Outlet Mall success

My mom and I went to our outlet mall today and I scored some good deals at Old Navy and Gap.

Sweater $12.50

Cargo pants $10.50

First I bought this polka-dotty shirt. $9.80. I love this kind of shirt because I can wear it by itself in the summer or under a cardigan in the winter. I have had my eye on these since they came out but no way was I paying $24.50!

Then I decided I really like the green one.

And the other polka-dotty one.

I also bought a fleece shirt for Jack because he only likes "softies".

Gap had buy one get one free coupons, so I bought a cardigan for $15 and got a free shirt. I went back with my second coupon and bought 2 fleece pullovers (one for me and one for my mom) for $10.00.

Feeling pretty darn good about my bargains today!

Christmas Roundup

Family portrait. Can't believe how big the boys are getting--and how badly they need haircuts.
Jack made a Lego Santa and reindeer--complete with Rudolph. There are actually 10 reindeer because Santa sent a message to Jack via PNP, that he has a new reindeer.

We left cinnamon rolls, broccoli and celery for Santa and the reindeer. Along with several notes.

Blurry picture of the tree after Santa left his gifts.

After they have torn into pretty much everything and are happily examining their gifts.

Christmas is near

I made some paintings for the boys' teachers. They are 12x12 which is a fun size to use.

Decorated some cookies too. I always think it sounds like a good idea to make cut cookies, and then I start the process and 3 hours later I'm thinking, "Why did I think this was a good idea!?"

Parker and his wonderful teacher, Mrs. Brown.

A close-up of the painting.

Custom Name Art

I am "officially" painting custom name art now. I got business cards and everything--that's how you know it's the real deal! I have several orders yet to do, but these are the first three I've done. I'm trying to put a lot of detail into each one. These are all gifts, so I sure hope the recipients don't read my blog!

This one is for a dance studio.

The next two are for teachers.

Ready or Not, Here Comes Christmas!

I keep hearing all these folks talking about how they are done with their Christmas shopping or very nearly done. Ha! I haven't even started. Haven't even really given it a whole lot of thought. I think it's just my way. I always work better under pressure. Plus, I can't really think Christmas gifts until I have a Christmas tree up and that definitely does not happen until AFTER Thanksgiving. One holiday at a time for me. If I keep my holiday stuff up too long it starts to drive me batty. It makes me feel claustrophobic and cluttered. Probably because we have a relatively small house and I am an awful housekeeper and I have a TON of Christmas decor! :-)

Here is last year's tree. Hmmm.....this makes me want to get her out of the box again. All in good time, all in good time!

Missing In Action

I know I am just the worst blogger for the past 4 or more months! I find that Facebook has become a much easier way for me to communicate with my friends and family. However, I am ready to jump back into blogging!



For what it's worth, you haven't missed a whole lot! I haven't done anything wonderful to my house or come up with any great new crafty ideas. As a matter of fact, I often don't know where all my time goes. I send the boys off to school at 8:00 and the next thing I know, they are busting through the door at 3:30!



I do have several projects that I am determined to complete this winter: whole new basement on an absolute shoestring budget, finish master bedroom makeover which began well over a year ago, turn Jack's room into a big kid room (per his request), dining room re-do, both bathrooms need love....WOW, the list is bigger than I realized!



I make this solemn vow to be a better blogger!

Oh, here is the number one reason why I haven't had any time or money to do anything for our house: DISNEY WORLD! Exhausting, expensive and totally worth it!

Cardinals

It was miserably hot. And the Cards lost. Parker wouldn't hold up the sign. However, it was still a good day at the ballpark.

St. Louis Cardinals Baseball Party

We are taking Parker to the Cardinals/Cubs game on his actual birthday this year, so it seemed like a good year to FINALLY do a baseball theme party. For a family that is so involved with baseball, you would have thought we would have done this one by now! We took it one small step further and made it a Cardinal party.

This is the invitation which is just a 6x6 piece of cardstock.
The wording which is always fun to come up with.

The sign on the front door.

Baseball hat ice cream cups.

The beautiful and delicious cake made by a family friend.

Cake table.

I created a "Cardinal Clubhouse" in our sunroom.

All the guests were represented by a jersey with their name and a number on it. I made these out of posterboard and used sticker letters and Cricut numbers.

Goody bags held Cracker Jacks, Big League Chew, sunflower seeds, baseball gumballs and all the treats from the cake table.

One very happy birthday boy with his cake. (Notice that the candles have been placed by the Parker at the correct positions!)

I had big plans to go to the baseball fields and play a game and do some hitting in the cages. Unfortunately, we had a heat index of 105, so I couldn't let the boys play outside. So we played baseball on the Wii and watched Sandlot AND of course, watched the Cardinals beat the Reds.

Tubers

Enjoyed a great day on the lake. This was Parker and Jack's first time tubing and they LOVED it. Usually they are very reluctant to try things like this, but they didn't even hesitate. It was very nice to not have to twist their arms to try something fun!