Elf in the yard

I've heard of Elf on a Shelf, but never Elf in the yard. Today, I went out back and found one sitting peacefully in the backyard.

Upon further inspection, I realized it was just Biggie Boy.

Much cuter than an elf.

hat from the $1 bin at Target...score!

Lovin Photoshop where I get 2 hats for the price of one1!

Felt Fever

I have fever. Felt fever. It's such a simple craft, but it has endless possibilities. And, it's cheap. Just 29 cents a sheet at JoAnn's. I saw this a few weeks back on a blog I read and immediately knew that one day, I'd have to make those. Well, that one day came today. It was a very lazy Saturday so I had the perfect opportunity to make these cuties. Guess I should go hang them on the tree and let them introduce themselves to all their new friends.

Lights out of Lemons

So, since we are home bound because we had to scratch exciting wonderful plans that we've had for over 2 months, due to people who wouldn't stop getting sick (how rude), we made the best of our situation! Can I just say, it's always a morale boast when you take a bad situation and have a good attitude and make it into something positive! I love when that happens! So, by yesterday afternoon, for the most part, everyone was feeling okay. As of this writing, Shawn isn't feeling so great, and I'm just feeling a loss of appetite and tired, which is what I've felt for days now. Elle is coughing a lot, but Ava and Levi are great. Anyway, we decided that since we weren't headed out of town, we would check another cool thing of the list of attractions in this area. We headed to Nature in Lights in Belton and we are so glad we did. First, we started by eating at "world famous" Storms. Can I just say, I'm not sure why it's world famous...it can't be for the burgers. It was a mistake to eat there because nothing set right after that. ugh. But, as Shawn said last night, "Well, we can mark that off the list of things to do." We'll stick with Mighty Fine. Anyway, after that we headed to the lights. It only cost us $5 to drive through it, which is mostly unheard of nowadays. They had a "snow" machine blowing on you as you began the drive through and I'm pretty sure that both Shawn and I have hearing loss from the experience. There was such high decibel squealing going on with each new thing we saw (and to be honest, I was doing a lot of that squealing.) There's just something about fireworks and Christmas lights that I just can't contain myself! Anyway, it was wonderful and took us well over an hour to drive through and they also had a gorgeous Santa that you could take pictures with. It costs $7 to take as many pictures as you wanted. That may sound expensive, but considering that at the mall, it cost $22, we felt like we were getting a steal. Now we can officially have Christmas day because Levi has sat on Santa's lap. We weren't sure how he'd do but we just plopped him down on his lap, and he just stared at Santa, then back at us, then back at him over and over. But, he never acted terrified so that was a positive. The girls were forced to take one picture with him but were never too sure about him. We ended the night with a cup of hot chocolate for the girls, which took them about 15 minutes to drink and which they fought over with every single sip the other took. They fought over the marshmallows too. Then everyone nestled into their seats in the car, we turned up the Christmas music, Levi slept the whole way home and the girls sang. It was a great night and made missing the wedding a little less painful.

One of the 12 days of Christmas...I feel a kindred spirit with that cow...

1st picture after sitting him down. If only we could know what Levi was thinking.

Christmas miracle...Neither of the girls wanted to see Santa...but once they did, Elle told him she wanted a sled and Ava said she wanted candy.

Christmas time = Sick time

We're going for a 3rd year in a row of sickness at Christmas time here. Lovely. Two years ago, I almost wiped out both of our families by unknowingly bringing them the gift of extreme stomach bug. Last year, I believe Elle was pretty sick for most of the winter with Cedar Fever. This year, I should be packed and leaving tomorrow with our little family. We have planned for about 2 months now to head to Arkansas this weekend to see one of the girls in our past youth group get married, as well as spend a little time with Shawn's sister, brother in law, and their kids, including 2 new babies. Well, to make a long story short, Elle has been sick on and off since last Thursday. Then Ava puked a lot on Tuesday. We somehow all managed to pull it together and get some family pictures on Tuesday evening. Everyone seemed to be doing well, and we figured we were done with it....until last night, or I guess it was actually this morning around 1 am. Elle puked all over herself, her mattress (that did not have a mattress cover, but does now!), and her pillow...and remember she's on the top bunk. Not quite so easy to clean up when it's way up there. Shawn was giving her a bath and I was getting another load of pukey stuff going. We got her situated, brought the mattress downstairs and began an unplanned date night...in the kitchen...while he used our wet vac to try to save her mattress. Good times. Good times. So we looked at each other and said the inevitable...We're not going. We are both so extremely bummed about this. Elle has felt bad for most of the afternoon today but seemed to be doing better as bed time came around. We are going on day #9 of her not feeling good. I've felt a little puny through this, but nothing like her, and Ava seemed to only be down for one day. Shawn has been pretty tired lately too, but I'm thinking, it's just taking care of all this! Levi is bebopping along with a snotty nose, but happy as a clam as long as you don't bring that suction bulb near him, or heaven forbid attempt to wipe his nose. So, anyway, we are staying home this weekend and we can think of a few positives, but would rather have a pity party...anyone want to join? A twin mattress in our kitchen at 1:45 am

We are officially overflowing with Sprite, Pedialyte(which everyone refuses to drink), apples, bananas, toast, and waffles

This is what I handed Shawn when he began the process of trying to bathe her. I could see that he was going to lose it and this seemed to help. I truly think I saw something like this on TV when people were dealing dead or dying people. You smear Vicks inside the mask and then that's all you can smell. No joke, but it worked for him.

We are now planning on going to the Belton Lights, which wasn't going to happen if we were in AR. It all depends on if Elle can feel good enough for long enough to actually GO! On top of everything else, she missed her Christmas party at school today. I felt bad for her so I went out and bought some Christmas project kits that were all half off and we did some today and will do some more all the way up till Christmas. Really all I can hope for now is for everyone to be well by the 24th. Other than the Belton Lights, the other thing on the agenda is to have Levi's picture taken with Santa! I am trying to find cheap or free and that's getting harder and harder to do. Here's a few pictures from around the house as we anticipate and enjoy the last 8 days before Christmas.

The tiny treasure I found at Goodwill today. I love the vintage look of it.


Ava's crafty tree and her mad scissor skills. She was SO proud!

Elle's math homework

Got these candy canes at Hobby Lobby today. They were kind of in a pile of trash and broken stuff and had no price so I got them all for a dollar :)

Biggie Boy Happenings

Crazy hair baby right after I had nursed him.

This picture doesn't do him justice for how wild his hair was. He likes to push himself up into the corner of his crib and sleep on his tummy so his hair is out of control when I get him up. Also notice his big toe sticking out the hole in his PJ's.

Sporty Boy

Poor Levi, gets almost no attention around here, so I thought I'd do a post on him. (when will there be a font for sarcasm?) I took a video of him a few days ago that I'm excited about! Also I had a few random photos of him that of course I think are the most adorable thing ever. He is in SUCH a wonderful stage right now. He officially has his first tooth. (FINALLY!) He loves every single one of us more and more every day. He can't get enough of Elle and Ava and I am just about having to sequester myself when I nurse him because he's so interested in every single OTHER thing going on. He smiles about everything and loves to be sung to, tickled, and kissed. Currently, he keeps us entertained by mimicking all kinds of things we do. When we growl, he growls. When we grunt, he grunts. When we shrug our shoulders, so does he. It's highly entertaining and so stinkin cute. We sure are thankful for each one of our kids and how they bring something totally different to our family.

Christmas Prep

Hope you're having a WRAPTASTIC day! This is my last weekend to be available before Christmas so I got down to business and wrapped everything needing wrapping! This is the first year I've actually made a wrapping station in my craft room and my eyes have been opened to a whole new way of doing this! Why oh why, did I never set up a table and have everything organized before? I have always just sat on the floor and worked and then paid for it later with my back and legs. This time it went much faster and more organized. Enjoy the last 2 weeks before Christmas!

DIY Pretzels

Elle went on a playdate earlier this week and came home with a bag of homemade pretzels. They were delicious! The mom of her friend posted the recipe and I decided to try it today...they did NOT disappoint! They taste as good as the ones you get at the pretzel places in the mall! I was so excited to knock off those places because I LOVE their yummy pretzels and this has got to be much much cheaper. I'm going to take them to gamenite tonite and share the love. I will say, they are best straight out of the oven, but I'll just warm them back up tonite when we get there.

Camera Trick

Just playing with my camera, trying to create that effect where the lights behind an object look like big pretty circles...it's called bokeh. Thought I'd have show-n-tell while I'm at it and show you my newest little figure that Shawn got me this year. I sure do love it! Brings a smile to my face everytime I look at it.

8 months

Levi turned 8 months yesterday and I would have posted this yesterday but it is beginning to take an act of God for me to remember to get my camera, bring it upstairs, upload and organize the pictures, and then blog it, all in the same time frame. Life is wild, but I'm pretty sure I'd be super bored if it wasn't! Anyway, I was holding him tonite and Elle was watching me and I said "Don't you just wish he'd stay at this age forever?!" She said Yes! He is just so so happy all the time at this point. If he catches my eye at all he grins from ear to ear with his gummy smile....yes, gummy as in no teeth. I've been told that's a good thing and I agree! He is eating very well though and occasionally I will give him a little bitty bite of something on my plate. I am hoping he moves away from baby food and onto our food quickly, because that stuff is expensive and annoying to buy...and it takes up a whole shelf of my pantry! Levi loves his sisters more now than he ever has. He is mesmerized by their every move. He sits up very very well now so the next thing we will work on is pulling up. I am just about throwing the crawling thing out the window...my kids just don't really like that. This is actually fine with me, because the sooner he crawls, the sooner I'll be doing the Heimlich on him because of all the little choking hazards that my girls own. We are counting down the next 2 weeks and loving each day. Can't wait to share Levi's first Christmas with him. He's been REALLY good so I hope Santa gets him lots of stuff!

Perspective of Biggie Boy

From my viewpoint:

Randoms

This was a shot of the sunrise this morning. It took my breath away! Also as an added bonus, if you click on this picture to see it closer, you will notice 2 sets of eyes staring back at me from the left side of the picture!

Every day, Ava does something else that is so much like me. I found her in my closet separating out all the nail polishes by color. I don't know why, but I've always sorted things by color just for fun.

Levi rolled over and was just checking out the tree and intensely studying all those glittery ornaments. I am thankful that he hasn't learned to crawl yet.

Feasting on the Word

If you think Chicken of the Sea is good, you haven't had anything till you've tried Chicken of the Bible. (at least that's what Levi told me)

Speaking of biblical things having to do with Levi, he preached his first sermon on Sunday. We think he's going to be pretty gifted.

Only 19 days to go!!!

Christmas Stroll X's 2

Friday afternoon, all the first graders from Elle's school sang on the square here in town for a kick off to the yearly Christmas Stroll on the square. Of course we went and were so proud of her...even though we couldn't see her for 99.6 % of the time that she was one stage. Who puts a really tall big boy on the front row? Seriously? Anyway, we still had a great time and enjoyed watching her participate in it. Elle and her friend Riley before they went on stage...everyone was VERY excited!

Okay so maybe not everyone was excited...but Elle and her friend were!

On Saturday we headed back to the square for the official Christmas Stroll and got to watch a REALLY long parade of mostly people advertising businesses and boyscout troops....pretty sure I'm going to send a letter to the city and see if they can rethink how they decide who's in the parade. We won't go back again if they do it like this again. There weren't really anything closely resembling floats and I guess if you had a jingle bell around your neck or a Santa's hat on, of if you just wore red or green, you were in! Anyway, after that, we headed around and looked at some of the vendors and got some "fair" food to eat. We had to leave before we really got to explore though because Levi was upon nap time, getting tired, and we still had a Christmas party to go to that night so we wanted him and the girls to be somewhat well rested. We knew we'd be staying out late. This was by far the busiest weekend in a long time and I had fun...and I'm glad it's over! Next weekend is looking nice and calm and then traveling begins! We are all set for Christmas now and just enjoying each magical day! I think on the schedule tonite is driving around and looking at lights. LOVE IT!

If I were to have a motorcycle, and I won't, this is what it would look like at Christmas :)

My girls on the left

I nursed Levi for over 30 minutes and we still had plenty of time to see the parade...I feel like I should do a scrapbook page of all the places I've nursed him...IT'S EVERYWHERE!

Shawn and I want to own a car like this one day.

Our friend David, who goes to church with us, is also a policeman and he has a great sense of humor :) (hope that's true if he ever pulls me over!)

This picture is great for so many reasons...I love the colors, I love the "snow" and I love that just about everyone is wearing summer attire at a Christmas Parade.

Couldn't leave without getting some kettle corn. Levi was getting pretty annoyed with me because I wouldn't share and he kept reaching his hand towards the open bag.

MASH Costume Party

Our MASH group had a Christmas Costume Party this weekend that I've been so excited about since it got on the calendar! I love any reason to wear a costume and dress up so I was happy that it was for a reason other than Halloween! I decided to go as a gingerbread girl. As Shawn was trying to decide what to go as, we saw a picture on the Internet of someone dressed as a gingerbread house and that was it! My costume took about a week to create and cost about $7 and Shawn's was free so I was pretty excited about it. There was suppose to be a prize for best costume too, but I really didn't care because I just wanted it to look good whether we were getting something or not. Well, it turned out even better than I had hoped. I loved how all five of us were able to make it work. I found the girls aprons at JoAnn's that were half off and they will serve them for years to come anyway! Levi's shirt was made my yours truly. I saw something just like it on etsy.com and had all the right colors of felt so I made it and I LOVE how it turned out too! Anyway, the party was amazing and loads of fun. Everyone voted and YEAH!!!! WE WON!!! And to our surprise, the prize was a $25 Visa Giftcard!!! AWESOME!!! Not only do I now have $25 to anywhere, but a life size gingerbread house (which I'll for sure be keeping and decorating with every year!) and another costume to add to my every growing closet of Halloween props! I love our MASH group so much and am so so thankful that we have such great and fun friends!

Our sweet gingerbread family

Showing off Daddy's house...great job Shawn!!!

Stealing some sugar from Levi's neck

A close up of the gingerbread man on Levi's shirt...I love how it turned out!

The Countdown Begins...

I couldn't decide which Santa I liked better so I put them both up! Oh and if you need a gift idea, either of these would be great. :)