Just a quick post to wish you all a very merry Christmas! Here is our Christmas card 2009...
I hope your day has been as wonderful as ours!!! We will be back soon with an update.
Friday, December 25, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
They're here, they're here!
You might remember these...
from this previous post. I had every intention of reupholstering these headboards myself but upon closer inspection the piping was throwing me off. After talking to a wonderful friend, seamstress and interior designer, Catherine Ryals, I decided to have her upholsterer take over this job. He was very reasonably priced, relatively quick and the results were great...
Here is a closer view...
I am so pleased with them and as for Hannah...she is not disappointed...
unsure...
or frustrated...
with the results. You will just have to take my word for the fact that she is 100%, bouncing on the bed, over the top happy with her new headboards!
We have one more project for the upholsterer and Hannah's room should be complete. Finally right?!
from this previous post. I had every intention of reupholstering these headboards myself but upon closer inspection the piping was throwing me off. After talking to a wonderful friend, seamstress and interior designer, Catherine Ryals, I decided to have her upholsterer take over this job. He was very reasonably priced, relatively quick and the results were great...
Here is a closer view...
I am so pleased with them and as for Hannah...she is not disappointed...
unsure...
or frustrated...
with the results. You will just have to take my word for the fact that she is 100%, bouncing on the bed, over the top happy with her new headboards!
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Let it snow!
We woke up Saturday morning to this...
A winter wonderland right outside our window. Hannah has been talking about snow for weeks now and was completely amazed that it actually arrived. Her exact words as she looked outside were "wow" pause "Wow" another pause "Wow!" and by the third "wow" she was jumping up and down in total excitement. She ran to the door in her pajamas with her shoes in hand ready to go outside and play. Once we talked her into changing clothes and putting on a coat, mittens, and hat we headed outside to play in the snow. It was absolutely freezing but Hannah had a great time collecting snow in her bucket to make "sand castles" and Lily was able to touch the cold, white snow for the first time ever. Hannah finally agreed to go inside to thaw out for some blueberry pancakes and hot cocoa. After breakfast it was straight back outside for Hannah and time to make a little snowman before the snow melted away.
The snow disappeared as quickly as it came but we were so thankful for such a fun start to a cold December morning.
A winter wonderland right outside our window. Hannah has been talking about snow for weeks now and was completely amazed that it actually arrived. Her exact words as she looked outside were "wow" pause "Wow" another pause "Wow!" and by the third "wow" she was jumping up and down in total excitement. She ran to the door in her pajamas with her shoes in hand ready to go outside and play. Once we talked her into changing clothes and putting on a coat, mittens, and hat we headed outside to play in the snow. It was absolutely freezing but Hannah had a great time collecting snow in her bucket to make "sand castles" and Lily was able to touch the cold, white snow for the first time ever. Hannah finally agreed to go inside to thaw out for some blueberry pancakes and hot cocoa. After breakfast it was straight back outside for Hannah and time to make a little snowman before the snow melted away.
The snow disappeared as quickly as it came but we were so thankful for such a fun start to a cold December morning.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
He is coming!
We are anxiously awaiting the birthday of Jesus and doing the best we can to prepare our hearts and our house. I am so excited about several new traditions that we have started in our house this year to celebrate Christmas. I hope you don't mind if I share.
The first is our family Advent wreath...
We say a short prayer and light our candle each evening after dinner. Hannah helps to light the candle and looks forward to this moment each night. The wreath has so much symbolism behind it and is really a beautiful tradition. I was so happy to find a wreath made of various evergreens to emphasize the wreath as a symbol of continuous life...
The candles represent the four weeks of Advent and Christ as the Light of the world. Here is an website for anyone interested in more on the symbolism of the wreath. When Christmas arrives we will change the candles to white and light them for the next 12 days.
Next is our homemade Advent calendar...
I saw this idea on a fellow bloggers page only it was for a Thankful calendar for the month of November. I decided to turn her idea into an Advent calendar for the month of December. I took a cork board covered it with black paper and placed garland around the wood frame. I then numbered shipping tags for my days and attached them with clear push pins...
There are actually two shipping tags for each day - one on top of the other. Each day we remove the tag in the back to discover what activity that day of Advent holds for us. I am really trying to focus on making this Advent season a time of reflection and family and that is what each daily activity is centered around. For instance, last night we had hot cocoa and read Christmas stories in front of the fire in our pajamas. Today we will bless and put out our manger scene. For those of you interested I will list all of the daily activities at the bottom of this post.
Finally I want to mention our Jesse tree...
"A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse - from his roots a Branch will bear fruit" Isaiah 11:1 This is actually a tradition that my wonderful friend and Hannah's godmother, Melissa Franklin, started with our family last year. This is a great way to talk about Jesus' family tree and the important Biblical figures that paved the way for the birth of Christ. I found my ornaments here and I am using both this site and Melissa's Jesse tree blog for devotions and talking points. So with these meager branches we will trace the lineage of our Lord until His birth. What a great thing to share with your child! It's not too late to start your own Jesse tree for your little ones. Hannah loves coloring her ornament and hanging it on our tree each day.
I wish you all a wonderful and fulfilling Advent season!
For those of you interested here is the list of our Advent calendar activities. They are not fancy and all are quick and easy with a little preparation...
Dec. 1 Jesse tree
Dec. 2 Hot cocoa and Christmas stories by the fire
Dec. 3 Bless and put up manger scene
Dec. 4 Make Christmas soap
Dec. 5 Put out shoes for Feast of St. Nicholas
Dec. 6 Bless and decorate Christmas tree
Dec. 7 Make clothespin angel ornaments
Dec. 8 Watch Christmas movie
Dec. 9 Look at Christmas lights in our pajamas
Dec. 10 Make special Christmas gift
Dec. 11 Zoolight Safari
Dec. 12 Christmas shopping
Dec. 13 Happy Birthday Jesus party with friends
Dec. 14 Star of Bethlehem show at Samford planetarium
Dec. 15 Sing Christmas carols
Dec. 16 Wrap presents
Dec. 17 Mail Christmas cards (we say a prayer before we mail them for the recepients)
Dec. 18 Bake gingerbread men
Dec. 19 Christmas with the Brown's
Dec. 20 Live nativity at St. Mark's
Dec. 21 Church cookie swap
Dec. 22 Make snow globe
Dec. 23 Christmas with the Raney's
Dec. 24 Christmas Children's Mass
Dec. 25 Christmas Day! Jesus is born!
The first is our family Advent wreath...
We say a short prayer and light our candle each evening after dinner. Hannah helps to light the candle and looks forward to this moment each night. The wreath has so much symbolism behind it and is really a beautiful tradition. I was so happy to find a wreath made of various evergreens to emphasize the wreath as a symbol of continuous life...
The candles represent the four weeks of Advent and Christ as the Light of the world. Here is an website for anyone interested in more on the symbolism of the wreath. When Christmas arrives we will change the candles to white and light them for the next 12 days.
Next is our homemade Advent calendar...
I saw this idea on a fellow bloggers page only it was for a Thankful calendar for the month of November. I decided to turn her idea into an Advent calendar for the month of December. I took a cork board covered it with black paper and placed garland around the wood frame. I then numbered shipping tags for my days and attached them with clear push pins...
There are actually two shipping tags for each day - one on top of the other. Each day we remove the tag in the back to discover what activity that day of Advent holds for us. I am really trying to focus on making this Advent season a time of reflection and family and that is what each daily activity is centered around. For instance, last night we had hot cocoa and read Christmas stories in front of the fire in our pajamas. Today we will bless and put out our manger scene. For those of you interested I will list all of the daily activities at the bottom of this post.
Finally I want to mention our Jesse tree...
"A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse - from his roots a Branch will bear fruit" Isaiah 11:1 This is actually a tradition that my wonderful friend and Hannah's godmother, Melissa Franklin, started with our family last year. This is a great way to talk about Jesus' family tree and the important Biblical figures that paved the way for the birth of Christ. I found my ornaments here and I am using both this site and Melissa's Jesse tree blog for devotions and talking points. So with these meager branches we will trace the lineage of our Lord until His birth. What a great thing to share with your child! It's not too late to start your own Jesse tree for your little ones. Hannah loves coloring her ornament and hanging it on our tree each day.
I wish you all a wonderful and fulfilling Advent season!
For those of you interested here is the list of our Advent calendar activities. They are not fancy and all are quick and easy with a little preparation...
Dec. 1 Jesse tree
Dec. 2 Hot cocoa and Christmas stories by the fire
Dec. 3 Bless and put up manger scene
Dec. 4 Make Christmas soap
Dec. 5 Put out shoes for Feast of St. Nicholas
Dec. 6 Bless and decorate Christmas tree
Dec. 7 Make clothespin angel ornaments
Dec. 8 Watch Christmas movie
Dec. 9 Look at Christmas lights in our pajamas
Dec. 10 Make special Christmas gift
Dec. 11 Zoolight Safari
Dec. 12 Christmas shopping
Dec. 13 Happy Birthday Jesus party with friends
Dec. 14 Star of Bethlehem show at Samford planetarium
Dec. 15 Sing Christmas carols
Dec. 16 Wrap presents
Dec. 17 Mail Christmas cards (we say a prayer before we mail them for the recepients)
Dec. 18 Bake gingerbread men
Dec. 19 Christmas with the Brown's
Dec. 20 Live nativity at St. Mark's
Dec. 21 Church cookie swap
Dec. 22 Make snow globe
Dec. 23 Christmas with the Raney's
Dec. 24 Christmas Children's Mass
Dec. 25 Christmas Day! Jesus is born!
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Recap
It has been a while since my last post but I promise there are no bon bons in my house and tush has rarely made it to the couch. I sort of feel like we have been the family of four version of the energizer bunny...we have been going and going and going.
Here is a quick recap of the past couple of weeks...
The Thursday before Thanksgiving I attended Hannah's Thanksgiving performance at her school. The kids did a great job of showing off their musical and artistic talents. Here is "Rising Sun" Hannah...
The program was a great beginning to our Thanksgiving festivities. With Hannah and Lily out of school we filled our time with as many outings a possible including a trip to the zoo one very chilly afternoon. The zoo is one of Hannah's favorite excursions but it was extra fun this time because Lily was really aware of all of the animals. Lily pointed a lot and let out quite a few excited "duh duh duhs" which is her version of dog.
My mom and Bekah arrived on Tuesday of Thanksgiving week and I was oh so very excited. That night Matt, Bekah and I headed out to hear our friend Nordan's band play for the very first time.
I have to tell you that literally I cannot remember the last time I have been to a bar. The band was great, we saw friends we had not seen in a while and I was home at a decent hour. It was a great evening for sure!
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving day and you will have to take my word for it yet again. I played hostess and my camera duties went out the door. Bekah did capture these photos which show how relaxed our day was...
Hannah chose her outfit and Lily stayed in her pajamas. I did dress them for our meal of course but I think this epitomizes our low key holiday. Matt's family and mine came to Birmingham for the festivities. Matt smoked a VERY delicious turkey and everyone contributed something to the meal including my sister Rachel who made this delicious acorn squash pie...
It was a great day and I am very thankful for each and every person that was here with us.
My mom was the last to leave on Sunday :( and with Thanksgiving officially over we have had quite a bit of Christmastime cheer already. I will be back soon with a post about a magical train ride, a special evergreen wreath, a calendar full of surprise and cheer and a tree of Biblical proportions - and this is only Dec. 1!!!
Here is a quick recap of the past couple of weeks...
The Thursday before Thanksgiving I attended Hannah's Thanksgiving performance at her school. The kids did a great job of showing off their musical and artistic talents. Here is "Rising Sun" Hannah...
The program was a great beginning to our Thanksgiving festivities. With Hannah and Lily out of school we filled our time with as many outings a possible including a trip to the zoo one very chilly afternoon. The zoo is one of Hannah's favorite excursions but it was extra fun this time because Lily was really aware of all of the animals. Lily pointed a lot and let out quite a few excited "duh duh duhs" which is her version of dog.
My mom and Bekah arrived on Tuesday of Thanksgiving week and I was oh so very excited. That night Matt, Bekah and I headed out to hear our friend Nordan's band play for the very first time.
I have to tell you that literally I cannot remember the last time I have been to a bar. The band was great, we saw friends we had not seen in a while and I was home at a decent hour. It was a great evening for sure!
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving day and you will have to take my word for it yet again. I played hostess and my camera duties went out the door. Bekah did capture these photos which show how relaxed our day was...
Hannah chose her outfit and Lily stayed in her pajamas. I did dress them for our meal of course but I think this epitomizes our low key holiday. Matt's family and mine came to Birmingham for the festivities. Matt smoked a VERY delicious turkey and everyone contributed something to the meal including my sister Rachel who made this delicious acorn squash pie...
It was a great day and I am very thankful for each and every person that was here with us.
My mom was the last to leave on Sunday :( and with Thanksgiving officially over we have had quite a bit of Christmastime cheer already. I will be back soon with a post about a magical train ride, a special evergreen wreath, a calendar full of surprise and cheer and a tree of Biblical proportions - and this is only Dec. 1!!!
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Baking and Thanking
We are hosting Thanksgiving at our house this year and the preparations have begun. Today was spent doing some baking for breakfast for our out of town guests. I found a great recipe online for pumpkin muffins...
and one for apple quick bread with an oatmeal brown sugar topping from this month's Martha Stewart...
I let both cool completely and then put them in the freezer. I will just pull them out and let them thaw next week when I need them. Hannah and I actually did a test run of the apple bread a couple of weeks ago and it is yummy. If you do make the apple bread I can tell you that there is no need to measure the cinnamon exactly. I know this because I turned my back for one second and a certain 3 year old poured half of the bottle of cinnamon into the mixing bowl. We stirred it in, baked it and it came out tasting fine. Sooooo...pour in as much cinnamon as you want it will still be good.
Also, our Thanksgiving turkey has come early this year....
Obviously it is not the eating kind of turkey but one we created to display all of the wonderful blessings in our lives. He hangs on the wall in our dining room and each night at dinner we talk about something that we are thankful for in our lives. That blessing is then written on a feather and placed on our turkey. We will continue to add a blessing each day until Thanksgiving which, can you believe, is only 1 week from tomorrow!
and one for apple quick bread with an oatmeal brown sugar topping from this month's Martha Stewart...
I let both cool completely and then put them in the freezer. I will just pull them out and let them thaw next week when I need them. Hannah and I actually did a test run of the apple bread a couple of weeks ago and it is yummy. If you do make the apple bread I can tell you that there is no need to measure the cinnamon exactly. I know this because I turned my back for one second and a certain 3 year old poured half of the bottle of cinnamon into the mixing bowl. We stirred it in, baked it and it came out tasting fine. Sooooo...pour in as much cinnamon as you want it will still be good.
Also, our Thanksgiving turkey has come early this year....
Obviously it is not the eating kind of turkey but one we created to display all of the wonderful blessings in our lives. He hangs on the wall in our dining room and each night at dinner we talk about something that we are thankful for in our lives. That blessing is then written on a feather and placed on our turkey. We will continue to add a blessing each day until Thanksgiving which, can you believe, is only 1 week from tomorrow!
Monday, November 16, 2009
Muddin'
My little one is sick...
She spent most of today in her pajamas on a sheet on the couch, juice in hand, watching her favorite movie Curious George. After a not so fun visit to the doctor and being poked and proded it was determined that she has a run of the mill infection and that an antibiotic was the cure. Luckily her fever broke early this morning and she is on the mend, but she will probably be spending tomorrow at home with me.
Before this little infection made itself known Hannah and her daddy got to spend Saturday together muddin' with friends. Matt would probably prefer that I refer to his hobby as off roading, unfortunately for him a name that originally started as a little joke has stuck. Last year when he and Hannah went for their first father/daughter ride I teased him and told Hannah they were going muddin'. Well I have since learned that my then 2 year old has the memory of an elephant and she doesn't forget nor does she know the meaning of "just kidding". Hannah has ever since referred to Matt's off road adventures as muddin' and proudly tells anyone who will listen that that is what she and her dad do together. Technically there is a lot of mud and his car comes home really dirty covered in mud...I'm just sayin'...
Ok, without further adieu here is Hannah and Matt's 2009 Muddin' Adventure...
Hannah did a little of this...
And a lot more of this...
She spent most of today in her pajamas on a sheet on the couch, juice in hand, watching her favorite movie Curious George. After a not so fun visit to the doctor and being poked and proded it was determined that she has a run of the mill infection and that an antibiotic was the cure. Luckily her fever broke early this morning and she is on the mend, but she will probably be spending tomorrow at home with me.
Ok, without further adieu here is Hannah and Matt's 2009 Muddin' Adventure...
Hannah did a little of this...
And a lot more of this...
Hannah was a bit more timid this time around and spent more time outside the car watching rather than riding over the rough terrain. I think she had much more fun picnicking...
playing...
and observing from up above...
I know Matt did not get to do as much driving this time around but he did get lots of quality time with Hannah and I think they both enjoyed just being together.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
