Christmas Eve Festivities

 Every Christmas Eve we head on over to Grandma and Grandpas for a yummy dinner and Aunt Emys famous homemade cookies! It was a wonderful night spent with those we love! 

 Lots of presents:) 

New Year- New Do

Got my hair cut today- its been almost a year! 

I got a Groupon for a cut and color at a salon near my house. 

Great deal- I dont think I have ever gone to the same stylist in years- I go where I can get a good deal!

I was sorta nervous when on old guy was my stylist. But he did a pretty good job overall. 

I love it short! I was meant to have short hair- I think it makes my face look skinnier which is always nice! I got some nice warm hazelnut and blond highlights too. Its hard to see in this lighting- I'll take more pics tomorrow in the daylight!  

Merry Christmas from {us} to {you}

Wishing you a wonderful Christmas as you celebrate God becoming flesh for US! 

The Son of God came down and laid aside His crown

Born without great renown, this Sovereign One

All holiness and might, all glory shining bright

Have come to earth this night in Mary’s son

O come, let us adore

O Christ the Lord, our hope and Savior 

Son of God yet made like us 

O Christ the Lord, our King adored 

Born a child, our Lord Jesus 

Messiah born so small, asleep in cattle stall

Come to redeem our fall, nailed to a tree

This tiny, helpless child through death would 

reconcile

The holy God and vile, His grace so free

O come, let us adore

-Soveriegn Grace Music

Dreaming of Warmer Days

Found this picture yesterday that Sophia drew- can you guess where we all are? 

This SO makes me smile! 

Its beginning to {LOOK} a lot like Christmas

We woke up to around 12 inches of snow this morning! It was beautiful! Colorado should have a white Christmas this year! The kids have been busy inside with puzzles, play dough, moon sand, art contests, Kung Fu Panda 2, and eating! But they were aching to roll around in the fluffy stuff- so Mark took them out to play! I love how rosy their little noses get and how pink their cheeks turn.

Mr. Elijah stayed in- he's had a runny nose and cough this last week. And he really has no desire to frolic in the powdery stuff! You'd think it was summer by the lack of clothing!  Thank goodness we keep it toasty warm in this house! 

 After an hour, they all came in to eat warm raviolis and drink hot tea! Dont you LOVE the pile of soppy clothes us moms get to handle when all the play is done:) Its worth it though since it wears them out! and as an extra bonus you get to kiss those chilly rosy cheeks!!

Waterless Vintage Christmas Snow Globe

 So I joined Pinterest and found these super cute waterless vintage Christmas globes.

I am going to a cookie swap tomorrow where I am in charge of the craft:) 

so this is what we are doing! You can shake them and watch the glitter and snow fall down.

Super easy and really cute! My kids loved them too!

 So, here is what you need to create your own:
Little Christmas trees- I got these for $6 on sale at Joannes( you get like 20)
Little figurines- I got 3 for $1.00 at the Dollar Tree
Glitter- I like the silver the best- it shows up more
Canning jars with rings and lids- got 2 HUGE boxes at a yard sale last summer for $1.00 a box!
Fake snow
Hot glue

1. Hot glue the trees and figurines onto the underside of the canning lid.
2. Fill the jar with as much snow and glitter as you would like.
3. Place the lid on the jar and screw on the ring.
4. Flip and there you have it!

{CHRISTMAS TREE}

This year we got a real tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Mark wasnt too thrilled but I had sweet visions of pine scented smells wafting through the house and a cute tree filling up my window.

Well, BIG real Christmas trees are WAY out of our budget so we found a groupon for $20 and got a small tree that was only about 4 ft tall. I watered it like crazy but it wasnt drinking all too much and 2 weeks later it was so dead that I was afraid to turn on the lights and the ornaments were falling off.

So a few days ago, I threw it in the dumpster, and brought out the fake one, lit a pine candle and 

I LOVE it! 

I am never going back to a real one again- Mark you can remind me of this next year! 

 Every year we get a new ornament for the kids and write their names and the year on the back- this year Elijah got a Bronco player- he named it Tim Tebow- and the girls got Hello Kitty! 

Its been one CRAZY week! We have had a lot of sickness in the house so its made things a tad difficult. We had to miss the Valor family Christmas party. The kids have missed some school. Arianna missed her girl scout Christmas party and was deeply disappointed but I guess this all means we have spent more time together as a family for which I can be grateful!

Mark and I did get to get out to a FABULOUS Valor Discovery Christmas Party and it was WONDERFUL! Honestly, I was almost in tears at how grateful I was for that night out with Mark- no kids, wonderful food, great fellowship with some pretty awesome people- it was GREAT and much needed by this tired mommy!  Special thanks to Franki and Jon who babysat for us and even with a kid that had a low fever- you guys are AWESOME!

We were still able to have some company over last night for dinner which was so nice!
And I have been BUSY all week making Christmas presents, Christmas cookies and treats for parties at school and for teachers and friends, mailing presents and writing Christmas cards:) Its been fun!

I have fallen a bit behind in our advent daily happenings so I we have 2 books that have not been read and 3 names of Jesus we have not discussed but this is bound to happen, right?!

Hoping we can kick this bug in our house out the door so we can have a productive weekend and then TWO WEEKS OFF of school! Although I'm not too sure it will be anytime soon as I got a call a few minutes ago from the twins teacher that they are complaining about their belly's hurting- we will see what the day brings!