Christmas Decorations Home Tour

My favorite time of the year, and my favorite decorations of all! They are super simple and not everything is out this year. But with the move, the adoption and everything, this is the best that we did this year. So today I wanted to join in Christmas Tour of Homes with the Nester. You can click on the button above and it will take you to the post and you will find lots of other awesome homes too! So please enjoy!

Welcome to our home! Ih ope yall enjoy your visit! We will start with the very first tree that we put up this year! It is the pink tree in the girls room! It has some of their ornaments on it.


They get the fun of doing it by theirselves.

Then we will go into the living room next. I am starting with something that is very special to me! Hubby painted this village for me. Each and every piece. It started with some pieces I had bought from foley's back in the day, but then he painted a couple and I decided I wanted it all his work and got rid of the other pieces. These are little plaster pieces from Wal Mart, but he worked his magic on them! I'm really proud of each and every one!

Now here are a few of our Christmas friends! And the girls love Mr Snowman! His checks light up and he sings! They love it!

These little wooden pieces are some that my mom painted for me several years back.

Our favorite decoration of all, our special Nativity! We love this and think of the special folks that gave us these gifts years ago!

In our entry way is the little precious moments tree and table! This is one of my favorites in the house! Just everything about this sweet corner!

By my chair is this little country themed tree! I love the feel of this cutie! Most every ornament on here was a gift from different friends.

And my Reason for the Season Tree is next! It's all about Jesus!

This is my special tree that my sweet hubby made me! He makes these for gifts, but this year, he made me one with white lights and all the cute colors I like! It sits on a speaker next to my entertainment center and by the front door.

And believe it or not, but this year, our biggest and main tree is not in the living room! I wanted you to be able to see it from outside and with our over sized Master bedroom, we moved it in there. With the french doors from the living room the bedroom, you can always see it and enjoy it in both rooms! We don't have a theme! It holds all sorts of ornaments, homemade, fun ones through the years, some that aren't so cute, but they are special and made with love (like the ones from our child hood). But when it's all together, it looks beautiful! Just like each of us, may not be able to do so much, but together we can make a difference doing God's work. As well as this tree is very special to me, it was my sisters and I loved it for years in her house and now it has a new home with us and we are so proud and thankful for this beauty!

Here is a pic of some of the homemade ornaments we have done as a family! Something I treasure each and every year as we rehang them.

We all decorate the tree together, and as you can tell, Lil K was busy in one section. :) But I wouldn't have it any other way! My tree skirt was quilted and homemade by an old friend. I love this piece of work!

Even a touch of Christmas in the hallway! We have our little deer! They are from my Grandmother who has gone home to be with our Lord. So these cute little fellas, make me happy and are a must to sit out each and every year!

Now can you believe we are moving into the dinning room! My Gingerbread area! Here's a shelf on the wall. I love them so much and some stay out all year long!

Even the kitchen has a little tree! Just a little touch of Christmas in every room!

Last is a really fun tree! It's in the family play room (as I call it). And it has all sorts of fun ornaments on it, but mostely racing!

I hope you have enjoyed looking at the decorations we have out this year! Lookingforward to next year and lots more goodies to be out and about! Most of what is out is something special and just had to be out no matter what! Hoping each and everyone of you enjoy this beautiful CHRISTmas!

Hugs and Blessings,

Our Home

Friends and Family please come and gather here. This is a welcoming sign in the living room. So as I show you where we live, please remember that we have lots of work to do, but we love the house. It's about 100 years old and we love the charm it has. So much character to it. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Our Entertainment center.... And I guess I didn't get a full view.. Stay tuned for our Christmas pictures coming Monday and you will see the full deal!

Oh, I can't tell you just how excited I was to ahve this awesome fireplace! It is gas, and that kinda scared me at first, but then I fell in love with it, once it got cold! It's wonderful!!!! We had planned to part with the picture grouping with the move, but James loves them way to much and can't seem to totally part with them. We will see after I paint the living room.

In the corner. :) My little corner and comfy place!

This is our entry way... The french doors lead to the master bedroom.....

My dinning room! It's way plain and way to simple. But we are working on this! Actually trying to decide on the color for both the dinning room and living room. We had it picked out, then then I'm not so sure. But we are thinking a golden color. Something warm and inviting!

For the kitchen.... I may carry in with the same Golden color. And keep the charm of the old cabinets. If not we are thinking something red and wood cabinets.

The golden and red like it the curtain we had tacked up over the window. We have another and a table runner to match. But this was just for the time being in the first week! (before we had our home inspection! :)

Then this is our family play room1 We have our area, and the kids have theirs! It needs some loving too, but it's ok. We want to brighten it up in time. And get some more shelves and such. But for now it serves us well! We get ot have lots of fun back here! :)

There's the pictures of the new place. I didn't include pictures of the bedrooms, because their is nothing done to them. Furniture in place and that is it. They have horrible ugly wall papper and

after the new year we will be painting both bedrooms and working on exciting furniture for the girls! Lil E is so excited about the new furniture! I can't wait for the time to come to show the bedrooms off. We will be keeping the Americana in our bedroom and the walls will be a dark blue with white trim. I will keep the girls room a surprise until the time comes.

Hugs and Blessings,

Faithful Friday

Wow, it has been a long time since I have been here to blog, and even longer since I have been with it! I was about to sit down and do a full catch you all up post, and then I decided that I'd rather, do this very important Faithful Fridays post! .

This is a very special post, as I have so much to be thankful for! First of all, we are all moved and settled in. What a blessings, and I can't wait to show you all pictures of our home and of the Christmas decorations too.

I'm also thankful that everyone is just about over the flu! Only Lil K is still has some left. Poor thing! But she is so much better! And the rest of us are good to go with it! Thank you, Jesus! I wish no one else to get it! It's horrible stuff!

And even bigger than that, is this very week, Lil E pulled a tv in the play room off the entertainment center on her! I feel so very blessed that she had a Guardian Angel with her, as she wasn't hurt seriouslly! This could have been so very much worse, but instead my sweet little one has an injured foot and a very thankful set of parents! To tell you how scared I was, isn't even possible! But God was with her and kept her safe for sure!

And this is last for the praises this week, but it's by no means the least. We are in all areas officially over to adoption! We are in the final stages of this adoption process for Lil K! We are looking at early 2010 for this to be final! Even though this has carried on, it's so good to see the end in site! What a blessing for our family! It really is so heart warming!

So even though we have been sick and all, we have so very much to be thankful for! We serve an AWesome God! He is always good!

Hugs and Blessings,

Christmas Cookie

This Friday is Show us your life ~ Christmas Cookies and Treats. I am so excited about this! Click on the Show us your Life button and it will take you over there!

As we all know Christmas is by far my favorite time of year! And how much better does it get than sharing a cookie or treat recipe, since I love to bake too! It's just so awesome! Now decided on which one to share has been the hard part!

I am going to share a very special recipe with yall. It is a family recipe and is traditionally a ice box slice and bake style cookie. But at Christmas, I love to make these and even will roll them out and do them as cut out cookies! They make the cutest gingerbread men cut out! (Being as I love gingerbread men, but not gingerbread cookies or bread. This was my Memaw's recipe (Mom's mom). Every bite of these wonderful delights, brings me to a very comfy and happy place!

Memaw's Ice Box / Cut Out Cookies

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/3 c. brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. chopped pecans

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 c. butter

1 1/2 c. flour

1 egg

Mix all together. Roll into logs, wrap in saran wrap and then foil. Freeze for up to 3 months.

or roll dough out on a very slightly floured surface, and cut out with desired cookie cutters. Preheat over to 350. Bake until a light golden brown.

Hugs and Blessings,

HP Computer Give Away

WOW O WOW! Can you believe this? GO on over to Kelly's Korner, for this great chance at winning a FREE HP! HP and Kellys Korner are having a give away! What a blessing this would be for us all!

Computer Giveaway!


I know in my home I'd love to have my own computer again, but more than that, I'd so love the voice commands on the recipe box! How cool is that!!!!

Hugs and Blessings,

(i'll be back soon with some blogging)

National Adoption Day

Today is National Adoption Day!!!

I want to wish everyone that has adopted or is adopted a very special and Happy Adoption Day! I hope yall have had a wonderful one!

We had have a nice day with the girls! It was spent doing small things around the house as a family and playing outside! We did a little more Christmas decorating too! So it was just a wonderful and beautiful day!!!! I can't think of a better way to spend this special day that laughing at my girls and just being delighted with them! Even this evening, Lil K sat up in my lap so calmly for a while! This is rare, as she is is usually on the go and non stop! We just were able to spend the time playing with the draw deal! And Lil E was sitting curled up next to me on the couch and reading a book! It was the most awesome way to spend our night!!!

Hugs and Blessings,

My Crazy Kinda Day

First off, we are moved in and settled! I Have lots to tell yall about what has been going on and such! But before I totally catch everyone up, I just wanted to share with yall, my day yesterday!

Well I had an appointment to go get my car serviced. It takes about an hour and 15 minutes or so to get there! We had over slept by about 45 minutes! OH NO! So it was a full rush just to get us girls out of the house! Forget meeting Daddy on the road for breakfast as our paths crossed!

Rush rush rush!! Out the door we go! We have to stop and get gas too. Ok, now we are west bound on the highway and heading to the big city! We are nearing the big city and guess what I see in my rearview mirror! Are you ready for this? Could it be a kid! Yes that is right, my lil toddler whodeenie has come out of her car seat and jumping across the back seat to wake up her big sister!! I hit the shoulder, and get her back in her car seat! And scouled her! Shaken to the core, as I was driving 75 mph on the highway! What am I going to do? Yes this is her very first time, but believe you me, when she figures something out, there is just no stopping her!

I call the dealership and say I am running late, the guy was so nice and said not a problem and they would just work me in! Thank God for this! So I am on my way and what do you see happening now? We got there they start on my car and the girls and I are sitting in the lounge! If you have spent much time with any hyper active little toddler you know this is a FEAT! Well you can guess they are ready to see us head on out of there! For the 2nd time in a row, my car was taken right away and they get it done super fast, to get us on out of there! I have soon to be 2 year old that is jumping in the chairs, and giving me all kinds of fits! To the point that Mommy is in tears! All because Lil K hates to sit still! It just isn't in her! I try giving her fruit snacks, but instead I have to take them away, because she would rather spit on the chair and draw in it! Yes you just read that right! I try reading to her, and playing games, and doing the draw deal. Nothing is working! She is hollering out, Hi at everyone and Ugh Oh! And just being loud! He says Ms F, they will be bringing your car right out, let's get you checked out, so you can be on your way! Once again record time at the dealership! Man they must hate to see us coming!

We are to have lunch with my friend, but we have a little time to waste, so to Hobby Lobby we go! How fun you maybe saying! But that is not the case! The worker did not block the isle off, as she climbs the latter to get something from the top and BAM! A Box of ornaments come crashing down and hit a customer in the head, the point of the box did! So I tend to be very nervous and worried now! Like is something going to hit us, as they were so busy and workers getting this and that down! So I move on! And are you for reals! This is like black friday shopping crowd! It is crazy! And guess what? I have Lil K trying to undo the strap in the shopping cart to reach all the stuff! So I can't even look at things, because what, I am saying, no, stop that, sit down! You guess it, Our trip was cut short! Mom was more than ready to get on!

Now we go ahead and drive on over to the place to meet my friend for lunch! I tell the girls be good! blah blah blah! What do you think they heard? for me, I really think Lil K heard "It's ok to do what you want, mommy wont be mad. You can throw food and be hateful." At least in her mind this what I must have said! We get in and sit down! Well Lik K is totally acting up! Worse than ever! She has never been a food thrower, so I don't know what the deal was! But believe you me, she was totally going at it! Then because all mommy's attention is being spent telling K to stop it or let's do this or don't you want to eat some yummy food! OH and Don't pour your sippy cup out! Yes we had a different sippy and guess what, it wasn't spill proof like it said! Now with all this, Lil E is starting to act silly and trying herself, just to steal the attention back! Even my sweet friend could see this! She was so patient and kind! And didn't make me ever feel like she didn't want to be with us, just because my girls were being onry! I can't ever Thank her enough for how she kept her cool and didn't make me feel so bad!

Well we leave there and I decide we will take a trip by the small zoo, to let the girls run and get some energy out before we do anything else! So the trip to the zoo was as normal as could be! This should have told me, something was going to get even more crazy!!!

We leave the Zoo and start to head to one more store before heading home! And guess what happens! I'm in the middle lane going 70! And for those that know the speed limit yes I speeding a little! But all the sudden it sounds like a gun shot! Are you ready for this! I just have a blow out! So I get to the shoulder and then I take my exit and get into a parking lot! Now if you have known me for very long, you know that I was taught long ago how to change a flat, and all kinds of stuff to a car! Then guess what happens, all I have is the stupid little jack deal that comes with the car! And it isn't working! So I panick! And i mean big time! I call my friend that I had lunch with! And i am crying! I ask her to come and help me! So says to me I'll be right there! So I try to work on it and isn't working! So then in all this time, only 1 man stops to help me! And guess what, he can't even do it!!!! So I tell him, Thank you for trying, but I have help on the way. Then I start freaking out again, because he said he would get me more help! I was like no! All the bad from growing up in a REAL big metreo area kicks in! And I'm really getting upset! I start to realize it has been just a little bit since I had called my friend, so I start to think does she realize where I am? All the sudden, this black sports car zooms up! Pop goes the trunk and out jumps my friend! Never in my life have I been so glad to see help! Guess what, she says to me, get that rinky dinky jack out of there, we are doing this right! OH MY! What would this mean? She came prepared!!!!!!!!!!! Just see the picture below!

As I feel really stupid that I should have been able to do this, but couldn't get it to work and know that my daddy is going to say, girl I taught you to handle this and do it yourself! She gets this changed! And the girls are getting so restless! My friend tells them, she is going as fast as we can, but she isn't a NASCAR pit person this can't be a 15 second change! LOL It was funny! So as you can see we have the works in tools here! The reason it took my friend a little longer to get to me, is she left her house and went to the race shop to get the tools needed!!!!!!!! So you see racing has it's benefits in more ways that one, because only a RACE CAR DRIVING Mary Kay Girl Friend would have come this prepared to save the day!!!!!!!! And that is for real! I'm so thankful for her friendship and for her help!

So we head to go get a tire! So we pull into discount tires, and there are several folks sitting and waiting! But they as you guessed it, my girls aren't going to cooperate! T hey see chairs and cars and freak, they fear we are stuck for a couple of hours and don't want to do this again! So they are acting HYPER to say the least! The guy says they will get me taken care of, and it would be like 30 minutes! And my friend and I both are thinking yeah right! Well you see my kids were wild in the chairs again! Fiesty isn't the word! Again Lil K thinks it is her right to jump and act a fool! It has been like seriously just 20 minutes and they call me to get to the counter and get my receipt. Mind you the car hasn't even rolled out! This is the fastest trip ever at any tire shop! So we leave and I put my kids in the car, and I tell my friend, I guess through this all today, I have learned something! Can you guess what it is, bad behaved kids have a great purpose, they will cut your wait time down! So we laughed!

They both feel asleep on the way home! And this is very rare! So I call my friend who not only saved the day, but was so sweet and understanding about my girls! And didn't make me feel so bad or uptight about how they are! And Yes Lil K has hit the terrible two's at full force!!!! Anyway, when I call her to hear that I have peace in the car now! I tell her, man I could drive forever and at this point I just love how relaxing this is and I don't even want to wake them to go home! We laugh!

Now just to prove to everyone that I am fully the airhead, I pass my town up! I am into the next state! Yes you read that right, I'm 4 miles into the next state and realize UGH OH! I have just messed up! LOL So yes I went a full 30 miles past my town! Never realized it! I was just having a GREAT and peaceful drive!

I must have needed that near extra hour of peace after the crazy and chaotic few weeks I have had! I'll have much more to catch yall up on! But sure hope yall enjoyed the chaos of my day!

Hugs and Blessings,

Thank you to those that Serve in the Armed Services

Happy Veteran's Day to all! May we all remember those that have served and that are serving our great Country! I personally want to thank each and everyone that has served! We appreciate you and love you! God Bless you!!!

Hugs and Blessings,

MIA

I have been MIA getting ready for our move, and the time has come. We will be moving this weekend. So I'll be away for a week or so! Yall take care!

SEe you soon!

Hugs and Blessings,

Our Halloween

We started our Halloween Celebrations off with a fun Pre School party! Lil E was Eeyore and it was the cutest!

I made caramel apple cupcakes for the class, and everyone loved them! They were so yummy!!

After the party, she was sitting by the pumpkins outside the school! :) She had lots of fun and then came home and shared her treats with her sister! It was so sweet!!!

On Halloween she was playing in her costume and we even stuffed a pillow into ther belly! It was the cutest thing ever! WEll since I was Big Bird in kindergarten and had a pillow stuffed in the butt of my costume. I have to dig up a picture for yall to see!

That evening we went trick or treating down town! Daddy was home and able to enjoy the special time with the girls! He had missed the last several Halloweens because of work.

Then we went to dinner with Grandpa and Papa, they came in from Indiana to visit on their way to the Valley! We all had so much fun!!!!!

I even went to the Haunted house for the Booster club with my friend and her daughter. It was fun and actually pretty good! But the chainsaw was enough for me! But we had lots of laughs and fun!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween!

Hugs and Love,