Family Photo

This year I needed to do a Family Photo and decided to do it a little different this year!

All I did was buy a piece of poster board and lined it with green paper like this...

I then used my green screen software, and edited it.  I started with my baby girl since she did not need to hold the frame and then worked my way up.  It was fun to do and I think it turned out really well!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas 08

Christmas morning was calm. We all got to sleep until 7:00. I got my coffee and then Tristan came out of his room. As he walked down the hall, squinting from the bright light, I said look Tristan, Santa came. He said oh yeah. His looked so happy and surprised. Here he is with his hot cocoa yelling "Merry Christmas"


Shortly after, Brayden woke up. He was pretty happy & surprised too.



Here are some Christmas present moments....

A Wonderful Family

Christmas was very nice. I was afraid with limited funds, that Christmas may not be as exciting for my boys. But not true at all. My parents provided some lovely gifts that they all got to enjoy. We then went to my brother and sister in-laws for presents and dinner there too. My sister in-law did so much for my boys. More than I can thank her for.
I was touched by everything she gave us. But one thing that got me was she made those no-sew blankets for all three boys. Not small ones either. They will be able to use them for years to come.

Here is Brayden's



Here is Jayden's




Here is Tristan's

A Small But Merry Christmas

As I'm putting up the tree today, and listening to some Christmas music, it's really hitting me that Christmas is not that far away. I also realize how small it's going to be this year. Small with gifts, but I'm going to make it big with warm memories. I'm going to do all that I can to make it a happy Christmas for my boys. I love them so much, and of course as parents we all want the best for our children. Though, they're young and really don't know what Christmas is. My oldest, Tristan who is 4 is starting to understand, but still don't do the "I Want" speeches. Looks like I'm going to be only afford 1 gift each this year for them. Just writing that, brings tears to my eyes. But, I grew up with small Christmas' and you know, they really warm my heart when I think of them or look at the pictures from my childhood. My parents didn't have a lot of money, but they always made it great, even if it was just the 4 of us. I just hope I can give my boys those kind of memories too.

I was watching the news, and all those people standing in line for Black Friday, and spending lots of money on gifts, that makes you wonder if their child will appreciate it. I admit, at a different time, I was one of those shoppers. I also remember before I had children, I would go to the local bank, and pick 2 angels from the tree, and buy like crazy for those who would have small Christmas'. It felt so good to do something good, even though I would never meet those children, but I would think of them Christmas morning,unwrapping their gifts and hoping they loved what they got. Someday, I hope to do that again, someday.

For now, I'm going to make this Christmas as special as I can for my boys. They're only 4 years old, 22 months old and 9 months old, but there's always pictures for them to look back on.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

My mom just informed me that we set a date for our family baking day. This is where me, my mom, aunt & cousins get together to bake cookies, candies, fudge or whatever we want to cook that day, then exchange with each other after we're all done. I can't wait. I got to find something different. One of the cookies I'm going to back is Chocolate Chip Cookies in the shape of Gingerbread Men. I've just purchased the Gingerbread Cookie Cutter 6pc Set from Amazon.com since I don't have any cookie cutters. So we're going to be doing it on December 20th. I'm going to do a trial run when my cookie cutters come in and I'll post a pic afterwords.

Here is a recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies. They come out great when using an airbake cookie sheet pan.

1 Cup Butterflavor Crisco
2 Eggs
3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
3/4 Cup White Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Water
1 Teaspoon Vanilla

Beat Until Creamy

Add

1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1 Teaspoon Salt
2 1/4 Cups Flour

Stir by hand. Add 1 6oz (or more for more chocolate chips) Chocolate Chips

Drop by teaspoons on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 10-12 minuets at 375 degrees

A Rich Christmas

Things are going to be tight this year. With me not working and the only income is from Adam, Christmas is going to be small. Small with presents that is, but that don't mean it's going to be a disappointment. I'm going to have the boys make some gifts for the family and how about those construction paper chains that we use to do as a kid. Tristan is 4 now, so I think he'll have fun doing that. Plus I'm planing on doing a baking swap. It's sort of like the cookie swap, the only difference is we all bake together. It's usually my mom, me, my aunt & my cousin that do this. We haven't done it in about 3 years. We all bring a recipe and bake/cook something and then when we're all done, we exchange what we made with each other. It's really nice to have the family together, even something simple as that. We usually end up laughing, and telling stories. Now my cousin and I have stories to tell about our children, heck they can help too.

I'm looking for more ideas of what a family can do during the holiday, and some homemade Christmas gifts. I already have one gift my sons are going to make for the family, but still looking for some more. The best thing about the internet, there are thousands of ideas out there!

Christmas Music All Year Long!

Did you know that you can listed to Christmas Music all year long on your computer? Well I didn't. But I found a web-site that plays traditional Christmas Music all day all the time!

www.accuradio.com

Tree Decorating

Well I just saw the coolest idea for decorating my tree. I'm going to try it this year, I just got to buy the dove's first.

Hang doves from the ceiling with strings of beads in their mouths as though they were flying in and decorating the tree. Use white thread to suspend the birds and pushpins to secure them to the ceiling. The beads are going to be attached to the birds’ beaks with hot glue or with straight pins. They can also be attached to the feet. The string of beads should be long enough to drape the end over a limb of the tree. Place the doves at different distances from the Christmas tree. The end result should look like the doves are decorating the tree with beads. Also I'm going to have one or two of the doves carrying Christmas ornaments attached to their feet as if they were flying in to place the ornament on the tree.

Here's an example...but when I get mine done I'll post it.

Create a Holiday Gift Container

The Correct Way The Post Office Would Like You To Address Envelopes

Forget everything your fourth-grade teacher told you about flowing capitals and indented addresses. Here is how the Post Office would like to see your cards addressed:

MR AND MRS STEPHEN EWER
P O BOX 1234
ANYTOWN WA 98765-4321

The rules are:
(1) use block capital letters,
(2) do not use periods or commas,
(3) use proper postal abbreviations and (4) use the nine-digit zip code, if you know it.
Missing Zip codes? The Internet makes it easy. Find the USPS Zip Code Locator at http://zip4.usps.com/zip4/welcome.jsp .
Get a list of state and addressing abbreviations at http://www.usps.com/ncsc/lookups/usps_abbreviations.htm.

Today's software can often go a step further and add a postal bar code to the envelope or label, but CEO hesitates to raise the ire of the Purists to quite that extent. Let's just say if you're on the Geek Cool side of the fence, it's a nifty touch, and the Postmaster will thank you.

Time to write out that Christmas card list

Today I'm going to write out my christmas card list. Instead of racking my head after Thanksgiving and being in a hurry, my cards will be ready to be mailed out the first of December!