New Year...New Projects...

Scott and I are jumping on some house projects

now that we have made it through the holidays!

First on my list was to paint the 

Powder Bath Room.

This room was the original color that we had

it painted when we moved in ten years ago.

There was no crown molding and 

it was pretty plain.

So, down came the mirror and small little

shelves that were hanging above the toilet.

I chose to paint the walls

Labradorite by Sherwin-Williams.

After a couple of coats it was all blue.

And I love it!

Next I asked Scott to add a little crown molding...

seemed simple enough of a request...

except they did a horrible job with the corners of the sheet rock

and there is a funny little angled wall.

But my sweet, loving husband figured it all out

and with the help of this little dude...

The crown was up and Scott had not decided to leave me!

I think he did an awesome job!

All painted, crowned, caulked and DONE...

except for the decorating...

Time to go and find some pretty little accessories

and some new hand towels...

Next up...the Dining Room!

Re-cap of Christmas Day

Christmas morning we were still nursing the sick,

so our plan was just to stay home all day and relax.

We usually head over to Scott's parents on 

Christmas afternoon for a yummy lunch

and Christmas with his family, but this year

we decided to not give anyone the flu for Christmas

and just stayed home.

Presents waiting to be unwrapped...

A shot of the tree.

A few years ago we bought a new tree. 

I had wanted to get a 9 foot tree, but decided on a 7 foot tree

and Scott made a box for it to stand on to make it taller.

Saved us some money and it gives a little extra space under 

the tree to stash gifts.

Austin was about to explode...he was ready to start opening

presents around 6am...Jackson...not so much.

Austin went in and drug him out of the bed at 7:30 and poor

Jackson didn't come around for another 30 minutes.

Jackson is funny on Christmas.

He's not one of those kids who unwraps one present and 

then starts on the other before he really takes in what 

was in the first box.

The picture above was of him playing with his candy canes

that we in his stocking...Austin had moved on to his Santa Bag.

but Jackson was still taking in the stockings...and still half asleep.

Austin was about to bust a gut to see what

Santa had brought him...he even started to open 

Jackson's bag for him so we could get this show on the road.

Austin was really excited that Santa

brought him exactly what he wanted!

 

Sleepy little Jackson was trying to figure it all out.

Austin had opened his bag on the corner so Jackson

could see what was inside...he crossed his little arms and said

"Well...look at that, Santa brought me the castle I wanted"

Trying to figure out what else was in the bag...

Austin was trying to convince him that it was time

to go and see what was under the tree...

Jackson was just wanting to open his new toys that 

Santa brought and play with them.

Daddy took his castle out and now it was time to play...

Insert Austin about to have a conniption..

Austin finally got to start in on his stack of presents..

Jackson didn't really seem to know what to do with all of

his presents!

My little stack of stuff...

can't wait to see what's inside...

We love to throw off Austin every now and then...

he opened a pack of ping pong paddles and replied...

"umm...did someone forget to tell me we have a

ping-pong table?"

Ummm, yep! ha ha...go and look downstairs.

One of my goodies was a set of zip ties and a zip tie

cutter gun thingy...

(this was a gift from Scott so I would quit using his)

Nana got a new iPad for Christmas....

and Scott got me a new camera...

I have been begging hinting for a new camera

since last Christmas...and he finally got me one so I would shut up

granted my wish!

Nana started playing with her new toy

right away...

No White Christmas for us...

we had Tornado Warnings for Christmas...

Jackson and Daddy spent the rest of the morning

building and playing with all of his new toys...

Although we missed seeing the rest of the family,

it was kind of nice to be able to sit around and let the kids

play with their toys and relax.

Christmas Rewind....

Well...

I think we are about to come out of the funk!

Scott is still not back to normal, but after a third trip to the Doctor,

I think he is going to live!

This was horrible...

but we did manage to squeeze in some fun time around the sick times.

So here's a little recap.

We threw a little party for Jackson's 

4 year old bible class kids the week before Christmas.

Everyone puts out cookies for Santa,
but this year we wanted to make sure that we didn't
forget his Reindeer, so we had a little get together
and made reindeer food!

The kids wore their Pajamas to the party,

and no, Jackson does not normally wear a turtleneck to bed.

It had been a very warm December, until this night and it 

turned off COLD and windy, so running out in our PJ's 

was a little cool...so we added a few layers.

Jackson even had on Rudolph shoes for the party.

His nose would light up when he stepped on them.

 

Mrs. Kim set a festive little table

for some yummy snacks.

A place just for Jackson.

We had little jars for the kids to make their 'Reindeer Food'

and who could resist a cute little snap shot of this little boy!

Here is a shot of Jackson mixing together his 

reindeer food...They had Elf Donuts (Cheerios's),

Jingle Berries (raisins), Snowballs (mini marshmallow's),

Elf Ornaments (mini m & m's),  Flying Powder (powdered sugar),

Holly Jolly Sprinkles (green colored sugar), 

Rudolph's Rosy Red Sparkles (red colored sugar),

and Christmas Tree Trimmings (holiday candy sprinkles)

The kids mixed up a jar of 'Reindeer Food' to sit out with 

their Cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve.

Then they played Pin the nose on Rudolph 

And went on a flashlight scavenger hunt

 through the house.  We had planned on doing this outside, but it turned off
way to cold to do it outside.

Mrs. Kim had found little paint with water pictures

for all of the kids that was a picture of 

Rudolph!  Jackson hugged his picture and said
"this is the best Christmas present ever"

All of the kids had a great time and I think 

we had a lot of fun with it, too.

Come on back and we'll see what goodies Santa came and left

us under the tree!

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

And all through the house....

We were hacking and coughing and blowing our

noses out!!!

We have a house full of sickies!

The boys came down with the flu last Friday...

I have an upper respiratory and they said Scott

has a virus...

We have had to postpone Christmas with Scott's 

Mom and Dad and all of his family until we are all better

and we have called off my brother and all of his family...

So we will be spending Christmas day at home...

which will be kind of nice.

The kids will have all day to lay around and play with

their loot that Santa will bring!

The boys have already opened their traditional

Christmas Eve Present...

Austin has been waiting patiently all day long...

NOT!

But was excited to see he got a new 

Duck Dynasty T-shirt...

Are you a Duck Dynasty fan?

Austin LOVES that show and quotes 

Uncle Si on many occasions.

Jackson is so meticulous about opening 

his presents...

He takes his sweet time...

and examines every little detail...

We also tried to do a little fun activity.

You would think a little ginger bread house would not 

too difficult...

We got everything out and were ready to go...

Jackson was really getting in to the decorating...

and eating a little along the way...

And then disaster struck!

The entire thing fell apart...and would not stick back together!

Jackson has enjoyed licking the icing off of the house and eating all of

the candy.  He does not seem to care that it fell apart.

I guess it is too humid for the walls to set...

We could have run the air conditioner today.

And tomorrow, instead of a white Christmas...

we are hoping we don't have a whirling Christmas.

There is a possibility we could see a Tornado Watch

at some point tomorrow and they are saying south of us may

actually see Tornado Warnings...

Yikes!

Hope everyone has a Very, Merry Christmas!

Holiday Ho Ho Ho....

Well...did you think we fell off the face of the earth?

Not exactly....but we fell like we have been around the world...

But we are BACK!

And hopefully we will get to 

deck the halls and enjoy a little

fa-la-la...

I set the kitchen breakfast table 

today, not exactly for a meal...

but to keep up from piling stuff on it!

We have been in dump and run mode around here 

and have got to get control of it before

we are all wrapped up in paper and bows!

Come on in and take a look...

I found the cute Santa chair covers at

the Dollar Tree...

I had looked high and low for them last year

and came up empty handed,

so last night when I saw them,

I scooped the up on the spot!

The place mats are from Old Time Pottery...

The Sleigh cupcake holders are from Crate and Barrel

that I found a couple of years ago...

I didn't have any cupcakes today so I

used some red and green Skittles...

I sat them on some lime green salad plates 

that I found at Big Lots.

The glasses are from Kohl's this year...

They were in the St. Nicholas Square line...

I grabbed the last four that my local store had...

I thought they looked like swirling snow.

Cambridge pearl handled flatware...

My happy little Santa napkin rings that I was 

gifted last Christmas are making their debut

of the season...

My mother kept walking by the table and

saying 'black napkins'...

I thought they would bring out the black in the plaid...

she didn't really approve.

The table is set, now we just need to slow

down a little and enjoy some

family time.

Hop on over and check out all of the other 

beautiful holiday tablescapes at 

Between Naps on the Porch