Christmas 2012!!

Putting out reindeer food!

Papa watching the kids. He refused to go sit outside in the cold. It wasn't really that cold, but his Texas blood just couldn't handle it!

This is what Daddy did.

Sorry it has taken so long to update the blog, readers ( I like saying that as if I have a huge following)! Blogger has been having issues with their picture upload, so I had to figure out how to work around it. Just so we are clear, I didn't rewrite a code or anything, I just had to go to find out what Blogger suggested. Sorry if the pics don't look like they normally do :-(. Anyway, here are the Christmas 2012 pics! I am pretty sure they are self-explanitory. We had a very quiet, calm and peaceful Christmas complete with a rediculous amount of food, Christmas movie classics, Christmas Eve candlelight service, more food, lots of wrapping and unwrapping, crafts, parties, gatherings, more food, and a lot of fun. I always love this time of year and what it means. I am also very grateful for my beautiful family and the time we have together! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and a perfect start to 2013!

And, more Christmas stuff!

The boys are enjoying their Advent calendar.  They have gotten money, candy, silly string, giant pens, and they got to put together a gingerbread house! I realize it looks like they did it in the dark, but I just forgot to reset my camera.

Happy crafting!

Just Some Pics!

They were not happy I made them wear the hats, but seriously.  I could not resist!

 

Daddy wanted one with the hats on backwards.  I got the best smiles from them after that...typical!

So very grateful for these two.  I am always amazed at how they can drive me to the edge and bring me back all within one second!

XOXOXO

 

 

More Christmast crafts!

I filled the bottom with some tissue paper so I would not have to pour a ton of sand in fill them up.  I just wanted to put enough sand in so they would not easily tip over.  

So, we are hosting Lyndon's work Christmas party at our house this year, and I really wanted to do something for the tables!  I looked around at some arrangements, but they were soooo expensive!  I just couldn't justify the expense, and we know I am cheap frugal.  So, I came across some really cute glittered pieces at a craft store, and I decided I would just make them work.  The containers are actually bed risers that I found at Big Lots, a package of 4 for $5!  I also bought some foam inserts and added a little sand to weigh them down. Then I topped them off with some snow flakes to cover the edge.  I sprayed the outside of the containers with some spray-on glitter.  I was happy with how they came out considering I spent about $7 to make each one!

I also saw a cute pic on Pinterest for cork Christmas trees.  I have been collecting corks (sadly, I have not been collecting for that long), and I knew I would find something cute to do with them.  I think that maybe some would suggest that I have a problem, but all the same, I added to my Christmas decor! I just glued them together, and it is sitting on top of a small terracotta pot which I had in my stash of craft stuff.  I also had the moss and twine, but you could use almost anything to fill or tie onto the container. I sprayed the actual tree with my left-over glitter from the above arrangements! 

Happy Christmas crafting!

Christmas stuff!

This guy is back...

Zelk will make the top ten list of "Things I Hate Now but Will Miss When the Kids are Grown." It ranks right up there with packing lunches and stepping on Legos! I have woken up in the middle of the night, twice, because I have forgotten about him.  I have seen all of these cute ideas for him, but honestly, I am not willing to make a mess that I know I am going to have to clean up later.  Right now, he just moves around to high places (I am worried what the kittens would do to him...hmmm).

 

We have also started our homemade Advent calendar!  So far the boys have received some flavored chapstick and their very own hair brushes (I was excited about this one so they will leave mine alone!). We also came across our first service activity which was making brownies for the firemen! They are always very kind and grateful when we deliver goodies!

 

Thank you to Fire House No. 9!  The boys enjoyed their visit!

 

And more painting!

I knew that doing the kitchen cabinets would open the gateway for other projects. At least this one was pretty painless and fast.  I decided that the dining room needed an update.  Fortunately for me, there was already a chair rail in place.  I just wanted to strip the wallpaper and paint the bottom half. Eventually, I would like to add frames on the bottom part too, but for now, I just wanted the wallpaper off.  It was not bad wallpaper, but it was starting to peel, and I needed something that would flow with the kitchen. 

I used hot water and vinegar to remove the wallpaper.  You can buy wallpaper remover, but this method works just as well, and it is cheap! I didn't measure the amount of vinegar.  I just dumped some into a hot bucket of water.  I really wanted to do a basic white on the bottom because at some point I may decide to add frames, but for now I was excited at how much the white opened up the room! 

Christmas is coming!

We have been busy decorating and doing Christmas crafts!

The boys are already busy preparing for Santa!  They wrote heart-shaped letters to him this year!

We have been getting our craft on too! I saw something like these on Pinterest, but I didn't open it up so I don't have the link for you.  I am not sure if I did it the way they suggested, but we kind of winged it.  I thought they did a pretty good job!

Finished!

I had some wood left over from my tent project last spring.  I thought I would paint something simple on them for the mantle.  I basically used spray paint and tape (my new, favorite way to paint wood) and then added some glitter.  Very messy, but I was happy with the way it turned out!

I also wanted to come up with a different way to do our Advent calendar.  I decided to make one this year and will incorporate our 25 Days of Christmas.  I had a bunch paper wine bags (more than I care to admit to) that I had kept and just cut them up.  I painted the numbers on them and then went to the dollar store to fill them up.  There are a bunch of little things, socks, pens, cards, money, candy etc. I also filled several of them with different activities such as movie night, making goodies for the firemen, donating canned goods etc. so the boys can participate in service as well! 

Happy crafting!