Christmas Crafts

Here's another Christmasy post when we are almost into the second month of the year!  Oh, well!

These are the Christmas crafts I did this year!  I got into doing some simple applique so I made them for Christmas presents!

I made the deer towel for my mother-in-law and the Christmas tree towel for my mom!

This one was for my sister-in-law who loves mushrooms!

I made this for my dad (unfortunately the glass broke during shipping!)

Little L's footprint made into a snowman!

Christmasy Family Pictures

I know Christmas is long gone by now (or I am sure your Christmas tree has been down for at least a few days...right!) but, I thought these pictures that we took a day or two after Christmas were too great not to share!  So just pretend I posted these about a month ago!  ;)

3 Generations!

Cuddle time with Daddy!

Fun in the Snow!

Since it has been absolutely FREEZING outside for the last week or so, I thought I would post some "warmer" snow fun photos!  (Poor Little L hasn't been able to use her sled for soooo long!)

Getting all bundled up!

New snow boots!

Ready to go!

Grandma S pulling the sled

Playing in the snow banks

Our back yard

Do you see that the snow reaches almost all the way up to the bottom of the swing!  And that's not even drifts!

No NightNight!!

Tonight we met a feisty side of Little L!  She decided to skip her nap today and just played in her crib for 2 hours while occasionally calling out "mommy!"  This, of course, put her in a fabulous mood for the rest of the evening.  She was super whinny and got really upset at the drop of a hat so we started to put her down to sleep a few minutes early.  It seemed like it was going ok until we got into her room and started to pick out books to read.  Once she realized what was going on she went and opened up the door to her room and ran out into the dining room and then threw herself on the floor screaming "No NightNight!"!  She literally turned red in the face she was crying so hard!  Thankfully after some hugs and kisses she calmed down and  actually went to sleep pretty quickly.  Ah, the joys of parenting!  :)

I'll leave you with a pic of Little L when she is in a less feisty mood!  She wanted every single one of her hair clips in her hair at once!  :)

What I think about...The Portable Patriot

I recieved this book from the BookSneeze program at Thomas Nelson a LONG time ago!  (Back before we were thinking about snow!).  I kept meaning to post my review but life got in the way!  So here it is now...better late than never right!

Here is the book description from the website:



An accessible and unique collection of foundational American documents, speeches, and sermons that shed light on where we came from and where we might go.

The American soul was forged in the smithy of the spoken word and printed page. Our reliance on the word goes back to the Pilgrims and the Mayflower Compact. It continues through the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution of the United States, and the Bill of Rights. It emerges in the political struggles of the Revolution and the ratification arguments of our national charter. Americans needn't turn to biased media to find our national identity. It's already written richly into our history. The Portable Patriot makes the choicest and most valuable selections accessible again.

So here's what I think...This is such a great collection of pieces about our history.  There was so much I learned just skimming through it.  I wouldn't say this is a book that you would necessarily want to sit down and read cover to cover (unless you are a huge history buff) but it certainly is fun to pick it up once in a while and read a piece.  I could even see this being used for homeschoolers as extra reading during history lessons.  If you are looking for a book with a lot of rich history of our country you should check this one out!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255  : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Christmas Cards Revisited

On my last post I embedded my cards that I was able to make from the blogger offer Shutterfly did before Christmas.  I had some issues trying to post it (couldn't really get any of my own text on there) and then when you actually click on the link I thought it would take you to the card so you can see how cute they turned out but it just takes you to Shutterfly's website.  :(

I am going to be completely transparent here and let you know that I posted that link to qualify for a $25 gift certificate to their site.  But I must say that I really did LOVE my Christmas cards that I made and I wish you could see the inside!  I was able to stick even more pictures in there, along with a quick update on our family over the past year.  I would definitely recommend getting your Christmas cards from them (although they are a bit pricier than the regular flat photo cards that most people send but definitely worth the up charge if you have the budget for it!).

Since I only got 50 cards from the Shutterfly blogger offer and since the hubby and I both have bigger families, we used up all those cards really quickly!  So in order to send out some more cards to friends I ended up making a 4x6 photo card with pictures of Little L.

Here it is:

(Don't mind the blur in the bottom...I just took out our names...I'm not overly paranoid but I figured it's better safe right?)

And I'm sorry if you are reading this thinking..."hey, I didn't get either of those cards...don't they like me?...why didn't I make the cut?"  Here is my answer...our budget is still a bit tight and even if the cards themselves are pretty inexpensive (I was able to get 24 of the card above for $2.50 shipped!) its the almost $0.50 a card stamp that starts to add up really quickly!  :)  So I apologize if you didn't make the list (I did try to send one to everyone that sent us a card)...I wish I could send out even more (and hopefully next year I'll be able too!)

2010 Christmas card

Good Blessings Religious Christmas 5x7 folded card

Create modern Christmas cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Christmas Recap

It has been FOREVER since I have posted but we have been keeping busy!  Here is a quick recap from our crazy fun Christmas!

My mom was able to join us for a few days but unfortunately she was delayed over 8 hours which meant we didn't get to bed until 3 am on the 23rd!  But she was here so it was worth it!  It just meant that we all used a little extra caffeine on the morning of Christmas Eve.

We went up to the hubby's parents house on the morning of Christmas Eve in order to see his sister and her husband.  (They drove up from Madison, WI and were spending Christmas Day with his family so Friday was our only chance to see them.)  There was some yucky weather which caused some slow driving (along with a semi-truck in the ditch that slowed us down even more!) but once we got up there we had a great time!  :)

Little L with with Grandpa

Little L with her Uncle

Opening presents from her aunt and uncle

Aunt A and Uncle L watching Little L open her presents from them!  She got books, coloring crayons, coloring books and pjs!

The hubby was getting TONS of kisses from his sister's puppy!

After we left to go back home we decided to not go to church, even though we really wanted to go.  With Little L's late nap we weren't going to have time to make it and still have everyone (especially Little L) be in a good mood for the rest of the night.  So instead we finished wrapping gifts and then moved them upstairs for a gift opening bonanza!  :)

Look at all those presents!

Little L didn't waste any time digging into the gifts!

Little L took a break from opening to see what Grandma S got!

Opening a Mickey DVD from Grandpa M...she wanted to watch it right away!

Mommy and Daddy got Little L her very own guitar so she doesn't have to try and play with Daddy's video game one!

She got a set of magnetic balls and she wouldn't put them down while she was opening all of her other presents!

My dad got the hubby the lamp from "A Christmas Story"...It's a major award!

Playing with the train set Uncle E sent from Norway!  It's vintage and we LOVE it!

This is what the stockings looked like before Santa's arrival...

And here's what it looked like after he left!

Eating chocolate that Santa left...YUM!

The BIG Santa gift was a Playstation 3!  The hubby LOVES playing Batman!

The hubby's parents joined us for Christmas dinner.  I made ham (with super yummy glaze if I do say so myself!), green bean casserole, cheesy potatoes, and rolls.  We ate, opened presents, and played a little Mexican Train (a domino's game) during Little L's nap.

Getting ready for lunch...That's right, I used paper plates!  :)

Grandma C and Grandpa G handing out the Christmas gifts

Playing with the toy her Great Aunt sent her!

We had so much fun!

Hope your Christmas was filled with Love, Joy and Peace!  And most of all, I hope you took at least a few minutes to think about the One whose birthday we were celebrating.  Jesus truly is the "reason for the season"!