Christmas crafts

So, I have been especially crafty this holiday season. Probably because I have recently become an avid follower of few very inspiring blogs. Most of which are added to my friends list if you would like to check them out. One of which is Centsational Girl’s blog. She happens to have a post dedicated to everyone’s crafty ideas, and I have LOVED! looking thought them the past few days, and have be wanting so badly to contribute. I have had several projects that I have been working on for the past couple of weeks (takes me forever to get anything done with Colin here), but none that I really felt were worthy, until now. I’ll post it, plus the others to just so you can see what I’ve been doing.

I went outside yesterday for some fresh air and some inspiration, and found these.

Not only do they look way better up in the tree than they do up close, but they also produce a strange odor:( And to me, Christmas doesn’t stink, so I figured they wouldn’t work. But then I looked across the yard at a huge branch that had fallen last January with the huge snow storm, and that for some reason is still laying in our backyard and ‘=’ (that’s a light bulb) I had an idea. So I pulled off a branch, stuck it in a pot, and started spraying (and glittering). Here’s what I have today!

It somehow looks way better in person, it’s very Dr. Seuss’ish, I love it! I have some vintage ornaments that I got last year at an estate sale right after we moved into the house. I thought my branch was a good way to display them, what do you think?

I also attempted a wreath redo last week. I had high hopes and expectations, and was a little let down I have to say. I decided to go blue and silver ( from my many years of red and gold). I also tried my hand at flocking, and all I have to say is that there has to be a better way. Anyway, here it is.

Before:

After:

I like it, but you can tell where half of the flocking had fallen off by the time I got the whole thing decorated. I’ll live with it for now, but I foresee me trying a new flocking technique next year.

Sydney gave us a gingerbread house kit to put together. I had hoped for a fun time with the boys, but because everything I do has to be “Perfect” I couldn't relax enough for it to be much fun. It looks great, but every time Colin pulls off a piece of candy, I loose it a little. I need to be a better mommy, I need to be a better mommy ( saying this to myself). So, here is our little creation.

*let’s play “can you find Colin”.*

And last but not least, here is an idea that I sort of stole from one of the crafters, who, at the moment I can’t not find. here it is.

Now, the one she had made was with an actual wreath base, and the rosettes were made out of lace (super pretty). I had neither…so, I used a Styrofoam plate (you can actually see it if you look close enough) and a thin, cream colored batting for my rosettes. I think it turned out super cute and it goes well on the fireplace with my new mirror (another project). They sort of look like cinnamon rolls though, oh well. I have a few more ideas that I wan to come to fruition some time soon, I’ll keep posted. So, this is what I’ve been up to, how about you?

Thanksgiving Projects

What’s going on?

What on earth could we be doing? I see a saw, lots of wood, lots of sawdust and some paint.....do you know what it could be?  Only I would decide that we needed to embark upon a project like this one.

Well, here’s the finished product….

A nice, new huge dining table just in time for Thanksgiving Dinner! We were too excited about getting it set that we didn’t take any pictures of it without table clothes, food, and décor!

It was quite the set up as you can see. Heidi brought her lace table cloth that she got in Italy and Sydney brought her China. And me and Nicole painted and !glittered! those little word signs you see there. And the guys supplied us our table! It was definitely a Thanksgiving to remember.

Don’t judge!

Yes, I know I have a seven week old that I have yet to post about! It has seemed that these past 7 weeks have flown by and I have yet to find much time in the day to even shower. And I’ll be honest, that sometimes doesn’t even happen. Don’t judge! On top of that, we were asked this week to give talks at church. And some how, I have found time today to write my talk, and now am attempting to update this blog all while keeping the kiddos happy and listening to Christmas…yes, Christmas music…on the lovely Holiday music channel on TV. Soooo, that means no cartoons playing in the background, Yay!

Anyways, I wanted to go ahead and show some of our pictures we’ve taken so far of little Lane.

Lane James Abraham

Born: September 24th 2010 at 12:25

8lbs 12oz

21 inches long

Huge hands and feet, long legs and arms. At his one week checkup he was 9lbs 11oz and 22 inches long.

And there you have it, that’s our sweet Baby Lane. He really is a sweetheart with tons of curly hair. He’s a keeper!

Jackson goes to Kindergarten

So, it’s official, as of Monday, August 23rd my baby started school. Probably the hardest day I have had in a while to be completely honest. Jared got up early with us and helped me get the boys ready. He gave Jackson a blessing, and I took some pictures before we left. I was already getting a little teary, but I was holding it together. We drive him to school, all of us get out, I grab his stuff and something out of my purse, locked the doors and then shut my door. Immediately, Jared asked “Did you just lock the keys in the car?” YEP! Then I lost it. I was so frustrated, and already on the emotional brink. I tried as hard as I could to not cry in front of everyone, I didn’t want to be that parent and I didn’t want to freak Jackson out. So, I put on a smile, walk him into his classroom, put his bag up for him, tell him bye and blow him a kiss, and bolted before I turned into a puddle. All while I was still trying to snap some pictures. As soon as I make it to the hall, I run into Allison ( a friend from church who was dropping her youngest off for kindergarten), seeing me in my condition, she gives me a big hug. Which is so nice but only makes it worse, ya know? So, that was already about 8:30, and I needed to be at the dentist at 8:40. But we were locked out of the car. My superhero Mom, came to the rescue and gave us a ride back home to get the extra key, I rescheduled my appointment and made it on time, then went to Ross for a little shopping therapy. The day ended better than it started, luckily. Jackson, by the way, loves school. It’s already been over a week since that day, and he’s already gotten sick. That’s probably the worst part of it for me because I’ve turned so paranoid about sickness around here. I pray that things keep going well for him. I pray that he enjoys his time at school, and makes good friends. We love you Jackson, and we are so proud of you.

This is in his class. That is his teacher, Mrs. Gibbs. Not the best picture, but it was all I could get.

The Abraham’s go to Santa Fe

This summer there was an Abraham family Reunion in good ol’ Santa Fe. I had never been before, and I loved it! What an amazing place! We all went in on a house in the woods and spent the weekend together. Everyone made it but Nathan and Nicole and Christy. We missed them. It was so nice to get to see everyone that we don’t usually get to.

This was the first night, we were all pretty tired, but the boys made the most of their time…

while Rachel watched:(

The next day, Grandma and Grandpa broke out the swimming pool.

This was the back patio and play area. It was such a nice place to relax and the weather was GREAT!

Later that day, we took a walk around Montessori Lake.

We all had to take our turns throwing stuff in the the lake.

And here we are. Thomalee took the picture, but we know she was there.

The next day, we went to Pecos National Park. And I unfortunately didn’t get any pictures because I forgot my camera, boo. But this is what it looks like. This is the old mission that is that was build by Spaniards when they came to preach to the Indians that lived here.

This is a Kiva. They were built as a place for rituals to be held in. You can actually climb down into them. They kids thought that was a lot of fun.

This was the inside.

Thanks to Aunt Heidi, we got some pictures of the boys in the Kiva.

Later that day, we drove into Santa Fe and visited the Georgia O’Keefe Museum, and went for a stroll around the plaza. And these would be the only pictures I took.

That evening, we ended up a Michelle’s campground where she made is shish-ka-bobs, and we discovered the amazing reeses smores.

We ended up back in Santa Fe the following and much to our surprise , there was a festival happening. They had music playing, and a bunch of booths sat up for the kids…and the best part was that it was all free!

Jackson posing in the fire truck.

Jackson did the cake walk and won on his first try… Way to go!

Then he played the ring toss game, and won two bottles of water.

After dinner, Michelle offered to take the boys so that we could have some alone time to walk around the plaza.

We watched some…dancing? This is a link to the video from Heidi’s blog. http://heidiabe.blogspot.com/2010/08/do-you-know-way-to-santa-fe.html

Heidi I need to get a copy of that video:)

Then we tried on some hats with Adam and Thomalee.

…and I was finally able to convince Jared to buy me a necklace! I love it!

So, the next morning it was time to say goodbye. Here’s all the kids.

And the kids with Aunt Heidi.

And the kids with Grandma and Grandpa.

Luckily right as we were trying to finish up pictures, the man that rents the house showed up to take our big group shot for us. This is the whole group and the front of the really nice house we got to stay in.

We had a great time and were so glad to get to see everyone. I hope we can do it again next year!

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For a little extra bonus. This is what we experienced on the way home. So, as we are driving somewhere out in west Texas, this side of Amarillo somewhere, a pigeon flies up out of the grass in the median. He was pretty far ahead of us, yet for some reason he decided to not elevate himself. He hovered in the air not moving, Jared going, oh, probably 80 mph tried to slow down some to give the poor guy some time to move. But no, he smacked right into the grill of the truck. So, about three hours later when we decided to make a stop, this is what we found.

And here’s Jared trying to remove him.

It was quite difficult to get him out, and once we did we discovered that he was tagged. He was a homing pigeon. :(