Happy New Year

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas. We spent some time at my parent’s home in Virginia. My brother and his family were able to come as well as my sister and her family. (My other brother and sister and their families were with the in-laws this year.) One of the nieces got an easel from Santa. It was a huge hit (with everyone)!

We had a great time eating, laughing and telling stories.  Uncle Jake was the hit of the party (as usual!!) He talked football with the nephews. He has not turned them into Dallas fans but isn't giving up. They may see the light soon!!!

My dad is the baby whisperer. All babies seem to love him. He has a magical way of soothing fussy babies too.

Opening presents was an adventure with so many people. We tried to label everything right after it was opened so it all went home with the right family. We also threw all the paper away quickly. We are pretty sure no presents got thrown away. The kids all loved their presents. My dad is a HUGE Star Wars fan (and a huge cookie fan).  He got a great T-Shirt! It was the best present of the day!

We had a wonderful time. It is always great to see everyone! We hope your Christmas was as great as ours!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! 

Thank you for sharing part of your Christmas with us!  We hope all your Christmas wishes come true!

Terri and Jake

Happy Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas! 

May you feel the Spirit of the Season!

New Ornaments

We draw names in my family for Christmas. With so many nieces and nephews it really is a lot of people to buy for. This year I had my sister Lori and her family (Lori if you are reading- STOP NOW).

I made some ornaments for my sister. I have seen them on the internet and they were super easy!!! I rolled the red paper up and put it in the ornament.  After it was as full as I wanted (I stopped adding more paper when the paper didn't move when I shook the ornament), I painted the belt buckle. After that dried, I painted the black belt. I did all free hand. They are not perfect but I think they look great!

Here it is on the tree!

I didn’t have enough paper to make all six ornaments into Santa bellies- so I made two snowmen (I had white paper). I did the same thing rolling the paper and putting it in the ornament. Then when it was full, I painted the nose on. After that dried, I used the handle of a paint brush to make the dots for the eyes and mouth.

 Frosty on the tree !

Waiting for the paint to dry took longer than anything.  I wanted to keep them myself so I am hoping I can get some more clear ornaments (maybe for 75% off) and make some for us. You could fancy them up by adding ribbon by the hanger or a cute hat to Frosty but I like them simpler (and I needed to get them in the mail).

Almost ready to mail!The buckles look more silvery here (and they are silver!)

Here's what you need:
Clear ornaments (mine came from Michaels)
black paint (I had some. It's just regular black acrylic)
aorange and silver paint (I bought the glittery orange and silver at Walmart. It was in the scrapbook section and only 97 cents!)
red and white cardstock (I  had the paper- left over from another project look in the scrapbook section of the craft store!)

 Have fun! Let me know if you try them too!

I linked to Bowl Full of Lemons

Jake's Ornament

Jake made a new Christmas ornament for our tree! Isn’t it cute?

Jake holding his ornament!

His team (the Dallas Cowboys) isn’t doing too well this year. So the ornament needed a disguise.  My visiting teacher brought over the hat (read more about visiting teaching here) and the creative bug bit Jake. I’m not sure if the disguise will come off when the Cowboys are doing better. Mostly we are hoping the Cowboys will improve!

My Favorite Things

I’m joining the Favorite Things Party at 320 Sycamore. I just love her blog! She has great ideas for decorating your home. (go on and visit! I'll wait here.) 

So here are 5 of my favorite things right now!

1)    Pinterest

I love love love Pinterest. I find tons of great ideas, quotes and pictures there (which you see here a lot). There are great recipes too. We have tried several and they have all been good (so far!!!)

2)   Diet Coke

The bubbles! The noise when you pop the top! What else can I say? It is the Devil's Beverage!  Even room temperature it is good!

from pinterest.com

3)   Christmas!

 I love Christmas. We are enjoying very nice weather and it makes going shopping and being out and about with all the other people so much nicer. I love the feeling in the air at Christmas time.  I know that we should fell this way all the time but if we did; it wouldn’t be special or make this time of year special.

4)    Michael’s

I’m don’t usually shop at Michael’s but they have been having a Daily Deal that has been great! Sign up for the email and you'll hear about it too! Hopefully they will do it next year!

5)   Bath and Body Works Vanilla Lotions

I love the smell. It is soothing and becomes more soft and subtle as the day goes on. I don’t wear perfume anymore (Jake has allergies) but this doesn’t bother him and makes my skin so soft!

So there you are- a few of my favorite things! What are a few of yours?

Sunday Thoughts



from pinterest.com

The Duggars

I’ve been thinking about Michelle Duggar lately. Now I realize they are the ones that decided to have their family on TV and with that decision there are consequences.  One of the consequences is that everyone knows your business and unfortunately has a comment on it.

I don’t watch their show. I have a couple times and know a little about their family. When I heard (well really read since I saw it on the internet) about her miscarriage I was really sad for her. I know many people have an opinion about how many kids they have and her age (Mrs. R has a post about this here and read the comments too they are good also). I have not read the comments on Facebook or on the TLC website. I think the internet offers people an opportunity to say things they would NEVER say to someone personally. It really offers anonymity and a window into others lives that we didn’t use to have.

Here’s how I feel. I was sad when I heard about the miscarriage. Everyone I know who has had a miscarriage is sad- no matter how many children they have or if they are able to get pregnant again right away. But what really bothered me was the lack us support others offered. What happened to “if you don’t have anything nice to say- don’t say anything at all”? What happened to "mind your own business"? (Although by putting their life on TV they do want us in their business or they don’t have a show. . .)

Now I do think 20 children are too many for ME but that is who I make decisions for - me. I really don’t know about anyone else and I don't get to decide about anyone else either.  I only know about Jake and I and what works for us.

I hope Michelle Duggar and her family are doing well and has a way to deal with their grief. I also hope Mrs. Duggar doesn’t see the negative comments. But what I really hope is that we start being kinder and more compassionate even if we are commenting anonymously on a website. There is a primary song that says at the end "Kindness begins with me" Let's use this not only in real life but online too!

I want to be kind to everyone

For that is right you see

So I say to myself

Remember this

Kindess begins with me.

Decorations!!!

I got the decorating done! It turned out pretty well this year. I really like the mantle. I love all the candles.

I think the tree needs some more ornaments but in this picture it looks great. I saw some wonderful snowflakes online and they are supposed to be at the Dollar Store – but I was too late.  Jake loves a tree with multicolored lights and lots of sparkly things. It was my year to decide and so we have the white lights.  I did put the Dallas Cowboy ornaments on.

We also have a small table in our entry way. I have put different things on it each year. This year I went with the trees. I love how it looks. I wish I had big enough apothecary jars and could put each tree in a jar. My jars are a bit to small.

Here is our table. My sister gave me the place mats.  We had the missionaries over (that is why it is set for four).

I think it really feels like Christmas here! At least it does inside the house, outside it is 60 degrees! We love this weather! How does your house look?

Sunday Thoughts

from pinterest.com

God rest you merry Gentlemen,
Let nothing you dismay;
Remember Christ our Saviour,
Was born on Christmas-day;
To save our souls from Satan's power,
Which long time had gone astray:
This brings Tidings of Comfort and Joy.

It's beginning to look a bit like Christmas!

We are in the middle of decorating for the holidays. I stretch it out a bit. I do a little here and a little there. When we first moved, I went a little overboard. The house we have now has a different layout and it is easy to over fill a room with Christmas decorations.  I change things a bit each year and enjoy moving things a bit as the season goes on. We put things on the mantle (but not the stockings. I haven’t found stocking holders I like but this year I saw a new idea that I really like! Here’s a picture-what do you think?)

from pinterest.com
use a drapery rod to hang the stockings on!!!

We also decorate the tree and do some on the outside of the house. It has been either raining or threatening rain for days and not much is done outside yet.

There are so many great crafts and printables on the internet right now! Pinterest is a great resource-not only will you see a picture but most of the time you get a link to the directions! Here’s just a few!

(I just noticed these are ALL ornaments! There is so much more!)

I’ll keep working on the Christmas decorations! Pictures coming soon!

Sunday Thoughts