Christmastime at our house

Merry Christmas!

School is out, and I finally have a second to sit down and say hello.

I have never had a busier 3 months in my life!

Sunday I snapped this quick picture of the kids after church.

I love those three little kids more than anything in the world.

 

Trey was adamant about taking this picture of the girls and I.

Thanks Trey!

 Sunday morning while getting ready for church I found this bow tie in treys closet.  The thought of him wearing it to church made me giggle with delight, but i knew he would strongly object.

"My friends will make fun of me!" he protested.

"Oh but trey think of baby Jesus, we like to dress up extra nice for him around Christmastime." I said.:)

Next thing I knew he was wearing it!  He is such a tender hearted little guy.  He was the most Handsome little man in his bow tie and missing front tooth.

Thinking about baby Jesus had him wearing that bow tie all the way up to the church doors, where he then ripped it right off saying "It's not worth it mom!"  

Ha!  It was worth this priceless picture though!

Charlotte doesn't go anywhere this winter without this cute hat her aunt toad sent her in the mail.

 {I have been sewing}

I made a couple of these Cozy Car Caddys for Christmas gifts.

I followed this tutorial from a great blog called Homemade by Jill.

 Thanks for the idea Jill!

 It opens up into a little car garage and road.

awesome!

{ trey has been crafting like a CHRISTMAS fool}

he made this christmas card holder.

(originally found on martha stewart.com)

 you just need:

12 or 14 inch wooden embroidery hoop

small wooden clothes pins

glue gun

ribbon

*all supplies were purchased at Joanns

hot glue the clothes pins about 1 1/2 inches apart.

make sure every other pin faces the opposite direction.

then just tie a ribbon on top and hang!

{Candy Garland}

what you need:

sour patch kids

string

needle

 

{Paper Christmas Garland}

trey saw this idea at a baby shower thrown by my good friend erin, and wanted to give it a try.  he made it completely by himself.

 how to do it:

 

use a scalloped circle punch to cut a bunch of circles....

place two circles on top of each other...

sew right through the middle....

when you reach the end of the circle sew about 10 stitches until you feed the next circle through.

 when your done open the circles and hang!

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!

happy halloween

Charlotte will never forgive me :o)  She was very mad when she woke up inside a pumpkin.

The kids came back from the mailbox today with a package from their Aunt Kathryn.  She sent the girls both Halloween headbands!  They are so cute!  She really has amazing style and she is so creative!  The blogging world needs her in it.  I will see what I can do about that :o)

Thanks Aunt Kathryn!

Photo taken by Lucy of Charlotte and I.

Nice job Lu!

(you can see the pumpkin in the back ground getting warmed up by the fire for baby charlotte's photo shoot. we wanted her to be nice and warm in there for goodness sake.)

Have fun tricking and treating!

pumpkin ice cream made by the kids

The kids and i have learned this fun and oh so easy way to make ice cream.

you honestly need to try this!  

 such a great idea.

you can make so many different flavors, but this one is our latest creation and it tasted fantastic.

what you need:

crushed ice

salt

milk (any kind)

agave (any kind of sweetener you like)

pumpkin puree

pumpkin pie spice

1 gallon size ziplock bag

1 quart or sandwich size ziplock bag

we used 1/3 cup of pumpkin

3 cups of milk

less than a half teaspoon pumpkin spice

 about a tablespoon of agave

then mix it together and give it a taste.

then just add what is needed, if anything, until the kids give it a thumbs up.

pour your pumpkin mixture into the smaller ziplock bag

before closing the ziplock bag, set it on the table and push down to get all the air out, then close

take a half cup of salt...

and pour it into a gallon ziplock filled with crushed or blended ice

place your smaller ziplock bag filled with the pumpkin mixture into the gallon bag filled with ice and close

put the bag into a pillow case and have the kids shake it for 5 minutes

after five minutes it will look like this!!!

scoop it out with an ices scream scoop and your done!

isn't that so fun and easy!

happy halloween!

and we went to the pumpkin patch

the last six weeks since we have had charlotte have absolutely flown by.
i think it is because everyday i run around like a crazy woman juggling a new baby, homeschooling and being a mom to trey and lucy, being a wife, managing the house, and just plain keeping up with life.

there has been something that has been on my mind amidst all of this craziness that i wanted to share:

when i am out and about with three kids, i often get friends and strangers making comments asking me how i am doing it all, and saying silly things like how i must just be super mom...or they start to compare them selves and say things like "when i had a baby i didn't leave the house for months and was such a mess" and so on.

when i get a comment like this, i think to my self "oh my gosh what i have done wrong to make this person think i am anything special?"   don't they know that i feel crazy sometimes...don't they know that i have cried every night since this baby was born...and my fridge hasn't been cleaned out in a month...and i found a back pack full of my daughters belongings the other day and when i asked her why she had packed her clothes it was because she had run away and i didn't even know!!??

me, super mom???  ha!

let me just tell you about our trip to the pumpkin patch will help me further explain my lameness:)

charlotte was only 2 weeks old i took these kids on a field trip to the pumpkin patch. 

the field trip was through the kids homeschool co-op.  we had gone the year before and had a blast. 

i had tried my very best to be on time, but despite all my efforts, i ended up getting out the door about 15 minutes late and the field trip started out with a train ride.

me being just 2 weeks post baby, i was very emotional.  i was so worried we would get there and the train of kids would have already left.  i was feeling like such a loser because i knew the kids would be so disappointed if they didn't get to go.  i may have shed a couple of tears on the car ride there. ridiculous i know.

when we pulled up, it was just in time to see the train full of kids already loaded from the parking lot.  i had two choices....leave and pretend i had forgotten about the field trip when the trip leader later asked me why we didn't show up...or make a run for the train and make a fool of myself in front of a trainload of people.

i had no shame...i told the kids to run like crazy to the train,  i would get the baby and be right behind them, and maybe the conductor would see them and not leave before we got on.

it worked, and though it was pretty embarrassing running with a baby while 40 people sat on a train watching us try to catch it, the kids and i ended up having a great time!

here is lucy wearing her new hat that is pretty darn cute on her if you ask me.

my pumpkins with their pumpkins.

here are some fun little videos of the kids playing around.

so anytime you start to think i am something special...just think to yourself "hey isn't the girl who cried on the way to the pumpkin patch...oh and didn't her daughter pack a backpack full of clothes and run away and she didn't realize it till days later."

also, while at the pumpkin patch we saw these halloween candy men again!

we made them last year and showed you how.

click here to see how to make them!

and just because she is the sweetest little darlin' here is a picture of charlotte.

it is hard to tell in this photo, but everyone keeps saying that she may have a little bit of red in her hair!?

to me it looks just really light brown.

what do you guys think?

the end

Felt Bow Headbands

Just a couple of weeks before Charlotte was born; I sent my husband and kids fishing, sat down, and created all kinds of things for my little darlings hair.

These felt bow headbands were one of my creations.

So easy...so cute..

and really a lot of fun to make!

here she is wearing this pink one.

this headband is nice and big.

i will show you how i made this one that Charlotte is wearing, but

play around with different sizes as you make these.

here's how i did it:

you'll need felt.

i am a fan of wool felt because it is thicker, holds up nicely, and really it just looks so much better.

most joann's stores carry it.

elastic or stretch lace.

joann's sells it.

cut a strip of felt...

19 inches x 1 1/2 inches

then another...

3 1/2 by 1 1/2

find, and if you would like, mark the middle.

fold one side to the middle and then fold the extra back over to the other side.

do the same thing with the other side making sure the initial folds are at least even.

put some hot glue in the center to hold those folds down.

when you turn it over it will look like this.

next take your small strip...

glue it to the back of your bow like this.

then tightly bring it around to the front of your bow...

i like to pinch the sides of my bow down like this as i am bringing the smaller strip around...

now bring the smaller strip around to the back and hot glue it secure.

your bow will look like this!

cut a triangle shape out of the ends of your bow like this.

measure a piece of elastic about an inch or so smaller than your babies head...

put some hot glue on one end...

glue the ends together.

now cover the back of your bow with hot glue...

and glue your headband to your stretch lace.

if you don't have the measurements for the headband size you need, here is a general idea of what size to make:

Sizes
-Newborn 13.5 in
-0-3 months-14 in
-3-6 months 15 in.
-6-12 Months 16 in.
-12 Months-Tween 17.5 in.
-Adult 18 in.

 

 Happy Headband making!