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.