Christmas Eve Disaster

I wasnt in the room when it happened, but from what I'm told, the cat jumped up onto the coffee table where a candle was burning. Mike told Blake to smack her to get her down, but instead, he pushed her, taking the table runner with her.

Those two pictures just don't do the mess justice. There were bigger blobs. I did not get a photo of the table runner. It had a fairly good coating of apple cinnamon wax as well. As you can see, the gingerbread house also shared in the damage.

But, an iron, a half a roll of paper towels and several hours later, the runner is clean and the rug looks better. I think it will still need to be replaced since the wax left pink spots, but at least for now it looks OK.

Nothing like last minute, eh?

I said I would share photos of our holiday decorations, so I guess I should go ahead since it's Christmas Eve! The baking is done, the wrapping is done and the house is clean! I am SO glad the shopping is done. I have no desire to be anywhere near any stores today! Anyway, on with the "tour"...

(The silver & red trees are from the Target dollar spot this year, and the bigger ones are from Kohl's last year).

Our Little People Christmas village. We also have a nativity set.

Our "pooping" reindeer.

And a "pooping" sheep and a "pooping" penguin.

The stockings.... no chimney so they hang from the entertainment center.

Some houses the kids & I made last year. They were little kits from Michael's.

Another shot of the tree

Maybe he's a little tacky, but I think he's cute.

The centerpiece, including my one and only Shiny Brite and my salt & pepper shakers from Publix.

Finally, last year in the Target dollar spot, they had these cute little trees. I picked up one for each kid to keep in their room. Blake's is looking a little sad, but it's hit the floor several times due to the kitties.

I hope you and your family have a fantastic Christmas!!

7 more days!

Are you ready? We are still so close. Just not quite there. Only a few things left to get though. My plan is to get the house clean today and the baking done, then we have the weekend to relax and finish up. We spent the last two nights getting ready for Christmas parties at school. 24 student gifts and one teacher gift later, we are done!

I found the idea for Blake's teacher gift on this blog. I knew I wanted to do it as soon as I saw it! So I ordered my vinyl from Studio JK on Etsy, found our jar and got to work. One tip if you want to do this, find a FLAT jar! This was fairly difficult, but NOT because of the product. The product was great. The rounded jar makes it really hard to keep it all straight. But at least we got it done! I just hope she likes it! We found the apple pen at a little festival a couple of weeks ago.

I hope you have a great week!

Saturday Finds

I know I am posting less yardsale & thrift shop finds these days. I really haven't been yardsaling in forever, and I think the last time I went to the thrift was maybe October? I have been kind of itching to go, so I decided I would stop at the catholic thrift yesterday. I almost always find something good there and you just cannot beat their prices. Saturday was no different.

I found this Fire King bowl. They had two just like this, but one had a big chip in the lid.

I also found this little jar with the cork lid. Not sure what I'll do with it yet, but I'm sure I'll find something.

I think I was the most excited about this next thing... my first and only Shiny Brite ornament! They had a big box of stuff marked $.10. I found a few glass balls but none of them said Shiny Brite. There were a few that defiantly looked vintage but I didnt pick them up. Then I found this one and was surprised to see Shiny Brite on the cap!

These werent from Saturday but are from the same thrift. I just forgot to share them awhile back. They say Japan on the bottom, of course. I have 3 of these style mugs now. I just coudlnt pass up the cute Christmas themes!

Have a great week!

Updates!

As I mentioned before, a lot has been going on around here. The biggest news is that Mike & I got married! After 8 years together, we finally tied the knot on November 19th. His parents had a little party for us the weekend after. This is one of the cakes. There was a groom but I dont know what happened to my picture!

There have also been some new additions around the house. And no, not the baby! We got a dog a couple of weeks ago. His name is Coco. He's not a bad dog, but he defiantly has chewing issues! There are small scraps of broken ceramic, chewed up steering wheel cover, pineapple & poinsettia all over the yard.

Also, Princess kitty gave birth. We brought her in right before Thanksgiving because she didn't care for Coco at all. She was pretty much living in the tree. A few days later, Blake was watching tv in his room when I heard him yell "Mom, the little cat has a rat!" I was trying to sleep in so I heard Mike go in there. All I was thinking was great, first snakes (I realize I didnt post about that. We found a small snake in the house a couple of months back. Mike was NOT thrilled to say the least), now rats? Then I hear Mike say, "it's not a rat, it's a kitten!" So of course I had to get out of bed for that. We were hoping she wouldnt have too many, but she ended up with 6. They are so cute! Their eyes are just starting to open now.

Not the greatest picture, but I think this one is my favorite.

That's really all the big news I guess. I've just been busy with the holiday preperations. Shopping, getting the Christmas cards sent out, getting the decorating done. I am almost done shopping, only have a few more people to get for. I am beginning to wrap now, and I really need to get to baking. I made a double batch of Snickerdoodles Saturday night, and they were all gone yesterday! I will have to get some pictures of the decorations, but for now, here is the tree. Guess I should have turned the computer monitor off, huh?

Pumpkins favorite spot in the house now is right under it. Too bad we have a train that we TRY and set up around it. She doesnt try and play with the train, but she knocks it over jumping over it, or her and Princess plow into it playing. So it's in a pile behind the tree. Got tired of putting it back together, only for them to come right back in and knock it over. She also happens to be pretty interested in this gigantic bone we got for Coco.

She's got the wrapper ripped open and I've seen her chewing on it. Too bad it probably weighs more than she does! But doesnt she look cute?

Hope you have a great week!

Another season come & gone...

Wow, it's been a while since I posted! Things have been pretty busy around here. Lots to post about! But for now, this one will be about soccer. I haven't posted anything about the season so far... but Blake played for his 3rd year, and Layla played for the first time. At first she did really good, then suddenly decided she didnt like it and didnt want to talk to anyone else there or be there. Blake would always have to help her "warm up" and then she would be okay. But she maybe said 5 words to the coach the whole season. By the end though, she loved it. However, when we ask her if she wants to play next year, she says no, that she wants to dance and cheer. But she says she wants to play summer soccer, lol.

I will post in a few days about some of the other things happening around here, but for now, let's look back on North Lakeland Youth Soccer's 2008 Season.

I made these little gingerbread ornaments to give to each of the kids on both teams. They are made of all edible ingredients (except the paint!) but they are NOT edible. You would probably break your teeth if you tried! I can post the recipe if anyone is interested. Just let me know!

And as a little reward for a season well-played, they got their trophies at the last game. Layla was *SO* excited!

I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving with full bellies full of yummy food, and found some fantastic deals on Black Friday! I know I did!