This Special Time of Year

Hello everyone out there. I know you have not seen or heard much from me this last month. I did not mean to drop off the face of the earth, it just sorta happened. I have been really caught up in life, and this here blog just got placed on the back burner.

We have been really busy in our little corner of the world. This is a very special time of year for my family. I have lots of warm memories from my childhood of celebrating Christmas, and it is extremely important to me that my children grow up with warm memories of this time of year as well.

Today, I thought I would share with you some of our merry making.



Replinishing Their Supplies

I have been blessed with very busy children. The type of children who need interaction at all times. You know the ones. This is a challenging and amazing trait. They are always so interested in learning, making, cooking, and doing. It is a challenge because I am constantly looking for activities for them. (thank you pinterest) Plus, if this Mama is tired and worn out, then they will tear the walls down on the house.

So, we keep a very well stocked craft shelf (or two) at our house for the munchkins. There is always supplies right at their fingertips when the mood strikes to create. The other day I noticed that many of our supplies were starting to run low. So, after dropping Miss O off at school one morning. Shortie and I made a trip to Hobby Lobby and Wal-Mart. The pictures above is the loot that we came home with!!

Miss O was so excited, that she started crafting right away.  I must say that these purchases came at just the right time, because we have had lots of decorating and crafting taking place around this little house of ours.

A Hike By The River

One of the many things I love about where we live is the climate. We have been living in the desert since 2008.  However, I am now a wimp when it comes to the cold. A giant benefit to our mild winters, is that we can be outside enjoying nature in short sleeves for most of the year. My kiddos LOVE to play outside so this is a great place for us!

A couple of weeks ago our family met up with some super close friends of ours for breakfast. During our delicious meal, we decided to take the kiddos for a hike. It was a beautiful and sunny Arizona day. Water was still flowing in the river, and we spent awhile just throwing stones in the water. By the time we got back to the vehicles, the kiddos had worn themselves out. They took great naps that afternoon, giving DJ and I a chance to relax for awhile. What a blessing.

On My Needles: A Knitting Update.

I love knitting, it is such a great activity to do when I am just sitting but still need my hands to be busy. But let me tell you, I am such a slow knitter. I finally finished the baby blanket for the woman who works in the nursery at our church . Now all I have to do is weave in all those ends! I hate that part.

Some other knitting news, I finally had someone fix the stitch I dropped on the sweater I was working on. A super awesome lady at church is a knitter, and she not only fixed it, but showed me how to do it in case I mess it up again!

This sweater was started so long ago (like April or something) and I am glad to get the ball rolling on it again.

This is what I am super excited about. I had plans to make DJ some socks last year. He picked out this beautiful yellow yarn himself. For those of you who know DJ, you know how shocking this color choice was! It is a fun color to work with. Plus, I love sock knitting. I love how small and portable they are, which is a nice change after the blanket I just finished. I hope to get them finished by DJ's birthday this year. I seem to have a hard time getting things finished on time, so keep your fingers crossed for me.

Gearing Up For The Holiday Fun

Have I ever mentioned to you guys how much I love being a mother? I don't just mean I love my munchkins (which I do very much), but I love being a mom. One of the many awesome things about being a mom is that I get to make and plan kids crafts and other learning activities. I always have craft ideas for my kids, and if we are not crafting we are baking. If it were not for my munchkins, I would feel silly going into the craft store to buy the foam sticker, pom poms, and pipe cleaners that I just can't resist buying. Plus, nobody should eat all those baked goods by themselves.



Something else I greatly love is the holiday season! The kids and I are starting to jump into Christmas a little early because Miss O got tired of making turkey crafts. They kiddos were so excited when I started pulling out different supplies. They loved to see the bright colors of Christmas, and the sparkle of glitter and sequins.

I have been pouring over Pinterest for weeks looking for fun Holiday activities for us. Last year Miss O was just a little too young to be excited about the fun leading up to Christmas, and Short Round was a handful ( That is an understatement). I am bursting with excitement over all the fun we are going to have this holiday season.

What fun things does your family do in the weeks leading up to Christmas?

Retail Therapy

I had a rough start the other day. Actually that might be an understatement. DJ had to be at work early, and it was up to me to get the kiddos dressed and out the door. Miss O had school and we were running really behind. I finally got us all out the door and loaded up in the van, breathing a sigh of relief. Then, I went to start the van and the battery was dead! My mind flashed back to the day before when Short Round was playing in the drivers seat while I was unloading all my goodies from our most recent Costco trip. When I opened the door to get him out, I heard the dinging, but could not figure out where it was coming from, so I just ignored it. OOOOPS!

Now, don't get me wrong I know how to jump start a car, but for some reason it scares me. I am always terrified that I am going to give myself a nasty shock. So, I called my friend Lissa and she came to pick us up and drop Miss O off at school.

After Miss O was safely at school, and injested yet another cup of coffee (you know to calm my nerves) Lissa and I decided to hit up the thrift stores.

These items are a springy, but I just could not resist come super cute new dresses. The one on the right will make a great church dress. The shirt on the left fits me so great. These are all in amazing condition, and I feel like I hit the jackpot with these items.

These are some plain color t-shirts that I picked up for $1 each! These are going to make great workout clothes.

These items in the photo above are just some other fun items. However, it is the fairy outfit below that makes me super happy. This is Miss O's new dress up outfit. It was only $1.50!

And boy let me tell you, the thrifting god's were smiling down on us. We drove up to Salvation Army, and the entire store was 50% off!! Now, Lissa and I are some pretty serious thrifters, and we always go in with a game plan, and we go to certain store to find certain things. Salvation Army is one of the best thrift stores in the area to find clothes. I could have not been more pleased with my finds. After Lissa dropped us off back at home, my mood and day had greatly changed knowing I found such nice items for only a buck or two each!



Feeling Brave

All the goodies!

I woke up the other morning with no plans. This was a shock and a surprise to me! Between school, crossfit, the farmers market, playdates, meetings, and church activities, our days are pretty full. I was tempted to just snuggle up and have a cozy day at home with the kiddos, but I was terrified they would get stir crazy and revolt. So, I did something that I have never done before...I took both kids to Costco by myself. I know some of you are thinking, "So! What is the big deal?" Well, our closest Costco is about an hour and a half away. Because of the long drive, we stock up big time. We keep a large stockpile of food at our house for convenience and to help keep our grocery bill low. It always takes us a couple of hours when we go to Costco. The buggie is usually so full that it is a challenge to turn it.

Before we got there, Miss O and I had a discussion on behavior and I asked her to be my helper. ( being my helper in the store is a new favorite thing for her.)  I have to say that my cuties did a great job! They did fight over the Sprite that came with our hotdog. They both thought the other was not sharing enough, and Short Round wanted to hold the cup all by himself. In the end, I had to just take the cup away from both of them and hide it under stuff in the cart.

When I got home I was feeling pretty dang proud of myself for taking this adventure on my own. It was also a big weight off my chest knowing that our pantry is now fully stocked again!



Goodbye Cookies

We have had some serious adjustments in our lives lately. My Dad accepted a job at Yosemite National Park, and moved to California a couple of weeks ago. My Mom is staying with us through the end of the year in order to tie-up lose ends at work and be here for the holidays.  Every one of us is heartbroken and counting down the days till we can all live close together again. I knew my Dad was going to be upset about leaving, so I decided to make him a sweet treat for him to enjoy on the drive there.

Now, these are no ordinary cookies. These little fellas are special and have a long history in our family. I started making these cookies when I was in the 5th grade. During my Summer break from school, I would stay up late experimenting with my cooking. That's when I discovered this cookie recipe. I made these cookies all the time. I had perfected the recipe to the point where all my family would request them. If fact when my Aunt Rondia and Uncle Mike would come to visit us, Uncle Mike would do my chores for me in exchange for his own batch of these cookies.

After Miss O was born I acquired the cookbook that this cookie recipe came from. The book just opens up to the recipe.  The pages are no longer connected and it's covered with stains. When I decided to make these cookies for my Dad, I was out of practice. I had not made these cookies in years.  I was feeling pretty insecure about how they turned out. They were not as pretty as I remembered them to be, but I packaged them up anyways and sent them on their way. A couple of hours later I got a call from my Dad telling me how amazing they were, and how happy he was to have them as his road trip snack.

Now I have a feeling that he is going to request them every time he comes back to visit!

 

The Yard Sale Skirt

This pattern is from Weekend Sewing, by Heather Ross.

This skirt pattern and I have a long history. About three years ago I tried to make this same skirt. I used some beautiful black fabric with little red roses that I found at the thrift store. This skirt uses about 5 yards of fabric, so I was super stoked to find so much cute fabric for such a cheap price. I was so disappointed when the skirt turned out to be a disaster!

Then back in March when I went on my first SAS Fabric's shopping spree, I found 5 yards of the fabric pictured above. When I saw it I knew I had to give this skirt a second try. It is not a difficult skirt to make. In fact, it was fun! I did, however, have to make the waistband and side ties longer in order to fit around my belly. (Which I am working on as well! More about that later.) It turned out great the second time around. I was a little concerned about how it was going to fit, because it is a wrap skirt. Wrap skirts are usually not something I am very interested in. I always have trouble with the waistband and how it lays, making it super annoying. That was not the case with this skirt! It is super cute, and comfortable. The best thing about this skirt, it is nice and twirley making it great for dancing.

Happy November Folks!

I hope everyone had a fun Halloween weekend. We love to get dressed up and candy around here, making this a super fun holiday for us. I had intentions of writing this post on Sunday, but time just got away from me. Here is our Halloween recap.

Miss O and I dressed up as witches, Short Round was Charlie Brown, and DJ dressed as a dead guy. Like most other years our costumes are homemade. I did not get picture of it, but my witch dress is a giant puffy tulle thing. It was so much fun to wear, but a pain to make. I broke two needles on my sewing machine in the process. I told all my friends and loved ones that next year if I even start talking about using tulle for anyone's costumes, just smack me! Now I have to find a place to store this dress that is so large, my children like to pretend it is a pile of leaves and jump in it.

This year was a little different than past years, because Halloween fell on the same night as our church Trunk or Treat. This was super exciting for us because all the festivities were one night this year, drastically limiting the amount of candy that was brought into our house!! My kiddos love candy just like any other, but their little systems just don't handle it well at all.

Trunk or Treat was super fun this year as well. There were way more kids this year than normal, and Miss O and Short Round got to have fun with their friends.



My Super Sweet Birthdy Gift

I recently celebrated my 31st birthday. Man I love birthdays! I love spending time with my family, and eating cake. This year on my Birthday my parents were out of town so we celebrated a couple of days early. We had an awesome steak dinner and my favorite cake in the entire world. I was also given a Joann's gift card and an Olive Garden gift card. Neither of these gifts were in my possession for more than 24 hours. The photo above is what I purchased with that wonderful Joann's gift card. These things are so awesome, and they even make the same noise that scissors make in scary movies. They cut through fabric like a warm knife cutting through butter!

Beach Trip

For those of you who read this blog regularly, you know breaks and gaps in my postings are nothing unusual. Usually these breaks come with no warning or explanation. However, this time I thought I would share. We took the kids to the beach for our first family vacation. We went to Galveston, Texas, and met up with family. My Aunt Rondia and DJ's brother Buddy both live outside of Houston, and we thought it was be a great opportunity to gather members from both of our families.

DJ, the kids, my parents, and myself decided to drive. It took us about 16 hours, and was an experience! WOW!

It was fun to spend time at the beach, and with family. The week was spent relaxing, eating yummy food, and sight seeing. It was hot in Texas and the humidity was ridiculous! We had a great time, but it feels so good to be back home and back to our routine. Miss O is excited about school and seeing her friends today.