The End of 2015

Every year we say the year just flew by. Yet if we stop and reflect back on the year we've really crammed a lot into 365 days. 

There is work 5 days aweek. There is 13 family birthdays to celebrate. That's averages one a month with holidays to celebrate threw in the mix. There's always vacation, house maintenance, yard work, hobbies, shopping, and boring tasks that take up the days in between. There's visiting and caring and helping family and friends. There's church and doctor appointments if you went. And a hundred other happenings I left out. 

The last night of the year is a goodbye to the old and hello to the new. 

So as we say every year at this time HAPPY NEW YEAR. 

Gin

Pre-Christmas Day

And It's become a tradition. Fun. Joy. Peace. Christmasy. And everything tied into one. 

Just me and the little ones for a full day of  Christmas stuff. The pawpaw was in and out, mainly for lunch. 

A pizza lunch with Christmas snacks was on the menu. We wait for the pizza delivery guy, the door bell rings, the dog barks fiercely and everyone bombards the pizza guy at the door. 

Then there's project Rudolph. We've also done this same tradition at Easter with a bunny and egg project and Halloween with pumpkins and black cat projects. And I've got a Valentine Day in the plans. 

We all had a special Christmas hat to wear for the day. Cohen - Star Wars. Brooklyn - Elsa. Brynlee - Olaf. And me the Santa Red Hat. These three year olds are very into crafting. 

Even the 18 month old can make her own Rudolph. She keeps up with the big ones.

Rudolph's all done!

Then we sang Christmas songs. Turned a Christmas movie on. And opened gifts

that I brought just for today.

And played the rest of the day.  Games and snacks over and over.

And no nap!! They love me for that. 

We took a walk around the block to get some sunshine and look at the outside Christmas decorations at all the neighbors. 

One happy day with me and them.

A Christmas Day Story

Joyful. Blessed. Giving. Receiving.

And a touch of the Griswalds and A Christmas Story all day long.

The obligatory group picture was taken before anything got underway. My way of for sure getting a group picture by bribing with no food or gifts and we can sit here as long as it takes until everyone cooperates. It worked.

Always the reading of The New Born King is a part of our day together because He is the Reason for the season. 

My story reading dwindled down to one participant as they left one by one. 

The story was finished. Then on to the food and gifts giving and receiving. 

Flying wrapping paper. Gifts opened and laid to rest while opening the next one. 

Then play time to try out all the new gifts. 

Then we visited each of their homes to see what Santa brought. We watched Cohen ride his dirt bike. He's really good at it. 

A real gasoline racing dirt bike with training wheels. 

And the girls a Frozen Jeep for two. They got their fill of Frozen Elsa stuff today. 

Now to face the New Year in a few days. May you be blessed in the New Year. 

Holiday Pageant

It's the last pageant of the year so it's a Christmas Santa Pageant. Dress attire was Christmas dress or Christmasy OOC.  

The picture before curtains go up with a glimpse of Santa. 

We racked up on awards, but no Queen title, again. Brynlee 1st runner-up and Best Fashion. 

Brooklyn Princess (next in line to Queen), Best Personality, Most Beautiful, and Photogenic.

I like when my outfit creations win Best Dressed as this candy cane one did. All the girls love their gifts and crowns for every award they won. 

And a quick picture with Santa. Not every little boy or girl wants to sit on Sant's lap. I don't blame them. 

Christmas is on its way. 

Breakfast at Tiffany's

I wish!!

Instead, breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Where there are things to buy that you just don't see everyday in regular common stores. 

I love everything in there. I had to be called back to my table to order and again called back when the food was served. Being more interested in the shopping side than the party of six at my table. 

I was literally dragged away after the meal tab was paid. I didn't buy a thing. I could have bought a lot of things for myself and to give as gifts. But I didn't have enough money. 

A Selfie Christmas Tree Challenge earned its place there.

You know there's only Only a few more days till Christmas. 

The Circus

Crowns and sashes and dress up is what we like. Recently there was Three Ring Circus. The little lion was a big hit.

She was a mixture of happy and crying on and off stage.

And every circus has popcorn. So we portrayed the popcorn vendor.

Both taking 3rd place in each group of 11. We wanted the queen title. 

The PineTree Festival is one of my favorites every year. 

Brynlee did her best ever. But didn't place. 

And Brooklyn getting 3rd in her group.

And while the girls were being girls, the guys were being guys out on the four wheeler trails in the forest camping.

 

Always fun!

Work Tree

There's a tiny Christmas tree at work I took a selfie with for A Christmas Tree Selfie Challenge. 

 

It's not too late if you want to join. Click on the picture badge below to read about it and participate in the challenge. 

A Selfie Christmas Tree Challenge

 

              

Tree Time

Time is almost up for decorating and shopping for the best gifts. I've become lax this holiday season in the decorations category. The reasons why are:

1) I want a new fake tree.

2) I have to drag out all the Christmas pharafinellia.

3) There's not enough hours in the day.

4) and, I won't be at home Christmas Day so I'm going the "less is best" way. 

Meaning I'm only doing minimal decorating. I will miss my mantle being hung with stockings. I will miss the stair and loft banister draped in lighted garland and bows. I'm settling for my must haves: 

A) Nativity Set

B) Door wreaths

C) Candles

D) A reindeer or two

E) Carols playing in the background 

E) Presents 

Well, maybe I should hang stockings. I would really miss that. 

So I needed to find me a Christmas Tree. 

It's a real tree. Just needs a few more decorations and a star on top. And it passes for A Selfie Christmas Tree Challenge. 

 Thank you if you played along with A Selfie Christmas Tree Challenge. Today is the last day. I enjoyed seeing your selfies. 

A Selfie Christmas Tree Challenge

Four days till Christmas Day!

A Selfie Christmas Tree Challenge

                                       

                                         A Selfie Christmas Tree Challenge

Here's a little challenge game I want you to play along with me this holiday season. It will start Dec 1 and run thru Dec 21.

Rules of the Challenge:

1) Take a selfie with every Christmas tree you see as often as you can. Or be like me and ask a stranger to take your picture. You and the tree must be in the picture, but other people or things can also be in the picture.

2) Post a picture as often as you can. A post everyday with you and a Christmas tree would be awesome. In your post give a little info about the place, the picture, etc. TMI (Too much info) would make it so fun.

3) If you would link back to me that would be awesome. The top picture on my Selfie Christmas Tree Challenge post can be used as a link back or the picture from the sidebar. Just put my URL http://keepsakemoments.blogspot.com

4) If you wish to play along, let me know in a comment and leave your Blog URL in a comment and I'll add you to my Selfie Christmas Tree Challenge List on my sidebar for others to visit you.

5) When you visit others accepting the challenge, leave them a comment cause we all like comments.

6) Use your imagination and have fun.

7) The challenge will run Dec 1-Dec 21.

I'll start the Christmas Tree Challange with my First Christmas Tree Selfie Challenge..

                                    

While at a restaurant in the middle of nowhere on the river, I sat eating delicious stuffed shrimp and watching 3 teenagers taking their picture in front of this Christmas tree. In fact, that is what gave me the inspiration for this Selfie Christmas Tree Challenge. So, I went over to them and asked one to take my picture with the tree for a project I planned to start. I only got one shot cause I'm not really that brave and everyone was watching us cause the tree was right in the middle of everything. And yes, my husband pretended he didn't know me.

Gin

Thankful Everyday

Everyday should be a day of thanksgiving. To be thankful that we're fortunate to have family, food, friends, shelter, and fun. We do take so much for granted and think this is how it always is and has been.

We had all the traditional Thanksgiving food. Even the smallest of all enjoys the food. 

My first kids table in my house. I prefer the idea of everyone of all ages at one large dining table. I usually cram and scrunch chairs all the way around the table to sit everyone at the table. I'm trying the idea of a kids table. 

It serves double duty. We also colored and played with play dough for entertainment.

Outside the sun was bright and we played a while.

As most of you, we are fortunate and thankful to have more than one Thanksgiving meal. You know, where you have to go to extended family members on the Sunday before Thanksgiving or the Saturday after Thanksgiving. 

A trip to a sister-in-laws near by on the Sunday before for the other side of the family. And family, food, a day of thanks, and fun was had. 

Entertainment included this visiting pony (that a nephew and girlfriend had bought the day before while enroute to his moms for the family gathering). 

It got a lot of petting and feeding. 

Always thankful for each day.

Picture this DIY

This week is DIY. Random things keep getting my attention from random sources. 

This is adorable, seems super easy, and I don't know the source it's from. 

Simple instructions. Let me know if you make one.

DIY Snow Ball

I must do this. I absolutely love the look. Here's the site to give credit to: http://www.viewalongtheway.com/2011/12/glittery-snowball-tutorial/ 

Glittery Snowball Tutorial

Friends, meet my new little pretties:

If you’ve been around pinterest much lately, you’ve probably seen this glittery snowball tutorial by Martha Stewart. I thought it looked like a friendly enough little project, until I checked out the comments. Everyone says stay far away from this project! It doesn’t work! The balloons will stick! The balls will collapse, bringing your sanity and self-esteem crashing down upon you!

So I thought: that looks like something I should try. 

Since the tutorial doesn’t offer any pictures, I took some along the way to show you how it worked for me. Here’s what I used:

• Small package of water balloons
• Tacky glue
• Plain white string
• Glitter
• Ornament Hooks
• Water

Partial cast of characters:

I don’t know why their heads are chopped off. Sorry about that.

Step 1: Pour a little tacky glue in a bowl and water it down.

Here’s my bowl with just glue, then with water too so you can get an idea of proportions. I ended up using lots more water as the project progressed… mostly because I was running out of glue… but it worked both ways.

Step 2: Blow up your water balloons

Not too big, and don’t leave your pack of water balloons laying out on the living room floor so your 21-month-old finds them, then later you think you MIGHT have seen him swallow something, so you rush to the emergency room and spend 2.5 hours there until midnight last night getting his chest x-rayed because you thought you heard a weird cough coming out of him. Wait, did this just turn personal? Yes, I’d like to erase last night. Hide your water balloons.

Step 3: Wrap with string

Tie the end of the string onto the end of your balloon, and just start going wild. We are going WILD in this craft time.

Step 4: Glue.

I dunked the balloon in my glue bowl and rolled it around until it was covered. I didn’t even attach the end of the string to the balloon in any way – just used the glue to hold it on. This step is gonna get messy and gluey. RELISH it.

Step 5: Add glitter

This is where you’re getting your money’s worth with this post: add the glitter right now, before you hang it to try. Don’t listen to Martha, bless her little heart. Just pour the glitter on your balloon over a bowl until it’s covered in shiny Christmasy delight.

Step 6: Dry

I attached a little twist tie to the end of my balloon, then hung the twist tie from a piece of string on a dowel. Martha recommends using a clothespin “threaded on a dowel that you’ve suspended from two points.” You can try that too. But this way, you can use your shower rod or whatev. 

Now DON’T TOUCH IT for at least 24 hours. I waited longer than that because I’m an incredibly, patient diligent crafter I got really busy, then procrastinated. Update: based on a recent comment, leaving them up to 48 hours might be the key to making them dry correctly and not stick. So I recommend procrastination.

Step 7: Remove the balloon and hang.

I’m so excited for you when you get to this step! It’s intensely satisfying. You stick a pair of tweezers in a hole and pop the balloon, then it makes this amazing crinkly sound while it slowly pulls away from the sides of the string and withers into a sad little balloon mess in the middle of your snowball. Fantastic. 

(Quick tip: Try this with one or two snowballs before you dive into making a hundred. Some people said their string stuck to their balloon, but spraying it with Pam helped fix the problem. That didn’t happen to me, and hopefully it won’t to you either.)

Remove the balloon pieces with a pair of tweezers and try not to jump up and down with excitement. Insert an ornament hook on one of the string pieces to hang.

I brought in some branches from the yard, displayed them in a vase and hung my snowy balls from the branches. I think they’d also look amazing on a Christmas tree.

This was a fun little project to get into some wintry craftiness. Have you been getting crafty lately? Had any tutorials fail on you?

I was so excited when I saw this that I just copied and pasted the whole thing with ads and all so I would have a place to refer back to it (on my blog) when I get ready to DIY it. Again here's the site  http://www.viewalongtheway.com/2011/12/glittery-snowball-tutorial/