables went on the top.


We ordered pizza for dinner to make it feasible to start decorating the tree before David got fussy.



I hope your preparations are merry and bright and that you enjoy this season even if it has ups and downs.

Kelly

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

tree cutting expedition 2011



This picture was taken while we were still all having fun.

Good memories!

Do you have your tree yet?

Are you putting up a tree this year?

If all goes as planned tonight is decorate the tree night at our house.

Kelly

Monday, December 5, 2011

today


Today has been a really, really good day.

For those of you reading back in Texas and in other warmer climes, the high was something like 12 degrees today. People around here act like it's pretty normal. Weird.

But I didn't go out in it for the most part. I did dash across the street to chat with a neighbor for just a few minutes and tonight I got out to go to a women's event with my mom but other than that I stayed toasty warm inside my house in 3/4 sleeves even.

David slept in late and I got to spend some good time reading different passages in the advent study I'm doing. The part about the angel telling Mary that the Lord was with her really got my attention and prompted me to search on Bible Gateway for places in the Bible where it is stated that God is with people. It has been wonderful to read so many stories that I haven't read in quite a while and to see this thread of God *being there* and really making the connection that He is here with me every single day too.




Today was also a day that I sort of set aside to use pinterest and my before pinterest inspiration file and do some of those things I'd earmarked. It was lots of fun to get to crafting and decorating and doing.





I had an enthusiastic little helper too!


One of the ideas I'd saved was all about sequins so I was glad I had some in my stash.



Aren't those FUN?!!!

You can find them here at Melanie's You Are My Fave blog. It's really fun and she's in Denver!


We got out the funnels and got hard to work.



{okay, so he was playing with a binder clip while I poured sequins, probably a less messy proposition anyway}


I did one sequin ornament and finished up some other ornaments I had started once upon a time but never finished off the way I wanted.

I would have liked to have more sequin ornaments but remember it was like 12 degrees and I'm new to this Colorado thing and I only had one package of sequins on hand.






This ornament is filled with a button and bead necklace of my great grandmas that had broken. It is a happy memory of her to me.


This one has a bit of sand from our trip last month ~ a fun memory for sure.





We got our tree yesterday!

That was an adventure for sure.

We went and cut it down in the forest up in the mountains.

This Texas girl sure never thought of doing that. It was a blast until it wasn't but we survived and got a fun tree. Poor little guy just got too cold. I'm thinking next year just the parents might go get the tree.


But really, look at this face, is it not just too cute?


We snuggled on this couch filled with pillows today and read a Christmas board book.

Truth, we did not actually read our scripture for Truth in the Tinsel today. You know what? That's okay. It's not about guilt. If you're doing something with your kids and you skip a day, you know what? That's okay too.


We did share a potato chip snack and mama had some hot chocolate to go with it.


I spruced up my dishwasher detergent with this inspiration




I'm working on the Christmas decor.

It sure is fun having a house.

I had seen a Christmas tree made of books on Pinterest.

I made one.





It was harder than I thought. Not actually the tree part but the tree trunk part. I had trouble finding something with the right proportions.



There are soo many things I like.

Here is my version of her wreath trio.





embroidery hoops snagged at a garage sale earlier this fall for cheap,
different ribbons from my stash and a few white frosted berries

The dining room has kind of taken on a greens, yellows, blues and silver color scheme for Christmas and I like it.

I also clicked over to see what Michelle is up to this year and wow oh wow, such cute stuff!

This post immediately brought to mind the neat old truck that my mother-in-law gave me at Thanksgiving and I knew exactly what it needed.

If you're mother-in-law didn't happen to give you an old truck at Thanksgiving definitely check out Michelle's shop, these things are too cute!





I have candy canes on my shopping list so I can copy the bottom picture here.

I am working on a "Glory to God in the highest" banner like Michelle's in the second photo here.

I'm contemplating this for my fireplace.




But mostly I want to just take in the wonder




and enjoy these next several weeks.

I hope you do too!



Kelly

a happy spot

Friday, December 2, 2011

happy birthday!


Today is my mother-in-law's birthday!

I love this photo of her holding David when he was just about three weeks old.

Kelly

p.s. and I love his little whale swaddle and to be honest I love how my books are color coordinated in the background.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

advent



Today I wanted to share two e books with you that I have recently stumbled across.

The first is one that I am doing for myself and very much enjoying so far.
It is called An Everyday Advent and it has four sections, one for each week for you to read from the Bible and questions to ponder. I am excited about focusing my heart in this way at this time of year.

The other is called Truth in the Tinsel and is for David and I to do together. I really like the simple and easy format of it. It has a passage of scripture to read with your child everyday. I have read to David out of storybook Bibles so far in his life but never once have I read straight out of scripture to him. It was exciting today to get out his little Bible that he was given by our church family in Dallas at his baby dedication and talk about the Bible and sing a little cradle roll song about the Bible and then to show him my Bible side by side (his only has the New Testament or I would have read directly out of his - today's reading was from Isaiah) and then read the passage of scripture out loud with him.

Each day has a simple ornament craft for you to make with your child so that they can focus on details of the story as they begin to internalize it all and it gives big and little hands something to do while you talk about the story. I really like the way the author, Amanda, has written the "talking it through" part.

My little guy is not very into crafty things at this point so I plan to do a few simple ones but also just play with different objects (today a flashlight instead of a candle craft, as well as practicing blowing out a candle and looking at one) as we go through it. I am excited about this way to teach David the story of Christ coming to earth to be *with us* and as the most amazing gift ever *for us*.

In no way am I receiving any compensation for reviewing these e books nor do I receive anything if you buy one of them. I just wanted to share these great (and inexpensive, each under $5!) resources with you in case you would enjoy using them this season. If you do, I'd love to hear about your experiences with them.

Merry Christmas!

Kelly