Merry Christmas!

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.


So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.  He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.  While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Lovebug's Christmas Craft!

I saw THIS adorable, simple ornament on Pinterest a while back, and I thought is was so sweet! How hard can that be? Well, it turns out that crafting with a 5 month old isn't exactly as easy as I previously thought.... it was  pretty hilarious actually. I bought a four pack of ornaments with intentions on using one as a "practice" run and boy was I glad I did! She squished up her hand and got ink everywhere. So, with a little help from my hubby and a sleeping baby... we made this sweet ornament (and one for each set of Grandparents too.)

Here's what ya need...

White or clear ink (non-toxic, acid free, and washable!)
Glass ball ornaments
Embossing powder (I used the blue glittery kind)
A paint pen (I used white)
Ribbon

We rubbed ink on baby girl's hand while she slept and then carefully pressed it to the ornament. Then cover the print in embossing powder and blow off the excess (outside!) I used an embossing heat tool to set the ink and powder, but a hair dryer on high will work too! Just make sure you get it nice and hot so that the glitter will stick! When it was dry and cool, I wrote her name and the year under her print. Attach some ribbon, and you've got a sweet little gift and a special memory for your tree!

A Simple Christmas: decor & gifting...

Hey y'all! Are you enjoying the holiday season as much as I am? Well, a certain adorable baby is making it a whole lot more fun around here. Even though she's still tiny, somehow the holiday has so much more meaning to me... I can't wait to make memories and start new traditions with our little family! I'm also super excited to be back in the Midwest this time of year! It was so very odd to be celebrating the holidays in flip-flops the last two years.

I'm not sure if it's an "I have a 5mo old" thing or not, but time is flyyyyying by! I can't even believe that Christmas is only 10 days away! I finally got a few bits of decor up around here. Since most of our stuff is in storage in my parent's basement since the move back from Cali, we're keeping it low-key this year. I also got a few gifts wrapped last night and a craft or two done... whew.

The biggest thing on my mind as I plan our new little family's Christmas this year, is the meaning we really want to give it for Lovebug and for our future children. I don't want it to be this big materialistic, comercialized holiday, void of the REAL reasons we celebrate. I also don't want to ignore the fun that can be had with 'ol St. Nick and what goes along with that. So, finding a balance early on in our traditions is really important to me. Bri and I have decided that since baby Jesus recieved 3 gifts, that's a good place to start for our kiddos too. There's plenty of Grandparents, Aunts & Uncles to spoil our kids, and in this house we really want it to be simple and special.

In keeping with that theme, I strived to do mostly homemade gifts for our family this year too. They were either made by me, a small shop owner, or had significant meaning to the person receiving the gift. We even ordered our Christmas card from a Mom-blogger's shop, who sent the proceeds to a family adopting a sweet little boy. It feels good to keep it simple, and I'm praying that it will continue this way.

Take some time and enjoy the season y'all!

Photo Project Weeks 17-20

This Child is hilarious. She's a whole FIVE months old and is up on all fours wanting to crawl across the room! She reaches for my Starbucks cups and trys to text while I'm holding my phone. I try to lay her down and she tries to sit back up! I'm seriously floored by how fast time is flyin'! It seems like she does something new everyday! She had her four month check-up and the Dr. gave her the go ahead for cereal... she loved it, and started gobbling it up each time we offered it after that. She's easily distracted while eating though, and likes to look all around the room.... trying to get the food in her mouth after that is ridiculous. She's such a tiny, tiny little girl. Only 12lbs! She laughs all the time... especially when her Daddy tickles her! Her auntie bought her a jumpy and she loves to spin and talk to her toys in it. We just LOVE our little daredevil Lovebug.... her favorite thing is when she's tossed in the air, or swinging really fast. She even dove off the bed a few weeks ago... she was perfectly fine (although her Mama was a total basket case... calling the hospital, crying, feeling like a horrible parent) The nurse basically told me to chill out, and that it happens to EVERY child. So our little girl is keeping us on our toes and we're enjoying new adventures each and every day! Here's the latest pics...

Babies Don't Keep...

Each night as I get in the shower, I start to pray... I thank God for my precious baby girl, my wonderful Husband, and our truly blessed life, and yet somehow each night, my mind wanders to the lists of things that I "need" to accomplish the next day, or didn't accomplish today, who I need to call, who I've failed to see lately, what I haven't finished, or started or done well enough...

I need to work on Hannah's baby book, her photo book, call, visit or have lunch with several people since it's been months, work on all the unfinished crafting and sewing projects, start the Christmas gifts, Christmas cards, blog about recipes, or blog in general, keep up with the house work, cooking, baking, my bible study, my emails, thank you notes, weekly dinner menus, bills, errands... It goes on and on, and then it starts to feel so very overwhelming.

While I was driving home from an impromtu few hours of "Mommy Time" that involved a trip to Starbucks and Anthropologie, (LOVE my dear Husband) I started to realize how big and out of control this self-imposed fear of not getting it all done really is! Why do I feel like I need to get all the things that I, myself, put on the "to-do" list in the first place. Talk about pressure. It's pretty darn exhausting y'all.... and it needs to stop.

I was reading THIS post from Ashley Ann, and it really reaffirmed for me that my most important item on my "to-do" list is to be a GOOD MOM. To hold my sweet baby girl and love on her and enjoy her while she's still tiny. I've been loving this poem for a while now, and I thought I'd share it...

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.


Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.


Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo


The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew
And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo
But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.


The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!

I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

                                       -Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

So I'm going to work really hard in the next few weeks, with God's help of course, to put down all the things I need to do and just enjoy my sweet girl. Life's just too short to make myself miserable trying to do it all, and missing the good stuff in the mean time. Can I get an "Amen" from all you Mamas out there?

Of course, I can't leave without showing y'all some photos of my "Chickie" on her first Halloween!

Picture Project Weeks 13-16 and an Update!

My Lovebug is growing up so very fast! You never really believe people when they tell you that the first year will fly by, until you look over at your baby and she's rolled off her play mat and is inching across the carpet. Crazy! She is just the sweetest little thing! Still rockin' her 0-3 month clothes at 18 Weeks (over 4 months) She's teething all the time and will put anything and everything into her mouth to chew on. She sleeps soo much better now that she rolls all around her crib and can get all comfy. She'll pull herself into a sitting position when she's at a bit of an incline, and I swear this child wants to get up and walk across the room! She definitely jumped out of her bumbo today... seriously. She yells at her toys when they don't do what she wants them to do, and she keeps Bri and I laughing all the time... especially when she giggles at something. I'm so very very in love with my baby girl... I love to hold her during her afternoon nap and cuddle. I just don't want to miss a second of this sweet, sweet time! Here's the latest pics...

Pumpkin-y Deliciousness!

I don't know about y'all, but I am just so stinkin' excited about fall this year! Probably because I'm back home home in the midwest and the leaves are turning gorgeous colors, the weather's cooling off, and we're headed to the Pumpkin Patch this weekend and then to a small town to celebrate Halloween the weekend after that! Have I mentioned I LOVE Fall? Well I do. Last Sunday, Bri was cuddling with my sweet baby on the couch and I had a hankerin' for baking something pumpkin-y and delicous! While perusing the web, I came accross a recipe for Pumpkin Bread with Streusel Topping and Maple Glaze over at Tasty Kitchen. My mouth was watering. I decided to simplify the recipe by using my Great-Grandma's pumpkin bread recipe, found HERE, modifying it by adding Pumpkin Pie Spice instead of cinnamon, and then adding a Pecan Streusel Recipe by modifying a few I found online. Thus, this doosy of a recipe was born...

Here's what you'll need...

Pumpkin Spice Bread with Pecan Streusel Topping                                                                                                                           Your's Truly

Batter:

4 eggs

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 Tsp baking soda
3/4 cup canola oil
2 Tsp cinnamon (This time I used Pumpkin Pie Spice)
15oz pumpkin
Streusel:
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup roughly chopped pecans
1/3 Tsp cinnamon
4 tbsp cold butter
Pinch of salt

Grab a small bowl and beat your eggs. Then add sugar and oil and mix well.
Mix the dry ingredients and add to previous mixture. Add pumpkin, mixing well.
Pour batter into greased and floured aluminum pans. (I used 2 medium non-stick pans)
Bake the batter at 375 for about 30 minutes...

Meanwhile beat together all the ingredients for the streusel until pea-sized crumbs appear.
Add over the bread after the 30 minutes and then bake for an additional 15 min or so until a toothpick comes out clean. 

Now grab a hot cup of coffee, or a Pumpkin Spice Latte (YUM!) and enjoy!

Happy Fall!