Woodland Tree a.k.a. Tree #7

I am in love with my new tree!  I bought ornaments and a tree after Christmas last year with a very clear idea of what I wanted this new tree to look like.  I was giddy this past week when we got everything out and I was able to see all those ornaments again.  The picture I had in my head of what this tree would look like, is exactly what it came out like and I'm in love!!!

So my definition of woodland is anything having to do with the outdoors.  It's mainly campy stuff and cute woodsy animals.  Here are some of my favorite ornaments.

This is probably my favorite and my mom gave it to me last year for Christmas.  I.LOVE.IT.

A hedgehog with a Santa hat on!!!

A skunk!  I love this one....it's unique...don't see many skunk ornaments. ha!

I'm a little obsessed with  old red cars that have a tree on top.

 

And here it is with the room lights on.  Even better, the tree "skirt" is just some plaid quilted fabric I got at the thrift store for about $2.50.  I never got around to sewing it into a skirt but I kind of like it this way.

Stay tuned for pictures of tree #8, coming later this week!  (It's the last one...for now.)

Camping with 16 Girls

Camping is already an adventure, but when you add 16 young girls, you are in for a wild ride!  Our Girl Scout troop went camping last weekend from Friday to Sunday.  We stayed in town and went out to the lake to camp.  It was nice to be so close to home, yet "away" from it all.  Friday night, we all converged on our two campsite overlooking the lake.  We had a great view of the sunset!  There were four tents to put up and the girls did a great job.  No tents flew away during our weekend so I call that a success.  Saturday morning we woke up to a chilly start and the older girls of the troop made breakfast tacos. 

Then some of the younger ones took a hike along the shoreline.

The Brownies also began making habitats in their bug boxes they had made a troop meetings.

How many Girl Scouts does it take to wash dishes? Seven apparently.

After cleaning up breakfast dishes, our troop headed out on a long hike.

We told the girls to "act" tired at the end of the hike.  They didn't have to try very hard.  We clocked it at 3.75 miles for the hike!

Here's our official troop picture with all the adults too.  

This was probably the best part of the weekend for the girls.  Just hanging out in the tents and playing games.

Saturday evening we had foil dinners and everyone ate them up!

We also had a fire Saturday night.  It was the perfect weather for one.

Sunday morning, I was up in time to watch the sunrise over the lake.  I don't purposefully watch sunrises very often so this was amazing.

Because we were in town, our troop leader got donuts for breakfast and got the adults Starbucks!  What a treat.  Then me and the girls scrambled to get home and showered and headed to bible class and worship!  I think I can just now say that I may have caught up on rest.  What a great weekend with some fun memories.

Bedroom Makeover

After months of selling unnecessary items, garage sales, consignment sales and generally saving, we were finally able to redo our master bedroom!  We have had this same duvet cover for over 10 years. We both absolutely love how it turned out!  The wall color is Benjamin Moore Admiral Blue.  Funny not so funny story about that amazing blue....it cost us $74.  Yes, you read that right.  There has to be a hitch in every makeover project and this was our hitch.  We saw Admiral Blue on a pinterest board and immediately fell in love with it.  When we actually brought the swatch home, we just couldn't get past how dark it seemed.  So after much thought, we went with the next step up in color. We got it up on the wall and I kid you not, it looked like we had done our wall in blue painters tape.  I felt like I was in a preschool where the walls are painted primary colors.  We tried to let it settle in for a day, but when we both woke up the next morning, we knew what we had to do.  As painful as it was to go buy ANOTHER can of paint, we knew it was the best decision and chalked it up to a learning experience.  We kept the same curtains because I love them so much.  As crazy as it is, we went with a white duvet cover which we LOVE.  I made the zig zag pillow and all the other pillow cases are either IKEA or Target.  The gray blanket is Target.  The headboard is DIY!!  Fabric was from Hobby Lobby for a whopping $17.  We love how it turned out!

BEFORE

AFTER:

 

Change is A Comin'

Today we said Good Bye to our lovely Halloween decorations.  It looks like someone robbed us now....the walls are bare and everything looks too uncluttered....won't be long till I begin with Christmas!

There was a photo booth last night at the carnival we went to and I loved the pictures.

This, yes this, is our candy jar.  I will most likely go through it when the kids go back to school and see about trading some of this in for $$.  Yes, there is a dental office in town that will do that!  It's pretty awesome!

We got a sweet Halloween card with a dollar each from Gramme today.  The kids unanimously voted to pool their money to go to Cherry Berry.  :)  They also got a package from Nana and Poppy with fun witch noses, masks, socks, candy and other fun stuff.  Shawn got some delicious coffee flavored Ghiradelli and I got some amazing orange chocolate truffles.  SO GOOD!

Ava promptly pulled this shirt out this morning and asked to wear it.  Halloween is officially over, so why not!

Speaking of Christmas, here's where some of the change is coming.....

 

 More pictures to come as we get things settled.  

We've been in this house a little over seven years so it was time for some changes!