What an amazing Christmas we had. Our first as a family of three. We had a wonderful time celebrating with family. It was so nice for everyone to meet Isaac and get to hold and love on him. We can’t express how blessed we feel!
Our Christmas card / Isaac’s birth announcement
Merry Christmas from our family to yours!!
You’ve been checking out the crafts that we made for our families “Christmas Craft Challenge” and I’m super excited to share all the crafts that I received!
You may want to check out my Christmas Craft Challenge board via Pinterest
So many fun ideas! So I had no idea what to expect on Christmas morning. I was under the impression that we were making ONE craft per person, but I should have known with my family there’s no such thing as just ONE present! They out did themselves with the amount of work they did!
Yes – I know!! Crazy awesome cool, huh?!?! I was blown away! We all really enjoyed this idea of making something for each other but next year we’ve made a couple more “rules” for the challenge.
• Must have more options on our boards • Now we’ll have all year to work on the crafts and find “deals” • And I say a limit on the amount we do!! We’ll see if they’ll agree to that!
Overall I would HIGHLY recommend this! It would be a great way to exchange gifts with friends as well. A homemade gift just means so much!! What were your favorite gifts this year? Did anyone make something for you? I have to say I did enjoy getting my craft on – it had been a while!!
This year with our new family interest in Pinterest, we decided to do a Christmas Craft Challenge. So between my Mom, aunt, cousin and myself, we each worked on a craft for each other. Our first step was to compile a board of “crafty-goodness” for ideas that people could make us.
These are the crafts I found on my family’s boards that I decided to attempt:
So once I had narrowed down the crafts, it was time to get to work! I actually recruited Joe to help out as well! He’s really good at crafts – much more patient than me. Come back this week to see how the crafts turned out AND all the goodies that I received! So up first will be my version of the “Welcome” sign. Swing back by later this week to see how easy breezy this first craft was!
Did you do any DIY crafts for Christmas presents?? Would love to hear all about it!
Every year around this time I enjoy hosting some kind of event. Last year I did a cookie swap, remember? This year I wanted to try something a little different. I had read about the idea of a “Favorite Things” (F/T) party on some blogs: The Nester’s. Brooke’s. And Katie’s take. I thought this was the perfect excuse to bring my friends together.
The general gist of the party
• Bring 3 of your favorite items (3 of the same items)
• $6 – $10 price range
• You’ll present your item and give it to three different people. So you’ll end up going home with three different items.
So once I knew that I wanted to try this F/T party, it was time to figure out the invitation. I checked out the normal options (evite, etc.) and couldn’t find anything that was quite right. I came across the site Paperless Post and really liked their options. And this was the end result:
So we had the date. Invitations sent out. What’s next??? The To-Do List & the menu of course!
I had been “pinning” ideas on a board specifically for the F/T party. You can check it out here.
Menu:
| Prosciutto Cups | Layered Greek Dip |
| Asian Spring Rolls | Jalapeno & Raspberry Jam w/ Cream Cheese |
| Caprese Skewers | Bacon & Peach Pinwheels |
| Raspberries filled w/ Lemon Curd | Peanut Butter Cup Bark |
| White Chocolate Pretzels | Fruity Water |
| Trader Joe’s Spiced Cider |
Everything turned out pretty tasty although there were some “challenges.” Alton Brown’s recipe for Lemon Curd didn’t thicken up like it was supposed to. The filling for the prosciutto cups left a little to be desired so we had to doctor it up a bit. And there’s one whole recipe I’ve left off the list because they may have burnt over-cooked. But all in all good stuff!
Of course we weren’t here just for the food… we were here to share our favorite things! And this is where the pictures fall short. I was partying with my girls and didn’t take the opportunity to capture shots of all the favorite things. But I can show you what I got:
Book & muffin mix • Mug with tea • Sam Adams Berry Wheat & Spicy Almonds
There were so many good ideas! We had a total of 16 people so we learned about LOTS of Favorite Things:
Curel Extra Healing Lotion • Scarves • Vanilla Cinnamon Candle • French Press • Key Chain • Ped Egg • Gloves • Post-it Dispenser • Wine • Hand Soap • Snazzy Chocolate Bar •
So all in all – I do believe a Favorite Things Party may be my Favorite kind of Holiday party around!! You’ve got to try it! If you have please tell us about it! Or if you’ve blogged about it leave a link for us to check it out!!
We’ve been talking a lot about pictures recently. We talked out my Aunt Uncle and cousin’s pictures, then we saw the shots that Elizabeth took of me and Joe. And today I thought I’d share some shots from a little photo shoot with Julie’s girls.
Thanksgiving weekend the girls came over one afternoon for a little impromptu photo session. Now we obviously don’t have children but I have experienced the impossible task the challenge of getting a photo where everyone is smiling, looking at the camera and seem at least somewhat happy.
But all that being said – we actually got some pretty good shots. Yes there are some where everyone is smiling but they’re even better ones that truly show the girls’ personalities’. Some really fun ones! Julie made the call to go with those “real” ones which made some super fun Christmas cards! Let’s take a look at some of them!
**priceless**
he-larious!
And the final card:
Beautiful precious girls! But can I just say… when did they get so big?!?! Ellie’s wearing one of my hats – can she really be that old? And sweet Emily and those pigtails- be still my heart! I love these girls so much! I can’t wait to see the Christmas card in the mail – a perfect way to say
Merry Christmas!
