Rockefeller Tree

This year a tree from our backyard was chosen as the Rockefeller Christmas tree! We were approached in April about the tree being a possible contender for this year and we were thrilled. We never thought our tree could be the tree!  They watered and fertilized it throughout the summer and we were told it was chosen in late September.  It was cut on November 10 and tonight is the tree lighting!  We are headed to NYC today to see it.  

 

This past month has been so exciting and fun!  I have hundreds of pictures and I can't wait to share them all. It was important to us to share this experience with our family, friends, neighbors and community.  So a few weeks ago we held an Open House so everyone could see the tree, take pictures and say goodbye before it was cut.  We also had a tree blessing with our Priest, and the ladies from my Garden  Club  came for a visit and to hear about the process of choosing the tree.

 

My favorite parts of this whole experience have been all the great people we've met, sharing this experience with our family and friends and seeing people take pictures with our tree.

Here are a few pictures from throughout the whole process.  When I have time I want to do posts about each part so we can look back and remember all the details.

 

 

 

 

 

We are headed to NYC with family and friends bright early this morning to spend the day in the city and then watch the tree lighting tonight.   

Xoxo 

Holiday Market

The Saturday before Thanksgiving my friends and I hosted our Fouth annual Holiday Market.  At the Holiday Market we sell crafts we've made,sweet treats, holiday decor, gifts and floral arrangements.  

Basically anything and everything that you need to get ready for the Holidays.  The first two years we had it at my friend Rachael's house and then last year and this year we moved it to my friend Stephanie's kitchen design showroom.  Her store is an amazing place for the Holiday Market!

 

This year we had 8 friends that were vendors and sold items.  We brought snacks and drinks for people to enjoy while they shopped.  It was a great day!  

Here are some of the items that were for sale.

 
 

   

 

 

It was a great day and I got tons of cute things for our house and for Christmas presents.

Xoxo

Weekend fun!

After Thanksgiving we had a relaxing weekend filled with my favorite things-family, friends, and fun!

Friday Ava had her friend sleep over and we drove around looking at lights.  This house has the best lights in town!  We love visiting this house every year.  Our neighbors just put up an adorable lighted soccer scene in their yard which takes up their whole front yard. They always do a great job with their lights.  

 

Ava had a scrimmage and the same neighbors brought their adorable new puppy Charlie to the game.  

 

This (creepy?) Santa is on display at our towns historical society.  I thought it was neat so I took a picture.  

 

 

Saturday night we went to a Thanksgiving Pitch party.  Pitch is a couples card game.  I made this for my friend Melinda who hosted the party. 

 

Graig is in his happy place playing poker.

 

My sister sent this adorable picture of my niece outside Magnolia in Waco.  They are flying to see us in NY later this week.  We can't wait to see them!

 

Sunday Ava and I took our little friends Noah and Lucas to the movies to see Moana.  It was so good!  Lucas loved the movie and the giant tub of popcorn we got ;)

 

I hope you had a great weekend!

Xoxo 

Thanksgiving day!

We had the best, most relaxing Thanksgiving Day ever!  We've had a busy few weeks and it was so great just to be home and have a low key, low stress day.

I did get up bright and early to help with our local Turkey Trot to benefit Hospice.  Hospice does wonderful work in our community so I was happy to volunteer for a few hours. I helped with registration which was great because I got to see and talk to s lot of people.

Here is a picture of the volunteers.  I love the Turkey Trot shirts the runners got.  It was a great morning!

 

After the Turkey Trot I went home and got ready for our Thanksgiving dinner.  It was just Graig, Ava, me and Grandma Jan.  Since Brock was just home he didn't cone home again for Thanksgiving :-( 

A few weeks ago my friend Sabrina made me this succulent pumpkin I used it as our centerpiece for Thanksgiving.  I love it so much I'm going to keep it and use it in my Christmas decor.

 

For Thanksgiving I cooked a turkey breast, stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, and rolls.  Usually I do more but I wanted to keep it simple this year. .  We have tons of leftovers which we love!

Here are Ava, Grandma Jan and me after our Thsnksgiving feast.  

 

After we ate we watched the parade (it was on repeat) and just hung out together.  I also pulled out some Christmas declarations and started decorating.  ''Tis the season.  I hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Xoxo 

Thanksgiving Pies

One of our favorite holiday traditions is baking pies.  This year Ava and I went to my friends Rachael's to bake our pumpkin pies.

I think Ava is in a growth spurt she is always hungry!  On the way over we stopped and got her a breakfast sandwich.

 

Rachael's two boys helped us make pies.  They loved it and they were so cute!

 

 We made six total pies.  Four of them will be prizes for our town's Turkey Trot a 5k to support our local hospice and we made one for each of us.   It was a fun way to spend the morning.

 

Happy Thanksgiving

Xoxo

Thankful

I love all holidays but Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite. I love a day devoted to being with family and friends and celebrating everything we have to be thankful for. I am so blessed and have so much to be thankful for.

 

I am most thankful for Graig and our two kids.  Since I was little I dreamed of being a wife and mom and these three made that dream come true.  I am thankful for them every single day.  Brock and Ava are growing up fast.  I am proud that they are working hard to achieve the goals they have set for themselves. The biggest joy in my life  is being a mom to them. 

 

 

I am so very thankful for my own family.  My Dad and sister are a huge blessings to me and I'm thankful everyday for them.  My Dad lives in Illinois and my sister lives in Texas so I'm thankful for the time  we are able to be together.

 

 

I am thankful for my in-laws that adore our kids and are always in the stands cheering at every sporting event and school function.  I am thankful to them for raising a son that they taught to work hard.  Graig has the best work ethic of anyone I know and I am thankful for his parents for teaching him the value of hard work.  

 

 

 

I am thankful for my dear girlfriends.  I love the good times we have together and all the memories we've made together. I am so blessed to have them with me in this crazy life.  

 

 

 

So much to be thankful for this year :) 

Xoxo

Sunday Funday

Sunday was a busy and fun day for us!  First we woke up to the first snowstorm of the season.  I love winter and don't mind a bit when it snows.  We love sledding and cross country skiing so I was thrilled to get snow so early in the season.

 

Ava spent Saturday night with a friend and Sunday morning her friend's Mom sent me a picture of the girls doing homework.

 

My friend Melinda invited a bunch of ladies over to make Christmas wreaths Sunday morning.  She had all of the supplies set up in her big horse barn and all we had to do was create our wreaths.  It was a great morning!

 

 

Here are all of us with our finished wreaths.  I'm so thankful for Melinda and all these sweet friends. It was a great morning! 

 

 

After wreath making I raced home to go to a baby shower for my friend Sarah.  The shower was at her church and it was decorated so cute.  Sarah is going to have a baby girl in December.  

 

After the shower I went home to get ready for Ava's second annual friendsgiving.  I'm thankful thank Ava has these friends to share fun times with.  Ava made a turkey breast and ham and her friends brought the side dishes.  The girls loved it they ate and laughed and talked and then ate some more.

 

  

 

It was a great Sunday!  And we have a short week and then we will be off for 5 days to celebrate Thanksgiving.  I just love this time of year.  

Xoxo

Craft night!

Friday night was our monthly craft night!   We did a repeat of our January class-chalkboard trays!  We also teamed up with a favorite charity to raise money for them.

Here is the finished product.

To make these you get a 1x12 and have it cut to the size you want your tray to be.  For this class we did 18 inch trays but you can make them smaller or larger depending on how big or small you want your tray to be.  

 

Here is one table all set up before the ladies arrived.  

 

We stained the boards before the class to save time.

 

After staining the first step is to add masking tape to the edges of your board to make your chalkboard.  We did two coats  and then let it dry completely.  Drying took about 15-20 minutes.

 

After the trays dried we seasoned them so when the ladies use their chalkboards the words will erase.  If you don't season,  the first words you write on the chalkboard are etched permanently on the board.  We rubbed the side of a piece of chalk all over the board and then we erased it with a wet rag.  Voila the boards are seasoned!

After seasoningse added one more coast of chalkboard paint.  

 

 

 

Here are some of our ladies with their finished trays!  It was a great night!

 

Xoxo