Just for Me

Here are a few of our decorations from this year. I did a few things differently this year, this is why I am publishing them on the blog. I am loving Pinterest and the ideas I am getting.
Front Door:
I created the letter 'B' by using a plastic letter from Michael's, along with the berries. A little hot glue and 3 snowflake gift tags and there you have it.
Chandelier:
Back snowflake gift tags (from Target) to one another. Thread ribbon through and tie onto he chandelier to get a the "snow-falling" affect over your dinning room table.
Hunter's art display:
Make bows (on Pinterest) and glue snowflake gift tag in middle. Using the wall hooks that are easy to take off, string ribbon across the wall. Place the bows on top of the hook to hide it. I did put Hunter's art up, but discovered that it was a great place to display our past Christmas cards. Next year I need to hang another layer to display more art work and cards.

Hunter loved the look of the snow falling over our table.  

I am looking into refinishing our cabinets, but for now this added a little color.  

Again, the red and white theme.  I did hang ornaments from the lights to add a little Christmas magic.  

The breakables found a place higher to rest this year.  I usually have this village in another area, but wandering hands were too curious this year.

I made these donuts for the Eagle's Nest Teacher's to enjoy one morning.  (The nose is a candy corn.)  Below is the message I had laying with them.  

"Great" Aunt Sallie and Uncle George gave this to Adam and I for a wedding gift.  This year, I added the tree.  It added great height to the scene.  

Hunter loved hanging his art work up. I did back his pictures up with scrapbook paper.  I found a cheap package at Michael's.  

I love her little hands and couldn't help but want to do something crafty with them.  

So proud of my simple and cheap door decoration.  

Nannie's Advent Calendar is revisted everyday until we go to Tennessee.

The lamp shade was one that I had in the garage.  I had used it on a lamp in Hunter's room in Bristol.  For some reason, not sure why, but I wasn't using it.  I pulled it out and simply tied a ribbon around it with our Letter B ornament from Restoration.

Love, Love, Love the look of red and white peppermint sticks and candy.

Breakfast with Santa

The annual breakfast with Santa was a hit. Mackenzie has been saying Santa's name and "ho,ho,ho" for 3 weeks now. When it came to seeing him face to face, it didn't go any differently than any other toddler. Classic!!!  The photographer was trying to take the picture and make her smile at the same time.  I wanted the "I'm not happy about this" look because it was genuine.

The Annual Christmas Book Exchange

I have been planning and thinking about this event for about a month. I had thought we would decorate cookies, but then decided we still had several young ones who wouldn't enjoy that as much. While in Tennessee for Dad's birthday, I discovered plastic clear ornaments at Joann's. I went home and couldn't find them at Joann's, but was successful at finding them at Michael's. I purchased about 25. I then raided my craft stash at home and found beads, glitter, tinsel, and paint. I also have joined Pinterest and found several really cute ideas for food and decoration. I knew I wanted to have the kids write a letter to Santa, color Christmas pictures, but now I was able to add making ornaments to the list of activities.
The morning of was actually Breakfast with Santa. The party started at 10:30 so I had most of everything done the night before. The food consisted of PB&J sandwiches, PB & Nutella sandwiches, a sandwich tray from Publix, fruits, veggies, and chips. The sweet treats were "North Pole" cupcakes, snowman cookies, PB bark, peppermint bark, along with some other sweet treats brought by a close friend.
The kids had a blast playing outside and completing the Christmas activities. The ornaments were a hit. It will be on the list for years too come.
I love planning "little people"parties and I love this time of year. So much fun!

An Elf Accident

This is a picture of our elves. Every night, after the kids go to bed, the elves (aka Jingle in the green and Snowflake in the red) fly to the North Pole to give Santa a report on how the kids are behaving. Well, one night they returned and decided to perch on our drapery rod. It was cute because Snowflake was hanging upside down and goofing off. However, when Adam got home with the kids later in the day, he had forgotten they were above the door and as he moved the drapes over to open the back door Snowflake fell. Hunter was distraught. Adam immediately picked him up to replace him on his perch, forgetting that if anyone touches him the magic disappears and he will have to retire from his position.
Soon after this happening, I pulled in the driveway. Hunter ran up to the car all worried. I asked him what was the matter and he proceeded to tell me what had happened. He then looked at me and said, "Mom, we are going to have to write a (incident) report.". I had a hard time keeping a straight face. Hunter's school writes incident reports for any boo-boos that happen while at school.
Later that night, I was putting Mackenzie to bed and overheard Adam and Hunter creating a "report" for jingle to take with him to give to Santa. Lucky for us, Jingle has enough magic to carry Snowflake to the North Pole.
The next morning Snowflake and Jingle were in a different spot in the house. Snowflake was back in business.
Note to self...next year the Elves will be having parties on Friday nights. Can't wait to see what mischief they are going to get into.

(I will be posting the letter when I am back at home.)

The ENCA Christmas program

Hunter has been practicing for this performance for a while now. I was amazed at the speaking parts these 4 year olds had to memorize. He did fantastic! Mackenzie didn't have much of a role. She just had to sit in the biggie and look cute. Great night!!!

Mackenzie's debut in the performance.  

Hunter was proud of his class and his friends sitting next to him.

Singing "O'Christmas Tree" and using hand motions.

My Attempt @ Christmas Pictures

I knew that I probably wasn't going to be successful in getting a good picture, but I tried. Here are a few of the pictures.
Also, I am starting to see Adam get into the Christmas spirit. He doesn't mind this time of year, but he does have a hard time getting into the "magic" of the season. Hunter is definitely rubbing off on him. This afternoon he wanted to take a trip to the store to get lights for the house. We were both a little leery about doing this. We are the couple hat drives around the neighborhoods critiquing other's lights. These are our categories:
"Classy"
"Fun"
"They must have kids they are trying to entertain with all of the blow-up toys in the yard.l
"ahhh, they tried"
AND last but not least...
"Redneck"
I think we both thought our attempt would land in the "redneck" category, but we landed in between the "ahhh, they tried" category and the "classy" category. Not too bad.
Note to self for next year:
1. Buy extra bulbs just in case.
2. Borrow our neighbors ladder instead of using ours and almost breaking my neck trying to hang them.

Big Cypress Elementary's Winter Fest

Big Cypress has been a wonderful move for both my family and myself. I have been so blessed with getting to know the wonderful staff, the amazing kids, and making new friendships. Our neighbors, the Mendicino family, is one of the reasons I got the job at BCE. Laura is my team leader, my neighbor, and friend. Her 2 oldest ones are 6 and 7.
Kayla, Trenton, and Hunter are hard to separate at home so Laura and I decided to buddy up for the Winter Fest. We both wanted to volunteer our time, but didn't have anyone to watch the kids. She took the kids around the Fest for 30 minutes while I worked the ticket booth, and then we switched. She brought the "limo stroller" for the babies. The kids had a blast.
There was a booth that was giving away fish as a prize. You know the game...you try to throw a ping-pong ball into a fish bowl to win a fish. Trenton won a fish the first try. Hunter was really distraught because he didN't. I don't think I have ever wanted him to win so much as I did in that moment. His expression of sadness was enough to pull on anyone's heart strings. Finally, after Trenton had won 3 fish, Hunter won. His face was priceless. We had a blast!
RIP little fish who went to visit Santa with our Elf and didn't return.

Hunter's fish.  He was so proud.  He did want to try again
for a 2nd fish.  I didn't want him upset if he didn't win
another one.  He just looked at me and said,
"Mom, I won't worry if I don't win one.  I'm happy I have one
already."

Collin and Mackenzie in the "limo" of all strollerss