From Fall

I'm dying to start decorating for Christmas, but it's happening after Thanksgiving for the most part. (I've snuck a few things out here and there.) It might sound goofy, but it finally occurred to me this year that my excitement to decorate inside for the holidays coincides exactly with when the last of the fall colors disappear.  As son as it's just about barren outside, I want to decorate inside and make it cozy and add reds and greens for more color.

Also, Instagram has sort of become a mini blog for me and I'm trying to decide if I like that or not.  I want to write more now that I have the mental space, just can't decide where that needs to be.  I've been finally picking up my real camera again and that feels really good.  The only problem is that the big kids are so set against being in photos. So if it seems like I'm favoring the little one in photos, you are correct. He can't protest yet and we spend 24/7 together:)

December: From the Holidays

I was surprised by how much I didn't pick up my camera over the holidays.  These are all from my phone because it's easier.  At least in situations where you'd think a normal person would want to take photos.   But I'm not as good at the big stuff, it's the little everyday stuff that I do best photographing.  We went to a party with my mom's side of the family right after Christmas and my aunt asked me to take photos with her camera and I wound up handing it over to my sister.  She's so much better at making people get together to take pictures for the sake of posterity.

Christmas came and went.  There was an ugly sweater party, Christmas Eve with John's family, Christmas Day with my family, the party in NY with my Mom's side of the family, days to regroup and sit around in pjs and watch movies and play with new toys and go to the doctor for a sinus infection, New Year's Eve and Day...and now everyone is back at school.

I know don't you want to read all of these mundane things, but sometimes I just need to write them for my own sake and for the sake of remembering where we were right now.

On the First Day of Fall

I'm drinking pumpkin spice coffee and my toes are chilly in flip flops.  There's a little pile of leaves in the backyard that they raked this weekend and they're already jumping in the pile.  I'm thinking about picking out front porch pumpkins and mums and trying to make myself wait until October 1st, though I'm not really sure why. There's an entire dogwood tree in our backyard (our only official backyard tree right now) that has already turned completely red.

Fall is always such a strange time.  It's my favorite season for the weather and the fun and my birthday, but it always feels like such a whirlwind that starts in September and ends with a snowy January and you look back and wonder how the heck it all flew by so quickly.  So I kind of don't want to do much. Is it weird to acknowledge out loud that I'm a lot better at doing seasonal projects than I am at just keeping up with the day-to-day stuff that needs to happen in our house?  John is a million times better than me on most days, especially when it comes to dishes and laundry.  So this year, I want to focus more on just keeping more basic holiday sanity by keeping up with the normal, everyday stuff.  I've already decided that there's only one thing we (John and I) "need" to get for Christmas: a dishwasher.  ("Need" obviously being completely relative since we don't truly NEED one at all. ) And there's not any sort of great space in our kitchen, so we're thinking about one of the small versions on a counter.  We have a perfect corner that's basically unused space that would work well for a counter top version and I keep reading that they rate a ton better than the portable options.  Anyone want to give any input or share experience?

In the meantime: I'm getting some mums and pumpkins to place outside my door and if I can be patient, I'm making myself wait a few more weeks for them.  Nick is being the same thing for Halloween that he's been the past 2 years (a firefighter) and Mia just needs a cape and vampire teeth to be Dracula.  Throw in a day of pumpkin carving with friends and the possibility of a Libby's pumpkin bread kit and I think we're completely set for fall.  If we feel really crazy, we might pick apples.  But we probably won't and I'm kind of happy about that.  I'm feeling the same about Christmas. (Am I annoying you by talking about Christmas already?) Usually I make a million lists and plans and all sorts of stuff, all in the name of trying to keep it simple.  So I think I'm going to skip the lists and if I feel motivated for a holiday craft for the kids, get out the red and green construction paper to make chains.  Maybe slice and bake some oranges.  I'm not wrapping books, I'm giving them to the kids in a big basket to go nuts.  After all, she can read now.  And he's trying  Which means she can read all of the Christmas books! And I wouldn't want to deprive them of any reading time by having the books wrapped;)

Does someone want to remind me that I said all of this in the next few months when I start thinking about making lists??  All they really care about is the time with family and putting up a tree.  A few presents are the icing on the cake and the rest is just gravy if we have it in us to make it happen.  I need to remember that.

Tree Day

We were walking through the field when she said it.  "Mommy?  Do you know that we don't care if we get a tree here?" They just like to be there, at the tree farm. Do the ride on the wagon, see the trees, drink hot chocolate, sit on Santa's lap.  The tree isn't a big deal.  So after trekking through the field for 30 minutes and hunting for a tree that made us all happy and wouldn't cost a million dollars, while we grumbled and listened to other families squabble about which tree to choose, we all broke into smiles when she said it.  Then we decided to head home and just put up our fake tree that was already waiting for us in the basement.  We did what we wanted to do - had breakfast at the spot near the tree farm, visited, bundled up, spent the morning together.  The actual tree was just an afterthought in the grand scheme of it all.  Sometimes I need reminders like that.  It's not about the thing, it's about memories and traditions and time together.  

Merry Making: DIY Glitter Letters

Inspired by these on Pinterest.

This might be my favorite project so far this year.  There are a ton of methods out there and I planned to spray them with glitter paint, but then I forgot to buy the spray paint and wanted to just get them done, so I used what we had. 

You'll need:
Cardboard Letters (these were 50% off at Hobby Lobby and about $1.50 each, so $6 and change for tax total))
Glitter
Glue/Modge Podge
Paint Brush
Cookie Sheets
Parchment Paper

I really suggest the parchment paper for ease of cleanup and for ease in getting extra glitter back into the bottle - I didn't put any down on the cookie sheets and it became a big old mess. Using cookie sheets still kept it contained, but it was hard to get some of the glitter off of the sheets.

The method:  Paint the surface of the letter with glue or modge podge and go nuts with glitter.  Let it dry, then lift and tap off the excess.  That's it! 

I thought about sealing them with a spray of some sort to minimize glitter all over the place, but so far they're fine and I don't know how the letters would do with the spray.  I also didn't paint the sides and backs of the letters to minimize how much glitter could get all over the place and to have somewhere to hold while I moved them, packed them away, got them out, etc. You can see that the edges aren't perfect, but I don't care at all and this was tons easier than trying to turn letters to get specific crevices and sides and having different drying times.  They're fun, inexpensive and quick just like this - that's my kind of project!      

A Few Favorites For Saturday Morning

A few quick favorites/links/recent phone photos.  Because it's Saturday morning and my kids are with the in-laws for the weekend for a Grandparent Christmas Extravaganza and John went to a concert last night, so I didn't think he'd be up early.  We were supposed to go here on a date today and I was so so so excited to finally check it out, but it's supposed to snow again, so we don't want to make the drive and get stuck in snow.  So instead our date will be cleaning bedrooms and the bathroom (and it'll feel like a luxury to do it without stopping 50 times for snacks and questions and games!) and going out to lunch and I rented 4 movies at the Redbox and got steaks out for dinner and I plan to do nothing which makes me all sorts of happy. 

Hope you're all having a fun weekend and doing cozy, holiday things! 

This pretty post led me to this one and I've been finger-knitting like a crazy woman to make garland for our tree and love it so much!  We're still slim on ornaments because we put all of the kid/unbreakable/school-made ornaments on the little tree in Mia and Nick's room, so our few breakables are at the top of this one and we may or may not make some of those cornstarch clay ornaments and/or some cinnamon and applesauce ornaments and hang some pine cones and call it a day for this year.  I'm not the kind of person who will go out and just buy ornaments willy-nilly, especially knowing that they'll cost a fraction of the price in two weeks and we can have some good stuff for next year.  

These are on my list of things to be made a.s.a.p. This, too. 

12 Things You Should Tell Your Daughter Today

What to Get For the Person Who Has Everything

I don't usually do things like these, but Heather at To London With Love was so nice to add me to her list of blogs she enjoys and it was so fun to look through hers and find some new, fun blogs that I wanted to share some favorites, too.  I always feel so self-conscious answering questions about myself, so I'm cheating and skipping that part, but I wanted to be sure to share some blogs I've been enjoying lately.  I also shared some here during my 31 Days of Documenting the Everyday,  so check those out, too! If you're on the list, feel free to participate, too, if you feel up for it and share some of your own favorites and go visit some others! If it's not your things, no worries:) 

6512 and Growing

Assortment

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Jessica

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New Momma Notes

Pigtail Pals and Ballcap Buddies

Seed and Feather

The Storywood

Tales From the Motherland

Toward the Stars