Christmas 2012

 We had our family Christmas early this year. We had our evenings full and Christmas was at G&G's up north. 

 

Gifts

Samantha posted a great idea for birthday gifts to give to kids. I think it's genius. You can check it out HERE !!

What do you do for birthday gifts? Do you limit how many you give the kids? Do you have a budget for gifts?

So Grateful

A package arrived yesterday for my husband. When he got home from work he suggested I open the box. To my surprise, it was a big gift wrapped with a card. I opened up the box and this is what I got for Mother's Day/ Anniversary!!! I was so excited. He was able to get the Wii by using his points he earned through work. (He earned points based on contests, doing a good job, etc) I was so surprised and excited!!! Best of all it's something the whole family can enjoy. Yesterday we tried out bowling, tennis, and baseball. You really need a whole lot of room when playing these games. The kids learned that the hard way! Gibson got knocked in the head which resulted in a jammed finger for Q. Stella got her juice cup knocked out of her hand from me swinging during a tennis match!! I really don't like video games, but I think that this is fun for the whole family and we are up and moving.



I entered a Me Media Kids give away HERE. I was chosen as the winner. I got a G.C. for a free Me Media Kids book of my choice. All I did was pick the book, upload Gibson's photo and a week later it was at my front door. I love giveaways. I think I've won 6 give aways now since I've started blogging.

Gibson loves for me to read the book, and enjoys seeing his picture in it. Thanks Steals and Deals and Me Media Kids.

There is Love

Valentine's Day has come and gone. My husband scored big brownie points by getting us two private dance lessons. The dance is our choice!! Maybe some Waltz or Salsa? He also thought we should get each other a funny gift. This is what the letter said that was attached to the gift: This is to prove that you can look good in anything!! He bought me hot pink, leopard print leotards. Oh husband of mine!!!


I am really happy today. I really think it's because I felt the spirit. I felt the spirit in my home and in church today. I didn't think that my day would be this great when I first woke up.

I'm not sure if it's just our family, but Sunday mornings before church can often be a mix of emotions. We have no excuse being late for church, it starts at 11:00. I start getting all us ready at 9:30 so we can be out the door by 10:45. Today, Gibson's didn't like his clothes and wanted to stay home, Stella cried and cried when I was trying to put pigtails in her hair. I had to change my outfit a couple of times to get the right look. Quentin was already at church for meetings so I was by myself with the kids. I started to get upset over the negative emotions and noticed I was being negative. I brought myself to my knees and prayed to Heavenly Father for peace in our home and throughout the day. I prayed for strength and blessings. I also did a lot of thanking and asking. After my prayer I instantly felt peace. The kids calmed down and they were good in church.
Today in Relief Society we had a wonderful lesson. The title was called: The Spirit of Elijah: The Greatest Story of all is Life Itself. You can read a summary about it here. I have enjoyed learning about my ancestors. I enjoy journaling and blogging. I think these are a couple of ways of writing my family history. I love pictures new and old. I have just a few pictures up in our house!!! I love creating memories with my family and listening to stories about how my parents lived or how my Grandparents lived. It makes me grateful for all of their sacrifices they have made so I could have a comfortable, happy life.
A woman in relief society shared a goose bump story and I want to share it.
She said 30 years ago she visited a small town in the south to do some research on her ancestors. She made an appointment with the local librarian. They were sharing stories and the Librarian told her that she has living relatives in town. The Librarian wanted her to meet her relative. They get to a clothing factory and the Librarian pulls the women out of the building to meet her (relief society woman). The woman tells her new found relative what she's doing in town and is searching for more information on her ancestors. The factory woman gets a weird look on her face and comes back with an old purse. She then tells her this: I don't know why I grabbed this purse this morning. Now I know. The purse had all of her family history papers in it!!! Isn't Heavenly Father amazing? The factory lady had know idea that she was going to meet a total stranger who happened to be distantly related to her that needed those genealogy papers that were in the purse she mistakenly took to work with her that day!! Mistake, I think not!!!

There is a plan. There is a purpose. There is love.

Package

A package from my Swap partner who is Sandra, was on my door step when I came home after working out. How cute is all of this??? Love it all. Thank you so much. I recommend doing this the next opportunity you get. It has been great getting to know her. She has a really good blog and is very, very talented. I feel like my house is so festive now! Stella really took to the heart wreath. She put it over her head board and it looks perfect in her pink and green room!!


Thank you Sandra!!!
Your package is on it's way.

Homemade Gifts, Do Not Read Mom and Sisters!!!

Ornaments for Grandma and Grandpa of the kids. Took a picture for the kids, cut out the face, took a black sharpie and filled it in. A little modge podge and some paint and your have yourself an ornament!!
I bought a set of words in the scrapbook section, and glued some magnets to it. I'm sorry about the lighting, they really look better in person!
Here is the three magnet boards I made for my family. I also bought little decals for .25 cents each and glued a magnet on each of them.

Magnet Board/ Picture Frame

This was my weekend project. I saw this magnet board and photo frame in a Country Sampler magazine and thought , I can make that. It was fun and these will make great Christmas gifts. I'm excited to make these with my girlfriends soon.

The magnet board only cost $4 for materials. I bought a sheet of Waynes coating and cut it to size. I used left over paint from my house and a couple of flowers from my scrapbook collection. I bought an 12x24 sheet of aluminum and cut it with steel scissors. That was the toughest part. Very hard. I also had the ribbon in my collection that I used. I would recommend a somewhat stiffer solid color of ribbon to work with. This ribbon is patterned and too soft but it matched!
Close up.
Here is the 5x7 frame. This one was a little tricky too. I had to score the plastic sheet to a 6x8 so a 5x7 would fit. I just used a 4x6 for this photo.

They are simple and it's great because you can use whatever you have around the house to accent your piece.

I had fun making these. If you have more questions I'd love to answer them.