Handmade Christmas Gifts

Finally! Here are pictures of the scrapbook calendars I made for Christmas. They were a labor of love as they took 3 months to complete. (I made 6 total) I couldn't have done it without my Silhouette. Someday, when I am feeling ambitious, I will do a post about the Silhouette but until then I will just say this; IT IS THE BEST INVENTION....EVER. I am in love with it. Every little cutout and embellishment and phrase you see on the following pictures is just plain scrapbook paper I had on hand, cut out by the Silhouette. If you have been thinking about buying a Silhouette...DO IT. Mine has already paid for itself.

Ready? Here we go...

I didn't notice that the flash made a glare on some of the photos til it was too late...

Oh, and when I said every cutout was done by the Silhouette, that included the numbers for each day. I didn't realize what a huge undertaking this was until I started to painstakingly glue the numbers on with a sponge soaked in glue and a pair of tweezers.The first 9 days go fast but the 2-digit days definitely slowed me down.







They all varied slightly depending on the person they were going to. This one is my mom's and dad's. All in all I was very pleased with the way they turned out. I think they were a hit!

Christmas Condensed

I hate when I don't blog for a little while and then I feel like I'm so far behind that I can't get caught up which makes me procrastinate even more. It's not all my fault though, our computer died the week before Christmas - which was perfect timing because doesn't everyone want to drop a few hundred dollars on a new computer at the end of December when they have nothing else to spend money on? We put it off until after Josh got back from his annual trip to Mexico and we are finally back in business.

While I was out of blogging commission, we.... Celebrated Christmas...

We decorated our house and did the normal pre-Christmas activities, like decorating gingerbread cookies
(aka eating frosting). For Christmas Eve my family came over to our house, ate tamales and went to our church's Christmas Eve service and then came home to open presents. The Christmas eve service is at 6 which is really annoying when you have small kids because by the time it's over and you get home, it almost 8 o'clock and most kids go to bed by then. We gave Claire some "restuarant drink" (soda) to keep her going. That is really smart parenting.She shared it with her Uncle Buddy and was good to go the rest of the night.

Her gift opening skills have greatly improved this year so that was exciting.

Books are boring to open...

But fun later on. Claire and Bryan were best pals that night after sharing their soda.
The next day we went to Josh's parents and spent the day their. For some reason I only took a few pictures and they all came out really bad. We had a delicious meal, went for a walk and opened gifts. By this time Claire was exhausted and started acting like a weirdo.

The next day, Josh left for Mexico so we headed to my mom's house for week. On Tuesday, Claire got sick and threw up a majority of the day, so all we did was sit with her and watch tv. I had work earlier in the day and got a flat tire on the freeway in the far left lane. My dad and Josh were out of town so I didn't know what to do. Luckily, a super nice, young, guy with a Christian fish on his car, risked his life to change it for me - it was the passenger side and I could only pull to the center of the freeway so cars were whizzing by and were only inches from this poor guy's back. We called the DPS and they eventually came and blocked the lane so that was good.

The next day, Claire was back to normal so we ran errands and what not. Then Thursday, my mom and I both got what Claire had and were out of commission all day. Bryan was home and rose to the occasion to take care of Claire. He even made her chicken tacos for dinner!

Despite the set backs, we had a good time and Claire got some leaf-playing time in before they got mowed up.
Steve and Michelle came over the New Year's Eve. We bought some cheap fireworks and set them off at 8:30ish. It was so cold! Claire was a little stand-offish. She did hold a sparkler though - that surprised me.

Well, I guess that wraps up our Christmas/New Years experience. I resolve to take more/ better pictures of major holiday events this year.

Time Flies When You are Having Fun

Today is our 5th wedding anniversay!

I can't believe how fast the time has gone...
We have shared both joy and sorrow but are stronger because of it and ready to face whatever God has in store for us in the next 5 years.

That's all I have time to write because we are getting ready to go out!

Lying to Your Kids - Repost from Last Christmas

Are we going lie to our child about Santa Claus? Yes, we are, we are going to lie about the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy as well. "But then she will question the truth about Jesus and become an athiest" (or so I have been told.) The truth is though, I have never met the person who responded in that way nor do I believe that has ever happened. If it has, then I think that person must have deeper issues and was not really a true Christian in the first place.
"But then your child will miss the real meaning of Christmas and focus on Santa instead of Jesus." Yesterday, I was told that the virgin birth should be reason enough for Claire to be excited about Christmas. Now, I don't know about you but I have never explained what a virgin is to a young child, let alone a virgin birth and expected them to see the greatness in that. If you want to try, then more power to you.


Growing up my brothers and I were lied to about Santa and I am so thankful. It made Christmas such a (and I hesitate to use this word) magical time. I have no doubt that the reason I get so excited about Christmas is because of how amazing it was as a child. My parents were pretty conservative about Santa compared to our friends. We never had images or characters of Santa and even to this day we don't buy anything that has Santa on it as the Christmas icon. For us, Jesus was of course the reason we have Christmas and Santa was an added bonus.I remember vividly the day my mom told me there was no Santa. I was 6 years old. She called me into the kitchen away from my brothers (both still believed but apparently one of my friends had told me there was no Santa and I began to ask questions). My mom quietly told me that it wasn't Santa that put gifts in our stocking. "Is it Jesus?" I asked. "No, it's me and Dad, but it is fun to pretend and you can't tell the boys because they still think there is a Santa and we don't want to take the fun away from them" I then felt extremely privileged with this classified knowledge and made sure to guard this secret carefully.


A few years later, I was helping in Bryan's Sunday school class (he was 5 at the time) and a girl in the class raised her hand with a prayer request. "I want to pray for all the kids who still believe in Santa - cause we know he is fake" she said. I remember being mortified that now poor young Bryan had his childhood stolen from him. Luckily, he must have not been paying attention because he never brought it up and was still a Santa believer for a couple more years.

I completely understand everyone who is not comfortable with telling their children there is a Santa, as it is a personal, family decision. But please, let your kids know that it is not their duty to make sure they spread their knowledge to the less fortunate children who have dishonest parents.Childhood is a short season... we want to make the most of it.

Stroller Bag

I hate when I go on a walk with Claire and I have to take our enormous travel system stroller. I feel like an inexperienced, yet over-prepared mom that doesn't know what to bring and needs a little bit of everything to make a short walk successful. I especially feel dumb pushing Snoopy around since he is the only one who ends up riding usually.


I recently found this stroller at a thrift store for $4 and absolutely love it. I don't care if it gets dirty or scratched, it is lightweight, easy to push, compact and easy to store. The only problem is that it didn't have a bag to store our water, my keys and phone and a few various toys that Claire decides must come along. I decided to make a custom stroller bag for it. I used a pair of pants I got at a thrift store for $1 about 2 years ago. (I knew they would come in handy one day!)
The bag holds a surprising amount of items and even has built in pockets for my phone and keys. (and b-balls)
We have certainly been enjoying these past few months. The weather is perfect for an afternoon walk to the park.

Apparently, this is how you play when you are an only child and your mom can only go down the slide with you 37 times before getting tired of it.
She found another b-ball. It was a magical time.
Claire loves to run and be chased. She says "Mamma get you?" and squeals in delight when I run after her. She is so fast too! Awana Olympics, here we come!

Random Topics

1. This is what my craft room looks like at the moment.

Christmas gifts in the making. Can you tell I have been busy?

Today I cringed as I drove by the Postnet with it's sign outside that now reads "26 Days Til Christmas". Where did the time go? It seems like I just barely got all our autumn decor out and now it's time to replace it with snowmen and Christmas trees. Why can't time go by that fast when I'm pregnant?

2. I know you all are probably sick of hearing me on this subject but I came across the most amazing finds this past month at Goodwill! I can't NOT share them!!!

This laminating machine was only $8! I have always wanted one. If I ever get tired of it, they are selling for $97 on Amazon right now so I could make some money off this deal.

This roll of home decor fabric was only $5

and all of this paper (216 pages to be exact) for $9.
3. My hair is falling out like crazy. You know how you clean out your hair brush maybe once a month and get a big gob of hair out of it? Well, I get that every day. Plus, when I wash my hair, handfuls come out. The same thing happened after I had Claire. I was hoping it was a nursing thing and wouldn't happen this time, but no. "Do not trust to hope... It has forsaken these lands." (bonus points to anyone who knows where that quote is from)

*I took a picture of my hair-laden brush but decided not to put it up. Your welcome.

4. Our turtle has still not started to hibernate! I am very concerned for her with the freezing temperatures and all. Today, Josh made her a hibernation box and put her in the garage. She already made a mess of it. We love her. Claire colored on her shell with chalk apparently...