Well, Hello 2013

Here we are... The first post of 2013...

One of my favorite photos of my baby boy!

I am a Slacker! LOL!

So far this year we have not accomplished too much! Other than deciding that we need to make Christmas 2013 be somewhere WARM! We have never taken a break from all the cold for Christmas so this year we are going to arrange with Santa to buy the whole family a vacation for the week of, after or before (undecided) Christmas 2013!!! Yippee!!! We have looked at both Disney theme parks and also Universal Studios Orlando. We have also looked at Disney Cruises and the possibility of Hawaii! There are so many options for a Christmas get away that we are really having issues picking one! One thing about Disney and Universal is that my Brother-in-law is too tall so he can not go and also my nephew (and youngest boy) will be too small! We shall see what happens! I am sure whatever we pick, there will be a Blog post about it!

Obviously we made it safely to and from my Sisters house over the Christmas break. I had a blast over there getting to visit and play games and just hang out!

When we got back I got to have fun "unChristmasing" my house! And boy-howdy did I end up packing things a little different this year! The following is My Santa Collection that I would love to someday NOT have to put away! (Probably when I am old and grey and have little grand babies...) And just for size reference, I only used the top 3rd of our fake tree this year. For the short time it was up I did not want to have to fight the baby to leave it alone. LOL! I also did not want to have to rearrange furniture!

One of my 2 new Santa's this year!
He is HUGE and I love him! LOL
He was supposed to have a star on
 the top of his tree but it fell off!
He is now my LARGEST Santa!

Santa top left is my second largest Santa and is standing
a tier down from the ones he is next to LOL!

See all his Santa minions? Ha ha!

Santa center bottom here is my other new this year Santa.
He is sitting in a bathtub and sings and kicks his feet!
He is the baby's favorite of all!

They range from tree topper to figurine to plush to statue to any other variety!
I love my Santa Collection!

Some of the figurines that sat under the tree this year.
Most pictured here are what my boys gave me last year for Christmas (2011)

Even MORE set back behind the tree!

I was also given this flat Santa Head this year!

More figurines....
And my oldest in his 1st ever photo with Santa!
Also, the front and center Santa here is actually my Husbands!

The entire Collection with the tree!

My tree and card holder!
The holder says "We love Santa Be <3 Claus"
My sister gave me the holder a few years ago.
It was filled with a lot of new cards from family and friends this year!
Thank you again November Mamas!

You can somewhat see the ornaments I made this year on my tree as well! This was one of the many projects we had going on this year! This set I made as a "test" set to make sure I was going to be able to make them for my Sister and Brother-in-law and for my Mother-in-law and Father-in-law! I found these neat clear ornaments that had removable tops at WalMart and they were meant to be stuffed with confetti and other stuff but what I did was slightly different!

I took the most recent photos of the boys and cut out their silhouette (all but the baby because I had tiny photos of him). I then placed the photo inside the clear ornament and then I stuffed it full of wired garland! Once I felt it had enough in there I cut the amount that was stuffed inside free of the rest of the strand and placed the top back on it. After that I tied an ornament hook to the top with ribbon! Here are the close up photos of the ones I kept. The sets for my family members I had help making from my 7 year old. He did the garland stuffing and handed me the ribbons and held them up when needed! It was fun!

The oldest!
In his photo it was zoomed in to "adjust" the photo!
This caused the only part of him to fit to be his head!
I LOVE it!

My 7 year old!
So adorable! When holding this ornament in your hand,
it almost looks like he is leaning out of the ornament.
His photo has a definite 3D effect!
Plus I love that he is pinching his chin skin! LOL

My little trooper! 4 year old!
We got more of him in this one than his 2 older brothers!
I Loved cutting out these photos! So neat looking in the end!
And look, my ONLY glass ornament next to him! LOL

The sweet baby!
It is hard to see his photo but the ornament turned out pretty cute!
In my opinion! LOL

Those ornaments were super easy to do and they only cost about $2 for just the garland and the ornament itself. garland was at the Dollar Tree and the ornaments at Walmart for $1 each!

I think that is all for now! I will do my best to get back here soon to post more about our holidays and other happenings! Yippee!!!! Take care!!!

~TTFN!

One Year Old and Christmas crafts!

Every Nursing Baby should have this shirt!

I just love his little shirt! That is what WIC gave him at our last appointment. The "dirty" look on his face is because Dad got him to stop wiggling around long enough to get a picture taken by turning on the lamp right in his face! Anyways, the shirt itself is not long sleeved. I had to put a long sleeved onsie on under it for him to wear it because it has been so cold here. No snow... Yet! But I am sure it will arrive when it is ready to. In the meantime it is just plain cold outside! This has kept us all slightly bundled up more often! As I will show you below, the baby (who is still easiest to photo since his brothers tend to photo bomb each other or just flat refuse to smile!) has been getting super bundled and I refuse to cut his hair because it really doesn't "need it" yet. It it just barely in his eyes! But his attire has been becoming more and more boy-ish LOL... As it should!

At the doctor's office in his blue body suit,
 giving big brother some love!

Passed out in my bed before I woke him up at 5 AM to go get Dad!
(Sleeping almost exactly like his Aunt did as a baby! LOL)

Dad finally got a slight sense of style....
Or rather the sense to match colors! LOL

He just seems to have grown over night! I don't know where that itty bitty baby went..... But look at that yummy cookie in the photo above.... Yummmmmy!

On that note,,,, On to my Christmas Crafts!

First off....

I found a site for Do-It-Yourself Cookie Trays / Candy Dish (I think a friend posted the link on Facebook and I followed it, but added the dish part myself! The link is here. It takes a bit to load on my computer... Lots of photos on there)

Since you are here already, I can also tell you how it is done....

You Will Need:

An Oven 

A Cookie Sheet

Parchment paper

Peppermints

Spearmint's (optional, to add color!)

Imagination!

And a bowl (optional, if you wish to attempt what I did......)

Heat your oven to 350 degrees.....

Arrange your mints on a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper however you want to!

This looked fun and easy to me!

Place arrangement into the oven for 8-10 minutes...

Watch it though, if it is left too long it will start to bubble at the edges....

Finished tray!
Let cool on the cookie sheet 5-10 minutes...
very fragile!!!

You can stop at the above photo....

Or.....

You can lift the still warm "tray" on the parchment paper and set it into a bowl of choice and press down on the inside slightly as you do. This helps that ribbon effect on the edges appear...

Let cool and then remove the parchment paper.... Mine is in a crystal bowl so the colors are still visible from the sides. Filled with Mini Candy Canes and Christmas Sixlets! And that would be part of my Santa collection hanging off the side! Isn't he adorable? Most of my collection is made up of "tree toppers" like the Angels you can put on a tree or figures about the same size or larger. But, sometimes the adorable exception MUST be made! LOL

This is my 2nd tray that I made for the neighbors across the street!
More on that one to come....

Next up..... Cookies!!!!!!

And who doesn't love cookies? I love cookies, but I can not eat this kind! 

First... Melting Snow Man Cookies!

Sadly, I do not have the recipe for this one. My mother found it and printed it off her computer. Basic ingredients are:

Sugar Cookies

White Vanilla Frosting

Large Marshmallows
Rainbow Sprinkles (for the orange nose)

Green, Red or Blue Sprinkles (for the buttons)

Black Decorating Icing

Blue Decorating Icing

This is my original attempt at the Melting Snow Man!
Not Bad!

These are all the Snow Men I did.
(Plus one that ended up getting set aside for the kids to just eat,
I messed it up! LOL)
My mother did 4 more and we called it good!

All the other cookies that were made!
Mess up of the Snowman is top left and then the
4 below are the main ones I made I did, for gifting!!
My 7 year old did the rest of the cookie decorating!

Aren't they pretty?!
Sugar cookies, frosting and sprinkles! Yippee!

Remember my 2nd tray....
Here it is, topped with cookies for the neighbors!

So that, with another project I worked on today, are some of my crafts for the season! I have more... But they will not be shown until AFTER Christmas! Today was frustrating though. I guess one plus on the quilt I messed up was that it is for my own son and not someone else's child! LOL Take care all!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

~TTFN!