New chalkboard!

This is Aunt Katie's gift to Daniel and we just opened it a few seconds ago! The boys are loving it!

Christmas Eve table setting

This is what the table looked like for the dinner party tonight. The centerpieces included a large glass vase with a tall red candle inside it and two smaller white candles sitting in berry wreaths. Then there were several tea lights and and glass stones scattered about. Each place setting had a gold square plate, a smaller red plate, and a cranberry colored cloth napkin in a berry napkin ring. Also had glass goblets and mugs. Then I made favors for each person which consisted of a small glass candle holder with a tea light inside. They were also filled with little Hershey kisses and miniature ornaments and were wrapped with a gold bow.

Christmas gifts

Here are a couple projects I worked on today. The "Emily" sign is for one of my nieces in Virginia. I got the green wooden sign in the Christmas section at HL for $1.50. It had green ribbon which I switched out for the white. Then I mod podged the pink scrapbook paper on to the sign and hot glued the flowers and ribbon. The letters were stick-on. Also did another mod podge picture tile. Love those!!

Today's little bit of Christmas fun

I got a Christmas train kit from HL made out of craft foam. We put it together today.

What I made tonight! (Nov 18, 2010)

> For my cousin's baby shower. 
>

Today's fun discovery

I got to play with mod podge today for the first time! So neat! I saw this tutorial on YouTube to make picture tiles using scrapbook paper and the mod podge glue. It was so easy and the tiles turned out really cute. It would make a perfect Christmas gift. I bet you could even make these for $2.50 tops. I got 6x6 tiles at Lowe's for $.84 each, the paper was $.25 for a size that would make 4 tiles worth, the mod podge was $5 (but with a coupon, you could get it for almost half that much at Hobby Lobby) and one bottle would do probably 12-15 tiles. Also, I bought little stands to set the tiles on and they cost $2 at JoAnn's (again, cheaper with coupon). There are so many ways to do the different tiles too. I had a lot of fun. Can't wait to check out more ideas for mod podge! Catalina made the last one with her own scrapbook paper. She loved it! :)

Firsts

Gid got his first real haircut (done by me) last Saturday for our family pictures. So, I had to show a couple before and afters. Also, Gid can now climb onto the kitchen chairs and from there up onto the table. Not a good thing!!! :-/

Gardenland Train Express

Today we went to the Ozark Botanical Gardens to see a display of several garden scale trains! The set was lovely and the trains even had steam coming out of their funnels. So neat! Also, Santa was there and Daniel sat on his lap so he could get a free train whistle. :) Outside they had a barrel "train" giving rides around the lawn. It was very cold, but Daniel had a blast!

Look what I found...

Hiding behind the Christmas tree!

Christmas Wonderland Village

Tonight we went to see a miniature winter village at First Assembly of God. A local family partnered with the church to set up their collection of houses, etc. We found out they have collected the miniatures for about 20 years! It was SO cool! I had no expectations about it all, but as soon as we walked in and saw the train going, we were all instantly enthralled. The kids (Cat went too with Grandma and PaPa) LOVED it!! Especially the train! Daniel didn't want to leave. It was very special. I think I may have found a new thing to collect! :) They also had a pretty Christmas tree and a nativity set displayed, and they had cookies and hot cider...all for free! They were taking donations for a food pantry that the church is involved in, so we gave a little bit. Anyway, I'd definitely recommend it. We will probably go again before the season is over. Oh and I think they said it took about 2 months to set everything up!

Today's special delight!

I bought snow-globes for me and Daniel today. The boys love looking at them. Mine plays music. :)

Gingerbread house

I got this kit at Aldi for $6.99 a week ago. Daniel has REALLY been wanting to open it ever since, but I've been saving it for a quiet day. Since the boys seem a little better today, I decided to do it. Daniel was so excited! It was a bit messy, but I confess I was having a lot of fun with it! I'd never done one before, and it will definitely become a Christmas tradition!

More snowman pics

Sick day

Daniel started throwing up last night, and continued throwing up off and on all night. He's been very puny today, so I decided to give him a little present I was saving for just such an occasion. He got a little stuffed Christmas snowman (he's holding it in the photo). Gideon got one too. He's had a cold and I'm afraid will catch Daniel's stomach bug. :( Daniel said something funny today. He really wanted to play at the park, but I told him no since it was cold and he is sick. He then proceeded to tell me he would be a grumpy old troll, the grinch, AND Captain Hook if I didn't take him to the park! I thought that was very persuasive. ;)

Christmas Village

Usually every December I spend a little on new Christmas decorations. This year I got a Christmas village. I'm hoping I can add to it each year (although I have no idea where I'll put it all!).