Our Baby Shower!

Our shower was incredibly beautiful!  We were so blessed, and surrounded by so many loved ones, helping us celebrate our baby boys.  My sisters did such a wonderful job, I have never seen a baby shower so breathtaking!  They did a vintage Christmas theme, and the food was amazing!  Such a spread!  We had a hot beverage bar w/ all kinds of mix-ins, a galvanized bucket full of iced drinks, chocolate dipped pretzel rods, a variety of finger sandwiches, sausage balls, a buckeye cheese ball (which is like a peanut butter ball in dip form!!) with all sorts of goodies to dip in it, cupcakes, chex mix, and puppy chow...a variety of chips and three different types of dips!  And I'm still not sure I listed everything!  It was outta this world!  We also have amazing friends that came early to help out, Megan, Ashley, Jennifer, and Renea all showed up to help however needed, and I appreciate them so much!  My mom worked her tail off getting the house ready, cleaned, and decorated for Christmas too.  I can't say thank you to all of these special women enough.  They pulled off a perfect shower.  And now, for some pictures!

Directing Guests:

The beautiful back patio:

Come on in!

The drinks and mix-ins bar:

The elf name game (there were a lot of good ones...mine was Sparkle Jingle Bells, the funniest being Foxy Glitter Bottom!)

What a display!

Mom's Christmas Candy Shop:

The hot drinks:

There were lanterns and candles all over, the whole house was so cozy.

The main food table:

SO MUCH FOOD!

Chips and Dips:

Presents!!!

Three of the lovely ladies who pulled it all off, my Ashwee, Megan, and Ashley A.

A few of the sweet guests:

Jason's Aunt Crystal:

Jason's Great Aunt Pearl, his Dad's cousin, Ann, and his Aunt Debbie:

One of the lovely hostesses, Alaina was behind the camera the whole time!

My bee-you-tee-ful Momma:

My sweetie had everyone cracking up, of course!

Helper Renea:

This is not even half the guests or the stuff we got, things and people were flooded through the rest of the house, and we received gifts through the mail from those who couldn't make it.  We have been "showered" with many of the things we needed.  My parents bought us the Cadillacs of car seats, and Jason's dad bought us the crib(s), so those were both big ticket items that we were very grateful to receive!  We also got swings, a bouncer, a twin stroller, adorable clothes, a special train set, gift cards and money to fill in what we still need, the twins Willow Tree figurines, books, and an assortment of all other kinds of baby goodies!  We are pretty well prepared for these little fellas to get here in only a few months!  I think the shower sent me into nesting mode, I am loving getting everything together, washing their little clothes and blankies in the yummy smelling Dreft, setting up the crib (they are sharing for a little while), etc.  I can't say thank you enough to everyone involved in pulling this off, and everyone who came..we love you all!

Christmas Is My Favorite!

You will notice a theme throughout this post.  There will be a lot of the use of the word favorite.  But I can't just choose one thing.  I love it all!

New snowflake pillows courtesy of felt and fabric glue:)  I needed something to match my new very warm, very snugly snowflake blanket.

Our pretty Christmas tree.  I love lots of lights, and lots of color.  We don't have a theme.  It's just lots of meaningful ornaments from over the years together.  That's the best kind for us!  Guess how many lights is on that 7 ft. tree!  1400 baby!  I told you I like lights!  And then there's all those brightly wrapped gifts, it was so nice to get done early this year!

A shot with the mantle.  It has a colored lights garland to compliment the tree. 

I used the reindeer burlap picture that I made a few months ago, spread some big pinecones under it, added some red candles and holly sprigs, then topped it with the "no peeking...no sneaking...no shaking" sign.  I bought that specifically for my husband;o)

A pretty framed Santa picture in our guest room.  I love this picture...it was cut from a gift bag!

A few more guest room decorations.

One of my favorites.  A sweet little snowman lamp with a shade that shines different Christmas scenes when turned on.  I inherited it from my Momma.  I adore it.  It warms up this corner in the kitchen perfectly.

Christmas goodies tins, big white poinsettias, pinecones, and snowmen line the high bar in the kitchen.

More poinsettias in my favorite sisal rope vase.

One of my favorite Christmas pictures at a tree lot.  If you look close, my hair was really dark, but I still love the picture even though I'm back to blonde.  On the other side, a cross-stitch Merry Christmas from my Momma.  Half the stuff I have is thanks to her!

Corner by the tv cabinet.  Snowflake plates, and a vase full of sparkly curly thingies.  Such a technical name for them.  There's also a hand stitched primitive letter to Santa on the table in a frame, can't see it too well, but refer to this post to see it better.

Another cozy Christmas blanket to match another pillow that I made.  I stenciled this design on canvas drop cloth and painted it in with red acrylic paint.

A basket full of ornaments, grapevine balls, and jingle bells.  All wrapped in a holly berry swag.

My pencil leg table with some more favorite decorations.

Another primitive letter to Santa, Jingle Bell candle sticks, a small tree with a burlap skirt, and a flocked wreath.  One of my favorite areas to look at this year.

A little tree in the mudroom greets visitors, and our Jason and Christie snowman plaque hangs over our ugly alarm system box, I think I need something there year round now.

My most favorite nativity scene.  I collected these pieces over several Christmases, and finally got them all 2 years ago.  I look forward to setting this up every year now, changing it slightly from year to year.  My mom and I found a branch vase filler with lighted stars on it, and it works nicely as the night sky background when it's dim in this room at night.

Our little centerpiece box redesigned for Christmas with flocked pine branches, pinecones, and holly berry sprigs.  The candles light up the middle.

And lastly, another small tree by the back door with wooden ornaments and a burlap skirt sits atop a little chair.

I love our decorations this year.  It never seems that I get to enjoy them for long enough though.  Our house has felt really warm and cozy this year.  It may get to stay up a little longer than usual...

Merry Christmas everyone!  I wish you a wonderful day filled with love and joy, surrounded by family and friends.  And my most favorite thing about Christmas....remembering the real reason we celebrate Christmas, I am so thankful that we serve such a loving God who sent His son to save us.  Let us celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, our Lord today and remember how very blessed we are!

Our Christmas Bedroom

Going with the red already in there, I added a vintage red stocking, red candles, pinecones, and burlap on the dresser.

The headboard got draped with greenery and white lights...so cozy at night:)

 

A little pillow that I painted.  I made a stencil from an image of the nativity I liked from a google search I did.  Then I traced it on plain ole red cotton fabric with a pencil.  I painted it in with white acrylic paint.  Once dry, I sewed and stuffed.  Easy, but time consuming, it needed 3 coats to not show through to the red!

I made some canvas stockings for our room this year.  I just traced a stocking I already had onto canvas drop cloth, cut out a strip of burlap and frayed the edges a bit, then traced our initials onto it.  Then I flipped 'em inside out and sewed them up.  It was my first run at sewing curved edges.  I don't think I did too horribly.  They hang on either side of our headboard.



Another shot of my pretty little pillow.  I just love that thing.  And it totally looks good with the reds on our bed.