It's 99 degrees and I'm thinking about Christmas.

Sing on Mr. Crosby. "And may all your Christmases be white..."

It's not a major announcement or surprise to see this post from me, is it? :)
I made it alllll the way to July 17th this year before I started longing for cooler weather, the holiday season and wearing jeans. I'm actually pretty proud of myself for holding out this long - and actually, really enjoying summer. And truth be told, I still am. We've got plenty left and I'm in no rush. Bonfires and s'mores, walks on the beach (next month!), and iced caramel macchiato's are on my mind - along with these laid back mornings, quality sit down and read time, late bedtimes and all the summer fun things going on in our city. But. It's 99 degrees with a humidity percentage in the thousands and I'm thinking, just thinking, about Christmas today.

We all have our favorites. Autumn and winter are mine. We'll leave it at that.

My husband gets home from his trip in TWO days. I'm giddy just waiting for him. We've made it all the way almost with little to no problems. Though, I'll recap some unfortunates:
- It's hot. Wicked, wicked hot and uncomfortable. I'm slightly nervous to see the energy bill next month after all these days and nights of nonstop air conditioning.
- Tuesday night I had to take August into urgent care. She woke up from her nap and was in tears saying her ears hurt. She also had gunky eyes. So, at 6pm we dropped her sisters off at friends and went in. Did you know kids can get infected swimmers ears? And eyes? I know it now. She has both. Did you also know it's near impossible to rub medicine into a 4 years olds eyes? We need to rethink that one there, Docs. ;) Today she looks and is acting much better.
- I found a dead bird in my garage yesterday as I was setting back up for my two-weekend-long yard sale. I CANNOT handle that sorta thing. I may have sent out a plea for help on Facebook. One of our awesome deacons may have stopped by to rescue me.
- Today we discovered a massive wasps nest right above the front door. Awesome. So, instead of buying spray and dealing with it... we open the door and run as fast as we can to get into the van. It's a sight everyone enjoys, I'm sure. I'll continue on with this plan until my husband is home. Nature is not my favorite right now.
- The girls and I splurged tonight and bought an almost SIX dollar watermelon (with seeds) only to cut it open and discover its the weirdest and grossest melon we've ever tasted. It's pale pink and tastes like melon rind. What am I supposed to do about that!? And.... what am I supposed to do with this watermelon craving?!
- Last negative: My throat. I just ended my antibiotic prescription a few days ago and now my throat glands are swollen again. Discouraging. I try to ignore it. But honestly it's seriously bumming me out. Back to gargling AC vinegar and salt water. I dunno. If it doesn't relieve soon I might seek an ENT. Do adults use those?

Well then. That was entirely too grumpy sounding. Ultimately, we are doing so well and the days have really been great!

Back to Christmas in July. Much happier.
We are in Iowa this Christmas and I am SO excited to be home with my babies for that special time. The Pausley family is all flying/driving here and there will be reunions, birthdays, etc.
Here are a few ideas I'd like to do this holiday season:

Only, obviously, ours would say Pausley.

I reeeeeally want to do SO much handmade this year. Loving these gift tag ideas!

I already have the door. Just love this easy, natural, old-ish looking vignette.

I remember buying one of these in college for a fundraiser and thinking I want to make them when I have a family. It's time.

So, there ya have it. My cold-weather musings tonight.
Back to reality - the sun is going down and another nice n' warm day tomorrow. :) 

On my Tree. {weepy momma is at it again}

Precious handmade ornaments

I had some time this afternoon to sit and finish wrapping the rest of our gifts to our children. In typical hormonal prego woman style, I found myself feeling emotional and weepy as I stacked gifts neatly under and around the tree. The Lord has provided for us this year in such HUGE ways - ways we can clearly see and announce "Praise God" look what He has done. For one, living in this home is enormous. I pray we never take for granted how the Lord sold our last one and pretty much flopped this one in our laps. Space. A yard. A basement we can use. All our real needs and even some wants checked right off the list. We are so thankful. Add to that TWO working automobiles that are paid off, money to pay bills and have extras - and that's where I'm going today. The extras.

As I wrapped up the gifts I couldn't help but feel washed over with thanksgiving. Though we will never be millionaires, I feel like we are giving lavishly this year to our kids. We are able to get a few things that I know the girls will really enjoy and I cannot wait to see their reactions on Christmas morning. I really can't want to explain to them that we give gifts to them BECAUSE of God's gift to us, His son, Jesus! What an easy thought for a child to capture. What a thought that this momma needs to meditate on more often. So, I wrapped and teared up, wiped my nose on my sleeve and just cried out some thanks to our faithful God who allows us these good things in life. I am humbled when I look under our tree at the neatly wrapped packages and think back to other years when weren't able to wrap any, really. And this keeps going through my mind - of God's lavish love towards us. So much more than any earthly gift.

^"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,  even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,  to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.  In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,  which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ  as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth."  Ephesians 1:3-8

In my quiet moment I took note of each ornament and memory we have made as a family. So precious to think back, remember, and give thanks. 

The first earth born baby

My mom's creativity

Before kids. Who are those young folks?

What a thought.

From my home to yours today, Merry Christmas. Treasure the moments. 

A quick this and that.

For the last hour I've noticed the sky growing more and more dark. At just shy of 3pm we are under total cloudage. The weather man says ice is in store, who knows, but it sure does look ominous out there! I'm so thankful for this cozy home with sleeping children and Christmas tunes to carry us through the afternoon. :)

I had a few moments this afternoon after putting the girls down to nap, so I curled up on the couch and quick-read this book:

As I sipped my egg nog latte (from a dear friend) and enjoyed the warm blanket on my lap, I kept getting all teary eyed. This tiny book is just a collection of Ruth's poems about her love and marriage to Dr. Billy Graham over the years. Her daughter, Gigi, also shares memories of watching her parents over the decades. I don't know what made me cry more - how the Lord beautifully sustained this couple over years of intense ministry, travel, children, child loss, trials, joys, etc. OR how I look around today and realize this kind of love and devotion to marriage (let alone the Lord) is rapidly failing and harder to find. 

God's word tells us time and again that BAD will go to WORSE while we are on this earth... so I shouldn't be suprised. But why am I still? I'm not going into all the debates that are our there right now, but oh how I am so thankful for the truth of God's word and the reminder that one day EVERY knee with bow, EVERY tongue will confess Jesus as LORD! I cling to it. Someday all will be made well again - perfect actually - and the light of the Son of God is all we'll need. Lord Jesus, save these souls that are lost and wandering. 

In other news, it's the week before Christmas and I am so enjoying seeing and hearing from far away friends and getting Christmas cards in the mail from those we love. This year I used my old door as the catch all for cards and I'm pretty happy about how it turned out.

What I love the most is the memories and milestones. Watching friends kids grow, additions of babies and ministries and marriages kept sacred. Christ honored. Just when I'm feeling like there are none who seek the Lord - God is good to let me open a card to remind me, His own still seek Him. Though ultimately... HE is the great pursuer! 

Merry Christmas to you today! May Christ be praised! 

From the heart: A Christmas craft for preschoolers

In my effort to be frugal and meaningful this Christmas - I looked through our school box to try and come up with a quick, easy, and preschool friendly craft to do with my girls. This is what I came up with and I think some grandma's, neighbors and even our trees are going to look extra special with these beauties hanging on them. :)

Here's what you need:

 

- Sisal, yarn, string, whatever you want to be the hanger-upper part

- Glue gun and extra glue sticks

- Kids glue sticks

- Craft sticks. We used the ginormous ones. You can use any size.

- green paint

- felt and foil pieces OR whatever you think would make simple and pretty "ornaments". 

1) The day before have your kiddos paint the craft sticks on one side with the green paint. Let dry.

Once dry, I hot glued the 3 sticks together. Glue sticks don't hold well for that part. 

2) Cut out tiny pieces of felt and foil to glue onto the dried green sticks - these are the "ornaments". Let the kids use their glue sticks to pick where they want to glue the pieces. Cut out foil stars to put at the top of the tree!

3) Mom or dad: hot glue the back of the top of the tree and use your yarn or sisal to make a loop, this will be how you hang it up. 

4) Name and date on the back. Presto! A memory made! 

The 2 year old finishing one of her trees

My girls and I are having a cozy night at home and working on this craft together was great fun. Now, the ornaments are drying and we are enjoying some special cartoons. These were some of my favorites as a child - happy to share Rudolph with my girls now.

And the wonderful hubs surprised me with THIS when I woke up from my nap this afternoon. It's been a good day. Eggnog latte = Christmas love. :)

Merry Christmas from our home to yours!

From where I sit...

This morning my husband got up (early) with our children. Our eldest had been up multiple times with the random screaming...again. I was wiped out. Anyway, when I rolled over at 7:50am to a half empty bed and the chatter of girls downstairs - I was thankful. They had been fed, changed, and were happily playing with toys. It was lovely. We had a nice and relaxing morning of nothing. Hubs took a nap on the floor while girls played and I watched "I Love Lucy" episodes. That woman cracks me up!

When the baby went down for her morning nap I got to sit on our back steps and enjoy a cup of coffee with my husband. We need to do that more often. Connecting is so important. 

After a while we set to work doing some odd and end jobs that needed done. Our winter clothes finally got moved to the basement {grin} and I set to work sorting through toys. We have so many random toys... that really never even get a second look. I'm working on bagging them up for our event at church.

There was a lot of this...playing in the background.  :) THANK YOU Spotify! My big girl loved hearing some of the familiar songs she knows... and the other 100 she didn't. Ha :)

 

We had 7 grain pancakes for lunch - made by chef hubs! He is so wonderful in taking over those tasks that I usually do day in and day out. They were delish and we enjoyed our "lunch" around the dining room table. Special day!

I did a little Christmas shopping this week. TJ Maxx and Target has had awesome clearance deals on random items. Because everything seems to be going up, up, up in price... gifting will probably be scaled waaay down this year. And you know what, I'm excited about that. I was thinking of doing an "all natural" theme in the house this year - use lots of pine, ribbon and dried fruit as decor. Simple gifting would be wonderful :) The older my children get the more this phrase is making sense to me:

 

It's a good day today. I love my family and I'm so thankful for this laid back Saturday. :)

A stump story...and a few decorations.

Several weeks ago I saw an incredible idea on Pinterest. {shocking, I know} Someone posted the idea of keeping the cut off stump of your live Christmas tree and making it a keepsake. Being that this was to be our FIRST year of getting a REAL tree... I was hooked on doing just that very thing. We didn't travel far away, cut down our own, or really even take a ton of time to look - just grabbed up the one we liked from Menards. Griswalds would be disappointed. ;)

The lovely stump before:

And what I did with it:

Simple. Special. Done in about 5 minutes.

This year I wanted to be as "natural" and "free" as I could be with our Christmas decorations. I just love the look of raw material... and, honestly, spending a lot on decorations just can't be a priority right now. And, not even sure I ever want it to be. 3219 looks pretty good, if you ask me.

Used the copper I found over the summer from Salvation Army, two trees we already owned, threw in a pic of the hubs and I PRE-kids...and voila... one wall done.

My mom gave me a box of her old decor she didn't want - and this simple wooden sleigh was in there. Perfect! Slap some raffia on it...good to go.

My camera, bless her, is not a very good one. Every picture I've attempted of our tree and rest of the house has come up blurry or just not good. I'll keep trying. Hopefully I can share before it all gets taken down. {sigh}

Tomorrow night is our Christmas @ Elevate - our youth Christmas party. Would you take a few minutes and pray for any unsaved teens that might show up? We have a few... What an awesome time of the year to really see and SAVOR what Christ has done for us. And, if no one has said this to you yet...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

.:This, that, and the other thing(s):.

I'm finally sitting down for a few minutes of quiet. All three children are asleep, the sun is shining and a few flurries are blowing about on the wind. It's freezing cold. I.love.it. This morning the kids and I watched the new Veggie Tales Christmas movie and then I continued putting up some decorations. A little at a time. It may take me all month. August slept well lastnight - and woke up at 6:30! PTL! This is a big answer to my prayers and I'm hoping for many more mornings starting that "late". :)

Today I want to share a list of "this, that, and the other thing(s)" that I am thankful for. My life really is a bountiful one. We never lack. I am so grateful for all that we have...and for all that we struggle with. This past Saturday night a lady from church used the expression, "struggling well", and it stuck with me. I want to struggle well. Speaking of "struggle" - I got my blue bravo star in Weight Watchers last week! I'm down 5 lbs! What a great encouragement. :) Now...onto those "things"....

Let's start with coupons. I'm thankful for friends who think of me and share their coupons.

I have never gotten a catalina for the formula we use :( Boo. Even though we buy it at least twice a month. Weird. Thankfully, these were given to me this weekend - and, if I time it right... might be enough to last several months :)

Next up...Pinterest. I'm thankful for Pinterest and it's plethora of ideas, recipes, and just fun things. I have TONS of things for Ava and I to do together! This was our first "project".

We hung it up today. It's just Ava-girls hand prints in the shape of a C-mas tree. We used tissue paper for the "star" and brown cloth for the "stump". I wrote her name and the date. I'm planning to hang this up yearly - I treasure it and the memories from making it with her. :)

My children. They are a blessing to me. I am so thankful for these two amazing girls. And I love this stage where they crack each other up... I've heard rumors that girls grow up bickering and fighting. But for right now {and Lord willing - a while longer} I'll enjoy giggles and songs and out right belly laughs from both.

Ava has attached herself to the new nutcracker Grammy sent back home with us. She plays with it all day and says, "look, Mommy, it's me". I don't have the heart to tell her she is NOT a nutcracker. First thing when she wakes up she picks out a dress up outfit. Usually something frilly with wings - and wears it the entire day. Occasionally she'll ask to take off the wings for naptime. They "bodder" her. :) I love, love, love having girls!

And my precious August. 7 months this month! really?! She started "Scooting" backwards yesterday - and just gets so frustrated by the fact that she moves further and further from the toy that was right in front of her. It's hilarious. I made some homemade Rutabaga baby food and she loves it. No teeth yet and we are fine with that. She's my cuddly baby, and I love it. Somedays all she wants is to be planted near me on the floor or couch. Perfectly content with just her little hand on my leg. No toys. Nothing to chew on. Just me. I am blessed.

And while I don't have any recent pics... I'm most thankful for my husband. He has shown such an example to me lately of selfless love. The dishes are done, dishwasher loaded and unloaded, living room tidied and whatever else he can see to do...he does. I don't even ask. He takes his roles seriously and I'm so thankful for him.

I'm reading through the book of Luke this month and I was relating so well with Mary's words {tho, I am not carrying the Christ child..or ANY child} on Magnifying the Lord. Go ahead and read these out loud...

"Mary said,

“My soul praises the Lord’s greatness! My spirit finds its joy in God, my Savior, because he has looked favorably on me, his humble servant.

Luke 1:46-48

It is so, so, easy and tempting to forget about God this month. Seems like the opposite would happen, but, no. I forget. You forget. I want to be intentional in seeking God in this season. I want to magnify Him and find my Joy in Him...like Mary did. So thankful for this rich life.

Forcing creativity...

Last week I was asked by a lady from church to decorate a table for our church's annual "Rejoice" womens event. This is a Christmas-themed event in December where ladies decorate the tables amazingly and we share a meal, a message and some fellowship along the way. I remember walking in last year and thinking, "wow, how on earth do the women come up with these fantastic ideas?". And also thinking... "no way, I'll never do this!". So imagine my shock when from somewhere deep within I heard myself saying "yes, I'll do one!"... via facebook I said it, but still.

I enjoy creating and decorating... at home. It's safe there. And, if someone doesn't like it... thats ok because its MY home. Decorating and creating for the purpose of other people... eeek, geeesh, gasp! But, it really is something I want to learn to do - and I know first hand what a blessing the beautiful night is to so many ladies. I want in on being a blessing to others! So... December... here we come! The planning starts now. I am hereby forcing creativity... and ready to take your ideas.

My task: to decorate a table with 8 seats. I need to make the table pretty but also have 8 place settings of dishes (saucers and cups included). Here are some ideas I found online for centerpieces... Making this on a bigger scale - larger box, large pinecones. Probably multiple boxes and pine cones - then using small cones as verse holders, etc. I love the nature-ish aspect of this.

Or then we could do the other direction entirely...

Vivid colors, out of the norm designs, etc. I dunno... way too many ideas running through this ol' mind today. Thankfully I have some time to get my act together and do some good planning.

But I wonder... what kinds of things do you enjoy seeing at Christmas? Good old fashioned red and green, maybe some retro something, bright colors, basic whites, blues? If you were going to a womens Christmas event what kind of table would you like to be sitting at to feel the most festive? Maybe I should do some kind of giveaway to get some good answers...