Merry Christmas!

Lasts

It's been a week of "lasts" for Little Man (and sort of me too).  Even still, it hasn't quite sunk in yet that we are leaving in a week.  Truly, it hasn't even sunk in that it's going to be Christmas in a few days!

Last week Wednesday Little Man had his last day of soccer.  He has had the same coach/teacher since we started there a year and a half ago.  Coach Chad is going to miss Little Man, and Little Man is going to miss Coach Chad.  We got lots of pictures though.

Thursday was Little Man's last day at his preschool.  I think he's going to miss his friends, but it hasn't quite hit him what it all means yet.  His teacher's loved him!  I'm sure they'll miss him.  I'll miss some of the mom's and grandma's I met! :(

Friday was his last Little Gym class.  We'll probably do Little Gym in Texas just because it's something familiar to him.  He walked out of class saying, "My friends are really going to miss me, Bethany!"  Apparently, one of the girls actually started crying!  (She is  the same girl that told her mom a month or so ago that Little Man's hair smelled good! ha ha!)

This week we had our last play date with Little Man's best friends and two of my favorite people to hang out with while "working".  It's really sad.  I had to say good bye to my friend Jen today.  It's the last time I'll see her before I go.  It's was one of my first "official" good byes to someone I actually spend a lot of time with.  It sort of started to make it real to me.  Luckily, she plans on coming down to visit!  It's a great friendship that grew out of taking a kids music and then a kids art class together.  I hope I'm able to make some of those same type of friendships in Texas.

Yesterday was my last day of work in Ohio.  It's my last day of work until January 3rd.  So weird.  The countdown is really on now!  I have a feeling there are some tears in my near future!

December 23rd and 24th- hanging out with Michael's mom and sister
December 25th- Christmas
December 26th- Game night with my sister and friend Laurie
December 28th- MOVERS COME!
December 29th- Movers continue if needed
December 31st- We LEAVE! AGH!!!
January 1st- We arrive in Texas
January 2nd- We get the keys to our apartment

Reindeer Platter

Well, I guess I can tell you now... the reason I have been missing blogs lots of days, and have hardly done any crafts is because of the baby.  I have been worn out and tired most nights and just not in the mood to blog.  Also, the baby has seemed to zap all creative juices right out of me--at least for now.  I have no desire to craft and can't come up with something crafty to do for the life of me.

But... for the sake of Nana and Papa and all things Christmas, I (sort of) pulled something out.  (With some help and inspiration from my friend Laurie!)  Here is Little Man's Christmas gift to Nana and Papa.

I bought a $3 tray from Hobby Lobby

These are the other supplies I used

I went ahead and painted it.  I did it for three reasons... I wanted to save time.  I knew it might get a little complicated.  Lastly, I wanted an even cover so the rest of the project would work.  Call me a cheat.  I don't care.  I'm glad I did, because it was a little complicated.  I gave it two coats.  I maybe could have used a third, but I was ready to move on! :)

First I painted one of Little Man's feet (minus the toes) and put it down.  Then I painted both of the hands to make the antlers.

After it dried we added the details

I wrote Merry Christmas with a paint pen

(sorry, didn't realize when I took it that it was blurry)

When I bought this ribbon to put it on, A) I thought it would go under the face, but I ran out of room, and B) I wasn't planning on keeping the boarder of the tray the red that it was.  It sort of blends in, but is still cute.

I guess I could have got smaller red pom poms.  Apparently I thought Little Man's foot was going to be bigger? :)

That's OK.  Nana and Papa will love it!

Happy birthday to me--with some exciting news!

Yes, it's that time again.  Time for me to turn another year older.  I must say, that I feel like now that I'm 31 the allure of birthdays is completely gone.  30 sounded big and milestone-ish.  31 sounds boring.  Oh well, it is what I am.... for another 364 days!

We had a joint birthday party/going away party on Saturday night, which was lots of fun.  We had a great turn out and got to hang with some of our favorite people.  That's about the extent of it.

So to spice this birthday up a bit, I thought I'd share some exciting news.  For those of you who may not have already heard......  I'M PREGNANT!  I am due July 10th and we are very excited.

Most people we've just told in person or over the phone, but we did get creative with one of the announcements.  For Thanksgiving, almost my entire family was going to be there.  We were going to put together gingerbread houses--just for fun, and for a little competition.  Here's how it went:

My house

 

Look at my cute little mailbox!

Other houses

Right before judging I put a little something special on my house

(I tried to upload the video with everyone's reaction, but it wasn't working. 
Just imagine a bunch of women screaming! :)

We went to our first ultrasound yesterday.  It was amazing.

The baby was a little jumping bean!  It literally moved and bounced around the entire time!  The tech got a quick read of the heartbeat at the beginning, then did all the measurements.  Everything is measuring good.  Our dates were exactly on target.  She kept saying how active the baby was.  After all of the formalities and she got all the pictures and reading she needed, she was ready to call it quits.  Then she said, "Oh, I didn't let you listen to the heartbeat that much did I?"  Then she tried finding it again.  It was really funny.  The baby was literally bouncing up and down, up and down.  She had a hard time finding the heartbeat.  She said, "all that noise is not the heartbeat, it's the baby MOVING!"  She finally got it.  She said, "Did momma drink coffee this morning?"  I said "No!"  She said, "hmmm... maybe it's just hungry?!"

We had to go into another room to see my Dr. real quick.  While we were waiting we were talking.  We mentioned how funny it was to see it bouncing around so much.  Michael said, "Maybe it has a little extra Voegele in it".  If you are familiar with my family (mom's side), you'll know why that's funny. :)  Then he said, "It's going to come out already shuffling cards".  LOL!

Happy Birthday to us! :)

Oh how I love thee... (16)

...let me count the ways!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE LOVE OF MY LIFE!

 In honor of Michael's birthday, I thought I'd share one of my most favorite things about him and the man he has become.  I love that Michael is living proof that chivalry is not dead!  He is the most thoughtful and caring man I know.  He is the epitome of "gentleman".  For that, I am so proud to be his wife!  He respects women--not just me, but all women.  Unfortunately, that is not as common as it should be.  He honors women and treats them as the precious jewels God has intended them to be.  His mama done raised him right! :)

He always, and I mean always, opens doors for me.  When he picked me up on my first date, he walked around to my side of the car, opened the door and said, "I always open doors, so get use to it!".  I have! :)  Lots of people said (rude!) things like, "Oh that won't last once you get married" or "I give that a year".  Some said, "My husband use to do that until (fill in the blank)."  Well, we've been together nearly five years and he is STILL opening EVERY door EVERY time.  He doesn't just open the car door--he opens it, waits until I get in, and then closes it.  He'll open car doors for other women that are riding with us too.  (It gets my grandma every time!  She always says, "Oh, I forgot!  I'm not use to that!:)

Depending on the situation, he will pull my chair out for me and help me get seated before he sits.

 He will always offer his seat to a woman who is standing--no matter what her age is.  One time we had to tell an elderly lady that he got up so she could sit.  She said, "Oh thank you!  Nobody does that anymore these days".  I said, "My husband does!" :)

Without making a scene or even mentioning it, he will take the protective roll when walking.  If we are walking outside, he puts himself closest to the street.  It's not a big deal.  I'm not going to get run over... but it's what a man should do.  If we are walking past people who may be questionable, he will switch sides so that he is closest to the people instead of me.  Like I said, it's never talked about, it's just done.

When we go grocery shopping together, he will open up the car door and help me into the car.  Then he will unload the groceries into the car.  This is especially true with bad weather.  He also then carries all the groceries into the house.

He always waits and has me walk up stairs in front of him.   When it comes to our front door, he allows me to walk up the stairs first, then he opens the door and moves out of the way for me to enter the house first.  It would be no big deal for him to walk in the house in front of me, but it's showing honor and respect.

He will do all he can to prevent me from having to deal with bad weather.  Once, when we were dating, he carried around an umbrella in the mall in case it was raining when we left.  My neighbor (who was a guy) said, "Man, you got a good one.  I would never carry around and umbrella for a girl.  She can get wet!".  Typical guy!  Once when I got home from work, he came out of the house with the umbrella to walk me to the door so I wouldn't get wet.  He will get up, even on a day when he doesn't have work or school, to make sure that the sidewalk is shoveled and my car is scraped and warm for when I have to leave for work.

I could go on and on, but I think you get the point.  I have a gem.  I know it, and I'm keeping him! :)

Love you Michael!  I hope you have an amazing birthday! 

Nativity gift

It is my humble opinion that you cannot have too many nativities at Christmas time.  After all, it's the reason for the season, right?  So this year when it came to making K & G a Christmas gift from Little Man, that is exactly what we did.  I have so much going on right now, that crafting is literally the last thing on my mind.  I feel so uninspired.  My friend Laurie and I went walking the aisle of Hobby Lobby to look for ideas and came across a cute nativity that you paint yourself.  We loved it.  I think it's one of those things that moms and dads (or grandparents) could set up for many Christmases to come.

I forgot to take a picture before I took it out of the plastic, but this is basically all that was on it anyway.

It's a 12 piece set, and we purchased it for 50% off.

I was sort of dreading the painting process.  I felt like it might take days and Little Man would tire of it.  I was wrong!  He LOVED it, and went to town painting it.  We knocked it out in about an hour and a half.

It came with the stable

and 11 little pieces

We started with the stable, because I thought it was going to take us a while.  It really didn't take us too long at all.  Little Man was sooo into it!

Then we moved on to the people and animals 

(He just had to do the animals first... then baby Jesus!)

I did do the faces... mostly just to save time, but also because they were sort of small.  I also did some of the beards.  (Although, I missed Joseph and he now has a blue beard!)

The finished product!

I did fill in some spots here and there, but for the most part I left it.  It's not as detailed or colorful as some others might do, but it's very Little Man and that's the point.

The angel

The shepherd (with one green eye!), the sheep and the donkey

Mary, blue-bearded Joseph, and baby Jesus

One wiseman and a cow

The other two wisemen

Then, when it's time to store it, all the little pieces go inside!

I hope it's something they treasure for years to come!

Elf on a Shelf

Have you heard of this?  As far as I know, it became super popular last year.  Although, it could have been around longer.  It's a cute little tradition if you choose to do Santa at your house.

Little Man's family does do Santa.  I told K about "Elf on a Shelf" and she loved the idea.  So we started the tradition for Little Man.... a little late, but what can you do?! :)

You can order it on Amazon or pick it up at select stores.  Here's what it is:

 It comes in a cute little box that then opens up into this...

(sorry... I had already taken the elf out!)

The left side is a book explaining it to the kids and the right side is where your elf sits.

You can choose what kind of elf you want (based on your family)

Then you read the book to your child.  It's written from the elf's perspective.  It asks if you ever wondered how Santa knows if you've been naughty or nice.  Then it says that he sends his elves out to watch for him.  You have to name the elf.  It also states that you cannot touch the elf or he will lose his Christmas magic.  You can talk to the elf, but he has been given strict instructions by Santa that he cannot talk back.  

The elf finds a cool place to hang out in your house (to watch for good behavior!)...

Then at night, when you sleep, he uses his Christmas magic and flies to Santa.  He spends the night with Santa telling him if you've been good or bad, and then he comes back in the morning.  Moms and dads have to move the elf to a new place each night.

The book also explains that word gets around, so even if you are away from home, the elf will hear from others how you behaved.

I have heard some people have mischievous elves... like they spill a little dirt out of the flower pot they are sitting in... or leave a half eaten cookie with cookie crumbs.  It's up to you how creative you want to be.

I gave Little Man some pretty cool name suggestions... Dudley, Wilson, Henry (and on and on).  He chose to name his elf "Peanut".  Yeah, that was not one of my suggestions!  I have also heard that some moms make up a name list and include it in the book.  Then the child has to pick from the list.  If I were to do it over, that's what I'd have done.  Although, it was sort of a rush deal when we got it, so I just wasn't thinking.

Most people start this on December 1st, but you can do it whenever you want.  Once your Christmas decorations are up... December 1st... two weeks before Christmas...  the tradition is yours to make!

Little Man is loving it.  He has about a thousand questions about it, but he loves it.  He gets so excited to find where the elf has moved to!

Word Bird Books

Another set up great books or reinforce "sounding it out" is Word Bird books.  I also found them at the library under the early reader section.  Little Man thinks they are great.

You can see by the bottom of the book that it was reinforcing the short u sound.  You can choose a theme like that, or they also have ones that use sight words or all fall words or all spring words.

There are pictures to go along with it, which is why I think Little Man likes it.  It makes him feel smart!

Have I mentioned lately how much I love the library!? :)

I'm dreaming...

To help put us (ok, me!) in the Christmas mood...

Christmas (remix)

Unfortunately, my house is not decorated for Christmas.  Nor will it be this year.  This makes me sad.  My tradition is to do all my decorating the weekend before Thanksgiving.  I usually leave the Wednesday before to go to Thanksgiving in Indiana with my family.  We don't get back until later on the Sunday after.  I like to come home and have it already be Christmas! :)  Sadly, this year did not go as planned.  First, I had an exhausting weekend before Thanksgiving.  I meant to do it, but it just didn't happen.  Then, by the time I would have got around to it, it was the first weekend of December.  Plus, I thought that the movers were going to have to come and pack up our house the week before Christmas.  So I made the decision to just skip it.  Plus, we have our house on the market and a big Christmas tree in our small living room probably wouldn't have helped matters.  So... no decorations for us. :(  I'm also not doing any fun crafts like last year, or going all out on wrapping the very few gifts I have to wrap.  Considering all of that, I decided we'd just take a little walk down memory lane from last year's over the top Christmas. :)  Enjoy.

Love my NOEL letters

Centerpiece

(Remember I was still using my crappy camera!?!?)

My tree

Michael's tree

Ornaments everywhere

Handmade cards

(Yeah--that's not happening this year!)

Creative gift wrapping

(again, with the blurry camera)

And some homemade gifts

I guess I'm just going to have to enjoy all of the Christmas spirit in the stores and at other people's houses.  Hopefully next year I'll be back in full creative force! :)