Thirteen Years Ago....

Thirteen years ago.

Another Bird Project

Yesterday I gave you a tour of my bedroom.

And I promised to show you how I made this bird artwork.

Decorating: Master Bedroom

 A little while ago I showed you the ottoman that I made a slipcover for.

Now I thought that I would show you where it lives.

Christmas 2011

Sorry for the late post, but last night I stayed up till 12:30 playing Beatles Rock Band.

And then this morning I laid in bed until 8:30 snuggling with my man, 

occasionally interrupted by a sweet son coming in to talk and snuggle too.

I love Christmas break!

And we really did have a great Christmas.

We were surrounded by family and friends and lots of food.

I have discovered that I have a great weakness for smelly european cheeses.

Get that stuff away from me! Wait... I don't mean that, bring it back!

Santa stopped by and we have all been pretty good this year.

This is how the living room looked after he left.

Ans this was left in the kitchen.

I think that I was more excited then the kids. I woke up five or six times that night and

I had to force myself to stay in bed until 6:30 before waking everyone up to open presents.

Here are the kids trooping down the stairs.

"Hurry and take the picture mom! Let us open our presents already!"

The boys have been keeping themselves busy.

Installing batteries. Learning engineering skills.

(I really am in awe, that thing is complicated, and he put it together all by himself).

And training to become the next George Harrison. (He's my favorite Beatle).

Later on, we went to church in order to help us remember why we have this special day.

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas too.

Best wishes for the new year.

Thanks!

A Very Merry Christmas

Wishing you all....

Recipe: Chocolate Mint Truffle

Or another good title could be:

"Wickedness Can Sometimes be Happiness"


Warning:

This recipe is wicked

Thats right, W.I.C.K.E.D

But it's a great recipe to take to your family Christmas party to impress all your in-laws.

Dried Oranges

Oranges. Very traditional and very festive.

I saw how to dry them on TV and I thought I would try it.

Quite lovely.

Here's what I did.

You can also tie them on a ribbon to hang, 

but I just hooked straightened out paper clips on them and inserted them in the

garland strung on my stair railing.

They add just the right touch.

Orange you glad I made these?

(I had to insert some sort of lame joke in here.)

Now you run off and pull out your oranges and glitter.

I'm off to help the elves wrap some presents.

Thanks!

A Full House

We've had some family drive in to spend a few days with us.

My husbands brother and his family.

They have 5 boys.

So that equals 9 boys in the house aging from 13 to 7 months.

And I thought my house was noisy before.

But I have always said there is nothing as much fun as a bunch of little boys.

And we are having fun.

Chalk it up!

I've been enjoying my newly painted cabinets.

So much that I had to paint them again... Well, only part of them.

Snowflakes keep falling on my head part 3

When I did the first "Snowflake" post I had no idea that I would have so many

snowflake themed projects to share with you.

But here we are at part 3 with snowflake curtains. 

Not so Silent Night

On Friday evening we went to downtown to see the christmas lights.

Please excuse my crappy ipod pics.

I really need an intermediate camera that's not a monstrosity to lug

around so I can take better pics of family outings.

The kids had heard a really annoying song about gummy bears

earlier and kept regaling us and everyone downtown with it.

Hense the "Not so Silent Night" post title.

But we had a great time, it was beautiful.

We had Pizza... yum

Gifts from Grandma

Last week my grandma dropped by with a surprise for me.

Naughty or nice?

Each year Santa sends an email to our kids

from the Portable North Pole

It's a video email personalized with their name, pictures, a map,

what they want for christmas and everything.

You should give it a try, your kids will love it.

You can even make one for adults too.

Heres the one my husband made for me.

I'm on the naughty list for being late all the time.

I should also mention the cost.... FREE!

Give it a try!

The Stockings Were Hung...

You know how I love decorating my mantel.

The Christmas Tree Adventure

We are real Christmas tree people.

We've tried fake trees in years past and had bad luck.

Also, I hate pulling them out, straightening all the branches and putting them together.

Plus real trees smell so nice.

So this is our 2011

Christmas Tree Adventure

2 adults

4 boys

1 dog

and an unsuspecting tree.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I've been busy decorating for my favorite time of year.

Soap making, it's easy.

Thursday is my easy craft day and this seriously was, extremely easy.

It's also a great gift idea.