Christmas Catch Up

Wow.  It's hard to believe Christmas is over! 
We are in recovery mode around here. 
The house is almost put back together but I still have not taken my tree down, which is unfortunately on today's agenda.

Now it's time for a little  HUGE Christmas catch up. 
I got so busy that I was unable to post some of my favorite pictures.

WARNING:  This post is LONG and has TONS of pictures.  :)
Here goes:

We had a GREAT time visiting Southern Lights.
It is a horse park that is all lit up with lights and festivities during the Christmas season.
You drive through and tune your radio station to the park's own station where lively, upbeat Christmas instrumental music is playing.
Of course, each of you is sipping on your favorite hot cocoa (mine and the girls' was a fun concoction of hot cocoa, french vanilla, and marshmallows to make s'mores).
There was tons of snow and it made it that much better.

The horse park had tons of things going on inside the visitor center.

This was one of many, very cool train exhibits set up.

There were also many, very cool dollhouse exhibits displayed.

We had a blast!!

Can you believe they even had a petting zoo?

So much fun!!

We started the day with yummy lunch at Chick Fil a
We made so many special memories at the horse park.

We were so thankful for a good day of family fun.

We ended our special day with a warm meal of comfort food at good 'ol Cracker Barrel.

Pinto beans and cornbread muffins, YUM!!

This was the Christmas Program at church. 

The kids sang "Happy Birthday Jesus".

So.  Precious.

Megan had a little dance recital.
It was so cute.
Here she is all decked out and ready to go.  :)

She did such a good job.

She is shy but she turns on when she is dancing.

She is so in her element while doing girly things.

Believe it or not, this is the first time Kacie Beth has ever sat on Santa's lap (except when she was a baby) or ever talked to him.

Megan sat on his lap one day at Wal-Mart earlier this month only so she could go home and rub Kacie's nose in it tell Kacie all about it.

Megan gave Kacie the courage to do it this time. 

She was bound and determined.  :)

We made attempted to make sugar cookies and a birthday cake for Jesus.
I was so sad we didn't get to finish the cake.
This is usually one of the girls' favorite things to do at Christmas.
Let's just say I discovered some little worms in the flour long after the cake was in the oven and after the cookies were mixed. 
Has that ever happened to you, the worms I mean?
Gross.
I'd heard of it, but never seen it happen before.
We were pressed for time as it was, so we never got to finish our baking.
Bummer.
Big bummer.

But here is Megan lookin' all cute with her still damp hair while she's mixin'.

Here are the girls Christmas Eve trying to be patient.

They love their new together gift from Mommy and Daddy, a game.

Matching Christmas jammies.

Kacie was worried all day that her Christmas jammies were all too small.

She was so excited when she opened these.

Santa brought them a stove.

And their favorite gift (and mine too) was a GINORMOUS dollhouse.

Here they are when they first discovered it.

It is the queen of all dollhouses. 

I seriously have never seen one quite this large.

It is up to my eyes and I think it is perfect for my girls, since they are both very tall for their age (their Daddy is 6'5). 

It had the coolest furniture with it.

Check it out.

Rapunzel found a nice place to nap.  :)

We got the girls the CUTEST Crocs ever.

I'm normally not a real "blingy" person, but I love blingy Crocs.

You know, Crocs and bling just don't go together and I think that's why these are so cute.

They looked like someone just ripped them right off Minnie Mouse's feet.

Too cute.

Megan's were hot pink.

They also got a gift certificate to their favorite book store.

Kacie calls it "Paradise".

I LOVE that she loves books.

Here are my coasters I have seen others make in blogland.

I LOVE them.

And they are fun to make.

I'll add a better picture later.

Everyone I gave them to LOVED them.

And they're cheap cheap.

Did I say cheap?

Thanks for anyone that was brave enough to endure this entire post.

I hope that each of you had a very Merry Christmas!!

Thank you so much for supporting me and my blogging this year.

It has been fun and I am so glad I started.

Thanks to all of my friends that I have made.

I look forward to all the new ideas I will discover and all the new friends I will make this year!!

A Little Embellishment...

I fell in love with Thrifty Decor Chick's cereal jars she posted back in the summer.
I knew I would have to make copy my own soon.
I am a huge fan of cereal and so are my girls.

Since we are in the process of redoing our kitchen, I thought this would be the perfect time.
Hubby wanted me to be "practical" (as he called it) and put practical things like flour and sugar in the jars.
I, however, thought it was very practical to use Thrifty Decor Chick's cereal idea because we are always using cereal.
I am always grabbing a quick bowl to take to work for my lunch (yes, I know that's strange, but I do).  :)
I'm hoping this will make it even quicker.

I started out with this very pretty, but plain, large jar.

I think it is still very pretty this way, but I decided to steal use Thrifty Decor Chick's chalkboard label idea also.

Here they are all "prettied up".

I think Thrifty Decor Chick used black vinyl, but I couldn't find any that day.
So I used black contact paper that I purchased from Michael's.
I used my handy dandy craft scissors to cutesy up the edges. 

I then used the Chalk-Ink pens to write the labels on the jar.
Hubby informed me that I should just write "cereal" on the labels so it wouldn't matter how often I changed the cereal out.

Not to worry dear Hubby, the Chalk-Ink wiped right off with a damp cloth.
It will be VERY easy to change the labels out.
The contact paper stuck great and was easy to move around to get it in the location I wanted it in.

I think they look super cute and we have eaten a lot more cereal since they are out in plain view.
Thank you Thrifty Decor Chick for the GREAT idea!!  :)

I am linking up to Savvy Southern Style's from Boring to Better Party.
Go check out all the fun going on over there!

Young and Old

Yesterday morning, Kacie Beth had a little piano recital at our local Nursing Home.
Nursing homes tear. me. up.
Note....it is tear, as in to rip or shred.
Well...it is actually also tear, as in to boo hoo.

Here is my sweet Kacie Beth playing her piece "Jingle Bells".
Might I add she did a fabulous job.  :)

Sometimes we (I anyway) do not like to think about things that are not necessarily happy or that bother me.

Nursing homes bother me.

Don't get me wrong, I think it is GREAT to do things at Nursing homes and to try to bring joy to our older population.

Tim has been working with a group of youth at our church that has been visiting the Nursing Home.

The other night they played Bingo with the residents.

He said it was hilarious.

Tim just had three Grandparents to pass away in the last 2-3 years, each of them having spent their last days in this nursing home.

When we would visit them, my heart just ached.

Nursing homes are just so symbolic to me.

So many of them are like small children, or even babies.

Sadly, one day I walked into the nursing home to visit one of Tim's grandparents and saw a large group of residents in wheelchairs all parked together in a clump.

I made a comment to Tim that it looked as though they were all parked at Death's Door, just waiting.

I know this sounds sad, negative, and maybe even a little morbid, but it is exactly what it looked like that day.

Have you ever walked in to a place like this with young children?

Oh. my. gosh.

Their eyes light up like they just saw the most precious sight in the world. 

What appears to be boredom, sadness, and pain immediately transforms into delight.

It is absolutely the most precious thing to watch.

One sweet little old woman at the recital yesterday cradled a big baby doll the entire time.

One of them saw me pick up Megan (who is too big to hold but since there was mainly only room for the residents to sit, most of the visitors were standing and Megan was D-Y-I-N-G). 

Anyway, this sweet little old woman had the most ginormous, sweet, smile on her face as she watched me hold Megan.

I wondered what she was thinking.

I wondered if she was possibly thinking about her own little girl.

Sweet Christmas music in the background played by sweet little kids all decked out in Christmas attire.

I cried.

I tried not to let anyone see me cry, but I cried.

Floodgates opened.

I was overwhelmed.

In an instant, my eyes swept the room and I saw sweet little woman smiling at me, sweet little woman holding baby, sweet little man panicking because some equipment he was hooked up to was beeping and wouldn't stop until a nurse came to his rescue.

I wanted to escape.

I pulled myself together before I caused a scene.  :)

In some ways we enter this world helpless and dependent and leave the world the same way.

I clung to the "too big to be held" 5 year old child I was holding and the sweet 7 year old leaning up against me with her arms tightly wrapped around my body.

I tried to treasure that moment because I knew that one day I would be older and long to have my children in my arms like that again.

You see, sometimes we don't like to be sad or think about hard things.

But, I think it is also necessary sometimes to have a "reality check".

This is a small sample of the audience there yesterday. 

There were many others behind this group.

I found a few verses that summed up some of my thoughts.

Proverbs 16:31 (NIV) "Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained by a righteous life."
I wonder if we as adults respect the elderly as much as we should and teach our children to give them the respect they deserve.

Isaiah 46:3 I have created you and cared for you since you were born. I will be your God through all your lifetime, Yes, even when your hair is white with age. I made you and I will care for you."

A large portion of the world may find it easy to forget our older folks, but God is still with them.

Psalms 71:9 Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth. How easy it is to forget about these precious people.
I wonder how many of them never have visitors and come to rely on the day to day interaction with nursing home staff.

Job 12:12 (NASB) Wisdom is with aged men, With long life is understanding."
I wonder what one piece of advice the residents that were of sound mind would share with these young people so full of potential with a lifetime of experiences ahead of them.
What would be the single most important thing they would share?
I wonder.

Let's all strive not to forget about our older population.
If you get the chance, visit a nursing home during Christmas and don't forget about them throughout the year.
I will strive to do the same.

Reason for the Season

I wanted to show you one of my FAVORITE Christmas decorations.



I bought this about 12 years ago before I got married.

I think it is so important not to leave out the Nativity at Christmas.

I misplaced the stable and looked high and low to find it.

I did not want to not have my entire Nativity out at Christmas.

A little closer look at the "main attraction".

It's so important that we do not forget the "Reason for the Season".

There is so much more to that catchy little phrase than words.

I beg you to really think about it this year.

I love the song/video Cyndi shared on her blog, "Where's the Line to See Jesus". 

If you haven't listened to it yet, you should.  :)

I'm linking this to Happier Than a Pig in Mud's Reason for the Season Party.

Hop on over and take a look at all the beautiful Nativity Scenes posted over there.

Extremely Belated Make a List Monday

Okay, so my Make a List Monday hasn't been going very well the last two Mondays.
It's okay though...at least I am making some headway.
I'm telling myself this now but I really let it stress me the past couple weeks.
That's the problem with me and lists; I need them in order to accomplish tasks but I also will weigh myself down with them.
Anyone else have these odd idiosyncrasies or is it just me?

Anyway...here is my Make a List Monday from TWO Mondays ago.

1)  Complete Christmas decorations and completely put away and organize (not shove to a corner of my garage) my fall decorations. 

DONE!!

2)  Paint or order or purchase my cabinet hardware.

DONE!!

The cabinet hardware was an ordeal (at least it was for me).
But then again, everything is an ordeal with me.
I love that saying, "I used to be indecisive, but now I'm not so sure". 
That is me.  Anyway...
I bought several different kinds from Lowes.
We were gonna paint the existing hardware but heard a few horror stories and chickened out.
I bought ORB hardware and wasn't sold on it.
I also bought some knobs where the base was not as wide as the old knobs and you could see discoloration of the wood under the new knobs, so larger base knobs were needed.

I ended up purchasing satin nickel knobs AND pulls.
I bought them both from Lowes and then found the knobs on Ebay for much cheaper.
I returned the knobs back to Lowes.
Tim installed the pulls but I very impatient patient and waited for the knobs from Ebay to arrive.
The knobs started out at $3.23 and I found them on Ebay for $1.48 each. 
At 29 knobs that was a HUGE savings and worth the wait.
With the money I saved I was able to purchase my new blinds for my kitchen.

3)  Hang new blinds in my kitchen.

DONE!!

Yes, you do see my new curtains playing peek-a-boo up there.
That would've been on my list for this past week had I actually made the list. 
It is a long story and I will show you more in a couple days.

My kitchen is starting to come together but I still have lots of work to do.

I will keep you updated as changes are made.

Can I just say this is a terrible time of year to be doing makeovers?

With Christmas activities, shopping, cooking, baking, parades, dance, piano, etc. etc. etc. it has made it very difficult but we are plugging (slowly) along.

Oh well...It's not how fast you run the race it's if you finish it, right?

Or something like that.  :) 

So even though I've been a bad, bad blogger this week, I can still recognize that the mere fact that I said (on my blog) that I was going to get these things gave me a little extra fuel to keep going.

Blogging Benefits Thus Far...

Week 1:  Motivated me to take more pictures of my girls, which is priceless.
Week 2:  Motivated me to tackle my desk. 
Week 3:  Motivated me to clean up the hot spots in my bedroom.
Week 4:  Motivated me to put the rest of our summer clothing away.
Week 5:  Motivated me to organize my girls' hairbows.
Week 6:  Motivated me to install new cabinet hardware.

I need to say thank you to all of you that have supported my blogging adventure.
I think the reason so many people are motivated to start their own blog is because of all the positive support everyone offers.
It is just such a nice community of nice people that you don't otherwise get to see or get to know in everyday life.
Thank you all so much!!

Let it Snow!!

The pretty white stuff is coming down again!!
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

This is the "snowman" the girls built yesterday.

They decided he was a frog.

Don't ask me why, I have no idea.  :)

This is a picture taken last night. 

The snow was so thick and the lights looked so pretty through the snow.

Didn't show up so well here, but you get the picture.  :)

This was a pretty little tree our speech therapist bought me as a wedding gift 11 years ago.

I love the Nativity ornaments she got me.

I always think of her each year when I put it out.







This tablecloth is so cute but looks kind of funny in this picture.

Don't you just love Christmas?

Today's job is to finish cleaning up the boxes and light up my favorite candle.

The girls and I will snuggle on the couch and watch Christmas shows as the snow comes down.

Thank you God for the blessings in this "Ordinary" Sunday.