December ONE

Getting Ready

Boy am I sore today.  Yesterday, Baby Sarah was turned from her breech position via an external version procedure at the hospital.  It was rough, but successful.  The sorest is the lower side of my protruding belly - right about head level for Rebekah and Elizabeth when they come running up for a hug.  : |

Aside from that, we've been spending the week getting ready.  To be ready for my contribution to the Christmas dinner, I made 2 double layer pumpkin pies and put them in the freezer, and am attempting to have the Christmas sweet potatoes ready so they're in the freezer, too.  Hopefully they won't turn to mush when they come out to finish baking!  Also stocked up on brown & serve rolls and the green beans & seasonings are waiting for the big day.  And I've got cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning.

 Kids looking at Santa in lights

For our family's consumption, I made 2 loaves of pumpkin bread (one is almost gone already, the other's in the freezer), one loaf of banana bread in the freezer, snowball cookies and will probably make more cookies in the coming days.  Haven't decided which seasonal cookies to do, but my family always wants chocolate chip.

 Elizabeth by the PINK angel, of course!

All the Christmas gifts are bought & wrapped!  My BFF got her box yesterday and they loved the curtain!!!  I put a box in the mail today for my sister... forgot to send it with Lauren!  And I received a package from my sister with two of the softest, most beautiful, hand crocheted newborn hats!!!  I forgot to take pictures before putting them into my suitcase, but they'll be cuter to see when Baby Sarah can model them.

 Elizabeth & David by the big flag

I have given up on having the new stockings done this year... again.  Dad is the only one with a new stocking hanging.  I found enough other stockings to have one for all 4 kids hanging.  I don't have one, but at least it won't be hanging there empty on Christmas morning!  I also gave up the neighbors' cookie boxes this year.  Too much other stuff going on this year.  I'll re-introduce the idea next year and perhaps with the kids a year older, they'll be old enough to enjoy the giving, too.

On Tuesday we enjoyed a great evening strolling through the Christmas lights!  The kids were soooo excited about every light we saw.

 

Rebekah didn't want to stop free roaming to be in a photo

Our First Gingerbread House

I have never made a gingerbread house before last night.  Lauren had been wanting to do some Christmassy-crafty things and invited us to join along, so Sunday night the girls & I went over to Grandpa's to make our first gingerbread house!

Lauren even had a Christmas movie cued up to watch!  Of course, that distracted Elizabeth from the house.

Here is Mark & Lauren's gingerbread mansion!  It was quite impressive!

 Elizabeth was pretty proud of the house, but see her eyes?  They're watching Santa Claus is Coming to Town.

Anyway, the finished project is indeed pretty cute!  And you can just kinda tell where it became Mom's project instead of Elizabeth's.  Rebekah did put 2 of the gumdrops in place, too.  I don't think she realized they were edible, or they'd have been gone!

The Girly Curtain

When my best friend was building their new house, she sent me this picture of the first room painted - the older girls' room.  I decided I wanted to make some cute curtains for them and her reply was, "Of course, I haven't thought about window treatments!" 

They were planning on having mini-blinds, so I decided on a valance for the top of the window.  I searched for the perfect fabric for a couple of months and when I saw this, I was smitten!!!  It's pink, it's purple, it's princessy, it's fairyish, it's got a frog prince and Elizabeth was pleased to see that it also had ponies and puppies!

 As if that's not girlie enough, I used pink sparkly tulle to make a tu-tu-type ruffle along the bottom of the curtain.  I am in love with this curtain!  I wish my room was pink & purple!

I had an extra curtain rod, so I had to see how it would look all bunched up & it was even cuter than when it's flat.  Elizabeth & Rebekah gave their hearty approval and played limbo under the curtain while I was photographing it.

My BFF & I play Santa for each other, filling each other's stockings.  This will be going into her stocking box this week.  I wish I could see them open it & I hope they love it as much as we do!!!

Happy Birthday, Jesus: The Party

Our homeschool co-op's elementary age party was a "Happy Birthday, Jesus" party.  They played some birthday party games.

The blindfold/mask broke right before David's turn.

The birthday cake and kids waiting patiently for it...

My kids loved the cake and the balloons all over the place

and declared the party great fun!

Afterwards, we went Angel Tree shopping and got  a wonderful stash of presents for 3-year-old Gilbert.  He will now have warm clothes, PJ's, shoes, and several farm animals toys & books to enjoy!  We love doing Angel Tree!

Christmas Tea 2010

 The girlies usually go with me to the Annual Ladies Christmas Tea and this was no exception.  They don't actually go to the Tea, they go to childcare, but they enjoy going to the "ladies event" all the same.

 Mark helped serve and Lauren sat at our table.

 There was a full house with all 200 tickets sold.

 This is our table from the back side at the end of the tea.

 Suzanne & Coylene

 Lauren, Aunt Wee, Me

 A placed was saved at our table in memory of Momma.

 Daddy was there helping anywhere he was needed - 

in the nursery, in the kitchen, and

I think I saw him video taping the speaker.

My other family was at Grana's table.

It was lovely, as usual.

Thinking about Christmas Cards...

Designing our family's Christmas card or Christmas letter is one of my favorite things to do each year.  I love pouring over the photos that best capture the year.  2010 has been a hard year, but I am still excited about the Christmas card.  So when I saw the chance to get 50 free cards from Shutterfly, I thought it was worth checking out.

I have personally never used Shutterfly's services before, but I really enjoyed looking through their Christmas card designs.  I like how they have more traditional designs but also have plenty of modern and colorful cards to choose from. 

I love the Celebrate Family Christmas Card!  I love the colors, the hint of Christmas without being to kitschy, and you just gotta admit that's a cute picture on their sample.  It leaves me wondering if it's even possible to have all my kids smiling & laughing & looking generally the same direction.  I almost picked this one for our cards this year.

I also really liked the Spot the Snowflakes Christmas Card because I thought the pink would be a good choice for us this year.  We have lots of pink going on this year.  And I really like snowflakes.  I also like how it includes two different photos.

So which card did I choose?  I can't tell you that!!!  You'll just have to wait & see!  But I did find what I thought will be the PERFECT card for our family this year!!!  And I am very excited!  And it's there at Shutterfly!

Our cards will be going out after Christmas this year... so that we can include Baby #4.  So watch for them late.  But please go ahead & send me your card!  Because I love getting Christmas cards & pictures just as much as I love sending them!

So where did you find your family's perfect Christmas card? 
Are you going to try the "Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly" link, too?

Why I'm thinking about stockings...

For four years now I have wanted to make some new stockings for Christmas.  We had 3 plush stockings that matched that I loved, then I couldn't find any more that I loved.  They weren't the right plush, they looked cheap, or they were not the right color.

That meant when Elizabeth came along, we were one short.  Her first Christmas was in my parents house, so we used their stockings.  Since then, we have used the cat's stocking for a kids stocking, and last year I just gave the 3 stockings to the 3 kids and Mom & Dad went without.

For the last 2 years, I have had the stocking pages from a Pottery Barn catalog hanging up above my sewing machine to inspire me.  Finally, I realize that now I have to make 6 - SIX - yes 6! stockings to be all caught up!  So... I'd better get started...

Last Christmas, I left one of the stockings out by my sewing machine as another inspiration for me to get them made.  So I traced the stocking onto newsprint to make a pattern.  I love these plush stockings because they're so roomy.  Plenty of room for an orange down in the toe.

Then I took some fabric and let the kids pick soft red minky or sparkly red.  David & Rebekah preferred the minky and of course, Elizabeth gasped with excitement when she saw the shimmery fabric.  (Side note: The shimmery fabric is actually an old shirt of Great's!)

I knew I wanted to do some ribbon on them, kinda like what I'd seen in the Pottery Barn catalog, so I got David to help pick out his ribbons from my ribbon stash.  I wanted to do one set of 3 ribbons either running down the side or across the toe, but he insisted on both.

I could deal with that and it made him happy.  And yes, that is camouflage ribbon!  Manly, huh?

They'll all have a white chenille cuff on top and coordinating ribbon loops for hanging.  Of course David's will be a camo loop.  I'll post pictures as I work on them between now & Christmas.

Now that I've gone public, I'll have to get them finished for Christmas this year!

Tiny Talk Tuesday

I said something referring to Rebekah as my butterfly.
Elizabeth: She not a butterfly. She's Rebekah.
Mom: She's my Butterfly, like you're my Ladybug.
David: And I'll be your moth!

David got some Castle Legos from his cousin for Christmas. Finding the catapult, he said: Look at this rock launcher!
Mom: That's called a catapult.
David: Catapult?
Mom: Yes, catapult.
Later, referring to the catapult: Look what I'm doing with the casserole!

Christmas, Part II

We're still celebrating Christmas around here! Today we'll be going to my parents' for my side. Pictures of all will come later. Have a wonderful last week of 2009!

Merry Christmas!

Baby's First Christmas

Look what I found in our Christmas decorations! Perfect! I just realized today that I haven't bought anything that says, "Baby's First Christmas" this year, except an ornament with the year on it.

Looking beautiful in her first bow!

She
really wants
the tree and has
been crawling across the
room to get to it! Yes, that
Christmas tree was her motivation
to start crawling...
her SS teacher said last Sunday,
"I bet she's crawling by Christmas!"

David thought her bib was cool.
She was making eyes at Dad in this picture.

Rebekah has, by far, been my most active "baby's first Christmas" but it has been fun to see her mesmerized by the lights,
full of laughter at her siblings,
bouncing her body to the carols,
shoveling cookie crumbs into her mouth,
and making tracks for the tree.

Just wait 'till you see her.