Friday, December 30, 2011

Friday I'm In Love - Week Off

Hey Everyone!!

Well - with our baby boy coming - my craft room needs to get transformed into the nursery.  And, with that, all of my craft crap stuff needs a home before I can even begin to start preparing the baby's room.  We are 12 weeks out, and hubby and I are starting to feel the crunch.  So - this weekend we are getting the office ready to become my craft room/office.  We are knee deep in painting and projects so I will be taking a hiatus from Friday I'm In Love this week.

Wish us luck - there is much to do!!  I will be sure to share my progress.  HAPPY NEW YEAR!!  Here's to 2012!!

XOXO




Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Top 11 Posts of 2011

This has been an amazing year!  It has almost been a year to the day actually since I officially launched this blog and I never could have imagined what a big part of my life it has become.  I love each and every one of you, and have met so many amazing women over the course of this past year.  Thank you so much for all of your encouraging support and friendships!!

It was difficult, but I was able to choose my top 11 posts from 2011.  You may remember some (or all) of these projects - if not - feel free to take a trip down memory lane.  I am planning on doing that myself here in about 2 weeks when my blogiversary comes up!!












And...last but not least!!  Our Gender Cake Reveal!!!

What was your favorite post or project from 2011?  I would love to hear from you - send me your links in the comment section!


XOXO




Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Christmas 2011 Recap

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!  Ours was spent with family and great friends, and LOTS of food!  (I am going to be getting a weight gain lecture from my doctor at my next visit for sure).  The holiday went by so fast - it was a total blur.  We did manage to get some shots of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day though, so I thought I would share the day with you all. 

On Saturday, we attended a fabulous service at Northpoint Community Church.  The theme of the message was all about Jesus being the light of the World, hence the sunglasses that Addie is wearing!


Every year, our family tradition is to bake a birthday cake for Jesus, and Addison has full reign on the cake decorating.



Before bed, she always leaves out cookies and milk for Santa, and a carrot for Rudolph.  This year, we were out of carrots, so we left him some spring mix instead, LOL.



After that, we are off to sprinkle the reindeer food on the front lawn.  It helps them to be able to find our house - works like a charm!  Then Mommy heads inside while Daddy and Addison sit on the front porch and listen for Santa!  Each year, Addison hears Santa's sleigh bells and promptly darts upstairs and gets in bed.  It is by far, the easiest bedtime of the year!!


This year, before Christmas Morning began, we had a little visit from the Police.  Yup - our alarm was malfunctioning and we thought someone was trying to break into the house.  This will forever be the year when I remember my husband standing in the hall with a shotgun in his boxer briefs!  (He's gonna be so mad I told you that detail!!)  Thankfully there was no intruder and everyone was safe.

Then, groggy and tired, Mommy and Daddy got up to watch Addison open all of her presents from Santa Claus.  She was so excited and he brought her everything she wanted!!





We had such a great couple of days!  Now it's back to work - man that went by fast!!


xoxo


Saturday, December 24, 2011

My Holiday Home Tour (and a chance to win $300)!!

Well....it's here - Christmas Eve!!  We have all done the preparation - the decorating, the baking, the shopping and the wrapping (well 3 out of 4 isn't bad, right?  I still need to bake my cookies today).  All of this leading up to seeing the joy and excitement on my little girl's face both tonight as she goes to bed, and tomorrow morning when she realizes that Santa has shimmied his large self down our chimney (wait - we don't have a chimney) and left a big pile of goodies!!

By far, my favorite part of Christmas is the decorating (okay, and the presents).  Some of you have seen parts of my decor, but I thought I would compile them and add a few more things for the full holiday home tour.  Read all of the way down though - because I have details on the present part - find out how you can win $300 from PennySaverUSA and Mogasa by entering their "Craftmas Contest" - it's really easy to enter!!

Let's get started with the entryway.... Welcome!!


As you walk into my house, you enter my two story foyer.  I love to decorate the banister for any holiday I can - I think it just brings so much warmth into my home!







As you turn your back, my dining room is off to the side.  You have probably just seen these photos, but here are a few of my favs...










Walking through that little archway in my foyer, and you land in the Great Room.  The first thing you see is the tree...










To the right of my mantle are my built-in bookshelves.  These are always fun to decorate - especially for Christmas!



Had to add the little peppermint photo frame that Addie made in school!!

 This is just a little vignette I threw together on my side table...Addison love to play with the little Santas.





I wrote Merry Christmas on the platter, and added some trees.  Addison needed to embellish a bit and went back and added the snow and the sled on the left side!  Too cute!





My kitchen was fun to decorate this year with the new paint color on the walls.  I am loving the blue in each and every season!






That's it for the tour today!  I hope you enjoyed it.  Now on to the fun - who wants to win $300???  Here's how you can enter.  PennySaver USA and MOGASA.net (their mobile garage sale app) are sponsoring a "Craftmas Contest".  All you have to do is head over to their contest page and submit one of your Christmas Crafts!  The top holiday craft photo will be the lucky winner of $300!! Make sure you download the free app - it's really cool and tells you where all of your local garage sales are - AND it will give you the edge to win $300 over $250 (for non MOGASA users).  I can't wait until garage sale season so I can test this little puppy out!!  Head over there now - the contest ends 12/29!!


MERRY CHRISTMAS from the Hayes Family!!!


Linking Up To:


Funky Junk's Saturday Nite Special