Decked

Today I was reminded of one of my most favorite days of the year-trimming the tree! At our house, we play Christmas music and everyone helps decorate. My $1 tree has been transformed into something lovely. Though there may not be any rhyme or reason to my tree, all the ornaments don't perfectly match, it is beautiful collection everything wonderful in my life. Our tree is adorned with handmade treasures the kids have proudly created, little reminders of Christmas' gone by, heirloom's passed down from generation to generation, an angel baby in heaven, a babe in a manger and His gift to all mankind. Yes, I love my tree and the joyous feelings it stirs inside of me.

This is a little ornament I end up making almost every year. It is really simple, copy a picture onto transparency paper, cut it to fit, roll it up and stick it in a clear glass ball. Most craft stores have these, Dollar Tree has them 3 for fifty cents. It is helpful to have tweezers when putting the picture in to line it up just right.
I hope everyone's Christmas preparations are going well, I know I still have a TON to do, but that's how I roll! Have a great weekend!

Christmas Arrangement

Here is the first of my thrift store find makeovers.

This started out as a tall matchstick holder.

Added a couple coats of Rustoleum spray paint in black.

Picked up some holiday trimmings at Hobby Lobby at 50% off, added some ribbon I had on hand, and voila! It has been nicely "repurposed" as a Christmas arrangement. Matchstick container .50, trimmings $4, for a grand total of 4.50 for this little number. It made a great gift for the bunco party I attended Tuesday night.

Best Thrift Store Find

Hey everyone,

I had decided not to do a tree this year because we always get a live one and we are going to be gone for over two weeks for Christmas and I didn't want to come home to a poor decrepit tree.

I was going to go to the thrift store yesterday but never got around to it. I am so glad I went today instead. You can imagine my excitement when I saw a big box with pine needles sticking out. I asked the clerk for help with it and we looked through the box for all the parts. They hadn't gone through it and weren't sure if everything was there so she said I could have it for.................ONE DOLLAR! So I rushed home and pulled it all out and set it up, every last piece was in the box! S.C.O.R.E. I'm so excited about it I feel giddy! Can't wait to see her all decked!!!

Girl's Night Out

My friend Andreah, also Hailey's violin teacher, had tickets to the Houston Ballet because her very talented little sister is in the company. So we went Friday night and Hailey absolutely loved it, all 3 hrs of it. It was so fun to take her, I asked her to be on her best behavior and act like a little lady and she sure did.

Andreah is from UT too, and get this- Ben knows her aunt from his mission in Brazil. She was a member of the branch he served in. It certainly is a small world.

Check out this great giveaway it ends on Dec 10.

Don't Judge Me...

...but I want to live here. It is pretty spectacular. I know what you might be thinking, but I can't help it, I'm in love with it's Mediterranean style, it looks like it belongs on a cliff overlooking the water in Greece.

And do you want to know the best part? It's less than a mile away from this, .09 miles to be exact. Yes, we first spotted this beauty on our way to the temple and each time we go we slow way down and fantasize about living there and walking to the temple. Ben also discovered that it is about five miles away from a little airport, which will work out perfect for when we have a plane again :)

What the heck is this?! We drove through S-N-O-W yesterday in Houston going to the temple. NOT COOL!

Dear Hobby Lobby

...why do you have to be SO alluring?

Your aisles and aisles of possibilities are like candy for my eyes.

I spent waaaaay to much time there today and I plan to go back tomorrow.

It's really not a good idea to be working on so many projects at once, but some are for Christmas so I don't feel too bad. Well the cats out of the bag...many of you are getting homemade gifts. Which means I probably shouldn't post too many of my projects or you might see your present before it gets to you.

I'm finally getting around to decorating the girls' room. I really liked their rooms in our old house but now that they share a room I have to work out some kinks in the decor department.

I'm now obsessed with it and my head is ususally spinning by the time it finally hits the pillow.

I will unveil my ideas soon, but for now I am scouring HB and the thrift stores.

Here is a sneak peek of one of the many treasures I found today.

50 cents!

It's a shadow box, I know its hard to tell, but that's actually a real butterfly.

I have big plans for this, pics of the make over coming soon.

A Wonderful Week

Lisa and Talmage visited us for a week, and what a wonderful time it was. We did a lot of fun stuff but the best part of all was just being together and having lots of girl time! Ben was out of town at a conference so Lisa and I talked and watched chick flicks til our hearts content. Ben knows how much Lisa and I love to be together, so he might think I didn't miss him much but don't worry honey- I still missed you!

I cannot even handle how adorable they look!

Had a lovely Thanksgiving feast at the church.

We roughed it and went to the beach, it was chilly, but sand and water are pretty much heaven to a little kid so they didn't complain.

Just a lazy morning on the couch before the day gets started.

These two cutie pies loved playing together. Since they are both home alone with their moms during the day, they really appreciated each others company. We could usually find them pushing one another on the trike.

Love this boy! I sure do miss his sweet little voice and all the cute little things he says.

We went to a light parade and of course it had to be the coldest day of the week (and by cold I mean 58 degrees with 100% humidity). Humidity does wild things to the temp. Good thing we brought our blankets

Love this sassy girl! Don't think she would ever leave the house without a purse, because she won't. In it you will find keys, lip gloss (mine), cell phone (mine), markers or pens, hand sanitizer (kifed from my purse), a variety of bracelets and rings, makeup (kifed from my bathroom), and any number of other items she shouldn't have and has taken from another person living in this house, but not exclusive to people visiting or to people she has recently visited.

Lisa and Hailey at the museum.

Can you believe this little guys killer lashes?!

Dallin doing his "boy" thing at the Festival of Lights.

Psyched up for the light parade!

Thank you for coming to visit us Lisa and Talmage we love you so much! It was such a fun week, come back real soon!

Busy Bees

I just had to capture this moment, the kids were busily cleaning their bathroom. This is such a lovely sight to a mother. Dallin is now in training to do laundry too, and is quite excited about it. He has asked me each day for a lesson...hurray! He has also become a great little food preparer, he can make a couple of different salads and he can cut fruit and veggies with a sharp knife!

This week Dallin scored his first goal in a game! He was so proud of himself (and so were we). He has picked up the game and improved so much in just a few short months.

Hailey is proud to be reading chapter books now, and also to be learning to read music and play the violin. She takes a lot of pride in her school work and it seems to be very easy for her.

It is so fun to watch my kids confidence grow as they master new skills and become more and more independant.

I'm so grateful to be a mother and to watch these little people grow and learn and develope. They are so amazing and I love them so much!

I Am Mad.

This is what I found on Hailey's door today. I have no idea what prompted this note, but the girl is really in to drama. it reads- Nobody is allowed to come in. I am mad. Only Dallin and Grace.

I asked her what "Only Dallin and Grace" meant and she told me only they could come in. I guess she was just mad and Ben and me.

Halloween and Reptiles

My poor girls were sick on Halloween. I felt so bad for Hailey, she was so disappointed. Dallin had a great day, however, he had a soccer game, birthday party, ward party, and trick or treating. While he and Ben were out I bathed the girls and was helping them get into their pajamas, when Hailey looked at me in horror and said"What about my costume?" So she wore her costume and helped me hand out candy. She wasn't very happy that we didn't use the fairy face paints, but atleast she was able to wear the costume. Grace still refused to wear her giraffe costume. We had been talking about it since last week when we went to the school's fall festival. I thought for sure she would let me put it on her after she saw all the other kids in costumes, but she would have none of that. I even tried for the innocent pumpkin costume that she didn't have to have on her head, but to no avail. So we settled on a tutu, and I took pitty on them and we went to 3 neighbors homes begging for candy.

The girls seriously spent 3 whole days lying in bed or on the couch. When they were feeling a little chipper we polished nails and Grace was quite proud of how grown up she must be to participate in something so wonderful!

Here is Mr. Bones

Last week at Pack Meeting there was a guest from the wildlife refuge who brought some pretty exciting stuff, 2 baby alligators, a speckled green king snake, and a hog nosed snake. You can bet all 3 kids touched all of them. Grace had absolutly no reservations about these reptiles but she on no uncertain terms would wear a giraffe costume, silly girl.

The Violin

You have no idea how excited Hailey is to be learning to play the violin. When we came home from her hour long lesson last night she was upset that it was time for bed and I wouldn't let her practice. She made me promise that I would let her practice today. She took it so seriously too, she sat for 30 min doing her bow exercises and learning the notes.

Her teacher is so sweet, I think she is just as excited to be teaching her as Hailey is to be taught.

A Day at the Zoo

Our fun weekend ended on Monday at the Houston Zoo. The weather was perfect (in my opinion). The trees were adorned with jack-o-lanterns, all ready for Halloween. The exhibits were amazing, we could get so close to the animals, as you can see in the pics. The picture above was taken inside the zoo, it is so lush and beautiful, it's hard to believe it is in the middle of downtown Houston.

My two favorite guys!

American albino alligator

Komodo dragon

Houston Aquarium

We finally had a Saturday with no soccer. So we headed north to Houston to visit the Downtown Aquarium. It was a perfect day, a cold front moved in and we enjoyed a mild 75 degrees. Which is a nice change from the 105 heat index during the week.


We went through an aquarium on a train in the shark voyage exhibit.

The white tigers were the most amazing part of the day.

The carousel was great fun even though Grace looks uneasy! We all liked the ferris wheel but sorry no pics.

My second favorite exhibit. This is the biggest snake I have ever seen in person. A 20' long python.

Goofball!

Eel

Gator