Christmas Home Tour

I grew up in a home that was always decked out for the holidays. Mom loved to pull out all her decorations and transform the house into a Christmas wonderland. From some unknown reason, I did not inherit her decorating gene! I always feel as though I am Decor-Challenged, especially when it comes to the holiday decorations. I've come to accept my flaws and move on, trying a little bit more each year to work on improving. I thought it would be fun to take some pictures of my house decorated for Christmas. The main purpose of this exercise is to help me out next year, when I can't remember where I have arranged things in the past. I do remember my Mom used to keep a little album with snapshots of her holiday decor. So, maybe in that sense, the apple hasn't fallen too far from the tree!

 

Next year, I should fill the big jar in back with some peppermint candies.

 

I changed out the plates on my kitchen wall.

 

My mantle is really hard to photograph. One funny side note, I love the lit garland on the mantle, but it interferes with the Wii remote functionality. Sorry kids! We figured out that they can't play with it lit up. Next year, I would like to add more to the mantle area. I currently have Santa and Mrs. Claus up there, but I would like some tall Christmas tree cone things. Maybe I can find some at the after Christmas sales. Oh, and I'd like another layer of garland, something in paper or fabric.

 

I actually do like this little accent table I've got going on here. The latern was a gift this year from our friends who we dogsit for. I love it.

 

Ahhh, the tree. A collection of ornaments from through the years. Lots of handmade school ones from the kids and also yearly ornaments from my sisters, a tradition we started a couple of years ago. My very favorite are the Peanuts ornaments, which take me right back to my childhood. (See more at the end...)

 

The princess tree! I LOVE this tree. As soon as I saw it last year, I had to get it for Abby's room. This year we added beaded garland and a sparkly Gingerbread man since she loves the story of the Gingerbread Man so much.

 

I got the centerpiece from my sister Chris last year. She is very talented at putting those together! I bought the table runner new this year at Target.

Last of all, I wanted to capture shots of my Peanuts ornaments. I love these guys! My Mom would give us a new one every year.The Spike ornaments are my favorite. They date back to 1980. I wish I had more! I can't find the ceramic ones anymore. Just wondering about Snoopy dressed up as a girl...was there a girl Snoopy? I'll have to research that.

 

Well, that's it for my home tour! I sure hope it makes things easier for me when I setup next year.
Merry Christmas to all!

Me and My Girl at Smashburger

 

First Day

James started middle school today, 6th grade specifically. He was appropriately nervous for the event.

 

 

I just drove him and his two neighborhood pals to school and dropped them off. No lectures, no tears, no weirdness. I was pretty proud of myself. I kindof felt like a mother bird kicking my baby out of the nest. I'm sure this is not the last time I will have that feeling with him.

 

It made David and Abby's start seem really easy. They seem like old pros. Especially David, who is almost too cool for school.

 

 

A few favorite moments: Abby reaching for my hand as we were walking in, settling her into her seat and asking her if it was alright if I left now and her answer: "no.", the cute nod and wink she gave me about 90 seconds later signaling it was ok for me to go now, David congregating with a group of boys and navigating the social scene with total ease, and ultimately, not too cool to give me a high five me as we left.

 

Sooo David.

 

 

 

Pick-up time! Life is good!

 

 

Keeping the Boys busy

Last week was all about keeping the boys busy with scouts. David was gone to Cub Scout camp every day. He really enjoyed it. It was a totally different experience for him than it was for the 3 years James went. Every morning David was up before me, dressed and ready to go. Laura W. was his leader and his buddy Dallin was in his group too. He especially loved archery and fishing.

 

Here he is "sitting on an invisible bench" for the closing program. Anyone who has a son that's a scout will see this particular skit more times than one really might care to. I still got a kick out of it, with David's cute style of delivering his lines...

 

On Friday, James had his first Boy Scout camp out without a parent along. He was very excited and spent most of the day packing and getting every detail right. Mark has always been adamant about the boys wearing the full uniform, I didn't really ever see what the big deal was. But, I've gotta tell you, James looked so sharp in his full uniform ready to go! (He actually looked a little too grown up for my liking.) He offered to say the prayer before they left for camping and he made sure to pray for all the Moms, that we might not worry too much about our boys while they were away. Seriously?! I love this kid!

 

He has the very best leaders ever! Brother Swain and Brother Ewell are so great with the boys. James told me that they sat around the campfire that night and the men talked to the boys about the Priesthood and it's duties, importance, etc. They got to ask them all kinds of questions. I'm so grateful for these men and the support they give us parents in raising these strong, awesome boys(ahem, almost young men.-Yikes!)

 

My New BFF

David has a new shadow. There's a cute little guy named Fox who thinks David is pretty darn cool.

 

David had Fox over to "play", which consisted of listening to music, playing Legos, setting up a huge car race track, drawing with markers and oh yeah, trying to get Fox to say things like "shut up" and "stupid". Super Fun.

 

Maybe Fox can be a good influence on David, seeing as Fox does not insist on pulling the cheese of his pizza like David does.

Midway and Cinderella

We visited the Midway today. There was a special deal to get in free for Flag Day if you were wearing red, white and blue. Such a deal!!
James loved getting in the airplanes to check out the controls.

 

Abby just loved doing what her big brother was doing.

 

David is out of the mix for the majority of the week because he is at cub scout camp. Somehow this change in the sibling dynamic has made James act extremely nice towards his sister. He even volunteered to join her stuffed animal tea party. He picked out the tie. And allowed me to photograph him.

 

I put "Cinderella" to work this evening. It started with me innocently asking Abby to clear the placements off the table. She then wanted to wipe the table. I started talking to her in my wicked stepmother voice and she fell right into character. She asked for a bucket and rag. She needed an apron. She began scrubbing the floors. Every so often she'd sigh and look up at me, "am I done yet?", she'd ask with a sheepish smile. I must say, she did a pretty darn good job. I did let her of the hook pretty early. We'll see what jobs I can get her to do tomorrow. I could play this game all summer long..

 

A Little Height Difference

James had his 5th grade band concert recently. Of course, instead of being focused on his performance, I couldn't stop looking at the girl next to him. He's lined up right next to the tallest girl in 5th grade. I can't help but feel sorry for her. She's like a foot taller than everyone else. Most of the pictures I tried to get didn't turn out because she is in the way! Anyways....the performance was great. (I know because I watched the video playback.)

 

These kiddos watched the concert so patiently. They had all already seen the concert earlier in the day during school.

 

Me and Ashley. She just celebrated her 9th birthday last month. Can't believe that! I'll never forget the first day I saw her, right after she was born. I swear she was the prettiest baby I've ever seen. Not much has changed, look at that beautiful face!

 

Be Somebody

James promoted from 5th Grade this week. It was a fun and very surreal event. I still can't believe the year is over. James really worked hard and finished out the year strong. He did really well on his final report of the year and we were very proud. He was still questioning whether he was really going to graduate up until the morning of promotion. I kept telling him there was a 100% chance he was passing, but I don't think he really believed me until they handed him his certificate. Once that part was over, he was all smiles!

 

 

These kiddos used to be in carpool together, back when they were the only kids in their family going to Shoal Creek. Between our three families we now had 10 kids at Shoal Creek this year!

 

James' teacher, Mrs. Killen was a huge help in getting James to achieve his best. We love her!! She kept bending down for pictures so that she would be the same height as the students. I told her to stand up tall because I wanted this picture to be accurate since I'm sure James will pass her up in height sometime soon. This boy is growing!!

 

The Last Week of May

This week has been as exciting and interesting as usual. David has been busy thinking up new ways to entertain himself.(click on "entertain himself" for more description.)

 

See's Candies store opened up just down the street. This could be a problem. It's right next door to Pat and Oscar's-home of the addictive breadsticks. We're doomed.

 

We celebrated Aunt Chris's birthday at the Olive Garden. Mark, Abby and I drove out to O'side for a most enjoyable, pleasant dinner with the Wicks. (Most enjoyable and pleasant in part because the boys stayed home.)

 

I had given up on the wooden playhouse because the roof and door were falling off. Actually lots of parts were falling off. But, Mark saw potential and got to work. He and James replaced the roof and spruced it up, relocated it to the concrete pad and viola~ a breath of new life!
This picture does it no justice. The placement next to the storage shed is a bit awkward, but it gets it out of the dirt. Mark also put fresh mulch down and some stepping stones. In person, it looks really nice and a huge improvement on what it was. We woke up to rain this morning so James was anxious to check out the new roof. It actually kept the rain out very nicely. Great work boys!!

 

 

Next up: New playroom floor coming on June 18th....Can't wait!!