The Decor

Instead of finishing the unpacking, or cleaning up after my kids pulled out every present they received, I decided to hang out, relax and catch you up on what we did for our decorations. I realize this is late, but I plan to leave our stuff up for one more week since we just got about 6 more cards in the mail that didn't get their proper debut on our wall. And...because I just don't want one more thing to do right now. I love our Christmas decorations and with all the work it took, we will just enjoy them until Andrew has another day off.

The favorites among my decorations were some that we made together at my mom's group playtime. One of the mentors in our group gave us a recipe for some frosting to the graham houses. It was amazing, I've never had much luck with my winter homes staying put, but this stuff was great.

                                                        Royal Frosting(the secret to easy gingerbread houses!)

1 pound of Confectioner’s sugar

3 Tablespoons of Meringue Powder

Warm water (about 1/3 cup)

Place dry ingredients in a tall mixing bowl and gradually add water until all dry ingredients are moistened. Frosting should be stiff enough to hold it’s shape. (You should see lines from the beaters paths). Store in an airtight container, with plastic wrap against the frosting, or in a plastic Ziploc bag, with air squeezed out. Dries to a hard, candy texture. Use for constructing houses and attaching decorations.

My own advice, let the frosting harden a bit before adding the candy decorations so the little home doesn't collapse under pressure.

While my family was here back in October, Renee and I sat and sewed buttons and fabric in the shape of trees. This is what I gave my mom for her birthday in December. The instructions had it framed without glass, but I figured if it would fit behind, the fabric would hold better over time encased. 

For the first time, we decided to let the kids have trees in their rooms. They were able to decorate them with their own ornaments and keep them on their dressers. It was fun to see them get into it and nice to spread the trees around the house.

John Lewis wasn't so into the decorating, so he has snacks and ran around with work goggles on. So funny. 

Each season these little bottles hold something different. I like to look at them while I do dishes and they look fun from outside too. 

Ella's completed tree.

While black Friday shopping, I picked up this mug from Starbucks because I can't get over little birds on things, and I'm a sucker for mugs. While in Oregon, Andrew found a little clip on youtube called Portlandia that has a song about how people are putting birds on everything just to sell a product. I admit, it's working for me, but the video is hysterical. 

(i think the main reason I love birds is because God tells us that his eye is on the sparrow Luke 12:6 and he keeps even them in His care) 

Lastly, Tiny Toby graced our home this year. Elf on the Shelf is a fun game you can play with your kids. You hide him somewhere different each night after he's reported back to Santa about their behavior that day. More than anything, it was fun to see the kids find him all over the place. I had friends who got really creative with this, but there were a few nights where Toby liked his spot too much to move (translation: we forgot to move him). 

One of my favorite seasons has come to a close. It was wonderful and I always welcome it's return. 

Red

I love old stuff. 

Came across this picture with the door on a blog (bloomininalaska) and had to share it. The colors are wonderful and it's, well, old!

The little tricycle, it's here in Oregon (picture is mine) and the kids make good use of it. Kids bikes are so adorable and little metal ones are the best. 

Both are red. I guess I like red too.

To build a fire...

Andrew's parents have about 20 acres of land here and with that comes the ability for roaming and riding. The kids love it and I love seeing them play. I'm not even kidding when I say I think my husband has more fun than they do. He took the kids out on the 4-wheeler the other day and his dad built a bonfire yesterday out in the back of the property. For lunch the guys roasted hot dogs over the coals and we enjoyed a visit from Great Grandpa Ralph out there. The weather is great for playing out, no snow and fairly warm. "Fairly" means, above freezing.

John yelled, "whooooooooooooooooooah!" the whole time he was on the ride, but with a smile.

Ella has loved this since she was little and Peter liked it until "Daddy went way too fast." Peter is the less adventurous of the three when it comes to machinery.

Gifts

Before we left for vacation, I was intending to post about our Christmas decorations, but that didn't happen amidst all the scramble to get ready to travel for the week. Now that we are across the continent, I will show a few pictures of the kids opening their gifts. They were so excited about all the wonderful things they were given back home and since we've been in Oregon. The hubby and I were given everything from our lists, which was awesome. Thank you to everyone.

We have enjoyed watching the kids open their gifts this year, since it's the first year they are all very into it. John has been a crack up saying, "Oh wow!" about almost everything he opened. Peter was beyond thrilled to get the boat he asked for and Ella loves her tea set. John flies his "spy plane" around the house saying, "Fly Fly to you!" They also got very neat letter ornaments, puzzles, books, dinosaurs, crafts, clothes and my sister made crayon and pencil rolls for them to travel with. It has been a blessed time and we are most thankful for the best gift of all, God's son sent to us, the reason for everything.

It's cold and I'm feeling crafty

I made a comment last week about how we went to an art show and it put a little want in my being to make something. Well I did. It's not anything amazing, but it took up a small portion of one evening while my kids cut up shreds of paper next to me and were happy the whole time. I found the idea in a holiday craft magazine that I read while back in Plymouth. Here's my little paper tree. In the magazine it had the tree with old sheet music, which would have been great, but I already had this scrapbook paper on hand. Maybe next time.

Cut out 1x4in strips of paper. I just added as I went along, not sure how many I actually used.

Get a foam cone and some straight pins. Well maybe this should be step one. Yes, probably. Do this first.

Start folding the strips in half, but don't actually crease the paper, then pin them around in rows until you're done.

When you are done, use hot glue to put fabric or paper on the top and use any kind of topper you want. They suggested a bell, I don't have a bell, so I used this ball from my vase. 

Then, it snowed and got even colder...

So I sewed...

My friend asked me to make these for her kids. I love these towels because they are bigger than a baby towel and can be used until they're too cool for hoodie towels. But really, who is too cool for a hooded towel?