Christmastime is Here...and a tutorial.

 It's still November, but in this housewife's home, Christmastime is here. Last year I spread myself too thin and had a very hard time enjoying the holidays and I knew I wanted this year to be different. So I closed up shop on my photography business for a while, said "yes" to what I can do "no" to what I really can't and I am ready for this fun time of year.

As a mom, I get to be the one to sprinkle the magic around this home, and I intend to. Kidd-O is at a really fun age and while I haven't really shown him all this Season has to offer yet, I think the kid really digs it! He always says "oh wow!" when he walks into our living room to see the tree lit and wants to eat lunch next to it everyday. And our Nativity scene came in the mail and it moved him so much he said "momma, wet's pray" and we have watched Frosty the Snowman no less than 3 times per day. I guess it's safe to say that he is MY kid since Mr. Clean is usually all bah-hum-buggy about such "silliness."

One of the things that I plan to do to make this Christmas season even more fun is to do an advent calendar. I have been all over the Pinterest world looking for ideas and after spending an unreasonable amount of time researching, I came to the conclusion that A) I can look allll I want but I still don't know how to sew and B) I don't have ANY money to spend on it and C) Christmas will be over by the time I make a decision.So I shut the computer off and got to thinking about what I COULD do. I had $10 and a Walmart, which is all I needed!

I had every intention of using a Bible verse for everyday, but all the ones I could find were super long, and I don't know how to use our printer. So I will have to make that a priority for next year. For THIS year, I used brown lunch bags ($1.50 for 50) and I went to their Christmas party section at Walmart and bought little packs of Christmas trinkets (stamps, little capsules to drop in water to make little shapes, wind up toys, etc.) and I bought a bag of hershey kisses and a pack of candy canes.

I then cut out circles. wrote the day on it, taped it to the bag and stuck a random trinket in and stapled the bag closed. For the days that had a piece of candy in it, I looked over our calendar for the month and picked the days that would be most conducive for a special activity. For instance, we will bake cookies, go for a "nature walk" (which is just the woods behind our neighborhood pool), watch a Christmas movie and have hot chocolate (our Netflix is loaded with Christmas movies for the next few weeks), go meet Santa, drive around and look at lights, etc.

I was planning to wrap a closet door with wrapping paper like I do to display our Christmas cards,

 but I almost lost my sanctification while wrapping the first door, so I decided to brainstorm other options. I did think about stringing them up with clothes pins on our mantle, but I decided to spruce up our foyer instead and hang them with yarn from the bannister and voila! The advent is ready!

And as a bonus tip that I learned from my mom years ago, go to Home Depot and dig through their scraps from their Christmas trees and load up your car with limbs!! I use them to stick in my pitiful Christmas Tree to lessen it's "bless it's heart" factor, or to spruce up my $4 Walmart garland, to make Christmas swags, or add them to wreaths. The possibilities are endless!!

 Happy Holiday Crafting, from my home to yours!!

Growing love

 When you find out you're pregnant for the first time, there is a wave of emotions that vary. For me it was sheer panic that eventually evolved into excitement. For others it's over-the-moon elation. And you have 9 months to gear up and get ready. I'm thankful that the Lord gives us 9 months, because for people like me, I needed every second of those 40 weeks....plus 2 days. And during those 40 weeks you do things differently, because you are already beginning to practice self-sacrificing love for the good of your baby. Like giving up caffeine (errr, mostly), unprocessed cheeses, sushi or your nightly glass of wine. That motherly instinct kicks in and is fierce even when you haven't met your baby.

 

 When one of my best girlfriends was awaiting the arrival of her baby, we were talking about how excited she was to meet him and how she loves him already. And I told her, "just you wait! You think you love that baby now, and you do as much as you know how to....until you meet him." I told her how your heart grows 10 fold with that last push and doubles with every moment after. That definition of love changes so fast it will make your head spin and heart swell. It's truly unfathomable how much love you can have for a person. The current is strong and it runs deep. It's a love you can truly never dream up, unless you've known it before.

Enter baby #2 (or 3, or 4, or in my mom's case 5, 6, 7, and 8). While I "love" the baby that is growing in me now, I know it isn't a fraction of the love I will have when I push that baby out. But I do know, I will. I know lot's of mom's that worry about the birth of a second child and if they could possibly love another as much as they do their first. I'm not worried about that at all. I know I will. Just look around. Is there a mom on the planet who doesn't? I haven't seen a single one. No, I can hardly wait to do it again and for my heart to double in size. Because it will. While my first child made me a momma, and showed me how much I can love, baby #2 will show me how much more I can!

 Thanks for stopping by!

Introducing to You: Vacation Chris

 Another trip to The Happiest Place on Earth is in the books and the dreaming about our next visit can now begin. It was a much needed time away for Mr. Clean. He has been working long hours and is under some stress at work, so a little vacay was just what the doctor ordered!

 Mr. Clean put down his sponges and bleach, he shut off his computer, silenced phone calls and became who I like to call: Vacation Chris. Vacation Chris is everything Mr. Clean is not. I first met Vacation Chris on our Honeymoon and I've gotta say, I like Vacation Chris...A LOT! Don't get me wrong, I love Mr.Clean/El Cheapo with all my heart, but when Vacation Chris comes out, it is a blast!

 Vacation Chris rides carousels...

 He eats ice cream...on a Tuesday!

 He watches parades...

 He takes pictures with Mickey Mouse....

He goes swimming even when it's a tad too cold for swimming...

He rides in trains that are way to small for himself 

  He gets all smoochy...

And Vacation Chris even dances in the streets, for Peter's sake!!!

I told him everyday that I was thankful to be there with him and our little boy. I thanked him for making it possible. I've been dreaming of the day that Vacation Chris would come with us to the Happiest Place so that he could see everything that we see when he's not able to come. And we've been blessed to take 2 trips this year with him! He saw everything I love about the place last week, and even more importantly, he saw our boy light up with wonder and imagination.

 He saw our boy beam with pride when Buzz Lightyear waved to him and watched as he ran through fountains

 Vacation Chris loved it so much, he started planning our next trip while we were still there... I have witnesses. And if those plans come to fruition, it's gonna be one heckuva trip! It was good. There were times that Kidd-O lost his mind and and put us both on edge, but I think in the long run, the memories will be nothing less than sweet and cherished. 

 I've said it before, and I'll say it again, if you are waiting for the perfect time to take you littles to Disney, the time is now! If you can do it, DO IT! I wouldn't trade seeing Disney through the eyes of a 2 year old for ANYTHING in the world and neither would Vacation Chris. Make it happen, because they are only little for such a short period of time, and soon the magic of seeing their favorite hero or princess won't be quite as "cool", but the memories will last a lifetime!

I am thankful to the Lord for blessing our little family with so much! I pray His blessings on you and yours as you celebrate Thanksgiving this week!

Trick-or-Treat!

 I don't know about you, but October FLEW right by. Like, lightening fast. But I'm starting to feel that way the older I get. Time just flies and I'm powerless to stop it. I've been wondering if the older I get, the faster it will go, and then I get a smidge depressed and go all Scarlett O'Hara and push those thoughts off on to another day. So in an effort to slow time down, I plan on starting to listen to Christmas music 24/7 from now until Christmas Day. Usually, I wait until closer to Thanksgiving, but at this rate, Thanksgiving will pretty much be here next week, so I figure I better get a jump start on things!

 Halloween went off without a hitch...mostly. We had a few hiccups, like my car not starting when I had somewhere to be, Kidd-O refusing to nap while yelling "Happy Halloween" repeatedly and then rounding out his crib stent with a stinky diaper, which he chose to remove and play in...yep. Good start to our Halloween. The lack of nap made made for quite the crank-pot and I'm not just talking about Kidd-O. For a moment I sounded like my father when I told my kid (while he was screaming) that he was going to be his scarecrow and he was going to "like it and have fun because we are having fun, aren't we people?!?!" Eventually, he did put on his costume and let me snap some pics. But don't let the smile and pleasant demeanor fool you...there was a wad of candy that had something to do with that. 

 We started out our day with 30+ little friends from church and their momma's. Kidd-O had a blast. And even though the rest of the day went downhill, at least we started with a bang! How sweet are they?

And once Kidd-O and I had an attitude adjustment, the rest of the evening was a success! 

I don't know if it has to do with the way I was raised, but I have this need to make Kidd-O's costumes. We never bought costumes as kids, my parents would need to take out a second mortgage to buy costumes for 8 kids. We always ran down to the basement to pull something together about an hour before we went trick-or-treating. So, something doesn't feel right to me about going the store bought route. I am very aware that this need may just change next year when I have 2 kidlets to dress, but for the last 3 years it's been homemade all the way.

First Halloween: Indian

Second: An Owl

And for this Halloween: A Scarecrow.

And I pulled this thing together with less than $10. I bought a pair of consigned overalls for $4, a yard of burlap ($3) and a sweet friend gave me some old fabric scraps, I had raffia from an old gift and a little owl for $3 for his hat. And there is nothing this girl can't do without some hot glue! And voila! My scarecrow.

He was accompanied by a bumble bee and a much thinner Honey Boo Boo.

 Now that another Halloween is in the books, break out the suitcases, because this girl  is headed to The Happiest Place on Earth next weekend!

 Have a great weekend!