Kenwood's First Nativity Set

I'm not sure I've ever mentioned Dillon's godparents or not...shame on me if I haven't!  We consider them family and they go above and beyond for us (and our sweet Kenwood) constantly!!  Anyway, Richard and Teresa Finley are Don and Loma's best friends and Dillon and Leah's God-parents...which I guess makes them my kids Great-God-Parents?  Anyway, they do a little something for all the kids just about every holiday--which is totally overwhelming that they are so thoughtful of all of us!  This Christmas, Kenwood got a Nativity set to play with!!! It was such a wonderful gift because I think it's important for kids to have at least one Nativity Scene that they can play with and as they grow older they can act out the story of Jesus' birth and really let it sink in.  Kenwood is already having so much fun with his Nativity Set that he hasn't quit playing with it!! I have a feeling this is going to be one of those "Christmas Toys" the kids will always remember playing with during the Christmas season.  Can't wait for Miss Olivia to be playing with our little Kenwood next year!

Pulling the basket with the "Donk" aka Donkey

 Playing with some of the other animals

He put the angel up on top of the tree!!!! 

I was so shocked that maybe he actually understood what the angel was?!  How exciting!

Christmas Decorating!

I am getting SO excited to decorate for Christmas this year in our new house!! This will be our first year to have Santa visit and do stockings and Christmas morning with just our little family.  Kenwood is slowly starting to get the idea of Santa, so I'm really looking forward to this with him!  My mother-in-law has come up every year to help decorate the house for Christmas, which is nice because 2 out of the 3 Christmases I've been pregnant! (This is the 3rd)  Last year I made some burlap pillows to go with the decor....I have a TON of burlap leftover (but it's super duper cheap anyway).  Maybe if I can get Olivia's bedding completed, I'll move on to some holiday stuff!! If I have time this year, I'd LOVE to make these:

I lost the pillow covers I made last year in the move...and they had red writing...this year we have a lot of black and wrought iron in the house, so I love the shabby chic black that still is kinda Christmas-y

How adorable are these?!  Burlap is sooo durable and strong that it's an excellent choice for stockings to hold heavy stuff and hang!  I love the little ruffles too, adds a little feminity...maybe I could do 2 without ruffles and have 2 boy stockings and 2 girl stockings and take them to get monogrammed!

I am OBSESSED with this table runner.  And, it looks SO easy! We have a very rustic dining room table and this is rustic yet dresses it up a bit so we can still eat on our Christmas china and it not look too formal for our rustic table.

I'll let yall know if I get to these projects this year...it's a busy one thats for sure! But, hopefully I will--I think these are all just darling!

Season Greetings

I know, I know we haven't even had Thanksgiving yet! Nevertheless, I am in major mode for Christmas! YAY!!!! Dillon says he won't get the Christmas boxes down from the attic until the week of Thanksgiving (bah-humbug), but I'm decorating in my mind!  I'm also getting things in order for  Christmas cards! YAY!!!  As you all have read, I've been LOVING doing digital work for people for cards, invitations, and mailouts (I actually just ordered Kenwood's birthday/Holiday party invites)--Thank you OU Gaylord College of Journalism for my Photoshop skills, that is one of the things I actually learned and REMEMBERED in college! :) Here are some Christmas cards so far:

I've had several people asking about doing a Christmas card or baby announcement for them, normally I wouldn't charge anything because I love it so much--but it does take up some time for me to get it right, so here is the info if you want it:

$10 digital design (tell me what you want!! The style, color scheme, how many pictures, etc)--Just send the pictures you want on the card and I will email you a hi-def .jpeg and you can print them yourself at your local photo printer OR I have printing options if you'd prefer (these turn out a thousand times more professional with free envelopes PLUS you get front and back printing and the option of plain,linen,or metallic cardstock) and I can have them shipped straight to you. 

One Year Later

Oh the triumphs and struggles of parenting a one year old!  We had Kenwood's birthday party a week and a half ago and boy was it a full house!  He got so many toys that I don't even know what to do with myself! Half of them are hidden so I can re-wrap them for Christmas! Is that just a horrible thing to do? I figure he's only one, he doesn't know the difference!  So thank you all for the gifts and toys, Santa has been VERY good to us this year! :)

Oh, and since we hit the one-year marker the doctor wants me to start weaning Kenwood off the bottle.  Ya right. That bottle is like a prescription sleeping pill for my kid.  Yes, I am the bad mother that puts him down to sleep and hands him the bottle in his crib.  And yes, I've heard it's bad for his teeth...but we brush them morning and night (pre-bottle I admit) and aren't they going to fall out anyway? Anyways, I tried to wean it off cold-turkey...that does NOT work.  He screamed, a  lot. So, I gave in and took him a bottle and TA-DA! my little sleeping beauty was so peaceful!  Oh, and did I mention that he's not a fan of Milk in a sippy cup?  Isn't that just terrific.  He's supposed to have 16-24oz of milk a day...I'm lucky if he drinks 10oz.....soooo needless to say this bottle weaning is NOT going well.  I'm sinking.