2011...what do you have in store for us?!

Now that all of you know how 2010 was for me and my family, let's see what 2011 has in store! I'm excited.

We all know the concept of setting goals for yourself for the new year and making New Years resolutions, but this time I am wanting to do something different (I was never that good at NY resolutions anyway)   :)

My awesome sister-in-law introduced me to the concept of a "101 Things to do in a 1,001 Days" list. It's a fun and different way to set goals for yourself and keep yourself accountable. And I don't know about you, but I completely agree with her when she says that a person is more likely to do something if they write it down. She had some extremely neat things that she accomplished on her list that she should be proud of! Uh hum...run a half marathon, anyone?!

I've started on my list...it's definitely fun, but like my sis-in-law also pointed out, I am trying to be practical with what I can actually accomplish in that amount of time. Wanna take a peek at some of the things I have so far?

• Get a nice camera
• Scrapbook at least two albums
• Take yoga classes
• Read through the entire Bible
• Have a baby (?!?!?)
• Create a garden
• Sponsor a child
• Try 10 new restaurants
• Go to a Women of Faith Conference
• Go to Disney World
• Learn how to better take care of Sully
• Pay off my car
• Become a more faithful prayer
• Read (this # still to be determined) books :)
• Learn to make jewelry
• Learn to golf

These are just a few...it's amazing to see how fast you can get rolling, but it's also nice to bounce ideas off others. I am also trying to be careful with ones I write such as "have a baby", because ultimately I know this is in God's timing. I don't want to put Him in a box and try to do everything by my time frame. It's also important to not beat yourself up at the end of this if you don't accomplish everything. They're more of guidelines really.  :)
Life throws curve balls....we can't have everything figured out! And who wants to?!


Anyway, I hope if you were dreading thinking of the new year and all that you want to accomplish, that maybe this unique idea of setting goals will spark some energy and excitement into you!

Are you in too?! Happy list making! :)

P.S. Do you have any fun ideas/ways of setting goals for yourself? What goals do you have for this year? Any fun ideas to share with me so I can add it to my list?!

Oh yeah, happy New Year too!!!

I FELT Crafty. Part 2

I had wanted to get this post up before Christmas was over but I think I was overly ambitious in that aspiration.  I decided to go ahead and post my creation since it really could be made in any color and put up at any time of year...

About a month ago now, I made some felt flowers for some bud vases I had around the house.  I liked them so much (and they were so easy to make) that I thought I would go ahead and create a wreath with some of the same flowers.  I've always thought of wreaths as being an old lady type thing but they can totally be a fun and modern element in any house.  

By the way, I promise I have more to talk about that home decorating, it's just been on my radar a lot lately with the holidays and it's fun to share:)

Here are the supplies I used for my wreath:

• Styrofoam wreath form
• Ribbon to wrap form in (25 ft)
• Multiple pearlized pins
• Several sheets of white and red felt
• Brads for the center of felt flowers
• Embroidery floss
• Large needle
• Nice scissors
• Pipe cleaners

I simply wrapped the wreath form in ribbon (any type of ribbon will do but one that's not silky would probably stay put the best) and secured it to the back with the pearlized pins. Why use glue if you don't have to?

I created some felt flowers via this tutorial and also attached them using the pins.  

I wrapped the pipe cleaners around a pen to curl them and attached them as well.  

Here's the semi-finished product:

I thought I was done at this point but as the weeks went on, I kept staring at the wreath just thinking it needed something more.  I like clean and simple but NOT boring and I knew a few more layers would spice it up a bit and make it look more grown up.  I found this yarn and felt wreath tutorial online and went to town to up the umpf factor.

This time I needed:

Felt

Pom Poms

Pearlized Pins

A roll of tulle (a few dollars at JoAnns)

A glue gun

I started out with the rose-like flowers and was pleased with the ease that they came together.  They may look hard but trust me, you can't mess them up!  I was digging through my craft supplies and found the tulle and pom poms and decided it would make the wreath a little more exciting to add them too.  

I love using the pins to attach things because I can move them around if things aren't in the right spot.  It can be hard to commit to placement sometimes and this takes the stress out.

Here's a tip: always create a focal point when making a wreath with embellishments... either put all the weight on one point (I like it to be at 5 or 7 O'Clock) or offset it with the most visually weight-y (how's that for technical speak?) part at the bottom.

So now that the wreath project is officially done, I think I'm ready to make another one.  Possibly something green and white that I can hang on the door all year long.  Look at these for inspiration-they could easily be adapted to fit any color or holiday.

So what do you think, would you ever feel the urge to attempt a project like this?

Play date!

Maggie is still taking a brief hiatus after all the moving and such so I thought I would pop in and post some pictures from a few weeks back.  Jude and I went up to Ames before the big move to help pack.  And by that I mean, the kids ate cheerios/played/screamed while Maggie and I drank chocolate shakes from McDonalds.  It's easy to forget how little you can get done with two little ones around.  I did get one box of linens packed for her though;)

Pretty blue eyes!

I'm glad they will have each other since it doesn't look like they will have cousins for awhile:)

My little man in suspenders.

Peyton likes to laugh at Jude.

 This one is my favorite; Peyton is telling Judah a very thought provoking secret.  

Leaning in for a kiss!

I'll give you a sheep for some brick...?

Settlers. 

One of the many games my family and I play.

amazon.com

collegedegrees.com

Along with... Ticket to Ride

iconusa4.com

blog.cartophilia.com

 And Carcassonne...

 

adventuresinboardgaming.blogspot.com

wired.com

Ok, I know, I know. They sound like the lamest games ever. And you feel kinda like a nerd playing them. But you have to try them if you haven't already.

They can be kind of frustrating to learn in the beginning, so be patient and give it some time. Or, if you can play with an experienced player that's even better. 

So now that my nerd-o-meter has just gone up quite a few notches...I think I'm off to go play some of these games with the fam! And we're going to try a new one....

coolstuffinc.com

I'm excited! It's so fun being a nerd!

 P.S. What games do you and your family play? Do you have any fun ones to share with us?!

Merry Christmas!!

Sorry we've been a little absent here on the blog lately....we've been busy, as we assume you are too!

But we just wanted to take this moment to wish all of our readers a very merry Christmas!!

Lots of love,
Hannah, Rachel & Maggie

Mags

Usually today would be Maggie's day to post & I just wanted to let everyone know it's been a rough past week for her, Brandon and Peyton.  They moved to Des Moines and the home closing process has been nothing short of CRAZY.  It's been stressful and complicated and isn't over yet.  AND to make matters worse, they spent Tuesday night in the hospital with their dear daughter.  Don't worry, she is OK now.

Everything is shaping up and we believe will end up being fine but it's been difficult on them to say the least.  If you have time to send a text or sweet comment to Maggie, I'm sure she'd love it:)  They're excited to have their new house (it's so cute) but sad that they won't have a Christmas this year with all the decorations and "normalcy" of the holidays.  They are closer to family now though (and Hannah and I) so that's great!

If Maggie feels like she wants to, I'm sure she'll explain all the chaos that's been surrounding them on the blog eventually.  I'm not sharing too many details because I feel it's up to her but hanks for being good blog buddies and be sure to send thoughts, prayers and messages their way.

Merry Christmas!!!

Stuffed.

Christmas has always been a magical time for our family...filled with lots of food, presents, celebrating, laughing, game playing, excitement, family and tradition. But what do you do when people grow up, move away, start their own families, and things start to change? You start new traditions of course!

You see...as we've all gotten older, my immediate family has recently started a newer tradition. Here's a preview:

You see....it starts to get expensive....really expensive actually when you try to buy for everyone in your family (anyone else share this problem?). Most of the time you get them something kind of crappy, because in order to stick to your budget and still get everyone a gift, they're unfortunately not gonna get much. Uh hem.....here's a candy bar, brother....Merry Christmas!

Sooo, we decided to each draw one name, stick to a budget we all agreed to, and stuff stockings! Literally stuff...take a peek at mine this year!

Brimming with goodies!!

All most of us got matching stockings from Pottery Barn. One of these is not like the others!

 Eric wanted to be different. :)

After a few years of experience, we all decided it was more fun for the girls to shop for the girls and guys to shop for the guys. We give each other ideas/lists, and sometimes people just even ask for money. But be careful if you choose this route...you might end up having to go on a scavenger hunt for your money or you may get it all in the form of quarters! (We have to make it interesting somehow!)

And usually we all get one or two things that don't fit in the stockings so we wrap the presents and stick a clever note in the stocking for the person to go and find their other gift(s). You can get really clever with this too...like make the person find their gift under their tree by measuring with the tape measure you just gave them in their stocking along with the note giving the measurements. Ummm, yes, this was the boys.

 We also take this evening to complete our tradition of sugar cookie making.....

lots....

and lots...

of sugar cookie making!!

We have to  make sure to have enough for all the different family celebrations we have! And trust me....we definitely have some cookie monsters.

Last but not least, we've decided it is so much easier to get Chinese takeout than to have to make dinner for the whole family (not to mention the messy cleanup afterward!) Sorry--no pictures of my beef lo mein, but it was scrumptious! Tsing Tsao is the only way to go.

(delicious. efficient. cheap). YES.

Oh yeah, it's probably wise not to leave the stocking you're working on stuffing in a little boy's room....otherwise you might come back to this....

Here's a closer look....

Oops! Guess Ollie realized these presents weren't for him...

Needless to say, the evening is always fun and stuffed full with cookies, stockings, food, and fun!

P.S. What traditions does your family have?!