Pretty lights on the tree...I'm watching them shine.

I did it! I cannot believe I uploaded all of the pictures and threw them into collages for your enjoyment! I'm glad that I made the effort to pull out the camera at almost every event!

Christmas décor around the house

Above the kitchen sink // tall ball/vase on the sideboard in dinning room // red/ green sparkle trees with snowman cookie jar on the sideboard // close up of the ornament sled above sink // 

the “allowed to touch” stuff for Moses.

  

Ornaments on our tree

I never took a full standing picture of our tree because it looks a little wonky this year. The tree itself had great shape but it was my decorating that suffered. In fear of what Moses would do to certain ornaments I pretty much kept everything out of his reach zone. Our first family ornament next to peacock feathers at the top of the tree // our little Mexican lovers we got in Cozumel on our honeymoon // my most sacred ornament- a ceramic Precious Moments ball I’ve had for as long as I can remember // Moses’ new ornament for this year- Curious George reading a CG book. Moses’ favorite book is his collection of Curious George and for about 6 months straight he wanted us to read the same story in the collect every night. When I saw this at Hallmark I knew it was the one // Davy’s favorite childhood ornament- Big Bird!

Cookie decorating at the In-Laws

Moses thoroughly enjoying his cookie // (Davy’s grandma and mom) all decorating // a table full of delicious sugar // the boys enjoying their hard work.

Christmas Eve

All the boys // Mom stirring our traditional Christmas Eve soup // Sisters // the hubs and I in front of the Christmas tree- even though you can’t see it with the angle of the picture, it’s there (8 feet actually…no we’re not giants) // the husbands.

Christmas Eve tradition- opening one present after dinner

I love this picture- Davy helping Moses’ open his present // Look closely at the bottom of the picture, that’s Davy aka their human trampoline // playing with his new toy // I randomly decided to sit on Davy which then started the trampoline acts // taking turns climbing on his back then jumping off by his head.

Christmas morning at our house

Moses using his new bath toy as a gummie holder (and yes, the first thing he act that morning was gummies, it was Christmas!) // blowing his new train whistle // opening his stoking // trying out his new water bottle

Christmas morning at my parents

Dad, Mom, and sister at the breakfast table // I love this picture- Moses cousin Grace holding Moses while they swayed back and forth listening to music // the boys // Moses’ favorite decoration at Grammy’s house- all the musical toys. He actually likes to turn them all on at the same time, kind of like a terrible sounding chorus // Sister and Davy- always the best of buds

   

The beautiful tree at my parents

Let me start my saying my mother makes anything she touches incredible. Ever year her house is magnificently decorated in every nook and cranny and the Christmas tree in never bare. I could sit there forever and find hidden ornaments all through the tree. It’s hard to see in the pictures but the ornaments go back about 5 layers and I’m not kidding when I say there are 15 + strands of lights on that bad boy. 

Not only is her tree beautiful but she takes the time to make every.single.present beautiful. Carefully picks which wrapping paper and bow fits each child’s style. Then which name tag and little piece of flare would look just right. I’m in awe every year of how much effort goes into making under the tree so pretty! I wish I had a nicer camera to capture the entire scene as a whole but these snapshots will have to do! Remember when I said we aren’t going overboard at our house this? Well that’s not the case at the “Pop Pop and Grammies” house. In her defense it honestly isn’t that many presents if you think 13 people times 5 gifts is already 65 presents! Anyways, that’s not the point, the point is, wow, her tree and presents are so beautiful!

A few of my personal favorite; of course they are all for me
because …..well….she knows what I like!

Opening presents at my parents

Kelley, 38 weeks preggo and queen of the comfy chair. As you can tell, all her presents are in arms reach! // Molly being a teenage (Eye roll! Winky face) // Grace with her new digital camera // Keira all dressed up as mermaid princess // Mom opening her special jewelry box // Kissing Dad- clearly she approved!

The rest of our day

I gave up taking pictures at the In-Laws because one of the girls had her super nice camera out and took over for me- I was very thankful! Davy and his brother telling everyone how this whole opening-presents-with-15 people-in-the-room was going to work // Davy giving Mo his first lesson // Moses’ new slippers // us // the Twins waiting for present time.

[my tree is still lit]

I have been taking a few days off to enjoy every bit of this Christmas weekend.

Lots of family.
Lots of spending time together, hanging out.
Lots of laughts and smiles and hugs.
And lots and lots and lots of eating!

I will return with pictures and memories later this week.

Lots of love from Busyland to you!

I'll be home for Christmas. Smiling.

This post was supposed to be filled with little snapshots of our home decorated for Christmas but I forgot to upload the pictures so it’s just me and the keyboard! This is how Christmas is going down in our house this year. The boys and I will wake up in our home, walk down the hall to a lit tree and open our stockings. Yep, that’s right, no presents. Seems weird? Let me explain.

Like I’ve mentioned before we’ve been experiencing some tough times financially lately and agreed early on not to buy presents for each other. We set aside money for family gifts we knew we needed to buy and a little more for additional family we wanted to buy for. We would take any extra money left over and buy small things for each other just to make us smile. As far as Moses’ presents go I kept holding off because I wasn’t really sure what he needed. As the weeks went on I still hadn’t bought him anything and then one Sunday our pastor gave an amazing message about Christmas.

Basically the gist of the message was why do we make ourselves miserable by going into debt and stressing about money at the holidays only to be giving to other what we don’t really have? Why am I going to buy Davy an expensive gift when we don’t have the extra money? Why do people feel the need to max at credit cards to provide the biggest box under the tree? Why isn’t it acceptable to give what we have and that be it?
 

Later that week I was walking past Moses playroom and realized he has an entire room filled with toys. His bedroom is bursting with books and clothes. He’s never mopped around the house begging for something new because all his needs are being met.
 

Sometimes I find myself so caught up with the holiday hustle and bustle of shopping and Santa and wish lists and wants and presents and …..uh, what have I become? What about Jesus’ birth and family? I’m not getting all radical about Christmas in because I love the tradition of Christmas trees, beautiful packages, outdoor lights, yummy candles, and Christmas music; it has to stop somewhere. So this year the boys are I will enjoy each other and our few stockings stuffers.
 

Then we will load up in the car and visit three other sets of families for Christmas. Our parent’s have graciously bought us gifts, mostly things we want, not need, and I’m certain our trunk will be filled with Moses’ new toys. And guess what, that’s fine. I would never push our minimalist Christmas on others that find joy in seeing us open those wonderful gifts. They have been blessed financially and want to share and that makes us happy too; it’s just something we’re not going into debt for.
 

Most importantly we get to visit with our siblings that live out of town. I cannot wait for Moses to see his cousins KiKi and Camden and play to their hearts content. And then re-meet his cousin Evan and run around like the three musketeers at Davy’s mom’s house. The best part is our family is staying for days so after all the Christmas hype is over we will have plenty of time to visit.
 

Don’t get caught up this weekend. Love time with family and good friends, remember the reason for the season, and have a very Merry Christmas!

[semi] Wordless Wednesday

Here is something to lighten up the mood from this mornings post. They say kids pick up on their parent’s habits.

He pulls out the espresso maker and makes himself “coffee” all the time. He’ll request water for his little glass pot and slowly sip it; then it goes back under the spout for more coffee. 

 He’s our little hipster already :)

I don't love you anymore, goodbye.

I don’t why this post has been so difficult to write. It means nothing to anyone except me however I can’t find the words to articulate my feelings. Last Monday afternoon I logged into my school account, saw grades were posted, and smiled. I did it.
 
Reverting back to my freshman year of college this isn’t how I pictured life to be. I would have never guessed I would marry the boy I loved for years or start a family and especially take four long years to get through sixty hours of schooling. I took a few semesters off to play mommy but when classes started back it was all new again. Now I was juggling a full time job, a baby to care for, a husband to spend time with, and a house to take care of. Quietly reading was a daunting task and most lunches were spent pumping and doing homework. I reached my sanity limit at two classes at a time, hence why it took so long. I struggled this last semester in one class and it literally came down to one test I took a couple weeks ago to determine my fate; I passed. I graduated! I was done this chapter of college! And it felt….slightly depressing.
 

The night I took my last test I was driving home almost fearful to pull into the driveway. As my friend and mom called I talked to them with no emotion behind my voice. I didn’t feel much like celebrating. I sat on the couch and cried. I’m not sure if Davy has ever been more confused by these backwards emotions I was putting off and I didn’t know how to explain myself except it was the exact same feeling I felt bringing Moses home from the hospital. Nine months of prepping, planning, excitement, talking of what things will be like; then one day it all ended and he was here. One big task was finally accomplished but another huge one was ahead of me. Moses was finally here but at the same time he is here and never going away. He was mine to care for the rest of my life [note: I eventually calmed down and came to realize him never going away is a very, very good thing]. I finally graduated but now living life after school was ahead of me. My nights were filled with reading, studying, class but now what I am going to do with all this free time? I have nothing more that needed to be accomplished so will I aimlessly walk the house at night? I certainly didn’t want to fall into the rut of watching TV for hours and crashing every night. I need a solution. After a week of thinking things thought I had one.
 

I came up with 6 projects I would work on weekly. Small things like organizing the laundry room or making artwork for the playroom to big projects such as converting Moses nursery into a toddler bedroom. I wanted the projects to be obtainable, inexpensive, and make an impact on how we live our daily life. I wanted them to benefit our home and eventually others outside of the home. Each project will have a one week time frame, no more, no less. I don’t want to rush through them only to find myself twiddling my thumbs. After those six our finished I would find 6 more that needed to be done. Having something to cross of my list just feels right. Idle time, I don't love you anymore, goodbye.

ps. These projects are things that will fill in the empty time, not take precedence over time spent with family. After I wrote everything out it sounded like I forgot about the things in life I love the most but I haven't. 

Rashes and Hives, Oh My!

Thanks to everyone who entered the Curly Gurly couture giveaway last week. I really love my rosette set and can’t wait for one of you to enjoy yours too! I pulled in the numbers to Random.org

and the winner is...

Caroline Jones! Congrats! Please email me within 48 hours [enilorac802 at gmail dot com].

I apologize for leaving all of you who read daily and thrive off your Google Reader and feel a daily connection to your stranger bloggy friends (oh wait, that’s just me, nevermind) read daily and thrive off your Google Reader and feel a daily connection to your stranger bloggy friends follow but last week blogging wasn’t my top priority. Quick rundown of my week:

Monday- Yay full day of work and posted the giveaway.
Tuesday- Boo Moses was up all night for no good reason and we all needed to sleep past our alarms to function. Went to work at lunch time.
Wednesday- Blah I feel like crap, I’m going home.
Thursday- Laddy Da going about my day…. “Oh hey daycare. Moses has hives? A rash? Pick him up now? I’ll be right there!” Sat home with a happy but rashy baby all afternoon. Bake and decorate my cupcakes for a work baby shower Friday.
Friday- Work luncheon, fun. Set up for baby shower, even more fun. Get a phone call from school that the rash is back and Mo needs to leave in fear he’ll spread his rash to every baby in the school and mayhem will ensue . Boooooo. This is getting old AND I’m missing the office baby shower.


As you can see I spent about 20 hours at work and zero time thinking about blogging. Thankfully I looked like a complete fool taking my completely healthy child to the doctors complaining about a rash when there was no more rash in sight  Moses was fine and the doctor suspected it was just heat rash. That’s what happens to blond hair, blue eyed, see though skin babies when they play too hard. We are all happy and healthy now and I paid $15 for my doctor to write a note saying so and praying it stays that way for the next 8 days.

The one where I show off our Christmas card

I wanted to link up at the Christmas Card Carousel and show everyone the card we finally picked! Remember a little while ago I showed a few card options and pictures we were thinking about? Well here it is!

I just saved these images from my Shutterfly projects so I apologize it’s all over the place. When you open the card the full page to your left is Moses and the words are to your right. You would think ordering 50 cards would be enough to give to every person we know but surprisingly we ran out fast after giving them to all our families. I’m sorry if you didn’t get one; just pretend this is especially for you!

Curly Gurly giveaway!

More things I love from Etsy. Curly Gurly couture first caught my eye by the beautiful people and pictures modeling their jewelry. Later I found out the owner is a photographer who has opened this business on the side; makes perfect sense! The main products they make are rosette type flowers that go on necklaces and headbands. They offer many different types of rosettes that target all age groups.

For my review I was sent was this vintage fabric flower appliqué.

If you can’t tell from the pictures it’s a silky white, a knit black, and tweed black and white flowers with silver and tweed buttons. My favorite part of their jewelry is that the set of flowers can be interchanged between headbands and necklaces by Velcro!

You simple pull the flowers off the headband Velcro and stick them on the necklace Velcro! This opens up the possibility of what they could be placed on;

A basic drop down necklace

A necklace swung to the side

Here is it attached to the headband

Place velcrow on any jacket or shirt for a broach!

And lastly, on a purse!

I first wore the flowers as a necklace with a grey sweater to work and got lots of complements. It’s playful but not too loud for the office. Then for the weekend I wore it as the headband to a teenage girl’s party. The girls LOVED how fun it was and wanted one of their own! Curly Gurly has some of their products on Etsy as well as IkandiPhotography’s website and for their full line of products check out their Facebook page.
The giveaway: Curyly Gurly has offered to give one of Busyland’s readers the same set she let me review! Valued at $26! All you have to do is check out of their sites mentioned above (I would look at Facebook to see all of them) and tell me which is your most favorite product. I’m really curious to see what everyone’s taste is so look hard and give an honest answer!


The giveaway will end Friday (12/17) and I will announce the winner on Monday (12/20)

Thanks Curly Gurly and good luck! The winner needs to email me within 48 hours of winning or I'll pick someone else!

note: This item was given to me to review and the opinions above are my own. The winner will receive a new product, not the one I have already used!

Burp.

It makes me happy to see a mom with three or more young children and still has a smile on her face. I know kids can be challenging but it’s nice to see a mom can relax enough to enjoy the chaos of a full house.


God always provides, always. Sometimes it takes turning off the cable, a few cry fests, and a prayer but He always does.

Davy asked me the other day is we were going to “do” Santa. Growing up never believing in Santa (thanks my sis) I don’t know what it’s like to “believe” and what it’s like to find out he’s not real. We stood there and look at each other for a moment before I spoke. “I guess” was my answer. I’m not going to lead him down this huge fabricated lie that Santa is watching his behavior and yadda yadda but I think the thrill of Santa coming Christmas Eve night might be fun. We will leave out cookies, write Santa’s name on a few presents and do that mess until he’s old enough to understand. Good solution, right?

Driving in the car the other on the way to school Moses happily ate his banana. When he finished he said “Mommy, banana?”
“You ate it all”
“All gone?”
“Yes Mo, it’s in your tummy”. Moses looked down at his tummy and started to pat it; he smiled but still didn’t understand.
“Tummy, Mommy?”
“Yes Mo, it goes in your tummy and then out your hiney”. He paused for a moment then slid his hand down to the crouch of his pants and exclaimed, “Ouchy, hiney!”
(I love this age)


It was finals week and I was too busy studying, freaking out, and taking tests to write real posts. Next week I’ll either be writing the “I’m done with college” post or the “Wah Wah life sucks I’m retaking one class” post.

Oh and I have a really cute giveaway post for next week too!

The one where I get serious about life.

To make a dream come true you have to want it, a lot. If making something out of nothing was that easy then everyone would have something and no one would have nothing. I recently read how Gussy from Gussy Sews came to be and it was so inspirational; losing their jobs, getting new jobs, burying her head in library books and you tube videos to teach herself how to sew, saving a nest egg of money to be able to quit her job and follow her dream, and now living her passion. It’s so inspirational because she didn’t have a millionaire husband or special privileges to get where she is, she just did it. She had the drive, like so many people do, and eventually live their passion.
Right now things in our life our changing; one minor and one a little more major. The first being we have officially cut our cable off. It was an extra expense that we no longer felt the need to be paying. With owning your own business that fluctuates with the economy there are downsides to that and we are currently in one. With so many up and down weeks these past few months we need to take matters into our own hands and make things happen. With no cable bill that will put extra money in our account to pay off loans, debts and eventually start saving a nest egg.

With weekly jobs staying sparse Davy decided to take on a second job. We calculated the way business is he could work daily at a second job while still having time for his main job. Thankfully he still has good relationships with his old part time job and was able to get rehired. Nothing is set in stone yet but most likely he will have to be at work at 4:45am meaning his day will start around 4am. This will be a huge adjustment for our family; not only is Davy a night person but he is defiantly not a morning person. I am so very thankful for the sacrifices he is willing to make for our family and I’ll need to step up even more in making sure he is taken care of. I have a feeling our bedtime we no longer linger in the 11 o’ clock hour and I’ll need to be up by 6:30am to get Moses and I ready for the day.

We have goals and dreams for our family and we’re tired of settling. I’m sick of carelessly spending and then becoming stressed with our finances. We are taking control of our budget, our spending, and our general outtake on life. Living with the basics is going to build lots of character and hopefully we put us on the right track.

(This is a hard topic to talk about and not very fun to read; but its life)

How old will you be when I stop checking on you before I go bed? To make sure you're stiil breathing, that your covers our on tight. To gather extra passies for you to reach in the middle of the night, to rub your cheeck and tell you goodnight. How old will you be when I stop thinking of you as my baby?

Baby, it's cold outside.

The day after Thanksgiving I didn’t waste any time to start focusing on Christmas. I love the Holidays, especially Christmas, and wanted to enjoy the season for as long as I could. Last weekend I managed to decorate the entire house and purchase our Christmas tree. Earlier in the week we put lights on it and hopefully by this weekend it will be decorated. I’ve burned my two Yankee holiday candles all week and love walking into the house and just feel Christmas.


Wednesday night we all bundled up and headed outside to put the lights up. Davy did all the hard work while Moses and I cheered him on.

This is what it's like to try to take pictures of a toddler- they never, ever want to smile!

Ok I got a smile quickly followed by a loud squeel!

Our newest addition to the front yard this year is wire, light filled trees. They are a pain to open up and “fluff” but I love the way they light up the yard. Thankfully we had the right amount of extension cords, outlets, and supplies that it didn’t take long to transform the yard to a Winter Wonderland. Okay maybe not Wonderland but considering we are the only people on our street that hang outdoor lights I’d say it’s pretty festive!

Candyland.

This has nothing to do with being a wife or a working mom or having a child. This is pure passion from the depths of my heart. This isn’t a hobby but a desire. I desire to bake the most wonderful things. To stand in my kitchen draped with a beautiful apron adorned with flour and work steadily on my creations. I dream of a standing mixer that I can carelessly loss in a pinch of this and a dash of that while everything comes together to form dough. I dream of wafer textured rubbery mats to lie whatever’s hot out of the over on. I dream of 100 funky utensils bursting out of a jar on the kitchen counter to grab whenever I’m in need of a specific tool. I dream of fresh baked breads and cookies and soufflés and mousse and cakes.


The other night I was standing in on a conversation with my mother and another seamstress when I listened to them passionately talk about their gifts. Midway through the conversation the women looked at me and said it must be so nice to inherit your mother’s talent. My mother and I joked that I had taken advantage of her skills all my life and actually never learned to sew. My mom mentioned that my gifts are in other areas and I create differently. She’s right. I can’t go into a store and know what three fabrics go together perfectly to make a pillow. I thrive off order and that’s why I love baking so much. All the measurements and instructions are something I enjoy; it just makes sense in my head. As I continue to bake more I start to experiment with different ingredients and measurements. I like analyzing “if this equals X then what if I mix this and this together, will they also give me X?” It’s a way for me to create but still maintain order.


I say this is only a dream because I’m also a realist. I work a forty hour job, I’m in school, and I have a baby and a husband and a house to maintain. Even if all those things were on hold one evening a week I still need the money to buy all the ingredients. And if the ingredients were to magically appear I would need a very thick piece of duct tape over my mouth to stop me from consuming everything I bake! I love to bake and that will never stop; it’s just sometimes my dreams take me away to a land of sugar and sweets!

Wordless Wednesday