You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch!

My sister Lucinda gave Clayton green peppermint M&M's after lunch today. He's not much of a mint fan.

Tutu too!!!

My cute, clever, crafty, creative sister-in-law Christina posted a couple of days ago about the cute tutus she made her girls for Christmas. She included links to some tutorials. It couldn't have come at the more perfect time. I had been planning on making Caroline a tutu as well, but hadn't gotten around to starting it and wasn't sure where to start when it came to the engineering of all that fluff. Thanks to Christina, I have a completed Fairy outfit complete with wings, a headband & of course, the tutu. Total cost for project: $0 Feeling of accomplishment from being thrifty and crafty: Priceless! Thanks, Christina!!! And here's the links I stole off her blog:

http://plumtickled.typepad.com/plumtickled/2007/08/tutu-tutorial-t.html

http://mamasdoodles.blogspot.com/2007/08/tutu-tutorial-tuturial.html

I Think Maybe I Watch Too Much HGTV...

I made a dollhouse for Caroline for Christmas. I may have projected my decorating fantasies on it. A tiny bit. Okay, maybe a lot. I may have gone overboard. But man, was it fun!!! I'm sure she won't appreciate all the little details, but oh well. I got my need to redecorate out by putting it all into a miniature version. And, by the way, I spent a total of $10, and that was on a "decorate your own dollhouse furniture" kit that I got at Target.com for 50% off. And a package of tiny match boxes that my brother-in-law bought for me while he was in town, and wouldn't let me pay him back for. Everything else was from odds & ends that either I saved for the express purpose of making a dollhouse or little things that while I was in the midst of the project, I thought "hey, that would be great for..." And of course all the fabric scraps that I can't bear to part with that come in handy for stuff like this. Like leftover silk shirt from the silk cowboy scarves I made 3 years ago. Silk shirts I scored at various yardsales for like 25 cents apiece. Floors and some of the walls were from discontinued wallpaper books from the local decorating store. So it may have a designer look, but it's definitely more on the shabby chic side, and I'm pretty impressed with my own thrift on this project. Oh yeah, and the body of the house? An old shelf that was actually the wagon bed from the year I taught 4th grade and had a pioneer theme. A friend helped me build a reading nook that was a covered wagon. So that was recycled. Nice, huh?

"Hannah Montana's" room. (Caroline scored a Hannah Montana doll at her dance Christmas party. I don't think she even knows who Hannah/Miley is. Fortunately.) The mirror part of the dresser didn't come with the furniture. I painted a small picture frame, glued it onto the dresser and put a piece of metal from my scrapbooking tag supplies behind the glass.

Kelly's room. Aunt Cindy found the perfect cute little Kelly doll to go in the house. Because you know, Caroline's three, and Barbies...Well, I'd prefer she plays with a little girl doll for a little bit longer. My favorite piece of furniture is this little armoire that opens & closes.

The living room with a glimpse of the counter & bar stools. Note my cute fireplace made out of a tiny picture frame and the end of a shelf that was supposed to go over my sink but never fit. So I took it apart and used it for different stuff. Parts of it are actually part of Hannah's bed above. And also see the tiny nutcracker on the mantle. Leftover from when I taught dance and gave each student a nutcracker ornament as a gift after our performance of the Nutcracker one Christmas. I knew it would come in handy someday.

The Kitchen complete with picture window (plastic magnetic picture frame that the scrapbook store owner threw in for free one time and a picture I printed off of the internet), sink, stove & drawers that really open & close (match boxes!) The counters are all from a wooden gift box that something came in. I looked at the box and thought, "someday, I could use that for something." And here we are, 2 years later and I used it for something.

Tagged!

Awwwwwww, the wedding day! Here we're by the groom's cake shaped like a horseshoe. Since it was a December wedding (3 days after Christmas) the whole room was decked out like a Winter Wonderland with trees and lights and red & green. It was beautiful! My mom did an incredible job putting it all together with the help of my sisters. Seriously THE best day of my life! I was on cloud nine and all the little details were totally lost on me because I was so excited and in love and with my Jake! And I get to celebrate our 6th anniversary with my sweet, amazing, ruggedly handsome, thoughtful, funnier-than-all-get-out hubby in 4 more days!!!!! Yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HERE ARE THE RULES...

1) Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on the computer

2)Select the 4th picture in the folder

3)Explain the picture

4)Tag 4 people to do the same

I tag Krista, Christina, Erin & Robin

A Night In Bethlehem

I know I'm a little slow getting these posted, but they're from our church Christmas party last Saturday evening and I think they're darling. The theme was "A Night in Bethlehem." We were asked to come in "biblical attire" and the gym was decorated like an open market in the middle east where we were able to go to each shop to buy our pita bread, and get our meat (chicken or lamb), fruit, nuts, salad, cheese & dessert. We all ate picnic style on blankets on the floor. It was such fun time and there was a very sweet, celebratory spirit. Near the end, the lights dimmed and children portraying Joseph & Mary went from stall to stall in the market and were told, "No room." They then settled in a "stable" area that was set up at the front of the gym with a manger & straw. My little 4 month old niece was the "Baby Jesus" and the Nativity story was then narrated & acted out by more children and we all joined in song throughout. It was a wonderful experience for our family and friends. We're so grateful for our friend that organized it all. She did a phenomenal job creating an atmosphere that invited the spirit and brought so much joy as we reflected on the meaning and reason for this happy season.

Caroline & Grandma

Sing a Song of Christmas

For FHE on Monday night, I read this story, "Sing a Song of Christmas." It's about a little girl who visits an elderly widowed neighbor and finds a way to make her Christmas extra special. In the story, she sings "Silent Night" in German. How handy that Jake served his mission in Germany - he sang the song for us! It was so sweet. After the story and song, we decorated cookies with this fantastic sugar cookie recipe from the Pioneer Woman and we will deliver them to 2 of our neighbors who are elderly widows. We're looking forward to our visits with our sweet adopted "grandmas." How I love Christmas and the togetherness something as simple as decorating cookies and giving them away brings!

the BusyButlers Boutique Grand Opening Giveaway!!!!

To kick off the start of my new bow-making venture, I'm having a giveaway of a whole BOW BUNDLE! Visit the BusyButlers Boutique to see what I've got and to enter for a chance to win!

Family Fun

What a crazy, fun week! We had family in and out and had a blast! The joy started when my parents and youngest sister, Catherine, arrived last Saturday night with a load of all the stuff I had left at my parents house that they didn't want in their garage anymore. They stayed and we played on Sunday and Monday (Catherine & I stayed up WAY too late one night playing "The Farming Game" - you should try it sometime if you haven't. Totally fun!) They continued on their merry way on Tuesday morning to dump the rest of the load in Minneapolis at my sister Lucinda's house, where they also spent Thanksgiving. On Wednesday evening, another two of my sisters, Nan & Marilyn, arrived with Mar's friend Brent in tow. Thanksgiving Day was so much fun, with all of us pitching in to prepare the meal and with Brent doing an awesome job entertaining Caroline & Clayton. At one point, Brent went to the bunkhouse to check on part of the meal for me and Clayton followed him right out the door and went with him on his errand. It was pretty cute. Brave little boy. Marilyn made 4 amazing pies and after dinner, we just enjoyed visiting and being together and watching the cute kiddos entertain us. Friday morning began at 4:00 a.m. for Me, Nanny, Mar & Brent as we headed to WalMart for the Black Friday blitz. I divided up my list and gave each person an assignment. We arrived at the store at 5:10 and were completely done with everything by 5:30 - and we got EVERYTHING on the list! It was great! Later that day we got to ride horses and just hang some more. With everyone's help, we got our new Christmas tree (score from WalMart!) up along with the rest of the Christmas decorations. That night my parents arrived back at my house on their return trip and after a major laugh fest from watching this YouTube video of "Water Ballet", and hearing Mom & Catherine's version of the "Tomato Seed Story", we all turned in. The fam got off by 10:30ish but we got to see a little more of Catherine when she hitched a ride back with Nan, Mar & Brent because she left her shoes here. (She also had to go pj-less in MN because she left those here on Tuesday!) Everyone made it home safe, and though it was a short visit, it is one that we'll remember for the laughter & togetherness.

My mom figured out that when Clayton rode his horse around the house and shouted, he was yelling "Ride! Ride! Ride!" He was tickled pink when she said that to him after he would holler and we could tell that he knew we knew what he was saying.

Caroline helping vacuum the floor in preparation for her Aunties visit, using the new sweeper vac that Mona brought just for her!

Preparing apples for Marilyn's wonderful apple pie. (Nanny had to pull her hair back, so Caroline lent her a hair bow.)

Mar hard at work pie-making.

The feast and the chefs. (Why did nobody tell me my shirt needed to be pulled down in back?)

Grandpa is SO EXCITED for pie!

Clayton is, too. He couldn't keep his fingers out and upon closer examination, it looked like he had fingerpainted a turkey in the whipped cream.

Caroline and her pumpkin "moose" pie.

Marilyn & Brent teaching Caroline how to play pool. Her favorite part of the visit. She even asked this morning if she could go over & play pool.