Christmas Wrap Up

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We had a wonderful time full of family, fun, gifts and most importantly remembering the birth of our saviour!

I have a funny story to share. On Christmas morning we hear Megan come into our room about 4am. She has her blanket and pillow and lies down on a quilt next to our bed. She immediately falls back to sleep. Whew... we are happy parents! Megan then wakes us up about 6:45. I look over and guess what I see... Christmas presents! Apparently she woke up and went into the living room before waking us up. She had been playing with toys from her shopping cart and brought them back into our room to play with. Very funny!

After having a good laugh we headed out to see what was under the tree.


This is what was waiting for us!


I received a wonderful gift. A sign handmade by Kindra at 3 Guys A Girl and a Prim Place. I love the saying and was so touched that Chuck got it for me! Kindra makes wonderful things, so be sure to check out her shop.


One of Megan's gifts was a baby cradle. Not just any cradle, but one that used to be mine. My sister and I received matching cradles for Christmas when we were about 3 or 4 years old. Here is the before picture.


After a coat of paint and some handmade bedding it is as good as new!


We keep Christmas morning simple and had a wonderful time. As much as I love Christmas I am always ready to return to our normal schedule. All of the Christmas decorations are put away and I am looking forward to a uneventful week home with my family.

Merry Christmas!

The hustle and bustle is winding down and I am ready to enjoy a wonderful Christmas and New Year! I am not sure how much I will around between now and the New Year. Chuck will be on vacation until the New Year and we have some projects planned to usher in the New Year.

May you have the gift of faith,
the blessing of hope
and the peace of His love
at Christmas and always!

Merry Christmas from my home to yours!

Snuggle Day and a Craft

I guess that Old Man Winter wanted make sure we knew that yesterday was his day. When we woke up yesterday morning the news was reporting that it felt like 10 below with the windchill and by the afternoon would feel like 20 below. It was decided that it would be a great day to stay inside and snuggle.

The Little Lady woke us up before 6 so we had an early breakfast of pancakes.


Megan received a special pancake. She watched me pour it on the griddle and excitedly yelled out Mickey Mouse!

I found some time during nap time to make our Christmas thank you cards.


It is a tradition to make my own thank you cards each year. This is the card that I made last year.

For dinner i took left over rotisserie chicken and placed in on top of roasted potatoes and topped with gravy. It was served with home canned green beans and glazed carrots.


A stick to your ribs kind of meal that is great for a cold day.

We then spent the rest of the evening listening to Christmas music and just being together. My kind of day!

Life

Life had been ticking right along around here. We have been busy wrapping presents. Megan wanted to help last night and this is her version of wrapping a present.




She won't win any wrapping prizes, but I would be tickled pink to receive a gift wrapped with such love!

My parents received a wonderful fruit and nut basket from a neighbor.


It was more fruit then they could eat so they shared with us. We love the clementines! We have eaten almost all of them and are planning to pick up a crate this weekend. Megan loves them so much that she can eat two at a time!

I also get to keep the basket. I am so excited about that! I plan to make this our picnic basket. I will be buying some red and white gingham to make a liner. I can't wait to test it out this spring.

Tonight Megan is heading to Grandma & Grandpa's (Chuck's mom & step-dad). The plan was that they could watch her while we finished our shopping and then we would pick her up when done. My mil called last night and asked if she could spend the night and they would make cookies Saturday. We get to have a date night! Now the plan is to go to dinner (how nice it will be not to have to take a little to potty a couple of times!), finish our shopping and then sleep in on Saturday morning.

We have keep our shopping pretty light this year. We need to get some stocking stuffers and a gift for Chuck's step-dad. I can't wait to be finished. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

My Little Helper

Not much happening around here. Yesterday I actually felt good and Chuck is on the mend. Hopefully Megan won't catch anything and we will all be healthy by next week.

Megan is becoming quite the little helper. Yesterday she helped me make pizza for dinner. She was concentrating hard on spreading out the sauce.


Putting on the pepperoni was fun. We practiced counting and got all the way to 8... then we hit 13, 9, 2.


Caught in the act! My little cheese snitch.


I am having so much fun with Megan at this stage.

Today will be spent doing housework and wrapping presents. Have a great Wednesday!

Cookies!

Sorry that I have been scarce. I have been a little under the weather. Nothing major; just a sore throat, cough and basically feeling yucky. Just enough to slow me down. Chuck is home today to get some rest. He went to bed Saturday night with a sore throat. Sorry I shared the germs with him!

Sunday afternoon Megan and I went to my parents for our annual cookie baking afternoon. It is always fun! Megan was old enough to participate this year. Her job was to add the sprinkles to the sugar cookies. She only made it through a couple of cookie sheets, but had fun while it lasted.

I put together a couple to trays for Chuck to take to his department pitch-in on Tuesday.



It is such fun to pass this tradition along to Megan.

Craft Time

I had a fun time yesterday afternoon creating wreaths with the kids. They had fun and I think they turned out really cute.


To finish them off I add a ribbon for hanging.


Megan's is sending this with Daddy to hang in his office.

For our breakfast with Santa I made ornaments for all of the kids.


I bought inexpensive letters at the craft store and found scrapbook paper with Asian writing. I traced the letters and after I cut them out I decoupaged them to the letter. I added a ribbon for hanging and then wrote a little note to each child on the back.

I love doing little craft projects and plan to start doing it more often.

Christmas 1 Corinthians 13 Style

If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights and shiny balls, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another decorator.

If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime, but do not show love to my family. I'm just another cook.

If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home, and give all that I have to charity, but do not show love to my family, it profits me nothing.

If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties and sing in the choir's cantata, but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point.

Love stops the cooking to hug the child.

Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the husband.

Love is kind, through harried and tired.

Love doesn't envy another's home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens.

Love doesn't yell at the kids to get out of the way.

Love doesn't give only to those who are able to give in return, but rejoices in giving to those who can't.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails. Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs will rust... but giving the gift of love will endure. ~Author Unknown~

Breakfast with Santa

Saturday some families that we went to China with got together for breakfast with Santa. It was so fun!

Angie had a box breakfast for the kids. The doughnuts were a hit with all the kids!


Megan did so well sitting on Santa's lap. Chuck was able to get so many good shots that it was hard to pick just one.


Santa was very generous and brought everyone an early Christmas present.


It is heartwarming to watch the girls start to develop friendships.


We wanted to get a picture of all the girls with Santa, but by this time they were over it! A picture with the mom's was the best we could do.


Thanks Angie, John & Ava for hosting such a fun morning!

Build a Bear

Chuck called yesterday and suggested that we head to the mall for dinner and take Megan to build a bear. Sounded great to me!

Our first stop was TGI Fridays. Yum!

After a great dinner we headed to Build a Bear. Megan wasn't sure what was going on when she was filling up the bear. After we moved on to the grooming area she started to have fun.


If we would have let her I think she would've stayed in this area all night. We picked out clothes that made her bear a ballerina and moved on to the naming station. She thought Bear was an appropriate name for a bear.


After Daddy and Megan finished Bear's birth certificate we headed off to a few more stores. It was so nice. The mall wasn't crowded and we were able to enjoy the music and the beautiful decorations. Thanks for a great evening Chuck!

Whatcha Workin' On Wednesday

Yesterday was a great day. I spent the entire day at home. I didn't even go out to get the mail. I did some light housework and a little bit of decorating. I am almost done. I just need to put the garland up on the kitchen cabinets. That will require Chuck's assistance. Maybe that will be done this evening.

After losing Baby Jesus for a few hours this afternoon I decided I wasn't going to do much more decorating. Never a dull moment with a two year old helper!

My cookie jar was empty so I whipped up some Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies.


I don't know what happened but when you hear your little tester say "no smell good" and your big tester ask "what did you do different to these?" it is not good. I make these all the time and have no idea why these did not turn out. Oh well, I'll just have to make a new batch of cookies today.

I have also been making stars.


I have one more to finish sewing and then they need to be stuffed. I am missing the cord to my sewing machine so I have been had sewing these by hand. Chuck will be making a little wooden box for these. The plan is to paint the box black and distress it. I will then place the stars inside as a gift for my sister.

Stop by and visit Leslie at My Country Home to see what everyone else has been up to. I am off to run a couple of errands. Have a great day!

Thanksgiving Weekend

I hope that everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving! Our Thanksgiving was nice, but busy.

We started with meal number one at my parents. It was a small gathering this year. My sister and her family and then my uncle and his daughter were there. After dinner the kids had a coloring contest.


We then headed to my mother-in-law's for dinner number two. I ate very little there. Just enough so I didn't offend anyone! It was a long day. We left the house about 10:30 and didn't get home until 8. Megan was exhausted. She fell asleep in the car and we were able to slide her into bed without her waking up.

Friday we started decorating. Unfortunately I didn't get far. The tree is up, but still needs a little more. Megan had fun "helping."


I ended up going out on Friday. I hadn't planned on it, but mom wanted to go out. We hit Kohl's and boy was it busy! The line from all the way to the back of the store. Luckily everyone was patient and even held places in line so you could do a little more shopping while you waited.

Saturday night we able to attend a private party at The Children's Museum. We had such a great time!

I ended up getting an early Christmas present from my parents. Want to see?


Twenty four packages of pine tongue and groove paneling! It is going to be my new kitchen ceiling! It was on sale buy one package get one free so it was a great deal. I have been wanting this for a while and am so excited! Chuck is on vacation from Christmas Eve until after the New Year and is planning to start the installation then. I can't wait!

Today I plan to get the house back in order so that I can continue to decorate. Have a great Monday!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Megan and friends have been having fun making Thanksgiving crafts and learning turkey themed songs. Here they are showing off their latest turkey creation.


I plan to spend the next couple of days getting ready for a day of thanks with my family. Wishing everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving!

I will be back the first week of December ready to share some of my Christmas decorations.

Homeplace Happenings

No pictures to go with my post today because the battery died on my camera. Hubby hates when I let that happen... and I do it all the time. Not only the camera but my cell phone also. I don't know why I always let it happen!

Saturday we had a lazy morning and I was treated to breakfast. Chuck made eggs, bacon & toast. Yummy! I love breakfast, especially when I haven't cooked it! We then went to one of my favorite places... Lowes! I know some people don't get that I love home improvement stores. I see all of the wonder potential projects! We priced wainscoting for my kitchen back splash, picked up paint samples for my cabinets and looked at counter tops. I won't get my dream counter top, but Chuck thinks we might be able to swing a much less expensive one. Anything has to be better then the 1980's blue!

Megan hung out with my sister's family Saturday afternoon and Chuck and I wrapped Megan's Christmas presents. Sunday afternoon I moved some things around in the living room to make room for the tree. I can't tell you how excited I am about Christmas this year. I won't start decorating until Friday. Just because Chuck hasn't brought up the decorations yet!

I hope that we have cut grass for the last time this year. The leaves have been so late in coming down. Chuck spent a good part of Sunday afternoon outside picking up leaves. It was funny to see Megan out jumping in the leaves wearing her hat, gloves, winter coat and snow pants! We ended the day by enjoying hot chocolate. A first for Megan.

I am looking forward to laundry, cleaning and hopefully a little crafting today. Have a great Monday.

Handprint Ornament

I saw some cute ornies that Colleen at And Baby Makes Five had made using Ornamental Gingerbread Dough. As soon as I saw them I knew I wanted to make some. Here is what I made with my dough:


Handprint ornaments. I had traced Megan's hand and used the cut out as a pattern to cut out the dough. Instead of using a straw to make the hole I cut out a freehand heart.

I wrote her name and age on the back of the ornament. I plan to give it out as a gift. I will also be making one of each of the kids I watch for their parents.

I love that I will be able to see Megan's little hand each Christmas!

Mail Call

I was excited to win a giveaway from Mrs. C at Riverbend Ramblings. I love the Mitford series and the book was on my wish list.


I received Mitford Cookbook and Kitchen Reader along with a package of note cards. Included in the package was a coloring book for Megan. So thoughtful! Megan loves to color and could hardly wait for me to pull out the crayons.

Thank you, Mrs. C, for the wonderful package. I can hardly wait to sit down with a cup of hot chocolate and pick out some new recipes.