Christmas!

Well, Christmas has come and gone. It's funny how there is this big anticipation for this one big day, and then all of a sudden it's over. Christmas was a lot of fun this year. We are in Utah right now, staying with Dan's family. We got here on Monday, the 21st.

Anna got a lot of good stuff. It was so cute to see her open gifts. It took a gift or two, but she finally got the concept of opening gifts. She got some new books, which I'm extremely happy about because I was getting tired of her old ones. :) We usually read about 10+ books a day, so day after day, it gets very repetitive. :) Her grandpa made her some wooden blocks, complete with a wooden carrying case. He made one block with pictures of me, dan, a horse, cat, dog, etc. You roll the block and whatever it lands on, you can spell that word with the blocks he made. I thought that was a clever idea. He is very talented with wood. Last year, he made her a rocking horse! I'll have to post pictures later, because I haven't downloaded them yet and want to wait to do it on our computer at home.

She also got a little doll, a cute pair of pajamas, and the CUTEST little ballerina outfit with a tutu, a leotard and ballet shoes. I cannot wait to put it on her and take pictures. We bought her a little music instrument set-maracas, tambourine, cymbals, the triangle, etc. Plus a leapfrog toy and some books.

We decided for us this year to just get a certain amount of money and we can buy our own gifts and then buy each other a small gift. I got Dan an iTunes gift card because he is always wanting to buy music. However, I didn't want him to guess what I got him, so I wrapped it in a small box and put a book in there to trick him. I told him I got his gift at Michael's (which is true, but I knew it would throw him off). He kept insisting he knew what it was, but I knew he was wrong!

He tricked me pretty well this year. I told him I could use some ink pens for my cricut machine. I told him he could get it at Michaels and I even had a coupon for him to use. Well, he went there a few days before we left and I knew he was going to get it. He came home and said he was going to wait to get it in Utah. Then a few days before xmas, we went to the mall and he said he needed to get my gift. Then, a while later we met up at a bookstore in the mall and he had bought my gift. Well...Christmas morning I open my gift and it was the pens I wanted. He had bought my gift before we left for Utah, and went to the mall, just to throw me off! He got me pretty good this year. I thought that he had gotten me jewelry.

Christmas was good and it was just so nice to be with family and enjoy each other's company. Dan's family has some funny traditions. One of them is running out in the snow xmas morning, barefoot. Their front yard has a slight downhill slope and a bush at the end. You're supposed to run out and touch the bush and come back and warm your feet by the fire. Well, this year it was so cold that the snow had become crusty, so it hurt to run it it. Oh, the crazy family I married into. :)

Little Anna has been loving life here at grandma and grandpa's house. They have a dog and 2 cats and she just loves being with them. The cats don't care for her and usually run away when they see her. When she does get to be with the cat, she keeps wanting to poke it in the eye or grab a tail! Then when the cat or dog go away, she says bye-bye titty/dada. It's so adorable. Everyone just loves little Anna.

Tomorrow, the 27th, is our 3 year anniversary! We decided to go skiing on Monday. I'm looking forward to going skiing with Dan. We've never gone together and the last time I went was 4 years ago. I'm just hoping we don't break anything. :) I'll write more about that later.

Christmas stuff

I keep reading blogs where people are making wreaths. I was at Michaels last week, and saw some wreaths on sale and I decided to make one.

I think it turned out nice, but I don't know if it was quite the style I had in mind. Instead of white flowers, I wanted red, but they were out of them. I do like the little balls. Anna LOVED them and wanted to play with them so bad.

I do like our security door, because I do feel more secure, however it's not the prettiest. And I don't have a wreath hanger, I used the one from our bathroom that hangs over the door. So unfortunately, the wreath hangs a little high. Better luck next year?

Here is a Christmas card I made. I did this for a mutual activity and the girls had fun. I decided to make more for the gifts I'm giving this year.

I can't believe Christmas is next week!!! Where did December go? It seems like we just had Thanksgiving and Halloween. We're heading out to Utah and I'm so excited. It's always good to see family and friends. AND Dan gets 3 weeks off. One plus to having your husband as teacher. I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!!!

Anna's new crib bumper

I wasn't really planning on it, but I ended up making a bumper for Anna's crib. There were a few times where she would get a foot or hand stuck in between the bars. A few times I have come in her room to find her sitting with her two legs sticking out of the crib. It was kind of cute, but I don't think she liked it. So, I embarked on my next sewing project. I was lucky to find the same striped fabric I used for her baby blanket, so it matched. I looked at some patterns online, but some of them didn't make sense, so I just kind of made up my own thing. I did learn to make it 160 inches long and 10 inches wide from my research.

I like how it makes the crib look my complete. However, if I had to do it over again, I would have gotten better batting. The stuff I got was a good deal, but it isn't thick enough to stand up nicely by itself. I didn't realize it at the time, so I had to sew more ribbons on it to tie to the crib. And when Anna wakes up, she likes to push it down with her feet, so it gets kind of squished. Overall, it wasn't a terribly difficult project. Should anyone be interested in how I made it, leave a comment and I'll tell you. :)

Additions to Anna's room

I finally found a stand up lamp to go in Anna's room. I got it at Goodwill and it was only $6! The only downside is it is extremely tall, like the tallest lamp I've ever seen. I debated on getting it, but it was such a good price, I wasn't sure if another deal like that would come along. It was originally a dark bronze color. I primed it and spray painted it white. I found the lamp shade at Wal-mart. By itself, it looks kind of funny.

It looks better here in the corner. It still is pretty tall, but since it's in the corner, it doesn't really stand out, like it does in this picture.

I made a wall hanging for Anna's room. I got my inspiration from an etsy site. this lady makes really cute things with her cricut machine. So I made my own version. Here is her idea:

This is what I came up with. I still think hers is cuter. I would have liked to have pulled the ribbon through the front. But I used fabric instead of paper and I didn't want to put holes in it, in case I decided later to do something different with it.

Here is another idea she has that I really want to make. I think it's so cute. I think I would do it with Anna's name or something. It looks so easy too. Buy some wood, cut it into blocks, sand it, paint it, put paper on it and cut out some letters!

While I was at Goodwill, I found this candle holder. It had wax on it that I had to pick off. I primed it and painted it black.

Here's how it looks now! Much nicer. I didn't realize I bought glossy spray paint, so it's a little shiny. I may spray it with some matte spray stuff that Dan has to tone it down a little. I just need a shorter candle holder and I'll have a group of three that will look nice together.

Anna went to nursery a couple of weeks ago and they had bubbles and she LOVED them. I forgot we had a bottle of them till she found it and then the fun began! She kept saying, bu, bu, bu!

Trying so hard to catch a bubble.

This picture cracks me up. It's like she's saying, "I believe!" at some religious revival.

Master Bedroom Paint Job

I've been meaning to post pictures for a while, but I kept forgetting to take them! When I did remember, it was evening time and the room is a little dark. So, here is our bedroom with the new paint. I really like it. It's slightly darker than it is in the pictures. I think it gives the room a really nice, mature feel, that goes well with the bed and duvet cover.

I now need to work on the wall decor. I'm thinking of putting some vinyl on the wall above the headboard. I have some almond/cream color vinyl that will look nice. We'd also like to add some crown molding where the ceiling and wall meet. We'll see when that happens.

I'm trying to find some new lamp shades. The one on the right is new. I think I like it, but I haven't decided for sure. The one on the left is the old one. It's just too big and the color doesn't look good with the paint.

I really like how the white looks with the paint. I'm still looking for a cheap dresser. I really don't like the ones we have now. I want a longer, shorter one that I will paint black. I have a mirror already to go on it.

We took the trim off the bathroom because we're going to put up new trim. That's why it looks kind of funny. And yes, there is no door knob. When we moved in, there wasn't a door to the bathroom. We put one in, and also replaced all the other doors. We need to get new doorknobs for all the doors and will soon. But we want them to all match. There's always something to do or buy it seems. Slowly, yet surely! It does create some fun for Anna and playing peek-a-boo though. :)

Anna update: This little girl is starting to eat with a fork!!! Last night, I cut some chicken up for her and I used a fork to help. Well, she wanted the fork, so I let her have it and she started to use it to eat her chicken! She is just so smart. She used a fork tonight to eat her pasta as well. This little girl is just getting bigger and bigger. Before I know it, she'll have a boyfriend. Wait...she does! His name is Logan and he's her church boyfriend. He's 5 months older than her. I guess she likes older guys. :)