Decorating for Christmas

I do soooo LOVE Christmas! I love everything about it - except the shopping! But - I especially love decorating for Christmas. I love getting ALL the boxes out from under the house and opening each one to see what is inside. I love the moment of remembering those items from last year and the little smile that I get from those memories. I love opening a box that is full of all the clearance items from the year before I bought to use this year and trying to remember what I was gonna do with that??? I must admit that a few items got put back into a box this year because I had absolutely no idea what I was thinking when I bought them and couldn't figure out what to do with them this year!!!
I was so excited when I found this tour of homes hosted by The Nester so I could peek into how you decorate and get some ideas for next year!! But - I missed the cutoff to join in her party and through her Ifound these other Holiday Home Tours to join and visit! Hooked on Holiday House Tours and Home for the Holidays .It is gonna be so much fun for me to look thru all those homes.

I hope you enjoy the tour.......

This is our new card tree. We love this idea and will be doing it from now on! I can't wait to see what it will look like the day before Christmas! It has already doubled since I took this picture!



This ledge just recently got put up in the tv room and has yet to be decorated - except for the window - so it was fun to put all our christmas frames on it and give it some life - finally!! I have painted the frames each year and we try to put our christmas morning pic in them but there are a couple that we missed so it is just the card pic from that year!


The three wisemen are ornaments that my hubby hates putting on the tree becasue they are so heavy! I think they found a nice home!


this was fun to decorate with ribbon and bright little ball ornaments


kitchen table centerpiece




our house is just a little house and we do no thave any mantels so the stockings hang in the front hallway. I did this last year and I tried to put them on a bookshelf this year but Stephen requested I put them here like I did last year - so I did!



Our tree.....when we first got married we went to the farm and cut down our tree and brought it home and it was such fun a nd smelled so good. After child #4 came along it was no longer fun it was just plain torture with a lot of yelling and crying involved from mommy and small, cold children so we bought a fake tree! It is nice to be bale to put the tree up on black friday and leave it up till i feel like taking it down! But we decided this year to get a real tree next year since the boys are older and we do miss the smell of the real tree!

My hubby works retail so putting up the tree the day after Thanksgiving doesn't usually happen as he is busy with all the Black Friday madness. So the tree ususally gets put up during that weekend at some point! It is a family event and all must be present before we can start! Mommy is in charge of the ornaments and the boys get fussed at quite a bit to "be gentle" with the ornaments throughout the process but it is pure family fun we all love! It is so much fun to remember the ornaments from year to year and see the ones the kids made from year to year and to open a new one from Grandma each year. The boys take turns each year putting on the star. It was Thomas' turn this year and he was just so stinkin' proud of himself - it was way too cute! I love sitting next to the tree and just enjoying the lights and the ornaments!




I took these pics below because I thought it would be enjoyable to show off the giant clumps of ornaments and the big holes in the tree that have no ornaments! This drives my hubby crazy and when he tried to be all sneaky and move some of them around the kids actually noticed and got upset with him!! So we now have a very badly decorated tree but it adds to the charm and beauty of it and the lights are still pretty!
i wrote on the pic but you can't read it...



Alex started a little tradition of his own with his brothers a couple years ago - He hides baby Jesus in the tree and on Christmas morning the little ones have to find him. They love this and can't wait to find the baby Jesus christmas morning!


front door wreath I just bought at JoAnn's for 75% off and quickly came home and took down the berry one we have had for a few years now! I would really like to have a big P to put on it but I can't find the bigger wood letters around my small town so it will remain bare till I travel to other parts of the world in search of better craft stores!!! I love the rusted bells. I found some rusted stars at Ben Franklin the stoher day that I think I will add to this one of these days!


I love putting up ALOT of christmas lights outside and I especially love driving home after being gone all day and it is dark and all the lights are on - that is my absolute favorite part!!! It is worth all the work for that moment!! I would keep the lights up all year if I could!




not enough lights yet...we are thinking we should put some around the windows too!


I must admit that I do tend to skip right over Thanksgiving and move straight from Halloween(which I could easily skip as well) and go straight into Christmas! I tried to put up Fall decor this year and keep it up till Thanksgiving but I just couldn't hold out - I caved - like 2 days before Thanksgiving!! I'll try again next year!


This is our Advent Log. My dad drilled some holes into a 2x4 for me to put the candles and I decorated it with garland and holly and berries that each have symbolism this season! Each night we do an advent reading and the boys take turns lighting the candles. The white ones are the sundays of advent and the last one will be lit christmas morning before we do presents! This is the first year doing the log. Last year was our first year doing advent and we used a wreath. I saw the log at a friend of ours mom's house and loved it and wanted to do that instead of a wreath. I could never bring myself to use the purple and pink candles that are traditional advent candles - red and white work just as good for us!! They still have the same meaning just not the right color - Oh well! You should see these all lit up - it is gorgeous!
We also celebrate christmas morning with a donut cake for Jesus' Birthday.

Thomas' turn - notice the concentration - this is hard work


My Santa's are one of my favorite things to put out! Quite a few years ago my mom started buying me one of these Santa's every year and I LOVE them! She hasn't gotten me a new one in a few years because they no longer go to SC on vacation! So they are scattered all over the downstairs and even on the bookshelves in the hallway upstairs!

Show and Tell

I am soooo excited! I found a blog that does show and tell once a week - wooohooo!!! Now - I can show off some of my creations and possibly get some feedback on some of my stuff!! It will also be nice to show off all my fun painting stuff I like to do!!!

This is my first time doing show & tell and I am excited to show off some of my christmas things I made to sell at a local coffee shop! They aren't flying off the shelves like I had hoped but it was fun making them so I guess it is okay! Whatever doesn't sell I will just give as Late christmas gifts!!!

These actually sold pretty well!



I saw this idea on a blog at halloween and she gave directions on how to number the blocks(i never would have figured that out on my own) so I gave it a go and I think they turned out cute and fun!!

not christmasy but i did paint it for the shop so I put it on here!

a christmas gift for my sister.....

another countdown to christmas......

I can't wait till next week to show off what I did with these fantastic nativities I found from one of the past show and tell's!!

I have a LOVE of all things polka dot but red with white polka dots is my absolute favorite! So - when I saw this chicken at Ross the other day I just HAD to have it!! The fact that it was only $5 made it a little easier to justify the purchase of a red polka dotted chicken!!!

This is where the chicken will roost!

Since I took a picture of that side of the cabinets I figured I may as well take a pic of the other side. These are all my colored vases I have been collecting for a couple years now at antigue shops, thrift stores and flea markets!!! I had to stop because I ran out of room to put them!! My hubby put sdome white lights up behind them and they look so pretty!

It's Christmas Card Time

and I am soooo not ready for it! We sat down to figure out what we did this past year and it was the same old stuff that we do every other year!! The only person who did exciting stuff was Alex and I don't want to write a whole christmas letter about what HE did all year!! Do family and friends really want to hear the same old same old year after year??? I don't even know where to start and it is already Dec.10th........aaarrrrgggghhhhh!!! What to do? What to do?

Memories.....

Look at those little cuties.....this is Stephen and Ben at Great Falls,VA. We used to live near the Falls and so we took the little boys one morning and went to see the Falls...Beautiful!

I got this picture out so I could frame it to put up on the wall - which I haven't done yet - and I just keep looking at it on the computer and marveling at my cute little boys and how much they have grown!! I really do miss those little boys!!

Pumpkin Patch

we took the boys to the pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin to carve and mommy got some fun gourds to decorate with!! I do love the wackiness of Gourds!

Mommy's Boys...what a crew!!!

Ben liked the little pumpkins

Thomas picked out some fun gourds for Mommy!

Stephen was soooo dissapointed when we told him he had to choose one or the other

Alex made quite the spectacle of himself riding down the hill over and over again in these tube things.....Stephen was happy to give his big brother a Push.....

You roll down this little hill and the hay bales are supposed to stop you. well - Alex went right over the top of the bales and then stopped - it was hysterical!!

Mommy even took a turn but we will not be sharing those pictures with all of you!!!

Alex had done these before a few years ago and was very excited to do them again!

The Corn Maze. The boys were so excited to go into the corn maze - until they got lost! They were in there for quite some time and I was getting a little bored waiting for them when they came busting out the side of the maze and onto the tractor path - clearly not the Exit of the maze!! Do you notice Alex pointing to his father and tattling on him???? He didn't waste any time telling that it was daddy who made them do it!!!

Carving our Pumpkins. Thomas would have nothing to do with touching the guts inside the pumpkin so Stephen did it for him!! I was surprised because Stephen has always been the one who didn't want to touch gross stuff!!!

WOW!!

I have a pretty amazing teenager!! He definately has his faults and issues and troubles but he is such a Joy!
This week has been busy for him! Monday night he was in a One Act Play competition between the 4 high schools in our area and Broadway came in 2nd Place - YEAH!!! Those kids worked their butts off and it was such a rewarding experience for them! Now they will go to a Regional competition - he is so excited!!!
Tonight was the All City-County Choir Performance of the same 4 local high schools and their choir's. Alex is in choir so we also attended that! It was incredible!
There is some serious talent in our high school kids and truly a pleasure to get to enjoy it!!!
I am the proud, bragging mom tonight - I hope that is okay!!!

O' Christmas Tree

For some reason we have been having LOTS of discussions about christmas already and putting up the lights(the outside goes a little towards trailer park trash and WE LOVE IT)! Since we can't put up the lights outside - the boys asked if they could put up their tree today? They have a tree that goes in their room and they have their own decorations and they just love it....so we put it up! It was so much fun!!
I just couldn't resist when Stephen said to me - "Mommy, I just love having the tree up and all the lights" I do too!!!

Alex

Did I share with you that Alex is the Freshman class President at his new High School? I am proud and bragging - yes I am!!! The boy has no problem making friends and fitting in or not fitting in and making himself comfy in whatever situation he is in! I am truly amazed time after time at his ability to fit in and get along with just about everybody. There have been very few people he has ever not gotten along with in his lifetime. What amazing skills for him as he grows up and ventures into new and scary situations!

He went to his first Homecoming dance last weekend! He was NOT allowed to take a girl or dance too close to any girls but he still had a blast - big suprise! He was a dancing machine all night - so he said - and just had a really good time. He was all wired and pumped when he got home and just talked about nothing else for 2 straight days!

It is scary and exciting to watch him go through this phase of life. I did let my Fear take over a bit and probably will again but God worked it out and now it is a little better for Mom to handle all the girl stuff and growing stuff that comes along with high school and teenagers!

Craziness

Our lives spun out of control in a matter of minutes and I am still reeling!!!

Alex has adjusted to High School without any problems whatsoever! He is now the Freshman Class President!! He didn't even go to public school last year and he got elected President within the first 2 weeks of school!! He also tried out for a one act play and got the main part he tried out for! My son is quite the socialite!! It is going to be a BUSY year for us with his new schedule! Now we will just have to see how his grades do with all the business!!

or this is how we all are gonna feel......

Last week Alex brought home some wonderful flu/cold and it hit us all - HARD!! He had a cough and sore throat for a day or so. Then Danny got it for a couple days, Stephen had a cough for a day or so. Thomas got a runny nose and Ben had a cough for about a minute. I got it on Thursday and I STILL have it!! I cannot get rid of this runny nose and sore throat - it is miserable!!!

being sick brought everything to a halt - real quick! but it didn't stop the fact that I started back to work at the Family Christian store on Monday & Tuesday! YUK!! It is only for christmas and it will be worth it to get some debt paid off!!

the little ones enjoyed it because they got a day or 2 off of school due to mommies sickness!!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Fasting from the TV & Computer

A call was put out by some friends of ours to fast and we didn't do very well with the whole food fasting idea so we decided as a Family to fast from the Tv & Computer for a week! Starting today we will no tbe watching any TV or using the computer for games or such for a week. Yes - I know I am on the computer - but I am on it to tell you that I won't be on it for a week!! I am allowed to use it to check email and some other things because I have some books for sale and other things I need to be able to respond to but no blogging!! It is going to be a LONG week for me!! I am addicted to this computer and talking to you is my release at the end of the day!!
I am excited to see how God works in us this week! We have some verses posted around about worship and we will be praying those and some others every time we want to blog or turn one of the screens on!! I am looking forward to an amazing week of some spiritual changes in our house!!!

Makin' Bread

I made my first loaf of fresh ground whole wheat bread! I do love the taste of whole wheat and with a slab of real butter melted onto a piece of freshly baked bread......My mouth is watering......YUMMY!!! I got a new bread maker so I can make bread every day - the boys boycotted me making bread and freezing it and I don't mind throwing a loaf in the maker every day! It seems to get eaten so it is worth it!
I borrowed a friends grinder and ground some hard red and some hard white and I am excited to experiment with each of the wheats to find what we like best! So far I have made 2 loafs of bread with the same wheat but a different recipe. I don't know how to fix the recipe if we don't like it but I don't mind trying new ones till we find the one we like the best! We already did this with the pancake mix and determined that they like the hard white the best BUT mommy likes the hard red!!
It is weird for me to be this excited about cooking and bread making but I am really excited about the benefits for our family!!!

If any of you have a great breadmachine bread recipe you want to pass on I would love to have it to try!!!
It just dawned on me I should have taken a pic of my first loaf to show off!!!

Friend Makin Monday

I did this a couple weeks ago and it was fun so here I am again - tryin to make me some friends!! My answers to the 20 questions - I hope you will still be my friend after you read my answers!!!

1. Do you cook every night?
Not if I don't have to!! I really do not enjoy cooking! But you gotta do what you gotta do - right? and if we are going to change our eating habits - which I posted about yesterday - then I am going to HAVE to cook every night - YUK!!!

2. What kind of laundry detergent do you use & why?
I used to use the costco brand int hat big huge container but lately i have been buyin whatever is cheapest! We have this great store around here that has super cheap prices on food items and some other odds and ends so I have been buying laundry detergent for 3.49 a bottle for a few weeks!

3. Do you do laundry every day or loads at a time?
I do it whenever the mood strikes and it is usually when we run out of undies! I usually end up doing it 2 or 3 times a week a few loads at a time.

4. How often do you eat out per week?
NEVER.

5. Where do you usually eat out?
if we do - it would be to hit the drive thru at chick-fila or mcdonalds

6. What is your favorite retail store?
I do soooo love Thrift stores!! But real stores - my favorite is TARGET - and since hubby works there we do get a small discount!!!

7. What is oyur favorite thing to drink?
Dr.Pepper but it has to be fountain soda!

8.Do you take vitamins? What kind?
i was taking mellaluca but it has been a few months since i got them

9. What percentage of the household chores do you do?
80%

10. Do your children do chores?
yes - alex does the 2 bathrooms(not mine), sweeps and mops the stairs and hallway, vacuum downstairs after dinner
the little ones empty the dishwasher, scoop dog poop, clean the van, clean their room, and they each have a dinner chore - get drinks, set the table, wipe the table
Here are some pics of the chore charts and schedules I recently made for the boys.

11. Do you go to church?
ABSOLUTELY

12.Do you have a housework schedule?
HA!HA! I wouldn't keep it but the OCD in me would sure have fun making one!

13. Do you keep a working budget?
Dave Ramsey all the way!!

14. What do you do at night as a family?
we always eat dinner together. we watch movies, play games

15. How do you prepare yourself for a new week?
I wish I planned out my school week on sundays. I have tried to do a meal plan but so far I havent done so good with that!! Other than that I pretty much fly by the seat of my pants and take it as it comes - I would not recommend this method!!!

16. What do your mornings look like?
In reality - i roll out of bed whenever the boys come pester me to get up. then we have breakfast, do our morning chores and get started with school. there is no set time for any of the above but I am trying to follow the same routine every day!

17. What time do you get up in the mornings?
during the week I set the alarm for 7:00 and usually hit snooze till about 8:00. on the weekends I sleep as long as they will let me but i am usually up by 830 or 9!

18. What time do you go to bed at night?
I would like to be in bed by 11 but so many nights i am up till 1,2 and sometimes 3!! Now that we have started school I am better about getting to bed but alot of times it is 12 before i hit the pillow!

19. How do you manage all the paperwork that comes into your house?
Anything that needs to be attended goes staright ont he calendar whitha s much info as I can fit and then the piece of paper goes into the trash can! if i need the paper it gets attached to the door to the garage with a magnet( it is right next to the calendar) or it goes around the calendar ona string I have hanging there attached with a clothespin. I have a bill/money file taht all that goes into until bill paying time. all phone lists are in 1 binder in a central spot by the calendar.

20. How do you keep your household organized?
I think my answer to 19 would qualify here as well! Pic here of my wall calendar system!

Healthy Eating

About 6 months ago I started making our own bread and it has been a good change for us. That is about as far as I got in the healthy eating dept until recently. The other day i found myself listening to Sue Becker of the Bread Beckers on one of the MP3's from convention. I was mesmerized and God just struck something in my head and heart and said listen up because this needs to happen in your house! We do love our cereal, popcorn, chips and all sorts of frozen goodies like chicken nuggets and pizza rolls but hubby and I have gotten sick of the way we eat and so we knew it was time for a change!
The 2 things that really struck me were 1) shop for REAL FOOD. do not shop the inside aisles of the grocery store - only shop the outside perimeter and only buy real food. I didn't understand at first but I just so happen to go to the grocery store a day or so later and was floored by the reality of what she was saying! It will mean I will have to actually cook and make food for my family instead of opening a bag or dumping it onto a pizza pan but i feel like God is behind me on this and will keep me fed with ideas thru the internet and friends!
2) grind our own wheat. this will be a little harder since I don't have a wheat grinder and I sure don't have $300 plus to drop on one! But I do have a dear friend who has one and is willing to grind it for me! I was totally convinced just listening to Sue Becker talk about what they do to the wheat to make it have a shelf life of undetermined time. I have been blessed since we decided to make this change by realizing half my friends eat this way and are so willing to share recipes, hints and tips and even help me get started(I really have NO desire to cook - I would much rather be painting). Any recipes or tips YOU want to share I will be so blessed to have!!!
Those are the 2 things we are gonna slowly strat to change around here!

I will be more than happy to make you a copy of her talks and send them to you if you want to listen to what she has to say!

Once I started researching recipes and figuring out other things to eat for breakfast and lunch I started thinking about my son's acne and if this change of eating might be helpful to him. I found nothingt hat said 'these foods cause acne' but i found multiple articles that had found correlations between caffeine - soda & chocolate, dairy products and all the preservatives put into food and acne! Are you suprised? I was - just a little bit - but the more I learn about what things are being put into my food the less and less I am suprised by what a change in diet can do for us!!

My hubby, Alex and Ben are okay with the idea of change but we haven't had the full effect of it all yet - there is still cereal in the pantry and chips so as soon as those are gone it could get UGLY around here! Stephen and Thomas are my picky eaters and when I say picky I mean they will go hungry rather than try something(which is almost everything i put in front of them). Stephen actually GAGGED when I made him try a bite of a wheat pancake I made with our fresh flour!! I have always given them the option to have a bowl of cereal if they didn't like what we were having for dinner but we are going COLD TURKEY on the cereal and they will have to take a NO THANK YOU bite before they can turn it down and refuse to eat! I am sure we will still have some frozen items for lunch now and again - I love pizza rolls and tater tots as much as they do!!

God give me strength to make these changes and stick to them for our family and the benefits we can receive by eating the way you intended us to eat!

Yard Sales and In-Laws

I spent the week getting ready for a yard sale at my house this weekend. I LOVE yard sales! I love going to them - I love having them and I love getting rid of stuff! We have bought very few pricey things - most everything we own has come from thrift stores and yard sales so it is easy to get rid of stuff every year because there is not alot of emotional attachment! But now that the boys are getting older we are putting more thought into what we buy them so there is less and less need to get rid of stuff!!

Ben had a blast selling lemonade for 25 cents a cup! He was very patient and sat there all morning waving and saying hello to folks and asking them if they wanted to buy lemonade! He made $12!!

I would sooo buy lemonade from him if he smiled at me like that!!!

My In-Laws will be arriving Monday or Tuesday and I am a total stress case! They are never here long but when they are it is very stressful. I have been cleaning like it was 'spring' and i still have a LONG way to go!!! I love them dearly and they are awesome, God-lovin' folks but they are just different than I am and my mother in law does not hesitate(at all) to tell me how she is feeling, what I am doing wrong and how ugly the color on my walls is! It is very hard to prepare myself mentally for the put downs..aaarrggghhhh!! The biggest problem is that they are the most wonderful people EVER and it is so hard to remember that sometimes!!! God has truly blessed our family with them but sometimes it is just HARD!!!

on a side note.....I found an old Dave Matthews cd when cleaning and I am just chillin' listening to it right now - I love the instruments he uses in his music!!!

I love to paint and be creative and use bright colors!! I started painting about 5 years ago - from the encouragement of a friend whose art I kept buying - and I haven't stopped since!!

Frig Frames are my absolute favorite thing to paint and to gift!! I can be as colorful and fun as I want because most people aren't worried about a frig magnet clashing with their decor!!I love to have my frig full of them!

I love to mix old and new with the use of color and patterns. I love to look at something at a yard sale or in the thrift store and think how I can make it my own!

For years I have also wanted to figure out a way to make some extra $$ from my art - we always need extra $$$!! I tried a website but right as I got it set up we decided to homeschool and there was no way i could do both at that time! I tried some craft shows around here but I don't think my style was quite country enough!! So - I gave up and just have painted to give as gifts and to decorate my house with the random person buying stuff from me here and there.

Well - a friend encouraged me to try again at a local coffee shop - so I did. I met with the owner yesterday and she liked my stuff!! I am excited! I am going to start with a couple of small things that I have around the house and see how it goes!

Bowl.....

Lazy Susan.....

and Frig Frames - of course!!!

We have 2 colleges near us so I am gonna try to do something with their school colors too!!

I am really excited and hopeful that maybe now is the right time to try to make something of my passion!!!

Lady Julie

I was Knighted today!!! We went to the Medieval festival today and I was knighted along with the boys. It was fun! It was a small festival and we were so looking forward to the Jousting Tournament but it turned out to be not what the boys were expecting. Oh well - we enjoyed getting to see the period costumes and all the armor and weapons that they wore!
I totally forgot my camera so no pictures - the memory will just have to be etched into my brain forever!!!

Busy, Busy, Busy

My sister just recently turned me onto the whole coupon shopping craze and a fantastic website that does all the work for me - southernsavers. She goes thru the coupons you get in the paper and matches them up to the store sales for each week. It is truly amazing what you can save by adding coupons to store sales - which I never knew you could do!!! Now - I have not experienced the amazing deals my sister has but I have found milk for only $2.17 a gallon and eggs for $.89 - that works for me for now!!! I plan to get a little more into it now that we are home from all our vacations and we are starting to get back into our routine!! It seems to take a little bit of work but I think it will be worth it for the savings!!!

I have been painting in my free time the past couple days. I started working on my sister's LATE birthday present and couldn't stop so I got a few other projects done that had been sitting around waiting for me to finish!

like this stool that I bought at least 6 months ago, painted it orange and then it sat around and waited for me to do something to the top of it.....

my sisters late birthday present!

a little something for the wall in our family room!!!

tomorrow we are going to a medieval festival and we get to watch a jousting match!! should be fun!!

The newest Pasiecznik has arrived.....

isn't he stinkin cute???

our neighbor had puppies and the boys just fell in love and we thought Shiloh needed a brother so........

look at how he just loves on him.....i couldn't resist!!!

Meet Jack........

Legos HURT.....

Who knew legos could cause some serious damage when you step on them?? I didn't!
I was helping a friend paint yesterday and I stepped down off the ladder and stepped right onto a lego. That thing jammed up into my foot and I literally had to yank it out! It hurt so stinkin' bad! Now I have a gash in the bottom of my foot, it is all swollen and painful to walk and I am in bed with my foot up! There are gonna be some changes in our clean up process around here!!!

we are home...again

We are home to stay this time!! no more vacations - although they were all really fun and well worth it - we are glad to be home! We went camping this past week and can I just mention it RAINED the WHOLE week!!!! It was yucky, wet, more wet, smelly but the kids had a lot of fun! They played in the rain with their cousins, they cooked smores when it cleared for a little bit, they swam in the lake and jumped off the high dive for hours in the rain, they played in the rain some more, we took a hike or two during brief respits from the rain and we had FUN! But - we are glad to be home - even the boys are glad to be sleeping in their own beds!!

I told a small fib - it didn't rain for about 1 1/2 of the days we were there!

I am having trouble loading pics so maybe later I will be able to put some up!!!