ICE

**These pictures are out of order...silly Blogger!

On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, we went to the ICE show at The Gaylord. It was a great way to kick off the holiday season.

At the end of the Grinch show, there was a huge nativity made entirely out of ice. Pictures don't do it justice.

The girls meeting Mrs. Claus. She took pictures for free...Santa's pictures = $14.95!

Karsyn perfecting her Grinch smile! (See Jim Carey as the Grinch and you'll understand)

At the entrance - Landrie was shocked by how cold it was - 9 degrees!

A Different Black Friday

The last several years I've done the Black Friday adventure...this year was a little different. We celebrated Black Friday by cheering on the Trojans!

The girls are such troopers at the games. Today we were there for 5 hours! They love to watch football and cheer for Daddy! Karsyn now loves to imitate the Haka and Landrie was watching for first downs so she could join the rest of the fans chanting "1-2-3 First Down!"

Next week, we're on to the Region Finals. I have to miss the game due to our annual Craft Fair, but I'm hopeful for another WIN - Go Trojans!!!

So Thankful!

I LOVE this time of year!! This weeks marks the beginning of so much excitement! On top of Thanksgiving, we are still in the playoffs---Go Trojans!!!

We have so much to be thankful for---our health, our home, our family, our friends and even more! God has been so good to us this year! The most notable thing has been Lamar's new job. He was brought out of a difficult situation into a great one! We are definitely blessed.

Tonight we get to kick off the holiday season with a trip to ICE at the Gaylord Texan. At some point, I need to get my tree up too!

I'm looking forward to a wonderful season full of fun family time!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all (if there are still any readers out there)!

"Family" Project

Landrie and I just finished our 3rd Family Project (AkA ~ Mommy project). She had to disguise a turkey so it wouldn't get eaten for Thanksgiving. She chose to make her look like Hannah Montana. This time it was 80% Landrie and only 20% Mommy which was nice. She did the coloring and I did the cutting.

In other Landrie news, I've found her in some really goofy spots this week. This morning after I got home from the gym, I went to wake her up and found her asleep like this.

Earlier in the week, I went to check on her and found her in her closet sitting on her shelves as a desk. Silly girl! She must have sat there for 20 minutes working on some of her "homework" as she calls any drawings.

Daddy's Biggest Fans

Wednesday night marked the end of Lamar's junior high season. We watched the Stallions win against a big rival. After the game, the girls and Daddy cooperated for some cute pictures:

Happy Halloween

from my 2 favorite cheerleaders!

Mod Podge Rocks and an Attempt at Gorilla Glue

In an attempt to get ready for Shanty2Chic's next blog party, I started experimenting with Gorilla Glue. This attempt didn't go as well as I hoped, but I did make a few repairs around the house with GG to get more practice.




Last weekend the girls were at Gigi & Grandpa's (Thank you!) and I had some time to do a few crafts. Instead of working on my list, Jordan put me to work with a few of her ideas.

The first was a V for her friends new baby - Vivianna. The nursery is pink and brown, so I decorated a white V from Hobby Lobby with cute pink/brown scrapbook paper. I bought the gloss Mod Podge instead of the matte, but I've been very pleased with how its turned out on a my projects.






Jordan's other project was to decorate her bulletin board in her office. I saw a demo of one on a blog last week and thought I could add some jazz to her board. I was hoping for this to be my Gorrila Glue project for Ashley & Whitney's blog, but it didn't work out. After consulting my favorite decorators, I found out that I should have used the Gorilla Super Glue instead of the original.


My first step was to paint the cork. I used Folk Art Coffee Bean. The cork is very absorbant so I had to use a thick layer.



After it dried, I lined the edge of the cork with ribbon. I used my hot glue gun in a thin line all the way around.


For the second ribbon, I was going to use Gorilla Glue to attach the ribbon to the metal frame of the bulletin board. Note: Gorilla Glue doesn't dry very fast and I'm not very patient. So, I scrapped the GG and went back to my trusty glue gun.

I covered the seams with buttons and that's it! I was done with the entire project in less than an hour.

Pumpkin Patch

We made our annual trek to the Pumpkin Patch yesterday. It was a beautiful Saturday so there were 100s of people there!!! The girls were fairly cooperative and let me take over 100 pictures!

I'm guessing this pumpkin was 15 pounds or so!

Fed up with pictures, but still cute!

Some days I want to lock them up!

The Hello Kitty Crew

101 Dalmations

The Time of My Life

Monday was hands down one of the greatest nights of my life. I have said before that U2 is on my "bucket list" of things to do/see before I die. Granted right now, my list only has 2 things on it, but still... My wish was fulfilled!

They didn't disappoint either! I heard all of my favorite songs and my have shed a few tears of excitement!

The coolest thing was to see Bono and to know that he's a Christian. I always knew his music had references to his faith, but when you see him live, you can see him worshipping through his music. My favorite of the night was hearing him sing "I give my voice back to You" during Magnificent.

Jordan and I are in the red square on the picture. Our fantastic friend Billy who took us to the concert took this picture from his seats on the other side of the stadium.

Here are the lyrics to Magnificent---so cool!!

Magnificent

Oh, oh, magnificent

I was born, I was born

To be with you in this space and time

After that and ever after

I haven't had a clue only to break rhyme

This foolishness can leave a heart black and blue, oh, oh

Only love, only love can leave such a mark

But only love, only love can heal such a scar

I was born, I was born to sing for you

I didn't have a choice but to lift you up

And sing whatever song you wanted me to

I give you back my voice from the womb

My first cry, it was a joyful noise, oh, oh

Only love, only love can leave such a mark

But only love, only love can heal such a scar

Justified, till we die you and I will magnify, oh, oh

Magnificent, magnificent, oh, oh

Only love, only love can leave such a mark

But only love, only love unites our hearts

Justified, till we die you and I will magnify, oh, oh

Magnificent, magnificent, magnificent

My own Shanty 2 Chic

***I didn't finish the project that I was hoping for, so I'm reposting this one. I can't wait to see everyone's projects for this fun party! I'm so proud to claim Ashley & Whitney as my crafty cousins!!***

The other night, I was mulling over my project list and decided instead of buying a lampshade for Landrie's room, why don't I just decorate the one she has.


Here's the before. Cute, but not right for Landrie's brightly colored room.



I started by painting the shade yellow using acryllic craft paint. After I was finished painting, I started playing around with ribbon and tulle. I decided to wrap the tulle all around at the seams of the lamp shade. I did it in one continuous piece.


After that, it was still missing something, so I cut smaller pieces of tulle and tied knots around the top. I was going to leave the beading on the shade, but wanted more color. I cut it off and then used hot glue to place buttons all around the edges. I fought against using a particular pattern with the buttons and I love how it turned out.

Now I can cross one more thing off my list! Slowly but surely, my crafts are coming together!

Here's the updated list:

1. the girls' kitchen is still not complete! Ugh! I WILL finish it this week!
2. shutter cabinets for the girls' bathroom
3. shutters turned into a bulletin board or a towel rack - still TBD
4. empty frames painted black and hung in living room
5. my dumpster dive chairs - one is painted, but needs fabric for a cushion and the other is still in its horrid state - not sure where I want it to go
6. need a purple lampshade for Karsyn's room
7. need a pink lampshade for Landrie's room
8. window treatment in living room (have a plan just need the tools)
9. pillows for new couches
10. the big K finished for the frame wall

Sweet Landrie Turns 6!

Landrie took this picture herself! Pretty good, huh?!

I can't hardly believe that this girl is 6 years old! It seems like she was just born yesterday! Here's 6 things about Landrie:

1. Landrie is 48 inches tall and weighs about 40 lbs.
2. She's now lost 2 teeth!
3. Landrie loves sweets! She would choose a piece of Lolly's cherry candy or a chocolate kiss over any food any day!
4. Landrie loves going to school. She claims her favorite thing is recess, but I know she loves it all since she pretends to be Mrs. Bennett all the time.
5. She's a "closet" performer. She loves to sing, dance, and pretend as long as no one is watching. If you acknowledge it, she clams up or gets mad at you for smiling at her.
6. Her imaginary brothers are Nick, Joe & Kevin Jonas! She talks to them on the phone and they sometimes come to Daddy's football games with us.

Happy Birthday my sweet girl! No matter how old you get, you'll always be my baby!!!

Blog Party!!

My crafty cousins are gaining popularity every day and NEXT Thursday, they are hosting their first Blog Party/Giveaway. Get your crafting started and document the process on your blog!

Don't miss it!