Christmas recap & a chicken treat

Well a belated Merry Christmas to All!
 Our family really enjoyed our Christmas Eve Canndlelight service...remembering the reason Christians celebrate Christmas afterall.
 That lil babe born in a manger that came so that we might be saved. It is a precious message and so much more powerful to me now that I am a mom, I couldn't imagine my son being the sacrifice for all.

So we Celebrated Jesus' Birthday and we enjoyed time with family! How fun is it to watch your kiddos open gifts and see the excitement on their faces? Every Christmas I'm reminded that I don't need anything...the joy of watching my kids is a wonderful gift!

We Celebrated first with Tim's family where my Mother in law Cooked up some very tasty Lamb for us

isn't that beautiful?

On Christmas day we ventured to My Parents where the food (Butt Cut & Crab) was equally as yummy!

Mom's table

lil birdies nesting in her Chandelier

....and her beautiful Christmas Mantle!

So now you know where I get the urge to dump the things I have and start over...there is literally something new every time I go to moms, it's like going to the pottery barn but getting to stay for dinner!

...and a lil gift for the girls this week a fresh baguette!

Big Momma in Flight

Blueberry savoring her bread

Barrel racing for the best piece of bread

Don't Leave...there's more!

Since I skipped what i wore wednesday..thought i'd show what Lydia wore this week!

Outfitted by both Grandmas...Rapunzel Dress, Hair & Crown!

Hope you're all enjoying lazy days in jammies like we are!

stocking stuffers

Please don't get your kiddos a puppy for Christmas .....here are 10 reasons why you should stuff their lil stockings with baby chicks instead!

1. Chicks are so cute!

2. You can mail order chicks and they'll arrive at your door.

3.  They only cost around $2.00....pure bred maybe $4.00

4. They won't tear up your carpet or shed in your house...they are outdoor peeps.

5. They don't wake you up in the middle of the night to potty

6. You can use chicken feathers as down or maybe make a sweater with them....can't say that for a dog.

7. When the love wears off in say a week...there are no hurt feelings. Chickens really don't care to sleep at the foot of your bed or with your kids...they want to perch & poop.

8.  Ya don't see people composting dog poop.....but Chicken poop works great in compost for your yard. 

9. Chickens lay eggs- a great return on your investment..i mean gift.

10. If the economy gets any worse....you can always eat em! (okay, that's Tim speaking...I wouldn't suggest this)

Here is our Chicken Nugget as a lil peep...the perfect stocking stuffer!

Pinning & Winning!

Yesterday my daughter came inside saying to me ..."mom I want to win too, tell Levi to let me win."  Wow don't we all feel that way as adults every once in awhile?

 I can tell you after a solid week of Christmas shopping, I'd like to win a good parking spot. Close parking spots are like gold this time of year. If I find a good parking spot at the mall, then it pretty much sets the tone for the whole shopping trip.  I feel like I'm "Winning"!

Here's what I've pinned lately ...... there wasn't a source attached, I'll just call her "brilliant mom"!

and here's my knock off monster jean hole man for my lil man....

more like abominable snowman- monster

This is the walrus look with a lil saliva (glue smear), and the finger is my 5yr old pointing out that this monster probably should only have 1 eye.  He's so right. Why did I not consult a monster expert...next pair of jeans needs to have a Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc.

Interesting egg news...our chickens are laying larger than normal eggs lately .big. beautiful. eggs.  We have had them for about 1 1/2 years and they seem pretty happy. Maybe it's the pancakes or lately they've been eating leftover cuties...little oranges. hmmmm

Happy Friday!

Baby it's cold outside!

Baby it's cold outside and we are in the Christmas mood! We are decking the halls with a few less "decorations" this year and a little more greenery we brought home from our tree trip to the mountains!

a lil bird's nest works well with nearly every season

I went picking in our own barn and found this chippy white shelf...I cleaned her up with a TON of bleach water and set her up as a boot shelf in the sunroom.

a closer look at this perfect chippy-ness obtained by years of just sitting = love it!

okay now I'm just shoving branches in any old thing!

I finally found the perfect spot for the metal number from an old stadium scoreboard, it's a heavy beast and it will do fine if a coffee cup is spilled set on it!

Here's what we are reading for fun this Christmas

..........and a pin to pinterest that I had to copy!




how cute was that?
Tim wrapped our bike with white lights & I love it!

I'm enjoying the little moments that can't be planned like overhearing my kids tell baby jesus to "behave" or tell the wiseman they need a haircut ( when they're playing with the nativity set). And how about when the kids decorate the tree and all the ornaments end up on one branch! I hope this lil branch makes it until Christmas!

Hope you're enjoying the little moments that make the Christmas Season so Special!

Im linking up with The Inspired Room for her Christmas Home tour...so many fun homes to check out!

As promised...a pinterest knock-off!

Okay just one lil sample of fun I had copying a "virtually free" ..idea from pinterest into real life!

A lil sidenote for anyone who's new to pinterest...it is like an online scrapbook, it replaces the old way of storing things you plan on making, buying, doing, baking etc. instead of ripping pages from a magazine, you're now "pinning" them on an online sort of cork-board.

 Well it's addicting & the amount of creative people & ideas on pinterest are simply flabergasting. So now that you get the idea, I'm taking the things I've pinned & finally making them for myself!

here is what i've pinned....

I wish I could give credit to the crafty person who did this...but I don't know who it was.  I'm sure they wanted me to copy them. Yep, pretty sure.

Here is my Outdoor Christmas Decor version of this

Everything I had sitting around the house...rotten old window check....mason jars, tea lights, wire & cranberries check & done...the screw was already in the wall too. That WAS Fun!!! Oh so pretty at night too!

htgt.com

My mom & I saw this mossy saucy wreath and she made a mini for me!

For some reason, pinterest is by invite only, so if you'd like an invitation...leave a message in the comments with your email & I'll send you and invite. There is no $$ required or anything hokey they want from you!

More Christmas Decor to come....we still have to decorate our tree that my husband moved mountains to get to...seriously! We drove into the hills to get our tree...of course the road Tim wanted to take had these caution looking signs blocking the road. Apparently that doesn't mean STOP & DON'T GO THIS WAY...no,  to Tim it means the best trees are right this way. So we drove around the caution signs....with the big ole truck.  Until we reached this small obstacle..

Thankfully it was a small rock fall & didn't continue while he was moving the boulders. This was not smart. Do not try this yourselves.

later we both thought this may not have been a good idea...what if more rocks fell & we couldn't get back home. Again, not a good idea. But the sun was shining on us that day and we had a great time searching for our tree!

And you just can't beat this view of Mt.Rainier or Reindeer as Levi calls it!

Happy Friday & Happy "Pinning"to you and yours!