Memories of Christmas 2011

I really hope you had a great Christmas.

Ours seemed busier this year than ever before, and I found myself completely wiped out by Christmas night.  We had one stop on Christmas Eve and four stops on Christmas Day, which makes for a very weary one year old and two very tired parents. 

I secretly hoped and expected Delaney (who is 16 months old) to come running out of her bedroom Christmas morning, rip open her presents, and play right away.

Instead, we were up with her most of the night and then she woke up around 7 screaming.  She came out in the living room where we had a new princess tent set up and all of her presents.  I think she was more looking forward to breakfast, but she amused her excited parents anyway by staring at the gifts that we threw in front of her and slowly picked away at the wrapping paper.

After she opened her gifts, I went to get dressed and when I came back into the living room, she was playing with my
old cell phone and some post-it notes. 

I guess I could have saved some money.

As you can see in the picture above, my niece Harper was pretty excited about opening gifts. This was pretty much her expression all day.

(please ignore my lovely bucket of Christmas laundry)

I told Mr. H that I got him a present that would make him a better dad and make Delaney love him all the more.  I think he was slightly offended but understood better when he opened his awesome Elmo pajamas.  She can't stop giving him hugs when he is wearing these pajamas.

I hate when you forget to discuss the gift guidelines and get seriously whipped on the gift giving.

I got Mr. H Elmo pajamas for Christmas.

and he got me this... 

I guess I'll need to step it up for Valentine's Day.

     We had a great time visiting with Mr. H's brother and his family for a week.  They live in Hawaii and

we only see them about once a year.  Delaney enjoyed getting to know her cousin and they had a great time playing (and sometimes fighting) with toys.

My grandma made the girls Christmas dresses this year. 

The kids had a grab bag where they took turns picking Dollar Tree items. 

Delaney only picked suckers.

She was very sticky by the end of the day.

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Anniversary Celebration

Yesterday, Mr. H and I celebrated our 8 year anniversary! 

He surprised me with a dinner in downtown Indy and an overnight stay at the newest hotel, the JW Marriott.

Although excited, it was my first night away from Delaney since she was born, so I think I texted my parents a dozen times. 

My dad's final text said,

"Don't worry.  We've had children for 31 years now"

Okay- I get it.

and 8 years later...

Mr. H won this year for gift giving- I forgot to even get him a card.  Whoops. But I did draw him a card on Delaney's new etch and sketch.

Happy Anniversary, Mr. H !

Christmas festivities!

Life has finally settled down. We were able to get all of our Christmas orders shipped. 

Sorry to those of you who wanted to order and we had already shut down- we have all been hit with sickness this December and we needed a short break to spend some quality time doing Christmas activities with the family. 

Our shop will reopen on January 3rd!

Here is a look at the last few weeks:

1. A look at the delicious cookies I came home with after our church Christmas cookie exchange.

2. Wrap Party!  I loved this- a friend had a wrapping party and I was able to get all of my wrapping down in one night and had a great time!

3. Del taking the lights OFF of the tree.

4. Brodi having some wrapping fun.

5. The "mom's" group that I am in had a Christmas party where the kiddos exchanged gifts!

6. Decorating Christmas cookies!

7. Another look at the cookies at the Christmas cookie exchange

(okay a lot of my week involved Christmas cookies)

The Spirit of Christmas, 2011

I guess this is what happens when you hand a one-year-old 

to a complete stranger who is dressed in fur and is wearing white gloves.

After Santa left the room completely, the photographer was able to get some smiles.

Hope your trips to see Santa are as eventful as mine!  

Merry Christmas!!

The simplest Christmas Candy in the whole entire world

ShrinkyDinks and a haircut

We've pretty much been working elves around here, getting jewelry orders shipped for Christmas.  I wanted to entertain my nephew, Isaac, while we worked, so I introduced him to ShrinkyDinks.  He is 6 years old and this was his first experience with ShrinkyDinks.  He wasn't quite patient enough to watch them shrink the first time (it took about 3 minutes, which is an eternity for a 6 year old), but once he discovered what they looked like after those 3 minutes, he pulled up a stool up to the oven to watch the second batch of Pirates shrink.

 I also found something to entertain Harper- some air dry clay.  This kept her busy for at least 20 minutes and she would have played with it longer if I let her walk away from the table with it.

Unfortunately, rather than enjoying the sweetness of this picture of me and my niece, I was instead appalled at my hair. 
It has been awhile since I got a haircut.  I was "trying" to grow it out and it might have been successful if I hadn't seen this photo.  

I realized it had to go. 

So, I called a salon that takes walk-ins and walked-out with this:

It feels so much lighter and I don't look like a 27 year old who is one bad hair day away from a french braid.

My Favorite Christmas movies



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My favorite Christmas movies that I have to watch EVERY. SINGLE. DECEMBER.

• It's a Wonderful Life- my all time favorite Christmas movie.  It was on tv the other night and although I have seen it a dozen times, I cried like a BABY at the end.  Perspective is a powerful thing and when good ole' George embraces his family at the end of the movie, I can't seem to keep my eyes dry.

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• Christmas Vacation- I think everyone watches this every year.  And if you don't, you're not American. 
• The Santa Clause (the first one NOT the sequels!)
• Home Alone 1 and 2
• A Christmas Story

 

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• White Christmas- I just saw this for the first time a few years ago, and now it is on my every year list.
• Prancer- all the fluffy bangs and french braids in this movie remind me of my childhood.
• The Family Stone

Movies that aren't officially "Christmas" movies, but Christmas happens in them, so I love them, and I watch them in December:

• Holiday Inn- Love this movie more than White Christmas, and I get to hear White Christmas when I watch it.

• Sleepless in Seattle
• You've Got Mail
• While You Were Sleeping
• The Holiday- This movie makes me want to move to a small cottage. in England. in December.

• Love Actually

Do you have a favorite that is not on my list?

I know Thanksgiving was forever ago, but...

I know we're already in the Christmas spirit.  Once Black Friday passes, thoughts of turkeys are long gone, Thanksgiving is old news, we don't want to talk about it or think about it.  But, I have been busy-I mean I probably have 50 shows on my tivo that I need to catch up on- busy.

So I'm a bit behind in the blogosphere.  Everyone is posting about advent calenders, homemade ornaments, and handprint Christmas trees.  I'm posting about black friday and turkeys. 

I blog to record my memories because I have no time to scrapbook anymore, so even though it might be boring and old news, here is my Thanksgiving.

What are you sneaking Delaney?  Is it a roll, a cookie, or possibly a little cheeseball?

This turkey centerpiece makes it to every Thanksgiving.  I appreciate his faithfulness and look forward to seeing him every year.

What I love about Thanksgiving...eating and relaxing at the same time...a kid always makes homemade placemats (this year it was Isaac), and having way too many desserts.  Even though grandma promised she wouldn't make a dessert, since the granddaughters were bringing them, she still brought two pecan pies.  I knew she couldn't help herself.

My favorite part of Thanksgiving day is when we all go around and say what we are thankful for go through the Black Friday ads and plan our route.  We have about five copies of the ads and a pen and paper.  At 10 pm, I will still going through the ads and Mr. H. informed me I might have a problem.  This year was a whole new game since the stores opened at midnight.  I would much rather wake up early than stay up late, so I was not a fan.  I lasted until about 3 am and then retreated to my bed in defeat.

i love my friends...and cute vampires

I first read the Twilight books 3 years ago and LOVED them...which I would never admit to anyone since I am now 27 years old, married and have a child UNLESS my grown-up friends loved them too...AND they do (sorry-that was a long sentence).
 Everytime a new movie comes out, I think it gives us adults a reason to pretend we're 17 again and clap when Jacob takes off his shirt (hmm...was that just me...all well, I've already told Mr. H how shiny Jacob's abs are).

One of my good friends threw a Breaking Dawn premiere party a couple of weeks ago.  I thought we were just going to her house for dinner, but when I walked in, I became giddy like I was at a kid's birthday- when I was a kid.

(sorry- some of the pics are blurry- I haven't ready my camera's instruction book yet and was too tired to edit.  That's on my to-do list.)

The house was decked out in Twilight decor and we ate dinner by candlelight.  I told Mr. H when I got home that it was the nicest dinner I had ever had. 

His response- "I'll try not to take offense to that".

I was waiting for Edward to walk in and propose, even though I would have to tell him no and to just forget about me already.  

The hostess and her adorable sisters even made party favors for us.  The last party favor I got probably came in a Rainbow Bright bag. 
I was secretly very excited. 

Enjoying the delicous Italian dinner while holding up the glasses that had special candy "blood" around the rim.

Loving their Twilight t-shirts.  On the back they had writing. 
My favorite said "Team Edward...until Jacob takes his shirt off.  Don't tell my husband."

Yeah no one told me that it was a silly picture. 
...and no one told me to pretend I was a vampire and start biting necks. 
I guess I didn't hear the announcement.

I love when you have friends that you can be crazy with and enjoy some good old vampire fun.

Cyber Monday Sale!

Be sure to get your order in by December 1st!  We will be closing our shop during the month of December to spend time with family. 

By the way, sorry for the impromptu blogging break- been extremely busy with jewelry, kids, sickness, and life.  I'll be back soon... Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Thankful Thursday

Happy Thursday!  Only one week until Thanksgiving.  I am in charge of bringing a dessert to Turkey Day (okay, not in charge, 'cause there is about 6 of us bringing desserts), and I plan on finding something super delicious and super simple.  Let me know if you have a fabulous recipe that preferably involves chocolate or caramel. 

I'm taking another embrace the camera break partly because I need a haircut so badly that I haven't really been embracing the camera, but more like running and hiding from it.

I wanted to share something else that I am thankful for this week.

I am SO thankful and SO grateful for my daughter, Delaney. 

I know I told you I wasn't going to do obvious ones, like um...my daughter, but I am just so thankful that she is here.

Mr. H and I got married when we were young (I was 19 actually).  I knew we were young, so I had my plan- we would enjoy our marriedness and then when I was 25, we would start a family.  It would be perfect and I knew that by that time we would have our lives completely together.

But then I was hit with some health problems.  We had been working through my scleroderma issues, when I was hit with another diagnosis: endometriosis.  Ugh.  I don't want to explain it on a blog, but let's just say this was ANOTHER instance where I sobbed like a baby in front of a doctor because there was only one thing I had ever heard about endometriosis: it meant I couldn't get pregnant.  Now, this is completely not the case, obviously, but I knew a girl who was diagnosed with this and that is all she had told me about it.

So, God's plan was different than my own- again.  Rather than planning for a family, I had to undergo surgery and get monthly shots for 6 months and then they told me that MAYBE I could get pregnant.

After the shots and a LOT of prayer, I was able to get pregnant.  I was due in April of 2010 and was, of course, so excited.  I took Mr. H out to a fancy lunch at the Taco Bell to tell him the news and we prepared to become new parents.

But, God had other plans again (He often does), and decided to take my sweet little April baby to rejoice with Him in heaven.  We lost the baby at 6 weeks, but didn't realize it until about 8 weeks.

I'm not going to share details of that journey, but I know that without my personal relationship with Christ, I wouldn't have been able to wake up in the morning.  I knew that God was in control and He had a different plan.

I learned His plan was for me to be the momma of my cuddly little Del.  She was born on August 17, 2010 and my life will be forever changed.

I am SO thankful for her. 

She is completely healthy and when she is screaming at 2 am or wants me to hold her when I need to get jewelry done, I remind myself how grateful I am to have her in my life.  I know others who have struggled to have a family or have faced multiple family tragedies, so to have this child is something I try to never take for granted.  I thank God for her daily and know that she is our blessing.

Love,

Kelsey

[Download printables from this post HERE]

My Weekend Collage

1. Mr. H had Lasik eye surgery yesterday.  I bought a Groupon for it, so it was buy one eye get one free (I'm always looking for a bargain).  I'm not gonna lie- it was kind of weird that they did the surgery on a Sunday in an office building (not medical building) and the waiting room was an office board room.  I was kind of waiting for a reporter to start interviewing me for a 20/20 special.  BUT, I'm happy to report that although he was legally blind before the surgery, he is now seeing great without any glasses and we no longer have to pay a small fortune for lenses!

2. I apologize to the small dog snuggie lovers, but I had to post this picture.  I just found it so ironic that a dog was born with a built-in snuggie that God gave them- why would they need a blanket with sleeves?  I saw this at a Christmas craft show and couldn't stop laughing.

3. CHRISTMAS, CHRISTMAS TIME IS HERE...TIME FOR JOY AND TIME FOR CHEER!!  I LOVE walking in Target and seeing all of the Christmas merchandise.  It is my favorite and I look forward to it all year long!

4. Saturday night we had a church family night/chili cook-off.  My church meets in a Fitness Center, so we had the gym to ourselves that evening.  We put Del and Harper in a raquetball court and they ran around and kept busy for an hour.  I really wish I had a raquetball court in my house.

Thankful Thursday...with a free printable card

I'm taking a break from embracing the camera this week.  It's because I wanted to take the time to share what I am thankful for (or maybe because I have been too lazy to take a picture with myself in it this week).

I could seriously write a novel about what I am thankful for, but I think it might put you to sleep.  Instead, I thought I'd share a few things one day a week for the next few weeks until Thanksgiving.  I want to be specific since I feel like some general things are obvious (family, friends, home, etc...).  SO if I don't mention the obvious it's not because I'm not thankful, I'm just trying to let you know more about me.

First, I'm thankful that Mr. H and I have jobs we enjoy.  Although our jobs are in no way the most important things in our lives, it is just a huge answer to prayer that we like our jobs.  Mr. H decided to get out of the Marine Corps in 2006.  We moved back to Indiana with NO JOBS, NO HOME, and no college degrees or job prospects.  It was a scary time, but we put our faith in God that he would provide.  I soon found a job making barely above minimum wage at a bank and Mr. H found a job at the same place he worked in high school.  We started renting a house and both went to college in the evenings to get our degrees.  I prayed and prayed for the next four years that Mr. H would find a job that he enjoyed going to every day and last year my prayer was answered.  He is now at a company that he loves and it is just a blessing knowing that he doesn't hate getting up in the mornings because I know that can be the case in many situations.

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My current full-time job is being a mother, which I've hoped for since forever, I think.  I also work from home with Tag...You're It.  It can sometimes be overwhelming trying to work out of a small bedroom and fill orders while also taking care of a baby, as I've mentioned many times in my posts.  And I will admit that I often complain about the challenges of trying to balance everything AND dealing with the financial stresses of not having two full-time incomes whenever medical bills keep piling up in our mailbox.  Yet, I am still so thankful that I get to stay at home with my little baby while running a small company with my sister and best friend.

I'll share more about my thankfulness next week, BUT wanted to share this super cute free printable card from Julie Ann Art.  You can find the printable HERE.

A typical Tuesday

A typical afternoon at Tag...You're It in photos

You might be thinking "wait...I thought they made jewelry." 
Oh, we do. 
When we're not dealing with little backpack wearing monkeys who stand on tables and decide they are too cool for pants.

I'm Currently Happy because...



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Alright, it's Friday.  I work from home, so Friday's don't hold the same meaning, but I'm still in a good mood and choosing to be happy.  Here are just a few reasons I am choosing to be happy today:

• Mr. H doesn't have class which means he can take care of Delaney spend time with Del before bedtime tonight.
• Brodi and I are going the Urban Folk Art show in the morning to shop, which should be fun.
• Mr. H has to gets to wake up with Del in the middle of the night on the weekends while I'm sleeping.

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• I have a pot roast in the crock-pot, which means dinner is ready.
• We have a free pay-per-view movie code, so we get to rent a movie for free tonight (I didn't say these would be exciting, okay).
• Del is currently napping (well she's talking to herself quietly in her crib, but it counts for me).
• Black Friday will be here in 3 WEEKS and I. CANT. WAIT!!!!

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• Tag...You're It has craft shows the next 3 weekends in a row, which I always enjoy!

What are happy about today?