Vacation

Here are just a couple cute photos I took of the boys on Christmas. There will be more to come after the new year when we get back from vacation!

Come back then to see more of our blog, have a Happy New Year!

Christmas Post Coming....

Posts will resume Friday afternoon. For these few days surrounding Christmas, our family be concentrating on time with friends and more family. I hope you visit back later in the week.

Christmas @ Our House

Our friends from Minnesota came over this morning. They took with them some of our baby stuff to use when their little one comes this spring. It was good to catch up with them and sit and laugh.

Tonight is our first Christmas with family. My mother-in-law is coming to town this afternoon and I have a feeling that when the boys see all the presents she is bringing, they will convince her to open them tonight:) Tonight will then be the first of 4 Christmases for us this week. We are looking forward to each one and the boys are excited to get more toys. (Since there play room is currently full of toys, I'm secretly wondering where all this new stuff is going to go. Yes, they have a separate room just for toys....maybe all our relatives will get them presents that aren't toys.....hmmm...I doubt it...)

Enjoy your day!

Christmas @ The Hintons

Gift Exchange @ our friend's house

The Saturday Before Christmas....

Our house is filled with the aroma of our sweet, apple tart candle burning in the kitchen. We have a plate of chocolate covered peanut clusters and holiday treats sitting on the dining room table. My oldest is asleep from hours of helping me shop this morning for some last minute items for Christmas. My youngest is giggling watching daddy move the Christmas tree into our master bedroom so all four of us can sit in our big bed tonight and read Christmas stories in the glow of the tree lights. The sun is shining in our windows pretending that it is warm enough to play in the snow; however, the ice cold wind will blast your cheeks if you dare go outside. Granny and Pa just left from a few hours of laughing with the boys. We are celebrating the day by spending time with our family and enjoying the holiday spirit.

Another part of our day has been cooking. I made homemade pizza for the boys for lunch and the roast with vegetables is simmering in the crock-pot for dinner as we speak.

Made from scratch pizza is just better than I remember every time I make it. And who doesn't love a crock-pot of delicious roast.

We were also given a couple gift baskets yesterday and today from Mark's co-workers. The campus minister's wife made us the most delicious chocolate peanut clusters.

Make sure to celebrate your day with the people you love and enjoy that same holiday spirit.

Another Free Gift!

Today I ordered and picked up free 8x10 photos. Both my husband and I ordered 8x10s from two different sites giving away the prints, so if you are doing the math.....we got a total of four 8x10s for free this afternoon.

Walgreens.com and Snapfish.com are giving away free 8x10 prints today and tomorrow, no strings attached. You don't have to order anything else or pay anything. This is just another way to save money this Christmas or just another way to get something free!

Each site is giving away one 8x10 per e-mail address. You just upload a photo on each site, place your order, and pick-up your two 8x10s at your nearest Walgreens. We have a Walgreens about a mile from our house so getting these free photos was super easy today. (Note: if you don't live near a walgreens, then this offer might not be for you:) Simply go to their website listed here and follow their simple directions.


http://photo.walgreens.com/storepage/storePageId=Print+Offer?ban=flh_photo_free_8x10

www.snapfish.com

I listed the directions below as well:

• Get one Free 8x10 Print at Walgreens.com, coupon code: FREEGIFT This offer is also only valid on Friday & Saturday (Dec. 19 & 20). You can pick-up your photo on any day (after it is ready), but you must order it on Friday or Saturday. You will enter the code, then see the payment screen (select "Pay In-Store"). Next you will see that the coupon code deducts the $2.99 to make your total in-store pickup order $0.00.


• Get a second Free 8x10 Print from Snapfish.com when you pick up at Walgreens, coupon code: WALFREE This time this Walgreens photo freebie comes from Snapfish and you must place your order at Snapfish. This offer is only valid on Friday & Saturday (Dec. 19 & 20). You can pick-up your photo on any day (after it is ready), but you must order it on Friday or Saturday. Also remember that you must select Walgreens as your pick-up location.
  

You can also use photo frames you already have (like we are) or pick-up some cheap ones and give your photos as gifts. Have a wonderful Friday!

Free C.D. of "Oprah's Holiday Hits 2008"

We love to dance to our house. Well, mostly my oldest loves to dance and we'll join in every now and then. Tonight we had a little dance party to the Oprah's Holiday Hits 2008 C.D.

The best part is the C.D. is it's free to anyone. It is part of Oprah's Have a Thrifty Holiday Show I watched today. Simply go to the link below and download the songs. You can even download and print a color C.D. cover and label. But her offer only lasts for 48 hours from the time her show aired today. So, after Saturday afternoon, you won't be able to download them free. And yes, I have a couple relatives that I'll see over Christmas that don't watch Oprah and guess what they get as a part of their gift.....this C.D....just another way I'm saving some money this year. We listened to the album twice tonight and it definitely made our house feel like Christmas!

Here is a list of the free holiday songs you can download off her site:

• Faith Hill, "Joy to the World" from the album Joy to the World


• Tony Bennett, "I'll be Home for Christmas" from the album A Swingin' Christmas


• Il Divo, "O Holy Night" from the album The Christmas Collection


• Josh Groban, "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" from the album Noel


• Brian McKnight, "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" from the album I'll Be Home for Christmas


• Amy Grant, "O Come All Ye Faithful" from the album The Christmas Collection


• Harry Connick Jr., "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" from the album What a Night! A Christmas Album


• Aretha Franklin, "Silent Night" from the album This Christmas

http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20081118_tows_holiday/2

Christmas Cards

It has apparently become a tradition at our home, like many others homes, to send a yearly Christmas card, usually consisting of some current photo of our family and the boys. This year it seemed difficult for us to make out our Christmas card list.

Mostly because we had decided that we were only going to send about 40 cards out this year. We could easily send about a 100 out each year but we thought we'd try to limit it this year to close family and friends instead of "everyone we know under the sun that might want a Christmas card of us".

That might sound a little harsh....but to my defense, we had to make/buy about 15 gifts this Christmas. Add to that all the other Christmas parties we had to bring gifts for, I made fudge/cookies in little Christmas containers for people at my work/friends, we're cooking over Christmas, etc, etc......basically it started to add up. So we decided to order 40 cards to save a few bucks and then make the list.

Needless to say that was a bad idea. Yes, we saved about $60 on more cards and stamps sending only 40. However, when we made our list over the past couple days, it is amazing how long the list can get after listing the 15 family members from both sides! What! Only 25 more we can send! This is about the time I starting regretting only ordering 40.

After about 1/2 hour of listing close friends, our list came to 42. I think you know where this is headed.....

We had to cut 2 people. We tried to pick 2 of our close friends that wouldn't really care if they got a card. Ironically, those 2 were mostly Mark's single guy friends who don't really think Christmas cards are cool.

Around 4:30 p.m. yesterday the 40 Christmas cards from the Dickinson home were stamped and mailed to various states and homes. Through this Christmas card dilemma, I learned three things.....

• Make the Christmas card list before you order your cards, especially if you are limiting the number you are sending out that year
• Don't limit the number of Christmas cards you send out, it is just too hard to cut people from the Christmas card list
• If you do cut people from your list, remind them that you love them and are silly for not sending them a card the next time you see them

Questions...

I was asked where I bought the advent calendar and the "santa" mailbox/stationary from yesterday's post. You can get the advent calendar at several bookstores. The one we bought is based off the book Olive, the other Reindeer. Barnes & Noble has the calendar we bought (or at least they did a couple weeks ago).

The santa mailbox/stationary is from Hallmark. The mailbox came with all the stationary/stamp stickers/red pencil/other christmas stickers.

Last night, my husband and I had his work Christmas party he had for all his RAs and workstudy students. We had a white elephant exchange and lots of food. My husband and his co-worker made some ice cream punch (like the kind at baby showers). When I asked him where he got the recipe, he said, "From the cashier lady at walmart". I thought it was pretty funny. I was hesitant to try it but I ended up getting a glass. Hands down it was the best punch I've had in awhile! Just goes to show that my husband combined with the walmart lady's advice makes a great drink.

Fun for the boys

Here are two Christmas traditions we started with the boys just for fun. First, is an advent calendar. My oldest likes to flip the tab of whatever day it is and see what is underneath. Inside each tab is a item you can place in the "Christmas town" in the middle. It is based off the Olive, the other Reindeer book. He really likes counting down the days and it helps him also practice reading his numbers.

The second thing we've done this year is write letters to Santa. (Now since I know I'll get this question later.....We don't make Christmas about Santa; however, we do let the boys do fun Christmas activities during the holidays)

My oldest sits down at night and writes a letter to Santa. He basically colors the stationary and writes some letters of the alphabet in random order:) He puts it in the Santa Claus envelopes and puts a sticker stamp on the front. Before bedtime, he puts his letter in the Santa mailbox. Then in the morning, he goes to the mailbox and opens it up to find a postcard from "santa" with his name on it with stickers and such. It is so fun to see his eyes light up when he gets a piece of mail each morning in his santa mailbox. It is also fun as the parents to write your child a postcard every night after he goes to sleep and slip it in the box for him:) We have enough stationary/postcards/stamp stickers to do this every night till Christmas. The excitement on his face is priceless in the mornings. Today he has been carrying his postcard from "santa".....aka mom and dad....around all day.

The Week Before Christmas

I don't know about you, but I'm wrapping up my Christmas shopping, finishing my handmade Christmas gifts, making packing lists for next week, cleaning for company coming over for Christmas, and the list goes on and on......

I enjoy all those things listed above except for the cleaning part, so I can't promise the place will be spotless come Christmas day, but I'll try:) We are looking forward to getting all our holiday stuff done this week and preparing for the Christmas fun next week. It is just an exciting time of year!

Something happened yesterday that I found very strange that I felt like sharing. I saw a person at church that doesn't seem to like me that much. Now, I know what you are thinking....not everybody can like everybody. I started talking to them mostly because I thought it was the nice thing to do. We chatted about random stuff and then they said something like, "Yeah, I read your blog". "Really....you do?" I thought. I guess it caught me off guard. If someone acts like they don't like me, then why would they read my blog. My blog is me, it is all about things I like, I do, I say. So I started thinking.....

Why would someone who doesn't like me read my blog? Is it because my blog is just that great? NO WAY! That can't be it! Is it because they are interested in what I do? Maybe... Is it because they want to know where I go or what I do? I'm not sure...

My husband says it is because some people just want to keep tabs on everyone else. He says that some people just want to make sure they know what we are doing even if they don't like us.

I guess I don't really know the answer and in the end, it doesn't really matter. I convinced myself yesterday that this is the answer: That maybe that person from church really does like me and just isn't good at acting like it. Maybe they are my friend and read my blog because they like what I do. Whatever the reason they come here to our blog, I'm glad to have them! I welcome anyone and everyone to read our posts and hopefully something we say or do will help them look at life in a beautiful way .

Holiday Hustle and Bustle

Yesterday we took the kids out shopping and to enjoy the beautiful weather. We got up and decided to take a little trip out of town. It was 56 degrees outside so we were pretty excited to just throw on some sweaters and go. I intended to do some shopping but we spent awhile at the outdoor mall in the sunshine taking pictures and wasting time....so not much shopping got done. It was pretty much the perfect day. I do have two stories from the weekend that I wanted to share.......

• On our way out of town yesterday we went through the drive-thru at Starbucks. I got their Oatmeal with dried fruit which is delicious but that is a different story. We ordered our drinks/breakfast/snacks for the kids and drove up to the window. I was getting the money out when the Starbucks drive-thru lady says, "You order is paid for. The lady two cars in front of you paid for the three cars behind her, so it's taken care of". "What? That really just happened?", I thought. I have always heard of people doing things like that on tv or to other people, but never to us. The Starbucks people said she didn't give a name, she just said, "Happy Holidays". See, even in this crazed season where everyone seems to be on edge at times, there are still random acts of kindness. I have to say, I thought about that moment all day. Her act of graciousness reminded me that there is good all around us if you are willing to be open to it.
• At our church small group meeting tonight that we have weekly, we talked about family memories around the holidays. Our group leader related it to how God is a relational God. Anyway, everyone was sharing stories about what their family does every year for the holidays and what traditions they had growing up with and still have. I thought about my own family and our yearly Christmas. My family goes down to Missouri every year to my Grandma's house. It is always chaos and someone is always upset at someone else in the family, my Grandma complains about putting up a tree every year, my mom gets overwhelmed by the drama usually, and my dad constantly asks what board game we are going to play. It is what Mark and I call "wonderful chaos". Even though it is a crazy trip every year, Mark and I can't imagine not going. We plan weeks ahead of time what we'll pack and where we'll go and who we'll see. It reminds me that family is family. We're blessed to have a family that no matter what the drama, no matter who is arguing, no matter what is happening in people's lives....we get together....every year. Even if your family has drama, it is your family, and the holidays for us are a time to remember to celebrate with them.

A sigh of Relief...

This week was my last week of teaching classes this college semester......so now I'm breathing a sigh of relief.......plus.....

• I already made up all 4 of the finals I'm giving next week
• I have all of my students grades figured so far (I have around 90+ college students in my classes)
• I put out the last issue for the fall semester of the college paper this week
• I have everything graded from the semester except for their final papers

So now I get to spend the whole weekend with my family relaxing, a little shopping, catching up on all my pictures I want to take, doing some baking, going to a Christmas show, and just enjoy being with my family and friends.....

After I give my four finals next week, I have a little over 3 weeks of holiday vacation......

Celebrate with me today by spreading a little holiday cheer!

Look over the previous months in your life and see what you

have accomplished. Spend some time celebrating the goals

you've reached and what that means to you.

Jungle Paradise Preschool (1st year) Graduation

(These photos aren't that great but I'm blaming it on the very bad lighting.....)

Our almost 3 year old with his "1st year graduation certificate"

Group Photo; each preschooler gets their own teacher! His teacher's name was Shelby. They did a song for all the parents and grandparents.

One of the preschool rooms (all the walls are decorated with jungle things)
His teacher Shelby; She had just been in a car accident the week before and was pretty scratched up, but she is a trooper and was there anyway!

They made each preschooler their own scrapbook of all the activities and things they did over the past months. He slept with it Tuesday night because he loves preschool so much. They also got a big box of all their activities they had done, a Christmas ornament, and they made them t-shirts also (see above picture of t-shirt)


He is signed up for the next two years at this preschool and we are registering our youngest for 2 years from now since there is already a waiting list.....man, preschool is serious:)

A little bio....

Before I post about my oldest "1st year at preschool graduation" day, I thought I'd give you a little bio of our family.

My husband and I have been married for 4 1/2 years. He is almost 30....I am not. We have an almost 3 year old boy and a 1 year old boy. If you couldn't tell from previous posts, they are the light of our lives.

We live in a small town in the middle of Nebraska about 1/2 a mile from my parents and about 20 minutes from my brother/his family. I teach English courses part-time (well...3/4th time) at a religious college that I love. My husband works at the same college. He is in charge of housing and Intramural athletics, if you know him then you know he loves, loves, loves his job.

We are very close to my family and try to make to see other relatives whenever we can. We are members of a church that we love and we try to stay active with our friends.

I'm not the type to just rattle off things about our family. I think you can tell more about people by what kind of things they say/write or in this case, what things I post.

I hope you visit our blog often for not only what is happening in our family, but various beautiful things in life we write about. I also hope you look for the beautiful things in your own life everyday.

(Note: we don't use our full names or really personal info on our blog for privacy since we have people from all over the country reading our blog....see map feature I added that shows where visitors of our site live)

Things to Do before Tuesday, December 9th

My almost 3 year old is graduating from Jungle Paradise Preschool tomorrow, December 9th. We enrolled him as kind of an "intro to preschool program" to prepare him for next year. He and the other preschoolers will be putting on a little song for all the parents/grandparents. Here is the to-do list from tonight....

• Give him a haircut
• Practice with him his song for the preschool graduation performance
• Get a video recorder
• Lay out his new outfit for graduation day
• Bake his preschool teacher Christmas turtle cookie bars as a "Thank-you for being great" gift
• Find a cute box for the cookie bars
• Find batteries for the camera
• Make a reminder call to my parents where they need to meet us for the performance
• Put the boys to bed early since we have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow

As of right now, my list is done......Pictures of his special day will come tomorrow:)

Annual Shopping Trip

When my Grandma first told me about Kohl's 5 years ago and how great it was, I made a joke about the store and never really thought about it. Then, on a random weekend during the holiday season in 2005, we went into Kohl's. Mostly because I was pregnant and spent most weekends walking around malls and stores that December to increase my circulation....


Anyway....we went in and happened to come upon a sale of a lifetime. There were signs everywhere for 50-75% off. I asked the manager at the time if the store was always 50-70% off, she told me most Kohl's do a huge sale the first weekend of December. She said that they usually always have something 1/2 off throughout the year, but on these weekends, they will put items on sale for 50-75% off that never goes on sale any other time.


I seemed sceptical seeing as they always seemed to have something on sale so what made this weekend so different. I quickly realized while we went through the store, that people were grabbing things left and right. We asked a couple people about it that were there, and they all mostly said, "Some of these things never go on sale here, so this is the weekend to buy". Another manager told us that most people think the good deals are during Black Friday, but a lot of their stores put their best sales on the weekend after thanksgiving (1st weekend in December) to get people to keep shopping.


Needless to say, we came out of the store with hard to pass up deals. We gave pearl earrings to the mothers in the family and got them at 75% off, meaning we spent $15 per earring set! We picked up that weekend about $500 worth in gifts at the regular price paying only about $125.


So...every year since during the 1st weekend in December, we pack up and go shopping. This year, my parents gave us our Christmas money early to shop with since they know the deals we find.


We went on Friday night so that we could hit the specials before the Saturday rush. My husband found several things. I found matching Carter Christmas pajama sets for the boys for 75 % off:) There were only two sizes left in the green ones, a 4T and 2T. I grabbed them and tried them on the boys and....they fit perfectly!






I got a little excited because one of the brands I really love there is SimplyVera by Vera Wang. Her clothes often range from $40-over $100 per item, so when I saw the 65% off signs above her section, it made my night.



After a couple hours shopping......awhile longer in the "family dressing" room with me, my husband, our two boys, our cart, and our stroller......we headed to the check-out....another successful annual shopping trip.

I leave you with a piece called "What I learned in the Family Dressing Room at Kohl's".

What I Learned in the Family Dressing Room at Kohl's.....

• That family dressing room doesn't really mean that you can fit your whole family in it
• That one year olds can and will climb under the dressing room walls into other dressing rooms
• That almost three year olds don't really understand the concept of "trying things on"
• That it is really easy with 4 people to get the "I want to buy this" pile mixed up with the "I don't want to buy this" pile
• That you shouldn't ask your husband if something looks cute on while he is also trying things on....men can't do all that at once

My love of felt....

These handmade Felt Baby Shoes are just precious. I'm attempting to make a couple; however, it is my first time trying these so we'll see....



They may seem difficult at first but all you really need is a template, which can be found here:



http://images.marthastewart.com/images/content/web/pdfs/pdf2/feltbabyshoes.pdf

• Use our felt baby shoes templates. Pin templates to wool felt; cut out. To make the heel seam, which shapes the top part of the slipper, fold the upper piece in half, and stitch along the straight edge.
  


• Pin the top of shoe to the sole. Sew the pieces together. Turn inside out, hiding the seams. Glue rickrack on the outside or inside rim of the instep, or hole punch a pattern. Sew a button or snap on one strap; make a button slit or sew on the other piece of the snap on the opposite strap. Attach a tiny ribbon bow to the top of each shoe, if desired.
  

I think they are adorable! I'm hoping to give a few out to some of my friends that are expecting. Have a good weekend!

I was featured.....

Today I was featured on a friend's website, www.heavenlyhomemakers.com/blog

She highlighted some of my handmade items I'm making this year for the holiday season! Thanks Laura for spreading the word about my blog, I've had over 30 new hits today!

Scholastic Warehouse Book Sale

What parent doesn't love looking at their child's scholastic book club flyer? If you don't know what I mean, just wait....it's the best! I had a wonderful opportunity to go to the Scholastic Warehouse Sale today. The Scholastic Warehouse Sales are exclusively for school employees, school district personnel, homeschoolers, and Book Fair chairpeople. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy browsing at Barnes and Noble once and awhile, but I just can't get over the added benefits of a good warehouse sale. I even enjoy ordering from the Scholastic Book Club at the College I teach at, but these yearly warehouse sales have HUGE discounts that the regular book orders don't have. Most Scholastic monthly orders are about 25% off or so usually, but at this sale....books were 50%-80% off.



As I walked into the doors of the warehouse, my eyes lit up! I walked around grabbing books left and right. The week long sale started this morning and only three hours into it, certain books were already almost gone! Most the best sellers at places like B&N I was able to get at such cheap prices, there is just really nothing like it.


Mark and I read about 8 books to our almost 3 year old every night and I truly believe that every child should have a library of their own. I started my oldest a library when he was born and it is growing and growing. It is such an investment in his future.

I think this afternoon was a success, I picked up around 45 books. I added them up when I got back home and the retail price on the back covers totaled $400. With the coupon I received, using our tax exempt card, and getting the 50-80% off......I got them for a total of $150......yeah, I'd say it was a success.

I leave you with a description of our family when it comes to reading.....

We've been giving our almost 3 year old every opportunity we can think of to read. We decided a long time ago to exchange tv or books. We keep a stack of books by every bed and couch in our home. We read aloud to him a handful of books every afternoon before naptime and every night before bed. We've been doing this for way over a year. Over the past several months/weeks, he has fallen in love with reading with us and books. If you ask him to choose between TV and reading books, he will pick books every time hands down. Last week I asked him if he wanted to watch cartoons or read in his room, he picked reading in his room. I really do believe that if you stick with something, you will reap the awards! He rarely watches television for his age (30-45 minutes a day) which has been a lot of hard work to stick with over the last year but it definitely worth it. I don't have to fight with him about the television, he points out the letters of the alphabet, and he is able to go to sleep within minutes for his nap and go to sleep within minutes at night (since he isn't over stimulated, I think). I really do believe that there is power in turning the tv off and grabbing some books to fill our children's minds with creativity and learning.

This is Why....

A while back I started planning a getaway trip for my husband.....he is turning 30 in Feb. This is the account of how that plan worked out........I promise you there is a point to me telling you this at the end.......

• Summer 2008 I decide to surprise my husband, Mark, with a trip for his 30th birthday


• Later on during Summer 2008 I realize that I am not 30 and therefore have no idea where someone turning 30 would like to go; therefore I ask him about places he would like to visit


• Almost end of Summer 2008 With his suggestions, I narrow it down to a handful of places that aren't too far away due to having an almost 3 year old and a 1 year old


• Fall 2008 I begin looking into Hawaii more and decide that the islands are probably a good place to celebrate a new chapter of someone's life


• Later on during Fall 2008 I just can't hold it in any longer and at a weak moment I tell Mark what I'm planning but don't really mention that I think Hawaii is the way to go


• November 2008 I start to narrow down the travel dates and pick place we'll stay, etc.


• Later during November 2008 I start to get a little sad about leaving my 2 boys for 5-6 days. I remind myself that they would be in good hands with granny/grandpa but I already know I will miss them terribly.


• Thanksgiving 2008 I decide to talk to Mark about the whole thing seeing as it is his birthday and while a surprise would be fun, taking a trip that we both planned would be even better. We discuss Hawaii and travel times and the boys. He says to me as serious as can be, "I don't think I could leave the boys for that long"..........

And that is why.............

That is why I married this man,

That is why I knew that we were perfect for each other

That is why I choose to have kids with him

That is why I sleep well at night

knowing my boys' father adores our children,

That is why I think he is beautiful.

After an emotional little conversation about how much we love our boys and how spending a week anywhere in the world wouldn't mean as much unless it was with them, we changed our travel plans. I fell in love with him even more when he said that statement above. He reminded me that it just isn't about us anymore, but about these two perfect creatures that God has placed in our home. For us, a vacation alone just doesn't sound like a vacation unless the loves of our life are right there next to us. Hawaii will still be Hawaii in another 6 months when we can go all together as a family if we choose, but for now, it will have to wait.

So..........we are now planning on spending 4 days or so in none other than...........Vegas. It is close enough to drive back in case something happens and far enough away to still feel like a trip to celebrate his 30th.

Take a second today and remind yourself why you surround yourself with the people around you, why you picked those people to spend your life with. A spouse, a friend, relative, or just someone that is beautiful to you.

My Website Dream

I'll get back to more handmade gifts tomorrow, for today I just had to share my favorite blog/website right now. Some of you are probably familiar with it already.
It is www.thepioneerwoman.com This is the kind of site I want to have someday.

Here is her bio information that I find myself reading again sometimes because I simply love this woman. She is pretty well known; on her last blog giveaway, she had almost 12,0000 entries.

Howdy. I’m Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman. Welcome to my frontier!
I’m a thirty-something ranch wife, mother of four, moderately-agoraphobic middle child who grew up on a golf course in the city. I attended college in Los Angeles and wore black pumps to work every day. I ate sushi and treated myself to pedicures on a semi-regular basis. I even kissed James Garner in an elevator once. Then, on a brief trip to my hometown, I met and fell in love with a rugged cattle rancher. Now I live in the middle of nowhere on a working cattle ranch. My days are spent wrangling children, chipping dried manure from boots, washing jeans, and frying calf nuts. I have no idea how I got here…but you know what? I love it. Don’t tell anyone.
I hope you enjoy my website, ThePioneerWoman.com. Here, I write about my decade-long transition from spoiled city girl to domestic country wife. I post photos of cows, horses, and my four weird children, and frequently include shots of cowboys wearing chaps. In my Photography section, I include Photography and Photoshop tutorials. In my Cooking section, I post step-by-step photos of all the cowboy-friendly dishes I’ve taught myself to cook through the years, and in Home & Garden, I chronicle the start-to-finish remodeling project of an old guest house on our ranch. In my spare time, I also manage to write, take pictures of nature, and compose ridiculous poetry in an effort to chronicle this bizarre, beautiful, and often hilarious journey I’m on.

What I like the best about her site is the photography advice she and her contributors give in easy to understand instructions. Her pictures are beautiful and she is self taught, and they definitely inspire me to keep on learning about photography (my most enjoyable hobby). She is the kind of lady you want to take a long walk with and learn about life. Whenever I read her entries and look at her photos, I think we are destined to be friends.......well, maybe some day.

Okay, enough about my favorite blog site! Take a peek for yourself.

I hope someone inspires you today to do something new, take a chance, learn something, and live the life you're dreaming of.

A little more expensive....

This is probably the hand made gift that will cost me the most this year; however, I was really drawn to them and have convinced myself that they're worth it. They are Suede Pillows.

You need about a 1/2 yard of fabric, 1/2 yard contrasting color fabric, and about an 18-inch pillow.

• Cut one 19-inch square and two 19-by-12-inch rectangles. Lay rectangles on square so they overlap a few inches in the middle (this will be the opening to insert the pillow). Pin all the way around; sew with a 1/2-inch seam allowance.
• Cut away some seam allowance by snipping diagonally across each corner. Turn right side out; insert pillow through opening. For the contrasting sleeve, cut a 19-inch square (for a 1/4 sleeve, cut a 19-by-14-inch rectangle).
• Fold in half end to end, and sew along ends and fold (snip corners as before). Turn right side out; slip over pillow.

I'll close with a story from my Cyber Monday. I had picked out some clothes for my almost 3 year old last week at gap.com because I knew they would go on sale today, Cyber Monday. Since I had already picked them all out and saved the order in my "cart" on gap.com, I knew all I needed to do was log-in and pay quickly during between classes.

I first time I type in gap.com this morning, a screen pops up that says "due to website construction, check back later". So I wait till my lunch break and try again. I get onto the site this time and fill out all my shipping/payment info. I click "submit order" and the site doesn't do anything except say "error". I click it again and it says processing, but then says error. I start to stress out thinking that it has now charged my debit card twice which would just be annoying to have to call the bank. I log onto my bank account and there hasn't been a transaction from gap.

Sooooo.....I call gap customer service to make sure I wasn't charged yet since I didn't get to enter my "free shipping" code. They tell me their site has been broken most the day......hmmmm....that doesn't help. They transfer me to a sales lady who has to manually type in the 12 digit number to each of the 9 items while waiting for her computer to update....this takes about 30 minutes.

Finally, after about a hour of simply trying to order my son some Christmas clothes, I finally get a confirmation number and my package is on it's way!

Needless to say, it seemed like a lot of work but this Wednesday, I'll get my son's first Christmas presents of the season! I guess it was worth it:)

Velvet-Ribbon Belts

I don't know about you, but if I see another black leather belt I'm going to get sick. Okay, maybe not that extreme; however, I'm always looking for ways to look fresh and new, instead of same old:)

These Velvet-Ribbon Belts are fairly inexpensive and you can tailor them to fit anyone. I'm making a couple for myself and giving a few as gifts. Add a luxurious touch to any winter outfit with a belt of velvet ribbon. As always, the added bonus is you can pick your fabric made of natural fibers and not mostly synthetic fabrics, how great!

• Cut 2 1/2 yards of natural-fiber velvet ribbon.
• Slip two D rings slightly wider than the ribbon onto one end, and fold both ends of the ribbon in toward the midpoint, fuzzy side out, keeping the D rings at one folded end.
• Remove backing from a 1 1/4-yard piece of iron-on fuse tape, and sandwich it between the layers; place scrap velvet facedown on top, and iron on the cotton setting to fuse the layers.

Blogging for the coming week includes: Look for more highlights of handmade gifts on my blog throughout the week till Wed. Thursday, I'll be featuring the children's book warehouse sale I'm attending. Friday, I'll be describing our upcoming annual weekend shopping trip with tips on the sales and advice on "What to Never buy on Sale". And sometime through out the week, I'll be giving a quick "get to know" bio of our family and life here in Nebraska.

A big Thank-you to the over 100 people who have visited our blog over the past week!

Handmade Christmas Sneak-Peek......

A Sneak-Peek of tomorrow's Handmade Christmas.......

Take a moment....

If you know anything about me, you know I try to educate myself on this world. People in different countries are still neighbors, and tragedy can not be ignored.

Take a moment to learn something about where you live, what kind of world your children will grow up to know. We can not be so naive to think what happens to others around us does not matter.

Have terrorists attacks happened before in Mumbai, India; absolutely. Have there been at least 6 of these attacks in the last few months; yes. Does that make it less tragic and not worth a moment of thought, not at all.

Learn something today about our world and do what you can this day to make it better......

Thankfully Simplify

Did you know that the first Thanksgiving took place in December 1621, when the Pilgrims held a three-day feast in Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts to celebrate their bountiful harvest?


Did you know that Thanksgiving didn't become an official national holiday until more than 200 years later, when in 1863 President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday of November a national day of thanksgiving.

Did you know that Black Friday -- the day after Thanksgiving, which is widely touted as the biggest Christmas shopping day in America -- is actually not the biggest shopping day? In fact, the Saturday before Christmas has historically been the largest volume shopping day. Black Thursday ranks anywhere from second to fifth in Christmas shopping days.

I encourage everyone to spend their holiday with the people you love and that love you; remembering that there is a reason we celebrate this day.

This Friday I'll be posting some of my Christmas Gifts I'm making. There a little more modern and fun than what most think of when they hear "handmade Christmas gifts". Every year that I make my gifts by hand, everyone loves them. Hopefully this year will be the same. It's just another way to simplify life without all the of hassle the mall, See ya on Friday!

(note: I do go to the mall frequently....so no judgement)

Beauty, Simplicity, and Joy

I grew up thinking that to look good, you couldn't be sweaty, have a face bare w/o much makeup, no-one looked good in a t-shirt, and you had to have shining hair.

That is until my husband....

He fell more in love with me after I gave birth to our sons (lots of sweating);

he loves my freckles...even the ones on my lip (which means I can't cover them up with makeup);

he says there is nothing better than me in any kind of shirt;

and he likes running his fingers through my hair whether shiny or not.

And while I still think some of those things I first mentioned can make you look pretty at times, I've come to understand the simple beauty that is a mother and her son; the joy that comes from an afternoon of simply playing with a child, and to him, bare skin with freckles is beautiful.

Our Love of Wooden Educational Toys

We love toys that broaden kid's minds, excite creativity, and encourage new thoughts. Some toys can do that more than others. We started buying Melissa and Doug toys about a year ago and now own too many of them to count. Below are some of the ones we have as well as a brief description of the founders of "Melissa and Doug" toys. An added benefit is that they carry several wooden toys that encourage a non-plastic environment, which makes me love them even more.

Melissa and Doug's story:

Twenty years ago, we started our company in the garage of the home where Doug grew up — we had to be careful not to disturb Doug's parents who were still living there! Thanks to your support, we've been able to move into a real office down the road, a building that actually has separate ladies and men's bathrooms! Our philosophy has remained the same over the years–to make each and every customer a happy and permanent member of the Melissa & Doug family, while offering products with tremendous value, quality and design. We've always welcomed customer suggestions, and we continually strive to make improvements to our products. We're honored by the faith you place in us and view it as our responsibility to continue to earn your trust in the years to come!

http://www.melissaanddoug.com/

Perfection

This moment is one I dare not to forget,

one of those afternoons where I lay on my bed,

my two boys miraculously both napping at the same time,

I lay right next to both of them

not caring what some mothers say about co-sleeping

while the trees out my window are rustling in the wind.

This moment is just another reason why I love being a mother.

This moment allows me to get through the tough times.

This is a moment of perfection.