Official Christmas Card Photo

I'm having a hard time deciding which of these should be our official Christmas card photo.

Please vote for your favorite. . . . .

I'm partial to the first one.
We could start the new year off with a buzz. . . . .
We'd have something to talk about besides the economy. . . . .

Cabin Retreat!

Playing doctor of course

Late night movies!

Me & Kelsy

The little girls have kisses for Josh

We were so priviledged to spend the weeked after Thanksgiving at our friend's cabin. There was plenty of relaxing to be done, games to play, and 4-wheelin' fun! Our kids and theirs play so well together, in fact we're suspicious both our 2-year old girls might be twins. . . . .

Black Friday

I've never shopped on Black Friday, with good reason, right? This year my friend Kelsy talked me into it, so Thanksgiving night I gathered all the ads and made my plan of attack. We met at Wal-Mart at 4:30 a.m. and clutching our freezing shopping carts and huge Starbucks, entered the store along with hundreds of others to position ourselves closest to our most desired item. For me, it was a pink ride-on Jeep for Peanut, which was stacked at the very far corner of the store, with too many people already lined up waiting for the clock to strike 5 a.m.

Now mind you, I'm using the term "lined-up" very losely, as there was a posse of 5 already formed there, so never you mind the rest of us who ridiculously wished of getting our hands on a Jeep. And the posse wasn't ashamed of giving the run down of which box was going to whom and how long they've been standing there and there is obviously too few boxes and too many people.

This is when I began to get a little shaky. I blame the coffee. Secretly I thought this would actually become ugly. Over a Jeep. A toy. At Christmas. Seriously? And so I just stood there "in line" chatting with another mom dreaming of getting 2 Jeeps, while we stared nervously at the posse and the clock.



At 4:45 the Wal-Mart bouncers arrived, cut the black plastic covering all the pallets of loss-leaders in the entire store, and positioned themselves for the rioting. At 5 a.m. the Jeeps (and EVERYTHING else in the entire store) were grabbed and loaded into carts in less than 60 seconds. I'm happy to report Peanut will be getting one for Christmas! (Ok with help from a friend who happened to be standing there also and could see that I was about to get trampled and have my box stolen.)

Thanksgiving Wrap-Up

Thanksgiving was spent with our families, which is such a blessing. I have a hard time imagining people who don't have family around, especially during the holidays. God has most certainly richly blessed us in that aspect of our lives. But this year, we mixed it up a bit. . . . .

We had breakfast with my family, which would have turned out to be much better time spent had we ourselves not run out of propane. Taking showers at her house consumed most of our time, we ate a delicious breakfast, then they headed out to do a service project, while we went home to put our kids down for naps. . . . .

BREAKFAST EVERYONE!

Then we were off to my sister-in-laws home for dinner. Thanksgiving is always at my mother-in-laws, same time, same food, same company, so I can't lie -- it was different. Not in a bad way, just different.

Mother-in-law and Sister-in-law making REAL whipped cream!

The Thanksgiving journal was presented to both families but didn't seem to go over too well, (although the entry from my husband's parents made me cry). Maybe I didn't present it right or give everyone enough time, but I'll bring it out next year and the next and the next, and we'll gather some memories for prosperity along the way. . . . .

With gratitude to Sarah Giampapa, I found the encouragement to actually complete Thanksgiving journal in time for this year's festivities. She made and posted her beautiful books she gave to her MOPS moms, and I thought to myself for the last time, I can do that! So I did it.

With so much going on in life, and I don't just mean now, it's important to be thankful to God for all His blessings big and small; to praise His name always; and to celebrate thanksgiving with others.

What a wonderful memory this little notebook of thanks will become. I look forward to the notebook growing and maturing.....



FRONT COVER

INSIDE COVER

BACK COVER

INSIDE BACK COVER

Cheese Fingers

This post is out of order, I know, and it kills me to do so. But these string cheese fingers I made for the family harvest party are too cute not to show you. My sister-in-law sent me the idea as my contribution to the party, so I can't take the credit for the idea, but I will take the credit for how stinking cute mine are!

String Cheese Sticks (I cut mine in half, so i got two fingers per stick)

Green pepper pieces for the fingernails

Adhere the fingernails on with a smidgen of cream cheese

Using a knife, cut out finger creases at the top and for the knuckle

Cookie Sheet Advent Calendar

Have you seen these adorable advent calendars made from a cookie sheet? My friend, Heather, saw one (purchased from a craft fair), told me about it, and asked if I would host a craft day at my house. So last Sunday Heather, Leslie, and Yelena came over and we got crafty!

There are so many blogs and crafts sites that have photos and directions for this project, but in reality, they're very self-explanatory, but I'll include instructions for your convenience.

I've only had mine completed for a week and my kids are nuts about it! They just simply cannot wait to countdown to Christmas. I'm hoping to come up with some kind of treat, written on a piece of paper, to put underneath each magnet too.

Supplies:

Cookie Sheet

Sanding paper

Paint

25 Magnets

Modge Podge or ATG Adhesive

Scrapbook papers

Embellishments

24" Ribbon

I used an 11 x 17 cookie sheet, purchased from Wal-Mart for about $4.50.

Sand off as much of the non-stick surface from the back of the sheet as you can.

If you want to paint the edges, you will need to sand that part too.

(I chose not to paint this one)

Drill two holes on the top edge for the ribbon hanger (I used my Crop-a-Dile).

Measure and cut your papers for the top and bottom sections.

Either adhere your papers with Modge Podge or with strong adhesive (I used ATG tape).

Paint the edges of your cookie sheet, if you chose to do so.

Let dry completely.

Using a ruler and marker, make a 25 square grid for your days before Christmas.

(My 2 friends' papers were small enough to run through my printer, but my paper was 10"x10", so I drew my grid with a black fine-tip marker.)

Adhere your calendar paper to your cookie sheet.

Make your 25 magnets to your liking.

Embellish your calendar with whatever you fancy.

I challenge those of you who would love to make this to only use what you have in your stash. The only items I had to purchase were the cookie sheet ($4.50) and the magnets ($2.50).

Create yours and link me a photo! I would love to see it! Happy crafting!