25 to 1

Call me lazy, call me a genius, I'm going with trying something different.  

Instead of an advent, where the kids get little presents every day until Christmas, we are doing a countdown. Each day, as we countdown from now until Christmas, we are encouraging the kids to do acts of service. The service can be for someone at school, a neighbor, or family member. It doesn't matter to me who they serve, as long as they do it joyfully.

I wanted something fun to help us count down. 

In walks the neon card stock.

In less than half an hour I had 25 ornaments cut out with my trusty Silhouette.  I used a basic ornament shape and cut out the numbers 1 to 25 in the font American Typewriter.

So, I have been eyeing different trees all over town for the last couple of weeks. The other day I finally decided on a tree and pulled over to break off a branch. As I was trying to be cool, while ripping a tree with my bare hands, a neighbor drove by. She passed us, then pulled back around to make sure I was okay. I felt really silly explaining myself.

When we got home with our branch, I gave it a nice coat of gold metallic spray paint.

Right now the branch is attached to the wall with gold striped washi tape. I'm not sure it will last all month, but I am willing to sacrifice some tape to make it work.  The ornaments are hanging on the branch with simple white string. As we count down the days, we will tear off the ornaments.

Now, I couldn't totally deprive my children of all goodies till Christmas. So each day, after the kids have done their service, they will get to pick a little candy form the candy jars.

Let the countdown begin!

Festive Garland

Do you remember this neon mess?  Here is what we made...

I liked the big gaps between the poms, but it would be just as fun with them flush with each other.  This  is a good project to have your kiddos help out with.

Long Weekend Love

When the alarm clock sounded this morning I wanted to cry. I hate when long weekends are officially over. On the positive side, we had a fabulous weekend and for that I am grateful.

We didn't hit up the stores early Friday morning. Did you brave the crowds? Instead we played with the kids and I did a spin class at the gym. When I got home Mike, and the kids, had cleaned up the entire house. It was such a pleasant surprise!

Later that evening we ran to a few shoes stores. We all got a new pair of shoes.  Shoes for running, shoes for keeping feet warm, and shoes for making our outfits just perfect.

Decorating was also a big part of our weekend. This year we went the non traditional route. Well, sort of.  More like changed things up.  I will share pictures later this week.

In between eating with family, and a couple of yummy restaurants, I stopped in at The Chocolate. I have wanted to go there for ages, but never found time. As we were driving down State street I decided it was time.

If you haven't been there, and you live in Utah, you must stop by. We tried some cookies, a delicious salted caramel brownie, and the decadent brooklyn blackout cake. SO YUMMY.  It's a good thing the shop is not closer to our house, or I might stop in too often.

I hope you are all enjoying your Monday. Talk to you soon.

Giving Thanks

 Last night we started two Thanksgiving Eve
 traditions.

« A huge nerf war with the kids. Well,
it was Davis and Mom against Dad. Tess and
Collin were distractors and dart gatherers.
« And movie night/family sleep over in the basement.
Lots of laughing and minimal crying.

My cute neighbor made this cookies with her grandson and brought them over to us yesterday. I didn't think the kids noticed, so I ate all of them. Don't judge. They were good.

Today we are enjoying some down time at home while I make rolls for our family Thanksgiving dinner. I have decided not to pig out, but will be wearing a nice billowy top just in case my mind changes. I may need to work on my commitment issues.


This is a small sampling of things I am thankful for:

Mike, world's best husband to me
Davis, Tess, and Collin
My faith, and an eternal perspective
Our humble home
Chocolate and peanut butter - One of the best duos in the universe.

Happy Thanksgiving to all those who celebrate it. For every one else... Happy Thursday, go eat some good food today!

Inside Snow

This kids and I loved the awesome snow globes at Anthropologie. Unfortunately they were a little out of my justifiable price range. When I was looking around my house, I realized I had a lot of the supplies needed to make snow globes at home. I'm sure you do too.

This is a little tutorial on how to make a snow globe on the cheap...

❉ Glass jars with lids

❉ Glitter and or buffalo snow [picked mine up at Joann's]

❉ Glue gun

❉ Aluminum foil

❉ A little plastic animal or trinket

❉ Mini pine trees [$6.97 for a pack of 21 assorted sizes at The Home Depot]

Gather up your supplies and wash out your jars. Our extra jars are stored in the basement with all the dead spiders. So the kids made sure I washed out the spiders.

Find the tree that fits best inside your jar.

At this point I spray painted some of my plastic toys gold to make them more fancy.

Grab a small piece of aluminum foil. Crumple it up and hot glue it to the inside of you lid. This is creating a little stage for your tree. This way the tree will sit up further into the jar.

Hot glue your tree to the aluminum foil.

If you are adding something else to your globe, glue it on now. I love the golden moose.

This is Tess' winter rabbit. It was first glued to a shell to give it more height, but it wasn't enough. 

That's where the aluminum foil came in. Thanks to my friend Jenni. She was hanging out while I made these and made the best suggestion ever.

Now it is time to add the 'smow' as Collin says. Tess wanted some tiny jingle bells, then went in the buffalo snow, and last a few shakes of glitter.

This part can be a little messy. I found clean up was the easiest if you set your jar in the sink and then add your snow. A little goes a long way. I really only needed a couple of tablespoons worth of snow. You can add more or less. Just make it how you like.

Once your snow is in, set your lid on the jar. I made sure to position the moose on the opposite side of the words on the jar.

Flip over and enjoy.

Infestation

Well, the neon pom poms have become something. Caterpillar friends/ornaments.

It's funny how cute some fuzz becomes when you add a couple of googly eyes.

We have big ones, small ones, some with big ears and some with multi color antenna. Several have sophisticated names like Cat-e, short for caterpillar.

I hope they make it to the Christmas tree, but if not, at least they are having fun with the kids.

Are your eyes tired of looking at the electric pictures? Uh, ya, wait till you see what else we have going on around here. I might need to make sunglasses for everyone to look at our holiday decor.

Mess Makers

Tess and Collin ran to me, in my room, and told me to come see the mess they made.

Neon pom poms spread all over the family room.

Yeah for me.

I know these colors look a little electric, but I am totally loving them right now. Neon isn't for everyone. Mike is not quite on board with my idea, but this year our Christmas decor will be neon. 

That's right, NEON!

We have always had hodge podge decorations and ornaments.

This is the first year I have even suggested a 'theme,' and maybe I should have started with something a little less startling. 

The kids and I will just have to use tough love on Mike. He will get what he get's and can't throw a fit. 

I can't wait to show you what we have been up to. I am trying to stay true to Thanksgiving and not get too excited for Christmas, but it isn't going too well.

Holiday Gift Swap

Did you sign up for the Holiday Gift Swap that Freshly Picked and Ardor are hosting?

 I wanted try something new to me, and I made note cards.

I had a lot of fun trying out different designs and drawing with my kids. They always want to be a part of what I am working.

After the cards were finished, I felt like I needed something more to my gift. In comes...

One night I sat in our craft room and punched out tons and tons of confetti circles. They are about the size of a nickel.

Packaged up with a little washi tape! 

I bundled five different cards and envelopes with some natural cotton yarn.

Toss all the goods in a little linen bag and you have a notecard gift set. Perfect for a little holiday giving.

Hoping to get these packages mailed off soon.  I love sending mail, but better getting mail. I can't wait to receive my five gifts.

Eggs

A few weeks ago I declared, "Wednesday nights would be breakfast for dinner nights!"

Yes, that is a direct quote.

I took this picture in my collage photography 101 class.

Yesterday Davis asked me to make hard boiled eggs for Wednesday's dinner. I said whaa? I don't particularly like to eat eggs, especially hard boiled eggs. They stink.

I was thinking chocolate chip waffles with buttermilk syrup for dinner tonight. Now I might just have to learn how to make a stinky hard boiled egg.

Does anyone have any egg recipes or tips for me?

Sparkles

Generally, I like to enjoy one holiday at a time.

Sometimes I start to feel bad for Halloween when all the Christmas stuff is making it's way out into the stores.  But, let's be honest, Thanksgiving is the holiday that really gets left out. Normally I try to decorate for Thanksgiving so that "it" doesn't feel bad. This year is different.

I can't stop thinking about Christmas decorations, parties, presents, food, and new traditions. What's changed in me? Maybe the man finally got to me. We even paid someone to put Christmas lights on our house already (this is the first time ever).

Thanksgiving is ten days away.

In all fairness to the Day of Thanks, I will not set up any Christmas decorations until twenty-four hours after it's fulfilled it's purpose. Maybe I need to bring things back to reality and ponder on all that I am grateful for.  Actually, I think I was save the pondering for the actual Day of Thanks, so I have something to do other than stuff my face with food.

Here is a pin that is inspiring me this holiday season.

Source: theglitterguide.tumblr.com via Nicolette on Pinterest

p.s. I really do love Thanksgiving, and think's a great time to reflect on life's blessing.

Jack Jack

Davis' long time buddy, Jaxson, recently turned 8. My friend, Jax's mom, asked me to take some pictures of him for a baptism announcement. I quickly agreed!

Here are a few of my favorite shots from our super quick afternoon photo shoot! ;)

Jaxson was a little over three when they moved next door to us. He and Davis spent just about every day together for two years solid.  We don't live next door to each other anymore, but the boys don't skip a beat when they are together. Best buddies, that's what they are.

Pen-tastic

I have a new shopping obsession. 

Pens.

I can't get enough. There are so many colors, felt tip v. roller ball, thickness, grip. The list of variables goes on and on.

I really enjoy the ultra fine point Sharpies. More colors are in my future.

Japan knows how to make a nice pen. The Micron pens are supreme. Did you know the same company makes...

the Gelly Roll pens? Yep, they do. Love them!

With all these pens, my hands have been busy drawing up different little doodles. The kids are totally into the drawing action too. Tess always wants to use my metallic pens. I think she might need to get some of her own.