10 Facts About Christmas Break

1. on the first day, as you're sneaking presents into the basement, you will find a dead mouse rat. {You will call your husband, leaving him a message with strict instructions of what needs to be done when he gets home. You will call back and leave another message suggesting maybe he should come handle the situation during his lunch break.}


2. Elizabeth will sing Jingle Bells non-stop.


3. Sometimes in a western accent.


4. Elizabeth will sing Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer, non-stop.


5. Sometimes in falsetto.


6. Your children will sleep in till 7:15 the first morning.


7. They will wake up at 6 am the next morning.


8. Your husband will try to get his precariously-secret-keeping children to tell him what they got him for Christmas.


9. You will yell at your husband for this.


10. You realize that as you list off the hundreds of things for your children to do because they say they are bored that they have too many toys and you wonder why you bought them anything for Christmas...

Katie

Magazine Tree

Do you ever have those weeks you feel like you get absolutely nothing accomplished, wonder how you ever got anything accomplished before and wonder if you'll ever get anything accomplished ever again?

Life just seems too overwhelming?

Me too.

Here's the small project that I got done this week that I'm not even that impressed with.

It's made from an old magazine and it's just folded.

Martha Stewart had them on her website.

They had spray painted theirs and put glitter on them.

They were going to sell them at a bazaar for $20 each.?

Sometimes I wonder who those people out there are who can afford to spend $20 on a conical shaped magazine.

Just so you know, those people are not me.

Katie

Facebook

Did you know that if you hit 'Enter' after typing the title of your post, it will automatically post...?

Yup.

Anyway.

On Thursday I posted on Facebook:

"Hoping Bryce calls and tells me to not worry about dinner, he picked up a pizza....miracles happen, people."

Bryce called me saying he was going to be a bit late, he got caught up doing something at work.

Happens all the time.

I started hot dogs with chili cheese fries for dinner.

{I don't feel like I have to explain my eating habits to you right now.}

Bryce walks in at 5:30 pm with Pizza Hut pizza.

I was shocked, and felt a little guilty.

You might think, well Katie, that's what you wanted isn't?

Yes.

But Bryce NEVER checks Facebook.

Ever.

{So if you're his friend on Facebook, I'm sorry to tell you, but he has no idea what's going on with you or your status.}

That's why I posted that, more like a plea to the universe.

However....

Bryce and I have a mutual friend, who saw the Facebook post and called the IRS office, which is no easy task, and told him to pick up pizza for his wife.

Facebook isn't just a social network, it's a miracle network.

Thought of that, just now.

Katie

The Halls are Decked

Mini felt stocking advent calendar

Vintage balls in an old tool caddy

Old Christmas postcards with new Christmas cards

See the star, on the piano? It was once on top of the tree, then the tree fell over, not on Spencer, now it's just patiently waiting..

A variety of vases with vintage postcards clipped to the tree trimmings

This is where my new sewing machine, ahem, that I get for Christmas will go. The dining room.

The real reason we celebrate.

Vintage balls in an old soda bottle crate

Are you all decorated?

Katie

Introspection

What I've learned:

• if you go cut down your own Christmas tree, what you save in money will be used up with patience.



• people who get lost in the woods do not have a inappropriately dressed four year old crying about being cold holding on to your coat as you slip down the frost covered mountain.



• promises of cold, stale crackers waiting in the car are a big enticement to keep the kids from whining.



• decorated and lit trees safely secured in a tree stand can tip over.



• lights that you got from your husband's grandparent's basement eight years ago will eventually burn out.



• Fred Meyer has a great selection of Christmas tree lights.



• a baby cannot discern the difference between a tree ornament and a real ball.



• if you hear the tree tip over and a baby crying, you will conclude that the tree fell on the baby.



• a baby can cry with out having a Christmas tree fall on him.



• if you have an advent calendar, children who are supposed to be taking a nap, ahem, can sneak the peanut butter M & M's.



• they cannot really deny this when you catch them with blue lips or when you hear one drop on the floor and roll down the stairs.



• a surprise date planned by your husband where you go out and come back and the kids are all in bed, is a great remedy to a lot of things.



• Christmas is my favorite time of year.

Katie

Please note: while there are no pictures of me, we can all assume that I looked awesome.

Pantry Doors

I stenciled the pantry doors while Bryce was gone a while back....

Let's just say I'm glad that I didn't decide to do an entire wall....stenciling, while inexpensive, takes for.ev.er (said like the kid says it on Sandlot).

This weekend we're planning to go chop down our own tree (Welcome to Oregon) and get some of the house decorated for Christmas.

Meanwhile, I'll be bagging meellions of leaves.

Hate bagging leaves.

Katie


P.S. Spencer is learning how to crawl!

My Sister Came to visit....

and it was super fun!

Katie

For When the Guests Arrive

Happy Thanksgiving.

Katie

The Reality of Playdates

Last week was a little bit rough.

To lessen the stress, I set up a couple of playdates.

It was all fun and games, until the people left.

Now I have a pile in my house of things that don't belong to me.

A car.

Some wipes.

Another car.

A pair of clothes?

And a plate.

Now the fun begins.

I have to keep my kids from playing with it.

If they do play with it, I have to hope they don't break it.

If it survives, then I have to locate it after it's played with.

After all of that, I have to remember who it belongs to.

I have to convince myself not to use it, like the wipes. Even though Spencer's had a ton of diarrhea and it's just sitting at my house, forgotten.

I have to talk myself out of justifying why I should be able to use it, I did, after all, feed them lunch and kept my cool as their two year old ate a sucker all over my house...

Then I need to put it in my car.

After which I have to remember to drop it off to the person who left it at my house.

Or hope that it doesn't get lost in the deep recesses of my car.

Or I have to keep it in my house until 'those' people come over.

And still remember to give it to them.

Which I can guarantee you won't happen.

And if, by chance, I do remember to give it back, they'll play it off like: 'Oh, we bought him a new one weeks ago, you can just keep it."

Listen, people, if you come over to my house, please don't leave anything behind, it will be better for you, for me, and for our friendship...

Katie

Pillows

Till next week.

Katie

Adeline

Adeline and I have been getting along pretty well the past couple of weeks.

Except when we play Barbies.

She's a huge pain in the bum.

This is why:

Adeline is a control freak, and kinda mean.

But I fall for it every.time.

We'll be upstairs playing Barbies and Adeline will ask me to come to her fancy ball. Of course, I say yes.

I get all four of my girl Barbies ready. For some reason I'm not allowed to have a boy...anyway....

They look nice. They have on coordinating outfits, their hair is done beautifully, no wall flowers here.

As I'm getting their shoes on, Adeline announces that the ball is about to start and I need to hurry up or I'll miss it.

I frantically finish putting their shoes on and I'm begging Adeline to wait for us and we rush over to the ball.

We have to walk because Meg always gets the car and she's not a fan of carpooling. Something to do with the fact that Belle and Beast need some alone time.

I knock on the door.

The ball is over.

I missed it.

Fine, whatever, I think.

I'm moving on.

Now it's bedtime and I'm getting all of my Barbies in their pajamas and brushing their hair.

They're not even laying down before the cock {Adeline} is crowing for them to get up.

OK, I think, stay calm, she's not doing it on purpose.

We decide the Barbies should go hiking.

{Physical fitness is always a priority in the plastic world, just because they're skinny, doesn't mean they're healthy.}

I decide this time, they're not going to change, I'll just put their shoes on and be done with it.

I'm trying to outsmart Adeline.

I knock on the door.

They're not going hiking.

Didn't I know it was bedtime?

I would rather clean the bathroom than play Barbies with Adeline.

Katie

Ladder Up!

Lame, I know.

I bought this huge ladder from an estate sale. Old, wood, paint chippy. $5. Really, it's the ladder that just keeps giving. I still have two substantial pieces left (6ft. +) to figure out what to do with, even after we cut it down to size to fit the room.

Before, lamp compliments of Target. Thomas O'Brien. $17.25. Love it. I HAD to buy it people, our old one died. Promise.
After

Old postcards from Bryce's side of the family.

It says 'Give Thanks'.

Since building the wall in the mud room area, I moved all of our coats and shoes that used to hang out in the front part of the house to the back part, which calls for a little re-arranging.

Bryce's ingenious idea to use the ladder as a coat rack using S hooks, which we picked up from IKEA.

Some Laurel branches. Bet you don't recognize the chairs...that's because my mother-in-law did a thorough scrubbing of them while she was here, as well as one the stove that had been hammered by months of canning.

This is what Spencer's hair looks like after a bath.

Meg is Spencer's favorite sister by far....kind of worried about my sanity with that one....

Bryce is going to be out of town again {boo} this week for three days so I hope to get some sewing projects done.

Somehow I deleted the picture of Adeline in curlers, I'll make it up to her next post.

Katie