Christmas Decor

Christmas is probably my favorite time of year.  My kids are home with me, we bake and eat yummy food, and spend our days playing games, sipping hot coco, and watching Christmas movies.  It's perfect.  Christmas is also the time of year where I make new crafts, busy myself with anticipation (I usually do this while the kids are still in school), and decorate my house.  Since this was technically our first year in this home for Christmas (we were in HI last year), I wanted some new decor to decorate with, and make our little townhouse feel as festive as if Buddy the Elf were our holiday decorator.  Below are some pictures of decorations.  Again, I realize I'm behind and should have posted these in the midst of all the Christmas excitement, but guess what, good news!  My husband told me in Ireland, they celebrate Christmas-time until January 31st!  So. . . if you think about it, there's actually still almost an entire month left to decorate!  So, there you go.

I decorated this shelf in our entry way with some of my printables found here

   

I made a knock-off PB peace sign to put by or front door.  Later on, I made eight more smaller ones to give to some friends, neighbors, and teachers.  I could have made more, but ran out of supplies.

Pictured above are those mason jar lanterns.  Tutorial here.  I also made the Christmas deer printable, and put in a frame Jim and I made together.

New printable.

Another new printable

So, my new favorite Christmas decoration, is the Grinch Tralee made at school.  I LOVE this thing, and it made me giggly every time I glanced at it.  I kept imagining the Grinch sneaking around our house, attempting to take all of our Christmas-y things.

Last pic of the Grinch and some more decor.  I did some new glittery trees to put in the kitchen, but never got around to taking a picture of them.  Oh well. . . next year.

The End

Thanksgiving

So. . . Christmas has come and gone, the New Year is upon us, and I'm blogging about Thanksgiving.  I'm a little behind, can you tell?  That's me.  I'm either totally together and on track, or completely and disastrously behind.  I'm pretty black and white in most aspects of my life.  My house is either sparkling, or call the producers of Hoarders messy.  I either freak out like there's a nuclear bomb headed directly at my house when my kids spill their beverage, or I'm all Glenda the Good Witch giggly about it.  Anywho. . . this last Thanksgiving I was put in charge of bringing jello and a cheese-and-cracker tray to Jim's Aunt's house.  So, in going with the black and white theme of my life, my options (in my head) were to: 

A.  Bring a package of saltines and a loaf of velvet-a to the gathering with a package of generic pre-made Jello to go with it or 

B.  Go overboard and buy seven different kinds of cheese (one made with cranberries), and three cheese-bearing cracker varieties served on an expensive silver plater that I've only used like once or twice, as well as spend the entire day before Thanksgiving prepping rainbow layered gelatin in individual serving cups.

Guess which extreme I was?  Let the pictures below tell you.

Yeah, I might have gone a little overboard.  That's what I do. . . sometimes.  I either get all Martha Stewart-y, or show up to a potluck with a bag of Doritos.  There's really no happy medium in my life.  My poor children and husband never know what to expect from me.  I guess it keeps things pretty exciting around here.

Below are a few more pictures of our Thanksgiving.  As I mentioned, Jim's Aunt hosted all 20-something members of Jim's extended family.  It was a lovely get together, and thanks to my bountiful contributions (as well as all the other lovely people that made delicious food) there was plenty of yumminess to go around. 

Jim's cousins made these cute turkeys to put at everyone's place at the table(s).

Some of the many many many cousins present.

      The End. 

 If I'm feeling totally with it, maybe I can catch up to Christmas before Valentine's Day!

Valentines Day Cards -- Free Template!!!

Last year my kids and I created some fun animal-themed Valentines for them to take to school and give to their friends.  Tralee and I designed the lay-out (it HAD to be pink, according to her), and the kids picked the animals.  They turned out so darn cute, I thought I would share the template for our creation on here, in case anyone else wanted to give it a go.  I also added a new dinosaur themed Valentines printable, that has various more dino-themed colors.

What you'll need:

1. Printables - download from below

2.  Card-stock (you'll need a hefty paper for this)

3.  Twisty ties (you can get them at any grocery-type store, or be ghetto like me and save them over the year from the bagged bread you buy)

4.  Small toy animals (we bought ours at Michaels.  They're in tubes for like $7.00 each, we used our 50% or 40% off Michaels coupons to purchase them which made it much more affordable.  We bought the Zoo themed tube, and the Pets tube.  They also have dinosaur tubes, so I created a dino printable as well (see below).  However, I've also seen cheaper animals in bags at party stores, so check those out too.  I have a blank printable, in case you have an animal or animals that I don't have a sound for.

5. Scissors

6. Nail or something else small and sharp (for poking holes)

How To:

1.  Print off the printables you'll be using onto card-stock (regular printer paper WON'T work, it's too flimsy)

2.  Cut out Valentines

3.  Poke holes in each card where you'll lace the twisty tie through.  A hole punch was too big, so I just used a standard nail to poke holes.  I'm sure there's a much more eloquent way I haven't thought of.  If you think of one, please share in the comments.

4.  Attach animal with twisty ties

5.  Have child sign name to back of card. . . .and DONE!

Here are some pictures of last year's finished Valentines to give you an idea of what they looked like:

So, I ran out of twisty ties, and found some rubber bands.  I just cut them, and tied them in the back.  It worked fine.  You can get creative if you want to.  String might also work.  Twisty ties just seemed like the easiest option.

Here's Tralee's handiwork on the back:

So, below are the printable templates.  Use any or all that will work for you.  Just click on the pictures, and they will take you to the download link.  Again, if you don't have the same animals we did last year, or you aren't a fan of what I have them saying, there's a template with blank spaces for you to fill in.  Get creative, have fun, and have a Valentines Day filled with love!  Templates below:

Have a Happy Valentine's Day!

More FREE Valentine's printables here.

Photo Plop

Oh, you know, just another iphone photo plop.  These pictures don't really go in any category.  They're just random pics from our days leading up to Christmas.

We played the snowman dice game.  It was on pinterest, and was pretty fun. . . the first two times.  After about the sixth round, this mama got a little sick of it.

Hunter at story time at the library.  He was REALLY trying hard to find the hidden fruits and veggies.

Tralee's school picture.  Isn't she adorable?

Just a random picture of the kids and me watching a movie.  I was very content with my life in this moment.

Hunter's Angry Bird. . . and eggs.

Hunter selfie

A big chair and a little boy

One of my favorite things is Tralee's tongue sticking out when she concentrates.  I LOVE it!

Photo Plop done!

Backtracking. . . Fall Party

I need to backtrack for a bit, as I realized I never blogged about Tralee's Fall Party.  So, here goes.

Tralee is my socialite.  She's constantly thinking up get-togethers and parties she can throw.  Often these ideas don't get passed the planning stage (the stage where I say, "Oh!  That sounds like fun" and hope that she forgets them by the next day), but back in the fall, Tralee was ADAMANT that she wanted to host a "Fall Party."  She made invitations for all her friends, planed out crafts she and her comrades could make, and asked me everyday, "When is my Fall Party?"  I finally realized my vague answers weren't going to cut it anymore, so on a Thursday night (in a very impromptu way) I told Tralee her Fall party would be the next day.  I told her to think of a few friends to invite, and I would make some phone calls.  I called the moms and invited the girls over after school the next day.  Tralee was over the moon.

While Stinks sat anxiously in school, Hunter and I bought some donuts and apple juice for the party food, bought a few balloons for decor, and printed off the letters to spell "FALL"for some additional Fall ambiance.  We also found our leftover Halloween candy, and used it to make some party favor bags.  I printed off some fall themed bag topper thingys, because I was feeling crafty and Pinteresty.  It was all pretty easy.  These easy things had a big effect on Tralee when I picked her and her friends up from school.  She was so excited to see the decorations, and couldn't wait to PAR-TAY with her buds.

Fall decor.  The first thing Tralee saw when she walked in with her friends after school

Balloons and turkey crafts

Tralee and I came up with a simple and fun turkey craft everyone could make and take home.  I had to get some paper plates and googly eyes; we had the glue, feathers, and felt already.  Pretty easy.

  

Everyone got to make a turkey

Turkey craft

Party food

All the little girlies working on their turkeys

Crafting

More crafting

After the turkey craft was complete everyone played for a while.  After a bit of playing, I put on movie for the kids to watch until their parents showed up.  

All the girls left with a party bag, their turkey, and a smile on their faces.  Tralee was the perfect little hostess, and was so happy to have some of her buddies over to celebrate fall.  

Party favor bags

I'll chalk this party up as a success. . . and hope that my social girl doesn't come up with a party for every month of the year.  I think one or two will do.

Comfy

I know I've mentioned this before, but Jim is the most comfortable person to fall asleep on.  If you're feeling cuddly and napish, Jim is the perfect person to select for a sleep partner.  Don't believe me?  Check out the pictures below.  The proof is in the pudding. . . or stuffing. . . or. . . pillow fluff. . . something to that effect.

Also, I figure if a man lets your pug fall asleep on him like this, he's a keeper.

Snowy Morning

A few Saturdays ago we got a hefty dusting of snow; the first of the season.  The kids were beyond excited.  Pretty much the first thing we did Saturday morning was find our snow gear, and go out and play.

After a few minutes playing in our yard, some of the neighborhood kids came out with their sleds, and asked if we wanted to join them at the little hill down the road.  Of course we did!  So, we grabbed our sled, and walked over with our friends.  We sled for a bit, then meandered over to the school playground to frolic.  We ended the morning making snow ice cream.  Eventually we found our way back inside to warm up, drink hot cocoa, and eat some real food.

It was a great morning.  Pics below.

Hunter yelling, "I'm the king of the mountain!"

She looks like she sticking her tongue out at me, but she's really trying to catch a snowflake on her tongue.

I love Stink's face in this picture.  So full of joy!

YIPPEE!!

He's crying because some snow went down his back. . . 

. . . It's not so bad once it melts.