Merry Christmas!

I am SO excited to celebrate Christmas with this handsome fella!

And his handsome daddy too, who is the reason for that cute smile....

Last year, he was just a little too small to appreciate it!  To him, it was just another fun day with his cousins, grandparents and Great Grandma...



...and paper eating.

 This year, he's already getting into the Christmas spirit, even before the big day!  

For example, when we went to get our tree, it was located right next to a huge kids playground and he kept wandering over to that the whole time.

Silly boy.

 Here is is corralled in the tree area.

See the longing in his eyes?  It wasn't for the tree.

(See those cute mittens?  My friend sells them on Etsy... they are the best, they do not have thumb holes so his hands just slide in and you can sew a ribbon to them and string it through the coat so the mittens never go missing.  Jack actually loves wearing them! 

Check out her site here.)

So, anyway, he's a big boy this year... toddler bed and all...

What? Doesn't everyone sleep like that?

See the cushion on the floor?  It's there because he falls out periodically. 

Moving on... a big boy like Jack (he's 20 months) can definately enjoy Christmas this year! 

I'm looking forward to starting our own traditions too. 

And it's really important to us to make sure Jack always understands the true meaning of Christmas. 

Christmas is the day Jesus was born and we want him to understand that Jesus is the best gift of all and the ONLY gift we really need!

Luke 2:10-12

...But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 

One thing we're doing to try and reiterate the true meaning of Christmas every year is to give him only three gifts from us.  The reason is because this is Jesus' birthday and Baby Jesus received three gifts on his birthday (gold, frankincense and myrrh), so Jack will too.

 I think that will help put it in perspective a little when it comes time to open Christmas presents! 

It was really hard to limit it to three because I see so many things I know he would love AND I'm a major bargain shopper so I could have bought him lots of stuff for not a ton of money, but I do NOT want him thinking that Christmas is all about him and his GIANT pile of presents! 

I hope we don't sound to Grinch'y'. 

We just really want him to appreciate what he has and always understand

the reason for the season!

Besides, last year the only thing we gave him was a Bible and look how excited he was about that!

 Clearly he was so overwhelmed, he just couldn't take it anymore.

I heart that little stinker.

Dining Room Redo!

What you are looking at are pictures of our dining room furniture.  We inherited this a few years ago from my Grandma and Grandpa...  I love the furniture, but as you can tell, it shows it's age for sure. 

 I found a recipt in the drawer saying they purchased it from Sears in 1980... can you tell?

 The table has two leaves and six chairs... so it's a great size for a small crowd. And without the leaves, it's perfect for our dining room on a daily basis.

 If only it wasn't so ugly...

 Should we paint it?

Oh yes we should!  Here is the final result (it only took us three months to finish this!)... ack!  But now that it's done.... woah... I couldn't love it more. 

 All the difference in the world, right?

 We have some Christmas decorations on it right now, but the minute the last thing was done (chairs) I had to take pictures, immediately!!

 We replaced the hardware on the hutch and took out the door dividers... here's another before...

 The table and chairs are just paint, that's all! 

 Here's a few with the placemats I'm making... I only have two done so far... but they add so much color and FUN!

 Love the black chairs... the kitchen has black cabinets so it matches perfectly with those.

 Ahhh, a million times better!  Worth all the work.... first we sanded, then primed two coats, then did three coats of white, then two coats of clear coat. 

What do you think??

Drooly Babies and Such (LOVE)!

So, I've been making things for drooly babies (including my own) for a long time now and I've only done one post on them!  The hang up was, I didn't have any pictures of them... so last week I dug out my box of completed goodies and started snapping. 

 I'm in the process of making a baby, (a real baby- due May 27th!) yay!  So I figured now was the time to actually DO something with this mad stack instead of let it sit.  I WAS going to do a craft show, and I still REALLY want to (I've just always thought it would be fun!)... but time got away from me and I don't actually have enough items ready to go to one.

So, what to do?  Start an Etsy shop!  I've been told to do that for a long time by lots of peeps and just didn't... but here I am with a stack of completed things and no other outlet to sell, so here I go!  I LOVE Etsy so this should be fun... and I suppose its a tad easier to sit at home in my PJ's and try to sell my stuff rather than sit all day in a gymnasium :)  hehe.

I don't have all this listed on Etsy yet... some items I will be donating to a silent auction at my hubby's work that benefits a bunch of great volunteer organizations. 

Here is my stuff... 'check it out, check it outers'!

Pink dots girly set.

 Matching bib and burp cloth with contrasting hot pink thread!

The burp cloths measure 6.5" wide and 15" long... perfect for draping over your shoulder.

This is a large bib and measures 9" wide by 12" tall.

This is a ribbon blanket... I LOoooOOVe the colors of this fabric!

And check out the backing, it's coordinating white SUPER SOFT minky fabric... mmmmm.

The size is approximately 17"x20"

Next up are 2 bibs and 2 burp cloths, all boy all the time.

These bibs are 2 sizes, this is the larger size... it covers more area so is best for 5 months and up, including toddlers.  Speaking of toddlers, I only use snaps, so those little rascals can't pull off these bibs.  Muahahahaha.  It works too!

And this is the smaller bib, perfect for the teeny-tiny-spit-up-y newborn... awwww!

And a close up of the detail.... did I mention I lOOovE this fabric color combo too?

And all of my bibs and burp cloths have super scrubby, super absorbent terry cloth on the back... after lunch you just flip it over and scrub the face clean! 

And here is one of my non-girly fabric faves... It's understated girly...

it has the obligatory flower, but no pink in sight! 

And I really wanted the burp cloth to be something different and funky... so I sewed strips of fabric so that they will continue to fray a little bit.  Looks funky and and I love it.

See what I mean?

This is for the wild child... Giraffe and hot pink!

  Wooo-weeeee!

I used coordinating hot pink thread to match the ric-rac.

Close up of the snap!  Oh snap!

And this is a super soft flannel for your little monster... could it be any cuter?

This bib is sized for the tiny baby (snuggle!).

And here's another ribbon blankie... this one's for the boy!

 

And another fabric I love... it's the softest corduroy evah!

Check out those super cute footballs and helmets!

And of course, some more of that super soft minky.... ahhhhh!

Last, but certainly not least, a pretty bib for a little girl. 

This is a chocolate and white print with pale pink terry cloth on the back!

So, that's about it!  Other than a few I've given away and the one's I've made for Jack.

Wish me luck!  :)