Night and Day

This was our Christmas card picture. Jack's head has been photoshopped onto this picture from another one taken the same day. (Thanks Michelle!) I ordered a bunch of cards and then only sent out about half of them. I just couldn't get into it this year. I really love this picture though. Honestly, could they be any different!? And it's not just appearance. They are different in every conceivable way. In fact, I don't think you design two kids who are more different. That's fine with me. It keeps things interesting around here.

Primitive Christmas

Parker's teacher like primitive country, so I made a special one-of-a-kind Advent calendar for her. I love how it turned out. (Sorry the pics are sideways.) I ended up selling about 15 calendars this year which gave me a nice little bit of spending $. If I do it for next year, I MUST plan ahead so I don't get swamped in November!

So.....whew....Christmas is over. This year, I didn't scramble around much at the last minute which, oddly enough, made it feel LESS Chistmasy to me. I guess the stress of the last minute details has become my normal!

Shiny

I wanted a new Nativity scene, but wanted to keep it on the cheap--or I should say, I was pretty sure I could find one cheap. However, I wasn't really finding what I wanted.

Then I found these at Dollar Tree. There is nothing terribly wrong with them, but it isn't the look I'm going for. They were actually marked down to 50 cents each.


So I gave them a coat of silver spray paint (my new best friend) and now they match my decor. I love them--especially their price! (And, of course, for many other reasons!)

I'm not going to "officially" join Nester's Tour of Christmas Decor, but I will try to put my stuff on here. 'Tis the season to be crazy busy!

More Chicago

On the Michigan Ave. bridge over the Chicago River.
Ginormous American Gothic. Parker told Jack that they needed to get a picture of this to give to Jack's art teacher because she has a poster of it in her classroom. Who knew he noticed such things!?

The happiest place on earth....Lego Store.

Sitting with a Lego man.

Playing in the water room at the Chicago Children's Museum. The attendant said, "They will get soaked." She was not kidding.

LOVE Jack's face in this one.

They had a really big firefighting exhibit that all the kids loved. You shot a laser beam at the flames until they went out.

All six of our pack.

I think this looks like a catalogue picture. Isn't Ashlyn gorgous!? I think Parker might have noticed that too. They are a riot together!

Me and the boys and Chicago. Does it look like we are standing in front of a fake backdrop? It does to me. Travis said, "What do you have on your head!?" Thanks. I think it's cute!

Part of Chicago

Some photos from our Chicago trip.

The window displays at Macy's (Marshall Field's). It was a story about how letters get to Santa.

"Giant Shiny Jelly Bean" according to our group.

Our reflection.

Beluga at Shedd Aquarium.

The Disney Light Parade as seen from our hotel room.

Navy Pier as seen from our room.

Our view.

Urn Update

This is a stash of stuff I bought at some garage sales in June. See those fruit topiaries in the back?
I gutted them and they looked like this.

Then I spray painted them shiny silver to match my Christmas decor. I don't know if they will stay this way but they work for now! I really want to faux paint them to look like Mercury glass, but I'm still working out the kinks on how that is going to happen. I will keep you posted if it works!

By the way, just an update.....I STILL haven't done a thing to my fireplace or my bedroom makeover. Life just keeps getting in the way!

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

This years version of the Christmas tree is inspired by this one. I still like hers better, but I'm liking mine too. If I could just get the boys to leave those sprigs alone......

O.K. If you read blogs, you have probably seen several people doing this ball wreath. You take a wire hanger and just string ornaments onto it. It is simple, but difficult. I had two problems, I used a heavy gauge wire which made it hard to bend, and the balls kept popping off because they had cheap plastic hanger things. Anyway, the trick is to go ahead and string a bunch on, but plan on hot gluing a bunch too. I spent $6.00 on ornaments at Dollar Tree and used a few I already had. I saw identical wreaths at Pier 1 for $50, so the effort was definitely worth it!

Thanksgiving cupcakes

I made these cupcakes that are supposed to look like little pumpkin pies. Parker didn't think they did. And he pointed out that it would have made more sense if they actually tasted like pumpkin. However, his critique did not prevent him from eating them!

K Visiting and Christmas Tree

Once again, I am busy, busy, busy. We are leaving for Chicago for 4 days TODAY but in the meantime, we had some things to do this week. First of all, it is National Education Week which means it's Parent Visitation Week at our kids schools. First up was kindergarten.

I know some of you might think your child has the best kindergarten teacher ever. But you are mistaken. This is the BEST kindergarten teacher ever...Mrs. Fitzgerald. Parker had her and now Jack does. We LOVE her. Whew...she wears me out though. Kindergarten is very, very busy!

The K kids do a performance. Uh oh. This little Indian boy is nervous.

He actually ended up doing very well and was obviously having fun being "Brave and Strong"

We wanted to put our tree up before we left so it was all nice and pretty for us when we got home. I'm a glutton for punishment, I guess.

I didn't take any pictures of 2nd grade visitation because it just isn't nearly as cute. Also, Parker would probably die of embarassment. We are headed out to Chicago soon--with the boys for the first time--so with any luck, I will have lots of fun things to post soon! (Although, last night Jack had a fever so............)