Last night.

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree:  

the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.  

~Burton Hillis

Tidbits.

- I hope each of you had a great Thanksgiving.  Ours was great, spent with a dozen of my favorite people, what else could a girl ask for?  Friday, my Sister, Mom, and SIL braved the crowds and went Black Friday shopping.  To be honest, it was busy -- but not horrible.  Were we successful?  I'll let you judge for yourself....

- I am still absolutely in love with my Erin Condren planner, just in case you wondered.  SO worth every penny.

- Last week, we had break night at small group, so Tyler and I decided to take the boys to do a little Christmas shopping, share a Starbucks, and then finish the night letting the the boys pick out their ornament.  This is one of my favorite traditions that we do each year... try not to be shocked, Jaxon chose a train.  Cohen's pick was the bell from the movie Polar Express.  If you haven't watched that movie, add it to your Christmas 2011 bucket list.

- I am hoping to get our Christmas tree & decorations up tonight.  The boys received a train to go around the Christmas tree as a gift, and Jaxon will not stop talking about it.  He's obsessed with all things Christmas this year, the season continues to get more and more fun the older he gets.  I have a feeling keeping Cohen away from the tree & ornaments will be a challenge, but that's part of the fun I s'pose.  :)

- This year I'm attending my first Christmas cookie swap party, hosted by my close friend Andrea.  I am so excited to go!

- I have been really dizzy off and on for the last month or so and finally saw a doctor last week about it.  The dizziness gets so extreme that I start seeing black spots and feel like I'm going to pass out... it has freaked my husband out so much that he rarely lets me drive anymore.  The doctor's first instinct was my thyroid, but after all my blood work and tests came back clear, we are moving on to my heart.  He thinks it may be slowing down at random times causing me to feel like I'm going to black out, so I have been blessed with this EKG monitor that I have to wear for the next 48 hours... yes, that means no showering.  Pray for me if you think about it.  Health issues freak.me.out... I am so thankful I serve a God who knows all and sees all.  We should hear back from the results sometime next week.

- On a much lighter note, do y'all watch the show Revenge?  I was hesitant to watch it because I am not a fan of scary movies/shows, but we..love..it.  Like, staying up way way way too late to catch up on it... that kind of love it.  

- I was so thankful for Tiny Prints and their blog promotion this year.  I love to send Christmas cards, so the blessing of getting them for free was icing on the cake.

- I don't say it enough, but I'm absolutely smitten over my husband.  He is such a rock in my life, he truly is God's perfect one for me.

- The no-heat curls has turned into my "go to" hairstyle... I'm constantly amazed at how well it works for me, since my hair has never held curl.  Here's a little timeline from the first day I tried it:

8 hours after taking it out

With a curling iron touch-up

At the wedding

-I am so thankful for our small group.  Last night we had our first "split" night where the girls met together, and the guys hung out with the kiddos.  The study was focused on speaking truth into each other's lives... so often we hear lies from the enemy and I don't know about you, but for me I start to believe them after hearing them too much.  Last night was a sweet reminder of who we are in Christ, and who we are to our friends around us.  If you aren't apart of a small group, please join one... I never knew how life-giving it could possibly be, but I'm continually blown away by the community we have because of our group.

- I am so happy with the family picture that we got at Thanksgiving... it is going on our Christmas card and I'm weird about showing it before it gets mailed... but it's definitely a keeper and will be framed for sure!

- Happy Tuesday.

DIY yarn wreath

We were asked to bring a gift for a Christmas gift exchange this weekend, so here's what we brought:

It was easy and fun to make, although pretty time consuming.

I figure if nothing else, I'd be happy to bring it back home with me to pretty up my front door.  ;)

Thankful tree.

“So much has been given to me; 

I have no time to ponder over that which has been denied.” 

Helen Keller

That sums up my life.  

SO much has been given to me, how can I even think about anything else?

Today I'm thankful for the obvious... my husband, my boys, my family, my warm house.  

But even more than that, I'm thankful for my salvation.  

For grace.  For love that's been extended to me, especially when I don't deserve it.

We celebrated the day with my family today.  I feel so abundantly blessed that we are able to be with family again on the Holidays, and my prayers are with anyone who can't be.  We have been there, and I completely understand the feelings you may be experiencing. 

I saw this idea on Christie's blog, and thought it was too cute to pass up.  A super easy DIY project that I prepared ahead of time, and it was fun to see all of my family members responses to what they are each thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving friends.

4 little words.

I've talked about it very sparingly on my blog, but Jaxon has been delayed in his speech since he first started talking.  For a while, I honestly wondered if teaching him sign language set him behind (thinking that him learning to sign instead of speak was the cause).  My pediatrician knocked that theory out of the water before I could hardly explain myself, but he did acknowledge the delay and recommended we see a speech therapist.  We did, and while the therapist didn't think there was any kind of delay in his overall development, she also acknowledged that he was behind in speech.  She also said he has "tongue thrust" which basically makes him speak with what sounds like a lisp.  However, this was a fairly easy thing to fix as she said he would begin to hear himself and try and fix it around the age of 5.

All that to say, every night as we put Jaxon to bed, we tell him that we love him.  He does not reply with anything, but instead cuddles up with Mr Giraffe and his blanket.  I rest knowing that he knows we love him, but longed for the day he would reply and tell me he loved me as well.

A couple weeks ago, we were downstairs playing.  Completely unprompted, he came over to me and wrapped those arms around my neck and said, "I so wub-oo".  Which in Jaxon language, translates to "I so love you."  Tears streamed down my face and I replied, "I so love you too, Jaxon."

He ran off to keep playing, while I sat and soaked in that moment I had been waiting for, for so long.

No heat curls.

Here's another thing a lot of you have probably seen or heard of in blog blog land... no heat curls.

The idea is to wrap your hair tightly around a elastic headband, go to sleep, and wake up with perfect hair!

I had my doubts, especially since I was blessed with hair that does not like to curl.  Straight as a board.

late last night ... ready for bed!

good morning!  someone get this girl a cup of coffee. 

i slept surprisingly well...

as you can see it also stayed pretty well in the band overnight.

as you can see it was nice and tight on my forehead... ouch

this is my impressed face 

this is my very impressed face 

the rear view... no pun intended

Have you tried this?  How did yours turn out?

If not, give it a shot... video tutorial here.  

We are headed to a wedding with my Sister and her husband tonight {yay yay yay!} so we'll see how long these curls last, but for now I am all kinds of happy with them.

It feels like home to me.

This past weekend I painted!  Something I had been dreading doing since we moved in, as it felt like the paint had just dried in our Waco home and then we moved... but I finally bit the bullet and am so glad I did.... it only took me a few hours and I'm in love with the way it makes my house feel.

Up next on my to-do list since moving in was to figure out what to do with the living room wall.  It's large and connects to the kitchen/dining room and the sign that was hung there originally was just not big enough for the space.  See?

Sorta bland.  And sorta way too small.

Insert Pinterest. I know, it's all anyone talks about anymore. I kept seeing pictures of open, empty frames and thought it would be the perfect solution.  Cheap, and it would serve as a great space-filler... is that a word?  After a quick trip to Goodwill (spending $8 total) and some spray paint, my wall now looked like this:



I really liked it, but thought it needed something else, so I added our initial.  Then I painted it purple.  Because I felt like it.

So, what do you think?

Here's what I think.  I'm so happy this house is starting to feel like our home.  That makes me happy.

hello monday.

hello happiness

hello sunshine on a cloudy day 

hello sister coming to visit in 3 more sleeps

hello quiet time while enjoying my coffee

hello to-do list {and crossing items off}

hello diy project

hello new cute dress

hello cars, trucks, and trains

hello getting inspired

hello excitement about thanksgiving!

goodbye to an incredible weekend, but hello to opportunities and anticipation for this week ahead

Organization makes me happy.

I've had my eye on an Erin Condren life planner since the first time I saw one featured on another blog.  Being the type-A organizational freak I am, something inside me got really excited about a place to put EVERYTHING, from errands, to-do lists, menu planning, and of course our family calendar as well.  I quickly jumped onto their website, only to be a little discouraged by their price.  We don't have an extra $50 laying around...ever...so I dismissed it and thought about asking for one at Christmas time.

Enter Plum District.  Recently they ran a special where you could get a $50 voucher for just $25.  On top of that, they had a coupon, so I was able to get a planner for $22.50.  There was no way I was passing this one up!

Deciding what cover/theme to get proved to be the hardest part of my decision.  I googled "erin condren life planner reviews" and read about a million of them, and kept going back to this one design... candy lace, which I kept hearing is even cuter in person {and it's true}.

Turn around and shipping time was extremely reasonable and one day, the heavens opened up and dropped off this package...

Seriously, don't you love companies that take pride even in their packaging? 

I literally gasped as we were walking out the door to go to the store, and Jaxon said "what Mommy? a big spider?"  :)

 love these pages, keeping track of birthdays & anniversary's... super easy! 

the whole year at a glance

 each month has a "month view" and then a "day view" as well, which is broken into 3 categories... 

morning, day, night so you can REALLY plan your day :) 

  a spot for receipts, stamps, etc... i plan to organize my coupons and keep them here

 tons of blank pages for notes/lists/etc

2013/2014 mini calendars on the back inside cover

So many fun inspirational quotes throughout as well... here's just a few!

And then all these extra's she included for free!  Love!

see the clear zipped pouch?  perfect for keeping things together you don't want to lose!

I also got my Sister one for her Christmas gift, but I will let her show hers off  :)

Stay tuned... I'll keep you updated as I figure out exactly how I'm going to be using this planner! 

Thank you to our veterans who have served our country so faithfully, and given so much to us. 

Have a great weekend!