a brush with fame

It's the first Saturday of your Christmas break. The 2 year old has graciously let you sleep past 5 am for the first time this week. You wake to the sound of buzzing and crack your eyes wide enough to see the screen of your phone lit up with notifications from friends and family alerting you to the news that your roof made it onto the Today Show.

And you missed it.

Because you were asleep.

My sincerest thanks to those of you that buzzed us this morning to let us know, and for those of you who were sleeping, like we were- here's the clip. And just to clarify- hubs is no Scrooge. It's pure shenanigans. Always shenanigans....

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up on the roof

Anyone else sing the blog title in their heads just now?

No?

Just me then?

Back to the subject at hand which happens to be the roof. If you've been hangin' round these parts for over a year, you know that hubs likes to decorate our roof in an unconventional sort of way.

With words.

Spelled with lights.

The first year, it was this:

which lead our neighbors to wonder if we were in some sort of cult.

We're not. This is pure shenaniganisms. Yes that's a word.

Last year, the roof attracted so much attention, our house appeared on two popular websites and friends of ours that frequent those websites called and texted to let us know our rooftop had reached celebrity status. Last year's roof looked like this:

Again, I assure you there is no hidden meaning behind this. We love Christmas. The halls are decked, the carols are blaring from the stereo, and there's peppermint creamer in the fridge. This is hubs at his finest. Well, he's pretty darn fine in a tux, but you know what I mean.

Moving on.

This year, hubs masterpiece is sportin' a hashtag.

Because he's modern and whatnot.

Oliver's first observation was this:

"That's not how you spell it."

Well no, it's not.

"Then why is it like that?"

Your daddy is being silly.

"Oh. Ok."

Do you have any idea how many times I've had to say, "Your daddy is just being silly"? If I had a nickel for each time, I could buy like a thousand pumpkin spice lattes, mmkay?

So, in conclusion, the writing is once again on the roof.

It's pure shenanigans.

There is no cult.

I like pumpkin spice lattes.

p.s. If you'd like to take a gander at the INSIDE decor from last year, click HERE. The decor from this year so far is laughable at best. I'm a bit behind, not to be confused with I HAVE a big behind.

winner winner chicken dinner and a mower with flair

Happy Monday!! I hope you all had a lovely weekend celebrating the Dad's/husbands/Father figures in your life! We were able to celebrate with both of our families yesterday and it was truly and blessing!

First things first... I plugged the number of comments from the giveaway post into random.org, and....

drumroll please......

the winner of the D's Stitches giveaway is.....

comment #3- Laurie

Congrats to you, Laurie! There's an e-mail coming your way with details on how to contact Danielle! And for the rest of you, remember Danielle's shop,
 D's Stitches, for all of your monogram and applique needs! T-shirts, onesies, bloomers, towels....check out her shop HERE if you haven't yet!

Before I sign off for today, I have to share a little project that I found hubs a'workin on last night.

It all started when he asked for some masking tape.
I asked, "why?".
He said, "I just need it".

And that, my friends, is all it took.
I finished packaging the order I was working on, and went in search of shenanigans. This time, they came in the form of this:

and this:

and eventually produced this:

 

That's right. He needed tape so he could create lightning and arrows and whatnot on his mower. A 'custom job', if you will. I'll say this for it, it's got flair. Don't think I've ever seen lightning down the side of a mower before.

If any of you are interested in his services, feel free to contact me and I'll send him over. Masking tape in hand.

Tea Time

For as long as I can remember, there's been a ladies tea party at my church, complete with fine table linens,

china,

delectable teas,

scrumptious food,

and hats galore.

We were all set to don our hats once again back in April of this year,

but just as the saying goes,

"We make plans and God laughs",

our tea party was gone with the wind, just like most of our church building.

As most of you know,

the wonderful people of Open Door, another church in our city,

have graciously opened their literal doors to us which has allowed us to continue worshipping together as a church family.

On Saturday of last week, the ladies of Alberta Baptist and Open Door Baptist came together for a ladies tea party/luncheon and a wonderful time of fellowship. Our two congregations are for the most part, strangers, since we go straight into our worship service at 9:00 while their Sunday School classes are in session, and then basically swap places. Although we are occupying the same building at the same time, we're never in the same spaces, so it was lovely to share a table and get to know a few members of their church family a little better. Their pastor's wife spoke and did an amazing job of sharing the word with us. Here's a few of my favorite pictures from the day-

tea pots served as centerpieces on each table

yes, I take pictures of my food when I'm super excited about it

Melanie and Hayden

2 are serious, 2 are not...

4 are quasi-serious...

(that one's for you, Jerry)

And, since no day is complete without some sort of shenanigans from my hubs,

I leave you with this:

Happy Tuesday to ya!

Feliz Navidad y'all

(*** no what I wore wednesday post today. I am currently a hot, hot mess, with it being my first day of Christmas break and all...***)

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Last night, we had the first of several yearly Christmas festivities with our family.

We celebrated Feliz Navidad with my in-laws and the name is pretty much taken from the fact that we eat Mexican food. LOTS and lots of Mexican food.

When we arrived, E immediately found her a nice cozy spot on one of the gifts under my MIL's tree and looked at/touched all of the ornaments within her reach.

 And, of course, had to pick up most of the presents too.

 Family-

 MM and white mawmaw

 Food, glorious food....

 The adults play dirty Santa with gift cards each year while the kids get actual presents, so it was a bit odd when my MIL had a gift for each male in the family...

 And then we realized why...

they started pulling them out of the boxes....

shirts....

BIG ginormous shirts.....

 And so they, of course, put them on...

(Isn't my hubs pretty? Even with this thing on...)

 And here they are.

ALL of them.

Each shirt was a 2x or a 3x that my MIL purchased on her yearly trip to the mountains.

Because she's funny like that.

 no caption neccessary.

just stinky shenanigans.

 Back to the kiddos...

Here's O flying a new star wars spaceship.

MM opening her presents with Mawmaw and Diane.

 Blake and O shooting new nerf guns.

 E got musical instruments and a doll house.

 And then it was time to play dirty Santa.

Here's Howard opening a gift card to ULTA.

He had to ask what it was.

Needless to say, a female stole it from him.

Such is the game, ya know?

Clay ended up with a card to Best Buy (which we had taken ourselves) and I got a card to Old Navy.

Wa-hoo!

 So there it is folks- Feliz Navidad!
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Here's what I'll be doing today- wrapping gifts with my little helper.

 She's really excited about it!

And...I must confess- I am too. Love wrapping me some presents.

Maybe it has to do with the fact that when I was about 4, I wanted to be one of the gift wrapping ladies at the mall. They always had the prettiest nails and were always dressed so nice. I thought they were the coolest.

I was 4.

Gettin Yo Craft On....

Hey hi my friends! Hope you're having a great day!
This post is all about the crafty goodness that's been going on with YOU. I've had so many friends tell me about the pretties that they've made, so here's a peek at what's been sent to me so far. Enjoy! AND....if you've made one of the crafts featured on the blog and would like to share, please send in a pic. I'd love to see it!
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Erin Schmidt

She said these were inspired by the Wizard of Oz. I love all the green!

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Christa Morris
Love the alternating colors. So pretty!


and here's her wreath...

Roll Tide, ya'll.

(and note to self...must make houndstooth rosette pin. Super cute.)

________________________________________________________________

Amy Sims

Love love this fabric. I need a skirt like this pronto.
Also love the bases she used. Pretty pretty.

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Lacey Simpson

I love that she painted the tops and bases black. Those look fab on the white mantle.
Also love her tree bases as well. So chic.

and her wreath...

Gorgeous rosettes!
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Melanie (Brett) Shewmake
Love the poinsettias that give it a Christmasy vibe.
Is Christmasy a word? Oh well...
(Mel told me that Brett actually took over this project.
Brett- your wreath rocks. Seriously.)

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Jennifer Hamilton

Love the rosettes paired with the poinsettia.
(Note to self...add leaves to my rosettes next time)

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So...after I made the first two trees with ribbon, I went back and bought a much bigger one. Much bigger. I used the burlap and fabric left over from the stockings I made, and I actually attached them with straight pins this time. Worked so well and no burned fingers! I also stole Lacey's idea and used a wooden candle holder from Hob Lob as the base. I just painted it white and jammed my foam tree onto the top and secured with a lil glue.

And...just in case you missed it the first time, or just want to see it again and don't feel like getting into your car because it's super-cold, or maybe you live a gajillion miles away- allow me to save you the trip...

here's my hubs craftiness...

p.s.- anyone keeping a December Daily?

weekend recap

Happy Monday everyone! Hope your weekend was fantabulous! Ours definitely was, so.....there's a lot of pics in this weekend recap.

First up, Oliver wrote out his Christmas list Friday night. Eliza was excited about it too.

First up is an AT-AT Walker (Star Wars toy)
Batcave
Lego Star Wars...


Did I mention E likes to climb?
She also wanted to sleep in her brother's bed. Love the look on O's face here.

She likes to wear her brother's shoes too...

Sweet MM in the bed.

silly boy...

Her reading spot

The longest eyelashes ever...

Pop came for a visit and to pick O up so he could spend the night. He, of course, had to read a few books before he left.

The ladies at my church have an ornament swap every year and it was Saturday morning, so...after school on Friday, O and I ran to Target to pick up some ornaments. I also went to Hob Lob that night with all 3 kiddos (because I'm a crazy person) since I hadn't looked there yet, and of course, I found more cute ones. I ended up taking the snowman and the pink one next to it. The rest are going on our tree.

And...here we are at the swap. (before the catfights.... just kidding. But not really)
Sorry Lisa....I couldn't resist this one with you "whipping your hair".

Can't remember what DeJauna is doing here. Maybe telling us about her ornament?

More friends.

Sometimes, just sometimes.... you don't have a box to wrap a gift (or an ornament in) and you have to improvise....
This one is from DeJuana-
Love Jamie's face here...
The ornament was cute- elephant head on one side, and booty on the other.

Someone is camera-ready and someone is not...
Melanie is telling us a story...

And look who wound up with the elephant in the tampon box...
(Our preacher's wife)
And here's everyone. Almost. This picture isn't perfect for 2 reasons....
1. Jennifer Carr isn't in it. We didn't remember to take a group shot until after she'd left. Even tried to flag her down outside.
2. It isn't centered. Too much space beside Kara's elbow.
I made a new Christmas-y headband that morning literally as Jamie, Kara and I were heading out the door from my house. I saw one on Whippycake's website like this and thought it was cute.

My parents bought a new tv and tv stand last week and gave us the entertainment center they weren't going to use anymore. score. Not only is it a gorgeous piece of furniture, but it also has storage at the bottom for toys.

Just had to show a close-up of what was on the tv at the time- Dolly Parton in Hard Candy Christmas.

The cabinet we'd been using in that room is now in the corner of our dining room, and since there's no longer a tv up top, it can hold my sewing machine and cricut machine when they're not in use. Ya know, ...since those things don't really belong on a dining room table anyway. Just pretend you don't see all that stuff on my table, mmmkay? Just focus on the pretty trees and ornaments...

Oliver's choir had their Christmas performance Sunday night. Here's my lovely fam before it started. I might not have mentioned to everyone that I was about to take a picture.

Here's the sweet kiddos...
And my sweet kiddo. Who only sang at the beginning when it was time for his solo. Oy.

Here he is about to sing, "No room.....No room".
Another pic of the kiddos and Bart Tingle's head...

Stable animals...
Sweet angels...

O really got into it when they sang, Come on, ring those bells...
and here's where MM was hanging out during the service. With Mrs. Kay. Some of the older kids read scriptures during the service, but they'll be singing with the adult choir next week too. If you're local, please join us at Alberta Baptist at 6:00 Sunday night for some beautiful music.


I also had a lovely evening with some friends and a very successful shopping trip to Sams and TJMaxx and somehow took no pics. Boo.
And last, but certainly not least, this is what the hubs did while I was having fun at the ornament swap.
He was having a little fun of his own....
It's already caused a bit of a traffic jam.

HEY hi, everybody!
Merry Christmas!