Christmas decor

..Have I ever mentioned how much I love this time of year when it comes to decorating?! It's my absolute favorite! I wish I could keep my Christms decor up year round, ha!

I love making crafty things, or at least attempting. I invision all these ideas then I go to do some and fail. But my brain never stops thinking, I've always got a project that I'm working on or planning to start(when daddy is home to release me from my motherly duties!)

So, here are a couple things I've made this holiday season...



Snazzy wreath that was kind of time consuming and annoying! This took about 30 minutes to make...I bought a stick wreath in the clearance section from the Fall decor, 100ish Christmas ornaments, wooden letter, paint, ribbon, and LOTS of hot glue sticks!!
Basically all I did was glue these ornaments to fill the wreath, painted my wooden letter, and then hung it up with some ribbon! Waala!!






Handmade snowglobe, it seriously took me about 10 miuntes to make, if that!
Mason jars are my favorite thing, I love decorating with them and I could probably write a post with 101 different ideas to use with them! :P
Anyways, for this I just went outside and sniped some branches off our pine tree, I had some of the red berries from another project, the snow is kosher salt, and Piper broke a pearl necklace so I had no need for it anymore, so instead of just throwing it away...I wrapped it around the jar!

Five Question Friday!

..Happy Friday everyone! As most people look forward to Friday's, I don't!
JJ works overtime from 6am-10pm and I absolutely hate it, hate it that we don't get to spend it as a family, hate it that I don't get a break from the kids, and hate it that JJ is overworking himself. Ughhhh...the money is nice, especially around the holidays, but that's it...after Christmas I'm telling him to cut back and relax...I'll pinch pennies if we have to! :P

Alright, here are the questions:


1. What is your favorite Christmas cookie? Peanut Butter Blossoms...ahhhh, yummmmm!!!!! :D

2. What's your favorite holiday movie & why? I love me some Christmas movies...that's all we watch this time of year..speaking of, I'm watching one right now on Lifetime as I'm on here...:P
But, umm...my favorite one...would probably be "The Santa Claus"...you know, the one with Tim Allen! I just love that one for some reason..always watched it as a kid...it's a good family movie!

3. Is there a gift that you bought for your kids that you wish you hadn't after they opened it? Uhhhhhh, all those small little pieces...polly pockets, littlest petshop, Barbie accessories...I HATE all that stuff and will no longer buy it, especially now with the baby, I'm not risking the older girls leaving around all those little pieces for Maisy to get ahold of...:/


4. What is the messiest room in your house right at this moment? hahahaha, oh Lordy...I have to admit, the entire house has been neglected in the cleaning department...I've just been soooo busy with appointments, Christmas shopping, crafting, baking/cooking, being a mom, and simply just being lazy, ha!
But I would say the girls' bedroom is by far the messiest..they hate to clean, and JJ and I are done cleaning up after them...so you could imagine the toys and clutter in there!


5. What is the furthest you have driven for the holidays? Ummm...I don't think we've ever really drove further then 15 miles away...and that's what we do every Christmas Eve...we drive about 15 minutes out of town to granny's house and that's about it!
Our holidays are pretty stress free!



I hope you all enjoy your weekend!!! :D

Five Question Friday!

...So, I'm a little late on this one, it's Saturday and I TOTALLY spaced off yesterday to do this, errrr! How did that happen?! Busy mom of 3 maybe?! IDK..just guessing! :P

Alright, here's the questions:


1. What is your favorite Christmas decoration in your house? Ummmm, well I'm currently making a homemade wreath which could very well be my favorite, depending on how it turns out!! :P
I will post some pix of some of the things I've been crafting up this holiday season!


2. Do you finish your Christmas shopping early or are you a last minute type? We are usually always late shoppers, shopping well into Christmas Eve most years BUT this year we are all done, except one more person and then of course some more pressies for the girls...it kinda sux having to buy them pressies from us plus some from Santa, so we end up having to get them like 15 presents each! :/


3. When do you turn on your heat? We waited so long this year, it didn't get too cold in our house so we didn't turn it on til mid November!


4. Do you ever wish your blog was private? yes, ALL the time! I like to keep it personal for friends and family and then of course my loyal readers BUT sometimes it bothers me that I have nosey visitors! :P


5. Do you put your deodorant on before of after you put on your shirt? AFTER! My shirts are always a mess when I put deordorant on first, sheesh! :P


Well, I hope you all enjoy your weekend, we're in for a big snowstorm 2nite...I like these nights, stay in and cozy up with the fam! :D

Thanksgiving.

Hope everyone had a wonderful and yummy Thanksgiving!
We enjoyed ours with family this year, although it felt a little rushed with us having to leave early at the two place we went to to be able to get in line for our Black Friday shopping but we did get some amazing deals so it was worth it in a sense! :P

Just wanted to post some pix of my girls on Thanksigiving in their cute little turkey shirts I made for them...unfortunately I don't think I took a picture of all 3 of them together!

(Tay & Pipey)
(Auntie Tessa and Maisy)


(my grandma, Maisy, & I)

Five Question Friday!

...Happy Friday y'all!!

It's been so long since I've done Five Question Friday...I'm so excited to do so! :P
Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving, we most definitely did!

Alright, here's the questions:



1. Is there a special dish you prepare that you are famous for? Well, I hate to toot my own horn, but there's a few things, ha! I'm the cook in the family.
JJ tells me "you know you're getting old when you can cook us good meals!" I don't know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult..LOL!
Anyways, the thing that people seem to like the most of mine is either my chili or goulash.


2. Are you (did you) go Black Friday shopping? We did go shopping last night/this morning....it was chaotic to say the least...we're not one of those crazy, dramatic shoppers, but there were such good deals out today that we just HAD to!
We made it through all the chaoas without any marks or bruises...which by the way, I just read our newspaper this morning and there was a shoot out last night in a neighboring town...people just get so competitive and crazy with this Black Friday stuff...it's insane!
But out of the 21 people we have to buy for this year, we're all done except 1 person...and it's not even Decemeber...we've NEVER EVER done this good for being prepared and ready for anything...such a good feeling of relief!!!
It's most definitely going to be our best Christmas...I'm sooooo excited this year!


3. What are your strangest holiday traditions? Hmmmm...I can't say that we have any strange traditions for the holidays..really, there's nothing!


4. Pecan or pumpkin pie? (She actually asked "Apple or pumpkin?" I just T-giving'ed it!)Uck, neither. I hate pumpkin anything...although I love pumpkin spice latte's and candles that's it. Pumpkin pie makes me gag..ewwwwwwwww!


5. When will you put up your Christmas tree? We always do it the weekend after Thanksgiving, so we'll put all our Christmas decor up on Sunday...yayyyy!
I've still got my Halloween stuff up....seriously slacking on that one! ha!

Well, there you have it...link up and do some Friday questions yourself!!!

..Family of 5.

...Wow, a lot has happened in the last few months! Just crazy exciting things!!!!
It's gonna take a couple posts to catch y'all up..so I'll start this one with our most exciting news....we welcomed our third baby girl in September!!!!

Maisy Monroe was born September 5th, 2011 @ 3:32pm. (Labor Day)
She was a big healthy girl weighing in at 8lbs. 10oz. and 21 1/2 inches long.
Dark hair and blue eyes...she's a beaut! ;)

Labor & delivery went pretty good, very fast...so fast I barely remember things, ha!
I labored for about 5 hours total..completely natural labor with no pain medication, I always wonder why I do that, but then afterwards I'm happy and proud that I was able to do so...pain medication or not, it's a lot of hard painful work for a woman to labor and birth a baby, so I'm not criticizing the need for pain relief, I just choose not to get it for my own personal beliefs and reasoning's.

She's been such a good and easy baby thus far...she's a FANTASTIC sleeper, I can't complain at all!! And only being 2 1/2 months old she's already on her own little schedule, I've never had a baby on a schedule this early, but I love it...it makes things sooooo much easier around here with 2 other kids to have to care for!

She's really developed quite the personality already...such a happy baby!!!
Her favorite things are finger chewing, boobies, watching her sissies, blankies, watching TV, listening to daddy sing, picture books, laying on mama, talking to her toys, and tummy time.

Maisy has brought sooooooo much love and joy to our family, she's been a great addition, we're all so in love with her! <3

baby update.

(I look crabby in this picture, which I am...JJ couldn't figure out my camera and then dropped it, so I was getting frustrated!)
...Hey all!
Yes, I'm still alive! And still very pregnant! 39 weeks now, baby is due just about any day now..that doesn't necessarily mean that she wants to make her debut though! I just would have thought with it being my 3rd baby, she'd be here by now! Well, I guess she's still putting on her final touches to look pretty and healthy for us, I don't want to interrupt that! :P

Although I had a VERY rough first 12 weeks with this pregnancy with hyperemesis and suffered majorly...ughhhh, I don't even want to look back on that. Anyways, besides that rough patch, this pregnancy has been wonderful...I know that may sound annoying to some of you, haha..because for most women pregnancy is complicated and ugly a lot of times..our body gets taken away from us, our hormones are whack, and we just don't feel like ourselves. I'll admit I've had those times but overall I have absolutely loved this pregnancy! I just feel great! During my pregnancies is when I'm my healthiest...mentally and physically! I've been so happy and just enjoying this time, although now I am becoming VERY impatient! Errrrrrrrrrr!

So, a little update on some stats...I started seeing my doctor weekly at 36 weeks, and then starting at 37 weeks is when she started checking my cervix for dilation and effacement and the baby's station. Well at 37 weeks I was almost 2cm dilated and 60% effaced...thought that was pretty darn good...so good that I thought I'd have a baby within that week..pssshhh, wishful thinking!
So, I go the next week, 38 weeks...she's got a student that's following her for a whole year, so that student has been in the room during my appointments which has never really been a big deal, until she stayed in the room while my doctor examined me....uhhhhh, I know she's training and she needs the experience...but my doctor never even asked if I felt comfortable with her present in the room..in which to be honest I did not....call me old fashioned or modest...but I don't like my lady parts showcased to an audience, ha! But whatever...I just brushed those feelings to the side and was ready to hear some good news about my progression....thinking I was gonna be about 3cm and almost completely effaced, no far from it! My doctor was in a rush, which it seems like she always is lately..I know she's the busiest and most "popular" doctor in our town, so she has a lot of other patients to see but I feel like I don't get enough information out of her...well, she said I'm 1cm and still pretty thick...seriously! So, the baby is heading back up out of my pelvic area now all of a sudden or what?! I don't know! I didn't ask about it, I was just depressed to hear that news! Booooooooooooo!

So...here I am at 39 weeks, trying EVERY natural remedy to get this baby girl OUT!
I mean, really trying a lot of a little of everything...hahaha, she just doesn't wanna budge...stubborn, like her daddy! That, and I guess she likes all the good food mama is feeding her in my belly! Oh, which by the way....my weight gain this pregnancy has been a total of 7 lbs. Yes, only 7 lbs! Which is so awesome! I'm very proud of that as well as my doctor! I've lost quite a bit of weight this pregnancy...mostly in the beginning. And as I mentioned above, my pregnancies are my healthiest times. I can tell my stomach as shrunk a great deal from being so sick in the beginning of my pregnancy, that I can barely eat half of my usual sized meals...plus, I'm not eating a whole lot of processed foods...our fridge is usually stocked with lots of fruits and veggies and foods that I actually have to cook, which sucks sometimes, but it's 10x healthier! :P

Hmmm...what else?! I think that's about it. I wish I would have stayed more updated on this blog about my pregnancy so family and friends could have followed along..but oh well! It's been kind of boring anyways, not a whole lot of excitement, just the usual. I won't make promises BUT I do plan to stay more updated with this once the baby comes, so I can keep everyone updated with her and her 2 sissies!

Also, I would REALLY appreciate it if y'all could send some labor dust this way! Seriously....if she doesn't come out this week...I'm putting my foot down and giving her an eviction notice! ha! What a stinker! But hopefully SOON I'll have an update with her arrival!!!!! Until then...