Nieces and Nephews

Between our 3 families, Len and I have 9 nephews, 8 nieces, and another niece on the way. They are all super kids that we just adore. Here's a shout out for my darling niece Madison, who won my little giveaway- you rock girl! I'll get the little painting in the mail soon. Love, Auntie Jen =)

My BIG baby and a little GIVEAWAY

I did some painting yesterday. 4 hours of backaching work, but it was pure bliss. I didn't know what I was doing, I just did it and it was completely therapeutic.


I finally finished my 3 foot by 4 foot canvas, and I actually think I like it (hooray!).


I was so excited when we bought our house that our family room had a space for our TV above the fireplace. I had dreamed of being able to hide said television with a nice painting over top, and now I was going to be able to!

It only took me a year and a half to get her done, but now that she is I like it so much I think we might not be watching very much TV anymore (ha ha).

While I was painting Gavin kept telling me that my "flower was so beautiful, mommy." Kaleb told me he liked it too and that it was "cool and abstract." I didn't even know he knew the word abstract, I think that's cool! Len, Noe, and Teague were very enthusiastic about it too. I love you family, thanks for cheering for me!

If you look close in the above picture, you'll see a mini version down in the bottom right corner. I painted that last year with my young women as inspiration to finish my big one. Now that I have- I no longer need it. I think there are maybe 3 people who read this blog from time to time, but if you'd like to have the mini one (it's very simple and more whimsical and only 7 inches by 9 inches) leave me a comment and if anyone responds I'll choose the winner next Friday, the 11th.

If you've ever contemplated painting, I highly recommend that you pick up a brush and go for it!

Happy Mail

Remember how I mentioned I won a dozen handmade cards from my friend, Trina? Well they arrived this week and they are beautiful! Thanks so much Trina, I love them!!


Remember how I finished my 2008 Blurb book a couple of weeks ago? Well it arrived this week, only 8 days after I ordered it. It's 414 pages of a year in our life and I love it too!


I'm inspired to get working on 2009, 2010, and I'm going to start 2011's now and work on it a little each month so it's not a huge project at the end of the year. I love happy mail!

Another New Year

I'm always sad when we take down our Christmas decorations. To help me feel better, we put our Chinese New Year decorations up right after. This year we added a couple of new things to the mix.


We wish you good fortune in the year of the rabbit!


The rest of the Zodiac animals wait for their turn to be honored.


Our firecrackers are up and we were going to keep the Christmas cards up until the Lunar New Year too, but Teague had other plans. Once he started ripping them off the wall, I took the rest down to go in the scrapbook.

The new additions are the framing of the mini and super mini qipao dresses.

The mini ones in the 11x14 frames are supposed to be used to give gifts of wine in.

The super minis in an 8x10 frame are supposed to be used as cell phone bags. I think they look pretty cute all framed up!

A sick girl's best friend

I have been really sick this month, and I really think I shouldn't get sick again for at least 3 years- ha ha! Luckily, I've had some good books on hand to help with the monotony of bed rest.

I read this with Kaleb and Noe for their book club at school. We watched the movie when it came out a few years ago and I cried and cried then. Reading the story I think I cried even more. Dealing with death isn't easy for any age, but especially for children. It was a good book though and I'm glad I got to share it with my kids.

My friend, Rhonda gave me this book for Christmas. I really need to apply its principles to my life. I need to toss more guilt and catch more joy.

I read Dawn Meehan's blog and since she's been going through some tough times I ordered her 3 books to help her out. She's a single mother to 6 kids and through all of her trials she trusts in the Lord and keeps her sense of humor. I need to be more like that and I hope that this new year will bring her more joy too!

Yearbook

Last week I was REALLY sick! I spent many days in bed and on the couch. However, Len and I still managed to organize the bookcases in the basement AND I finally finished and ordered our 2008 blog book through Blurb. Hooray!! Now I just need to make 2009's and 2010's!

Free Prizes Everywhere

So I've entered a ton of giveaways on blogs this week. I won one too! Thanks Trina, I can't wait for the handmade cards!!

Here's a shout out for another giveaway from The Ribbon Retreat that I heard about on Tator Tots and Jello. Good luck!

Warmest and Fuzziest

Next week the youth are delivering warm clothes they collected from the ward and scarves they made to the Homeless Shelter. I was never able to find out where the Women and Children Crisis Center was, so I thought it would be nice for them to deliver the Warm Fuzzies we started back in November to the Homeless Shelter too. That meant I had to finish them this week!

I had to stuff the 14 that the girls made and then decorate and stuff the remaining 8.

I think they turned out pretty cute!

2011- The Year of the Unfinished Project

This year I am hoping to get back in my old routine of completing at least one unfinished project each week and then posting the results here.


Do you remember these Easter Friends I made (a few years ago?)


Or this Santa I made (a couple of years ago?)


This week I made a little Valentine Bear to add to the holiday collection. I will also make frames for St. Patrick's Day, Halloween, and Thanksgiving- coming soon!

This week we also hung all of the new window treatments for the 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms- woo hoo!

Next week I may work on the big canvas for the family room, or on one of the Blurb books for the past 3 years of blogging, or Teague's baby scrapbook (or any of the scrapbooks I'm pretending I will update someday), or make some jewelry, or tole paint the cute teddy bear I bought over a decade ago (you can change his clothes for each holiday and season- so cute!), or work on other holiday projects (Chinese New Year is coming next), or Teague's birthday poster, or organize all of my craft bins, or ...

Someday I want to take cake decorating and photography classes, but my husband requested I finish some of the above projects first, before I start a new hobby. Okay, I will do that!

Juicy Jewels

I was craving a pomegranate, so my sweet husband went out and bought me one. I then realized that I had never "opened" one myself, so it was google to the rescue! We found this really helpful video. Success! We enjoyed the best little treat!

Book Exchange

Last night at book club we had our annual goodie and book exchange. I decided not to participate in the goodie exchange this year, since I've already gained 10 pounds since I weaned Teague. So sad! I scored though in the book exchange and got two:


Our December read will be:

And for January:

Now that I've given up TV at night, I love having a nightstand full of books for me to escape into!

Cherry on Top!

After 2 weeks of decorating, the house is finally done and we can just relax and enjoy it for the rest of the month!

You've already seen these felt ornaments I made, but I also made...

...some glitter gumdrop balls, a rainbow ribbon garland, and a cherry tree topper to decorate...

...our Candyland tree. If you've read my other blog, you may notice that the tree looks different. My two little trouble makers, I mean darling youngest sons took it upon themselves to undecorate the tree today. Instead of putting it back how it was with all of the expensive ornaments, I just put on all of my homemade ones that I was going to use to make into a garland. Someday?

*Just wanted to share some other sneak peeks of our holiday cheer!

Our front entrance has our big wreath on the window, Santa & Snowman sign above the mailbox, and I was inspired by my friend, Annick to hang ornaments from the roof.

I bought the supplies to decorate our banister last year, but I ran out of time. We got it up this year and are really happy with how it turned out.

Most of our Christmas decor revolves around our Nativity sets and our Santa collection.

The kids love playing with their Little People Christmas Village...

...and Nativity...

...as well as our M & M train. I've got to fill up Marty!

I love having all of our stockings hanging by the fire and hope the time before Santa fills them up doesn't pass too quickly!