Sunday, December 22, 2013

Traditions

This holiday season I have been busy. It is always harder to get things done with a new born and especially when they are nursing. I have been trying to slow down and only do the things that are really important to me. When Connie told me she was going to go out to moms and make popcorn cakes I decided I would join them.
Cause I knew they would be there to help and it would go fast. My mom picked up the groceries for me and they both worked while I nursed. Luckily after Louise went to sleep and let me get to work. 
It was fun laughing with them and listening to Christmas music. Popcorn cakes are something my Grandma Maggie and my mom would make for the family and neighbors while I was growing up so it was something that I wanted to do this year. 
And we made a lot. 
But with help it went quickly. And for wrapping I decided to keep it simple. I could have made cute cards or tags but I just decided it would be much easier to order some from tinyprints. I am so glad I did. They turned out really cute but it was super easy. Just wrapped them up with yarn. 
I used to always make hand made Christmas cards but I just couldn't this year and that's okay cause printed ones are so cute now (I don't feel like that was always the case). Plus I used Harry Potter stamps so that was awesome. 
Another tradition I have is making homemade gifts but I decided it was not wise to put that kind if pressure on myself. It is more important to enjoy the season. I wanted to get Joe a personalized memory game (wanting more games and activities and less toys this year) and I was about to order one when I realized I could make it pretty easily.
I printed onto fabric using the freezer paper method. Cut the pics out. I printed them 2.5 inches but if I did it again I would do 2 inches to I would have more of a border. 
I love the way the pictures look on the fabric.
I picked a fabric for the back and put batting I between, sewed around the edges and trimmed then up when I was done. 


They were so easy to do I decided to make them for a good friends birthday present. 



Gracie gave them to Clara at her party today, I hope she likes them. And we reused the adorable box that JennyB gave us Christmas treats in. 
So there is how I am trying to keep traditions alive, but still take it easy and enjoy this time of year. 

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Sweet Christmas Tree

"I'm an Elf!" Mark, Ashley, Sam, and Scout are here! So tge other dy we had them come over to decorate Christmas trees. They (we) all love being around eachother. 





Such concentration 




I am finally starting to feel the Christmas spirit cause this is what Christmas is all about, spending time with those you love. 

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Forgetting Thanksgiving

I just realized I posted about Christmas before I posted about Thanksgiving or the rest of November for that matter. Russ worked Thanksgiving day so I got the kids up and dressed by myself and went to pick up Connie before we went to my parents.  

We are all really lucky I decided to snap this picture because it is pretty much the only picture I took, besides the ones below. 
Louise was sleeping really good that day. Poor Joe; all he wants is to be close to her and I feel like all I say to him is, "don't touch her, leave her alone, don't wake her up."
On Friday (after the whole Black Friday ordeal) I hurried home and Connie helped me put together a veggie tray and my green bean casserole. Then I hurried over to my in-laws and spent a lot of time nursing and visiting and no time taking pictures, but it was a lovely afternoon as well. 
I love Thanksgiving so much. The food is nice but more than that I love the chance to be with family and pause to really really think about the things I am grateful for. And like most years the things I am most grateful for aren't "things" at all. 

Friday, December 6, 2013

Holidays

After Thanksgiving I got the Christmas decor bins out but wasn't intending to put stuff up before I got some of the house clean. While I was nursing in the other room William got to work and I came out to this:
Complete with a lego Christmas tree he made. 
They found all the Santa hats and immediately came to show Louise and I.


This girl sure does get a lot of love.

This Santa hat on Williams globe is probably my favorite of his decorations. I did change our mantle a little but mainly because I had more things I needed to put on it. 

I have been trying not to be a grinch this year. It didn't start off well because even though I hate the idea of Black Friday I made the mistake of looking at the adds and seeing that Kohl's had a lot of stuff I was getting on sale. Russ was working so Connie kindly agreed to watch my kids while I "ran over there real quick". Ha! I was in line for TWO HOURS! Ever since then I have repeatedly had to remind myself what the season is really about and not to get too stressed about getting things done. I think I have done pretty good, I don't think I have ruined Christmas yet. 



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