2012 Christmas Advent

I really did mean to post this at laset 16 days ago.  Before the counting down to Christmas officially began.

But better late than never right?

I once had a plan to make a new advent every year.  Reality check.  That is so not going to happen.  But this year I did whip up a little paper crafting advent and I love it!

Starting with 2, 12x12 thick cardstock papers as my backdrops.  And coordinating accent papers to go with it.

 I cut out the accent papers for the pockets, and distressed the edges with ink.

Then played around laying them out until I liked what I had.

Then I lazily glued (ok, I didn't even glue! I photo stickied them!) the pocket edges down(If you want it to last better, sewing them down is a much better idea).

Then I added dates and trinkets and embellishments to make it pretty.

I made the advent slips out of those pre-made tags from the craft store.  Again inked the edges, then added twine.

And Ta da! This is how it turned out!
 I would give you a list of my advent ideas.  But they in all honesty are lame.  I am 8 months pregnant and just can't do what I normally would.

So mostly they are; have a treat, drink hot cocoa, watch a Christmas movie, freebie nights etc. 

:)

I had the perfect place on my mantle and hung the advents from twine with cute little wood clothespins!

I hope everyone is having a beautiful holiday season!

It's taken 6 years....

For 6 years, we have had mismatched, and not enough chairs around our family table.  I used to cringe every time we had to use my piano bench. But not anymore!!!

Say hello to our 6 newest family members!

 Courtesy of our local DI.

You didn't think I would leave them all ugly and nappy did you? Of course I wouldn't!

They were scrubbed until they bled, then primed, then painted, then distressed and sealed....

The gross cushions were covered in clearance table cloths from target (along with my new curtains made from these same table cloths!) And then I did the Grandma effect, but I would like it to be called the "SMART" effect.  Because really, who wants to have kids spill on cushions that you can't throw in the wash?  So I vinyl covered them too.

It truly was a labor of love.  TOUGH love.  I thought this was going to be the easiest job! A quick paint, a little sanding and stapling and walla! Umm, not so.  My fingers were bruised and bleeding from holding down a total of 11 cans of spray paint over 3 days.  I hammered my fingers when distressing, I think I took off my own fingerprints when I did the wipe on polyurethane glove-less(not to self!)  Do not get me started on what a pain the vinyl was! And I hammered in upholstery nails instead of stapling. 

In the end, it was worth every bit of suffering.

My table before- I have a beautiful Cherry Wood table that can seat like 20. ok, something like that with the leaves in.  Someday this too will be refinished Hollie style....  But notice the chairs? Ya, I have had 2 folding chairs I stole from my brother ;) and we were down to one of our original chairs.  Cuteness right?!

and yes, the toys are a constant centerpiece :)

Now my table setting looks like this!

The Chairs-

before...

Ewwww

After....

Did you hear the heavenly choir sing when you saw this? I did!.

Cost of paints:$55

Cost of 6 chairs: $42

Cost of Tablecloth and Vinyl uphosltery: $35

Total Cost for 6 brand new chairs: $132!!!

Cost of family dinner time where we all can sit together around one table: $priceless

Holiday Cheer

So it continues.

Christmas is in full swing here and we are loving it!  The house just seems so cozy with all the twinkling lights and cinnamon candles.

The kids last day of school was on Friday, and I could not be happier about it! It's going to be Pj's every day. ha ha haa. Ok, if you know me you know that is not how I roll.  But maybe we will have a few PJ days :)

I finished off this last week with a few holiday projects I had been waiting to do.  I think they are my favorites.

Mason Jars: Used up some leftovers from my sisters wedding! Jars, burlap, twine, various scrap paper and ribbon. 

Our little snow was fun! We just purchased our very first snow shovel. woot! ha haaa.  So Daddy shoveled the driveway, and Damon was uber excited to do the sidewalks.  Shortly after he came in and said it was done...

ummm, not.

A few more crafts, because really you can never have too much. Right?

My kids get confused on whose stocking is whose, so this year I added letters.  A little antique paint, twine for the boys and lace for the girls!

Little by little I am trying to change my Christmas color scheme.  I want gold, bronze, teal and bright red.  So I did a quick cheap project!

They look awesome in daylight and by night light!

The school Chrstimas sing a long.  Seriuosly, why can't they do it so parents can sit and not just stand around?

 I'm sorry, but this event 2 years in a row is just proved to be complete torture!  My kids are always  blocked by older kids, their songs are 30 seconds mixed in over an hour of waiting for them.  While trying to keep the younger kids quiet and entertained.  TORTURE! Luckily I went and snapped this shot before the rest of the grades piled in front.

And since there was nothing else I could get pictures of...

The story of the head wound is down farther in this post :)

Braddock is now a crawler.  And it all happened way too fast.  One day he lept for my phone, and then he army crawled for a few days,  now he is up on his knees and just about has the coordination down. I am denying that he is 8 months old.

I asked James to keep him entertained so I could do a few things.   So what did James do? He sat him down in front of the tv.

He was completely mesmerized.  Then, while I was being sneaky with the camera, he suddenly burst out laughing at the tv.

And kept doing so for a good 5 minutes.  It was hilarious!

Thursday started off like every other day around here.  Running kids to school, taking care of my duties at home.

As the day was coming to a close, the typical happens.  We eat dinner and my kids hit hyper mode.  Running around and playing and being loud.

Until, a certain little someone slipped on the kitchen floor and bashed their tiny little head into the edge of the wall.

WARNING: GAFFIC PICTURES FOLLOW

I know, she is bleeding like crazy and still cheeses it for the camera!

I knew right away it was bad. so I packed up all the kiddos, picked daddy up from work and we went to the ER.

The doctor came in to take a look and right off said she would need stitches inside and out.

They prenumbed and cleaned the wound.

Then gave her the real numbing shots. The guy who gave them said he went around it twice and she shouldn't feel a thing.  I tell ya, pinning her down and watching her scream is miserable.  I wanted to just take it all away so she didn't have to go through it!

This is when it gets worse.

The doctor comes back in  and starts cutting the wound.  It was really deep, and really jagged. So they had to slice it wider to give it a smooth edge to make it heal properly.  I couldn't watch.  James did, I held Lillies hands down and looked down from her face.  Then she lost it started screaming.  The numbing didn't take on one side. Are you kidding me?! So they had to do more numbing. then more slicing.  At this point her and I had locked eyes and I couldn't look away.  She was staying pretty calm.  They gave her 3 stitches inside and 10 stitches on the outside.

 

She is such a little trooper.  She amazes me.  Now she asks me to take pictures of her owie so she can see them :)

I hope everyone is having an amazing holiday season! 

I have been spending a special time each night with kids to do a countdown tradition. Which I just started this year.

Each night I have them go on a scavenger hunt around our home for a specific holiday decoration.  Then we talk about it's symbol and what it means. 

Examples:

Wreath- eternal life

Red- Christs blood shed for us

Candles/lights- the North Star telling the world of Jesus' birth

Shepherd and sheep- He is the shepherd and we are his sheep

The Christmas Tree- green is the color of ever lasting light.  And the pine needles always point upward toward Heaven.

The countdown will keep going. The last 2 are my favorite. Santa- How he represents kindness, charity, love, giving.  And of course, baby Jesus.  The whole reason for the holiday.

The kids are enjoying this and it is great to see them understand that Christmas is so much more than just gifts and candy.

oh the candy/sweets....... AUGH

Christmas Ornaments- crafty style

I finally got one of the projects on my to do list done this week! YAY!

I have made these several times.  Cheap, pretty quick, super stylish, and make awesome gifts!

(For my friends who have not received yet, this is basically letting you see your gift before you get it. ha haa)

All you need is paper in the colors you want, clear ornaments, ribbons to match, a pencil, and a cutting board.

Begin by cutting all you paper into strips, I usually go 6in long and bout 1/2 inch wide.

Then you just roll the strips up onto the pencil and push them into the ornaments.  in no particular order :)

Put the caps back on, tie the ribbons and walla!

A few other color styles...

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!

Favorite holiday. Hands down.

Here is some of the excitement so far.

James' work has an awesome party every year.  We get to get all dressed up and head out, childless, go to a rented out place, amazing catering and dancing all night.

Christopher, our elf has made his appearance. Would you believe he forgot to move the very first night!? Doh!

Random kid cuteness :)

And a project!!!!  Growing up my mom had these 2 Christmas mice. We would always play hide and seek with them. So I attempted making some for our home!

While listening to Christmas Pandora style and cutting the mice out...

The inevitable happened.  Which always happens when I attempt a sewing project!

 

But I pushed on....

And they turned out pretty cute! (after the 4th one...)

And here is a taste of what Christmas looks like here... I still need to get pics of a lot more things, and finish up some other crafts too!

My new favorite addition this year is my Angel Tree. It is very special to me.  After I had my very first miscarriage, at Christmas time, I have bought an angel ornament for all of our miscarriages.  7 in total now.  I've always had them hanging from Garland or the Christmas tree.  But this year I wanted to do something a little different.  So I went out and found a dead tree and took some limbs, gave them a light spray painting in antique white, then glittered the tips and branches with a beautiful white/pearly glitter.  And there my angels hang.

(better pictures coming soon, I wanted it to be dark in the room for it)

I have so many plans I hope I get them all done this year.  Aside form crafts, I really want the kids to learn and understand what Christmas is all about.  I was pretty impressed already when Cherish read me Santa list.  Then came back later and told me she only wanted one thing.  I also found her crying in the kitchen when I thought all the kids were in bed.  She had been listening to me sing Christmas songs at the piano.  She said it was so beautiful it made her cry.  I love seeing my kids be touched by the spirit of Christmas.