Reflections On 2014

When I look back at my life so far, I don't have many complaints.

I have been blessed with a very large and loving family, a wonderful husband, children, and friends across the country that we consider a second family.

However, this year has been a hard one. DJ was gone for 7 months, Steve was sick, and I was pregnant and dealing with a toddler going through the terrible twos.

However, when I look back at 2014, I hope to remember all of the wonderful things. Things like Steve not having cancer, Short Round joining our family and completing it, my wonderful friends and church family, and DJ coming back home from training and regaining normalcy once again.

If I could use one word to sum up this year it would be exhausting. I am thankful for 2014 because I know it made me stronger, it made my relationship with God stronger, and it also made my relationship with my family stronger.

Goodbye 2014, and welcome 2015!

Lets see what you have in store for me this year!

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

 

We had a wonderful Christmas in our neck of the woods, and I hope all of you folks enjoyed yours as well. It was full of family, traditions, and wonderful food.

DJ got early release from work on Christmas Eve, so we spent the evening at my parent house having our traditional Christmas Eve dinner of beef tenderloin. There was a minor injury that happened, before going to my parents house, DJ was trying to fix Miss O's hair and she accidentaly scratched his eyeball pretty bad. By the end of the evening, he could not open either eye. Now, I know having a husband who is temporarily blinded might not sound like something to be excited about, but because of his lack of vision, he could not go to work on Christmas day, and he got to spend it with us!!

We opened presents, and spent the day playing with the kids and their new toys. Miss O got a kitchen, and some games, and Short Round got a new toy and some clothes.

My parents spent Christmas day over at our house, and we had a awesome breakfast of pork tenderloin, biscuits, gravy, and hot chocolate all made from scratch!!

We listened to Christmas carols and cooked a ham with garlic rosemary potatoes, and a sweet pea casserole. Yum Yum!!

I am so happy with the memories that my family made this Christmas season. It was so full of laughter and love. 

 



Merry Christmas Everyone

Christmas is the season to spend with friends and family, a time to slow down and celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, and it is a time of year to have a little fun!

Here are some photos of my cuties having some fun.

There is no snow here in the desert, so Miss O made some leaf angels

Oh Man, my kiddo love to be outside!! Short Round could sit in the that swing all day! In the last few photos Miss O and her daddy are eating pecans (or "cons" as Miss O calls them) from the tree in our yard.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!

I will be taking a break from this here blog of mine to celebrate with my wonderful family, but I will be back on Friday for {This Moment} with Amanda.



Visitors

So, in my post from yesterday I mentioned that we did not make it to the birthday party because we had visitors in town. Well, those visitors were my in-laws. Their last visit was awhile ago, in fact Miss O had just turned one. This was also their first time meeting Short Round! Everyone had a good time.

Here are some pictures from their visit.



A Belated Birthday Gift

One of Miss O's sweet little friends turned 3 about a month ago, and we did not get to go to the birthday party because we had visitors in town.  Well, things had been crazy around here, and we did not get to see her till last week. We were super excited to give Miss O's friend her birthday gift!

I made a crayon pack, which is just a little something that I came up with. It has slots for crayons, and a pad of blank paper. It is small, folds up, and is perfect for a diaper bag, or purse. However, looking at the bottom picture, I am kinda thinking it needs a pocket for sticker! I also made some yo-yo hair clips for her. She was so excited, that she wanted her mom to put the hair clips in her hair right away.

Car Knitting

DJ had to work late the other day, so I decided to go over to my parents for dinner. Well, the kids and I showed up, and they were not there. I do have a key to their house, but recently DJ did some rearranging to the key chains, and that key did not make it back on. I called my mom, and she said that they were on their way back.

Lucky for me I had a knitting project to work on while the kiddos and I waited.

I only got about two rows knitted but, lets be honest, I will take any time I can get to knit these days.

Hope all of you are finding little moments in your days to work on crafty projects.

Making Treats With Miss O

The other day, Short Round actually took a nap, and I was feeling festive. When I was a little girl, I would always help my mom with the Christmas baking. One thing that we always made was white chocolate covered Oreos. Yum Yum!! I am salivating just thinking about them. Well, I then found out that one Oreo is 50 calories, and they are no longer welcome in my home! But, oh man, I do love that white chocolate, so Miss O and I decided to dip pretzels!

We got in the kitchen, put on our aprons, and got to melting. Miss O sat on the counter and helped to dip the pretzels. She also was eating the chocolate by the spoon full!

Miss O does not get to eat a lot of sugar, so a giant dose like that sent her bouncing off the walls. It was so hard to not laugh when I saw her running from one end of the house to the other and then back again and again.

I know that time is getting short, but hopefully we can do a little more treat making together before the Christmas season is over.

 

The Cutest Kid On The Block

Happy Monday everyone! I want to share with you Short Round's church outfit from yesterday.

It is so easy to find super cute outfits for Miss O. You know the ones, you see them and it just melts your heart from cuteness. Short Round had one of those moments yesterday at church. He attracted a crowd of folks with cameras and fingers ready to pinch cheeks.

{This Moment}

 

{This Moment}

A single photo with no words to sum up the week!

 

Joining Amanda for {This Moment}

 



The Kiddos Needed New Curtains

When we moved into this house, there were curtains on all of the windows that came with the house. Replacing them was never a priority to me, but when we redecorated Miss O's room and Short Rounds as well, I felt that those boring curtains that were hanging in their windows had to go!

I bought the fabric back in the summer, and just like most of my projects, it sat around for months before I actually started to work on them.

They are  nothing special just 4 yards of fabric that I cut in half, and sewed . Miss O's curtains are pretty cool, because when they are closed and the sun shines through them, they give the room a nice rosy glow.

Next up, I have to make curtains for mine and DJ's room. I have the fabric for those already as well, I just am waiting for the motivation to happen before I get to work on them.

Yummy Decorating

The Christmas season this year has been so much fun. Miss O is learning so much about Christmas, and is at a great age to do lots of fun activities leading up to the holiday.

Marcy, or neighbor bought Miss O this super cute gingerbread man decorating kit. So, the other day while she was hanging out with her best buddy, we spread out the pizza blanket,  (the blanket used to spread out on the floor while eating in the living room)gave the kids popsicle sticks to spread out the icing, and let them go for it.

They decorated for awhile, then it became fun to just mix the red, green, and white icing all together. Just to let you know it turns into a nasty looking brown color! Then of course we all watched Mickey Mouse and ate the funky brown colored gingerbread man! They loved it!

Thanks Marcy!

Mommy's Little Helper

When I was a little girl, my mom made certain chores seem super cool. For example, putting the gew in the dishwasher. Well after a couple of days of that she talked me into loading the dishwasher, and before I knew it, the dishes was a new chore of mine! So sneaky!

Well, Miss O is now at the age that where she is wanting to help us out with all of our chores. I know at the moment she is to small to have chores like the dishes ( we have to go back over them and actually wash them), but it is super cute to watch her learn. My heart melts when she informs me "Mommy, I cooking" or "Mommy I washing dishes". She is getting so big!

Good Tidings We Bring To You And Your Kin

Yep, it's that time of year and I love it! So does Miss O. We pulled out the Christmas Tree the day after Thanksgiving, and we have already been listening to the Christmas music. Miss O had a blast decorating the tree. This is the first year that she is really big enough to enjoy Christmas. We are trying to make sure she understand the real reason for this season, and not just Santa.

Growing up, we never put our tree up till about mid December, and I always thought those folks who put theirs up the day after Thanksgiving were a little nutty. Well, now that I am an adult, I have turned into one of those nuts!