Christmas Countdown...

The Christmas Countdown is on!
This year, I've decided to make the most of the pre-Christmas season since last year was a definite write off (just in case you need to be reminded).  So while I'm at home with the kids during the day, we're doing all that fun Christmas stuff to keep busy!  Caleb's totally eating it up.  He's lovin' the Christmas season this year.  Here's a few of the things we've already completed... not in any particular order:

1.  Tree's up (that process was summarized here)
2.  Sugar Cookies have been made and decorated... twice (here's a recap of round 2)
3.  Christmas shopping for Caleb's cousins began (mainly due to the fact that my doctor was running an hour and a half late when I showed up for my appointment this week-- I wasn't about to stay there with two cranky kids-- I took them to Walmart instead :)
4.  Lightning McQueen chocolate advent calendar has been started (once I found it-- I decided to hide it from the boys until December-- unfortunatly I also hid it from myself)

5.  Caleb and I made some crafty Christmas ornaments... he got this crown at Keziah's birthday party a few weeks ago.  He likes to wear it when he does crafts now... I call him the Craft King.

We made these three Christmas ornaments... Caleb insisted on doing the angel himself.  It looks like an alien angel to me.  Doug calls it a smurf angel.  I tried to redeem it by adding the gold bow.  Still scary.

6.  Gingerbread Cookie dough has been made and is chilling in the freezer-- I tried a new recipe today-- not sure if it turned out since I had three crying children in my kitchen at the time (yup, we've got an extra kidlet here today).  I'll let you know if they work out!
7.  Christmas crafts have commenced... today's craft-- handprint trees!  Caleb and his little friend each did one... then Caleb did a second for Emerson.

8.  I officially let Caleb drink hot chocolate for the first time.  We'll call it lukewarm chocolate.  He was pretty pumped about the marshmellows.

9.  Christmas music is playing!
10.  We flipped the switch... on our Christmas lights that is!  They were still on the house when we moved in, compliments of the previous owners.  Can you guess what color they are?  If you guessed multicolor, you'd be correct!  They're actually pretty fun :)
11.  I pulled out my Merry Cranberry Lip Balm from the Body Shop.

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12.  I switched from mint to cinnamon gum... figured it was a little bit more festive.
13.  I've been teaching Caleb all about the Christmas story.  It's so fun to think about it through a child's point of view.  He's been working hard to learn his memory verse of the week-- "The angel said: Do not be afraid!"  The first few times it came out as: "Do not be afraid of the angels!"
14.  And last but definitely not least, many many many of these beverages have been consumed.  Oh how these Christmas drinks bring me cheer :)

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Now, here's what we have yet to complete:

1.  Building a gingerbread house-- Doug's pretty pumped about this one
2.  We need to take the kids skating (Emerson will remain in her stroller :)
3.  I'd like to decorate Caleb's room with some of the ornaments he's created... since they're too scary for my tree.
4.  A few more batches of Christmas cookies need to be made
5.  Christmas shopping needs to be completed
6.  I think we need to have a family Christmas movie night... possibly The Polar Express?
7.  Many more Christmas crafts will need to be accomplished.
8.  And, I shall continue to enjoy many more Christmas beverages from Starbucks :)

Fabric Online Shopathon

I've had many people ask me where I get the fabric used in my sewing projects.  I do head to Fabricland on occasion when I need the basics-- yes, I do have a fabricland membership.  Every time I drag my children into that store I have a good laugh.  As a young child I swore I would never, NEVER subject my children to the tortures of fabricland.  Many hours of my childhood were wasted spent in Fabricland.  It it truly an unpleasant place to shop-- it's diorganized, they often don't have what I'm looking for, you need to buy a membership to make it worthwhile, and... let's be honest... the ladies that work there are still as crusty and unpleasant as always.  The store really hasn't changed in 20 years, heck, they even still give you handwritten receipts!  Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of options around here.  So, I've started to purchase fabric online.  Better selection, better prices, and no disgruntled salesladies!  Purchasing material online can be a bit tricky-- the fabric doesn't always look the same in person as it did online-- but I've been pretty satisfied with my purchases thus far.

If you're feeling the need to sew, here are a few sites worth checking out!

Fabric.com

This is one of my favorites-- because they have everything!  They also have great prices and super fast shipping-- I usually receive my order in 3 business days... right to my front door!  The one drawback... paying for shipping and duty :)  However, I can usually find a 20% off coupon online-- this usually makes up for the extra shipping costs.  And, if you live where I do, you can always drive across the border for pick up :)

When both kids are napping (like they are right now... heaven!) I love to peruse this site to look at all the new arrivals.  I thought I might as well share some of my favorites while I'm at it!

Here are a few of my favorite contemporary selections:

Love yellow.  It's one of my favorite accent colors.

Bella Porte Citrine

Those birds are adorable.

Vintage Blossom Jade

Square Lattice Hydrangea

This fabric would make killer roman shades in a little boy's room.

Dotscape

This would make great throw pillows in a room that needs a pick me up.

Richloom Cornwall Garden

Like this design-- I have a similar fabric in my kitchen at the moment.  It makes me feel happy as I cook...

Parterre Grass

And here are a few more subdued/traditional choices...

This is my tree skirt fabric.  Yes, I chose the traditional option.  Thank you for all of your feedback!
It's on sale for 6.99 a yard.  wow.

Vervain Mosaic in Khaki

When I saw this one I thought it would make a really great shower curtain in a bathroom of any color.

Bedford Damask Jacquard Patina

The blues in this one are so pretty.  I could design a whole room around the colors in this fabric.

Vasser Paisley Horizon

Now, on to my next favorite site... Tonic Living

They have awesome retro inspired prints for great prices-- everything is around $10 a meter.  Here's what I like about Tonic Living:

- they are a Canadian based company (everything's shipped out of Ontario)
- prices are amazing
- they have $1 samples-- not teeny tiny samples-- really big ones (I've even framed a couple of the samples for cheap inexpensive art for the kid's rooms-- they're that big!)
- I can always find a coupon code to use for at least 10% off by searching online.

Some drawbacks-- they don't ship as fast as fabric.com.  They don't have a huge selection.  Some of their fabrics have been more lightweight than I had anticipated... that's where pre-ordering the samples comes in handy!

And, here are some of my current favorites:

Again, love the yellow.  So fun and bright!

Bodega Maize/Linen

Pretty dramatic, but pretty awesome.

Adorn, Chocolate

I'm considering this one for Caleb's room.  He would LOVE it.

Pedigree, Black

Every room needs a bit of black.  Throw pillows anyone?

Filigree Leaf, Black

This would be adorable in a little girl's room.

Sweet William, Sand

And, here are a few other sites that I'm gonna try one day.  I've had friends/family order fabric from these sites and have had positive experiences.

Flannel Queen
If you're interested in making baby blankets, check this site out!  They've got anything and everything you could imagine.

Premier Fabrics 
Great source for inexpensive home decor fabrics.  I like that you can shop by style/print or color.  You'll notice that some of the other online stores carry certain lines of Premier's fabric.  Shop around!

Well... that all I have for you today.  Anyone else know of a really great place to shop for fabric?  Please share!

Happy shopping everyone!

Christmas cookies & more...

Let the Christmas cookie decorating commence!

This weekend Caleb and the other Little Toewsies got together to do some cookie decorating.  

They took their job very seriously.

As you can see... the sprinkles were flying.

It was a spontaneous cookie decorating party... so I had to scrounge around in my kitchen to find decorating supplies-- I managed to find some of those candy cover black licorice goodies.  They looked festive and colorful, the kids loved decorating with them... but after the cookies were eaten I found little pieces of half chewed black licorice pieces all over the kitchen.  I asked for it.

Silas was not so into the decorating.  Eating was more his style.  Actually, licking off the icing and discarding the cookie was his preferred activity.

Last Sunday I forgot to take and post a picture of Emerson in her Sunday best.  I was scolded in church this morning for the slip up :)  So, here's this week's cute little outfit.

Emerson decided against a dress this morning-- since she had a few new items to wear after our shopping trip earlier in the week.

Hello jeggings.

And every girl needs a pair of sparkly gold flats-- gotta match Mama :)

And Daddy walks into the room.  Emerson likes her Daddy.

 And a pink headband compliments of Mama.

Oh Emerson, what a big girl you are!

Shopping... with kids

I'll admit, I like to shop.  Big surprise, I know.  My friend Sharon also likes to shop.  We like to shop together.  We're good at it.  We also like to bring the kids along as we shop.... sometimes.

Unfortunately, Sharon and I don't have many chances to shop together anymore since we can't fit three carseats into the back of either of our cars.  But, the other day we realized that all three kids would fit into the back of her truck!  So early one morning, we strapped the kids into the truck, grabbed our passports and made the trek across the border for a day of shopping!

Caleb was quite excited to ride in the big truck.  He excitedly chattered away about how he could hear the truck crumble... he meant to say grumble :)

The excitement was short lived.  Halfway through the drive there the wee ones in the back started to fuss.  Caleb doesn't handle crying well.  He's quite alright with his own crying... the cries of other kids?  Not so much.  He spent the rest of the drive like this.

Finally... we're there.  Finally, the kids are happily restrained in their strollers.  Let the games begin!  Here's Caleb and his little buddy Kolsen.  I'm not going to lie, shopping with three kids is not easy-- but in the end it was a successful trip!  That double stroller of mine-- worth its weight in gold.  It weighs alot.

Emerson slept through most of the trip.  She's easy to shop with-- and she's pretty dang cute.

Caleb also looks pretty cute in the stroller.  Those Toews boys love to cross their legs. 

 

And finally, on the way home-- it was quiet.  When we got home, Caleb was convinced that he didn't sleep at all on the ride home.  I however had a picture and a grouchy boy to prove it :)

As we were talking on the drive, Sharon and I both acknowledged the fact that a mini-van would make our combined shopping trips quite a bit easier.  Think of all the kids and stuff we could cart around in a mini-van!  However, we both struggle with the fact the mini-vans just aren't that cool.  At least that's what we thought.  Later on that night, Sharon sends me an email with this video attached.

Maybe I want a Swagger Wagon for Christmas :)

Rejects, Outtakes, or whatever you want to call them...

Spent some time going through this year's pictures for some 

Christmas photo projects.

There are some real winners in there.

Also, some losers.

Then there are the ones that crack me up.

How about we take a little stroll down photo reject lane?

Shopping-- all. day. long.

Superhero distracted by Dora.

Classic.

Can't decide what freaks me out the most.

The albino croc, or my son.

If your hair took 20 minutes to blowdry, you'd do this too when it starts to rain.

Caleb's first 4-D movie experience at the Atlanta Aquarium.  This is pre-movie photo.  Just a few short seconds after the movie started Caleb began screaming in fear and jumped into my lap.  I carried him out of there as fast as my pregnant belly would allow.  Next on the aquarium tour-- the featured exhibit-- when sharks attack.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.  I will not tell you which words came to mind when I discovered this on my bed at 11 pm.  Apparently piles of clean but unfolded laundry tend to appear when you're a working mom attempting to get 1000 things done on Saturday... your one day of freedom.  In the moment of discovery I felt like crying... instead I whipped out my camera and took a picture.  Knew that it would be funny... one day.  It is.

All kids are weird.  Mine included.

Again, all kids are born weird.  And it's our job to make them normal...?

Me:  Ow, my back.

Caleb: Ow, what a wedgie.

Give me some ice cream and leave me alone.  Seriously.

I've been in this car too long...

Ditto.

Photo shoot gone wrong.  Even the professional is no match to a screaming infant.

Only one of us is cute making funny faces.

Again, only one of us is cute making funny faces.

Like I mentioned before, all kids are weird.  It's our job to make then normal.

 Reality hits... being a big brother isn't all I thought it would be.
Reality hits... I'm stuck with this kid as my big brother.  Terror.

 

Oh Emerson.  You don't get to choose your family honey.  We still love you... even when you look and sound like this.

Dance party at our place.  You look just like your father when you dance.

Oh the crazy lives we lead.