Saturday is a special day

Seriously, I love Saturday.  Wearing PJs all day and cleaning. Awesome.  Listening to how-to books on i pod while mopping.  Fabulo-so!  Cutting out piles and piles of fabric for purses and color wheel quilt while watching chic flicks.  The best!  Making my own folders for said pieces of fabric...well, that's just ridiculous because I had real folders less than three feet away.  But, what do you do?  Poor Chris, he's STILL working on that house... Uh, oh. I guess it's technically not saturday anymore.  The only thing missing from today was m&ms.  But, it's probably for the best.

Holy Week!

...as Batman would say. It has been absolutely insane around here this week.  Good insane, coupled with internet issues equals no blogging.  But (cross your fingers) we should be good to go now.  
We have welcomed the nicer weather which has brought us many benefits.  New neighborhood friends to play with and Chickie actually attempting contact with a bug! It was a lady bug, and she flipped out in the end.  But I'll take it!

We have been up to our usual craftiness around here.  A lot of gift making going on.  I'll have to show pics of that after the surprise is over.
Chickie and Baby Alive have been up to their usual antics.  This time they are aliens.  

I got my new camera! Yay! Now I just need to learn how to use it!  Chickie was all dressed up as a bride, tape and scissors in hand, crafting her own groom.  Now that's an idea!  Apparently, his name is Canon.  The "boy across the bushes" that she "felled in love with."  Did I ever tell that story?  He's our old neighbor and Chickie was crazy about his super blond hair.  
No detail was left undone.
He's even her height.  And she thought is was pretty funny that my camera was also named Canon.

Bentley got driven around in a pint sized tractor.  Karson is an excellent driver.  And Bentley really didn't even mind when he fell out. He wanted right back in!
During most of the outside fun though, Mandee and I were making the cutest aprons ever!  We are thinking of wearing them to church.  I'll have to take a picture of mine, but right now I'm supposed to be cleaning.  That's what Saturday's are for right?
Chris has been working like crazy this week on his fun project.  And we have had a ton of  excitement in behalf of our friend Derek. But...more on that later. Edit...or read about it on their blogs here and here.
This week I have been thankful for new spring growth, especially the color green of the new grass growing in.  Fun new fabric, friendships, creative time, making more color wheels.  It's really surprisingly fun.  And isn't ordering things on line the best version of shopping ever! No running after kids involved in that.  I like it!  And last but certainly not least, Enchanted, the funniest movie ever.  Plus Derek looks just like the prince, except with out the outfit.  And I think Chris is secretly in love with Gisele, but I can't really blame him. I mean seriously, she makes her own clothes...but where does she get the shoes?

long live the funky junky christmas!

So all December I have been complaining about my funky junky Christmas tree. And plotting and planning a pretty pretty Christmas tree. So we have had our tree up for a week exactly. But no ornaments until today. I have had my eye on a wax ornament Christmas tree for the past few years. So this year I finally tried to do it. But unfortunately you can't order wax sheets this time of year because they will crack in the cold. So, I tried to make a wax sheet myself. It worked...but not to cut any thing big enough for an ornament because it was too brittle. So sad. But a closet crafter made us some really cute little ornaments (and threatened Chris if he were to divulge his identity). Also, kids spend all month long making one fabulous ornament after another. So I have decided to embrace the funky junky tree and I'm very happy about it!

Looks like I'm not the only one!

gingerbread mania

Here are Jammy and Karson. (Karson kept eating his frosting so his house didn't stay together..but what does that matter when there is so much candy to eat? Ellie and Chickie being really goofy...all sugared up and having fun making their graham cracker houses while Mandee and I hogged the ginger-mansions. I had a little too much fun with mine. I stayed up really late a couple of nights rolling out starburst into shapes. Here are a million pictures.

These two are details of the roof. I have the most fun with roofs!

Our family in gingerbread, Chickie made herself. Of course.
I can't take all the credit here either... Chickie made this cute ginger girl on the back of the house. Love that creative girl!
I had to completely cover this wall because it was burnt to a crisp.



And look at Mandee and Ellie with their super cute aprons. She does so many cute things.

Today I'm thankful for friends! I managed somehow to get three sets of friends to come over this week and bring Christmas crafts. How I did that I'm not sure. But it has been super fun! OH! And I saw the coolest thing ever at someone's house. She had made a Christmas tree out of books stacked and angled. She put lights on it and little candy ornaments. It was so cute and creative...and so her. Books really express who she is. Needless to say I got a little too excited when I saw it. I hope you all are enjoying the December-ness of it all. What fun things have you been doing?

Insanity, thy name is Gingerbread!

Thursday, Friday, Sunday, and Monday have been completely absorbed by one thing and one thing only...OK not true at all. But amid the puree-ing, dancing, and a bunch of churchy-stuff, I have managed to squeeze a little gingerbread making in. SO freakishly fun. I think mostly for me, really. Here Mandee and I are working on our houses (and here is my super silly apron).

You know how when you eat m&m's you divide them into colors before consumption...this is like that but instead of spending 50 cents it's more like 30 bucks. (Isn't part of the joy of the holidays to be ridiculously indulgent?) Finally an excuse to play with food!

I have some fun tips to share. One being the hard candy windows and the other being the gooey candy cut outs.

For hard candy windows:

After you roll out the dough (onto aluminum foil) and cut out your piece you fill window with broken candy bits...not too full or it will over-flow. I have tried many different ways to do the candy windows and this way definitely comes out the best because the dough forms a seal with the foil and no candy leaks out.

For gooey candy cut outs:

Take tootsie rolls, starburst, or saltwater taffy. Microwave for 5 to 10 seconds if needed. Roll out with a rolling pin. Cut with a cookie cutter or knife. Go Crazy!!! It's super fun.

Tomorrow I will post all the glorious details...

bows, bows, bows

Olivia and Eden modeling the bows.

I have been slacking on my blog this week because I have been obbsessing about hair bows. I didn't really think anyone would want to read about hair bows. But oh well, here it is. ...

Nope, it's just too boring to even write about. Just know that I have been seriously obsessing and don't be surprised if you start seeing a lot more hair bow pictures.

Chickie making korker ribbon.

Today I'm grateful for learning how to make hair bows! And once again, audio books.