A Little of This and That

Hi everyone, I'm back!

Did you miss me?

I know I’m a few days late, but I have to tell you that Thanksgiving was wonderful. Although we spent nearly 30 hours in the car, it was great being home with family for the holidays. I’m so thankful my incredible family (which has grown significantly since last Thanksgiving) – Last year I was an only child from a family of 3, this Thanksgiving I have two sets of amazing parents who have been incredible role models of love and marriage, a brother who has made his family proud (and not just on the football field), and a sister who grows into a more beautiful and intelligent young women every day. How blessed am I?!

Me trying to tell Kyle to smile pretty.

Me telling Kyle to stop acting goofy.

Finally, success.

Home in PA.

My parents' new puppy Chase.

My mom and I getting ready for Thanksgiving dinner.

Home in OH.

I have siblings now!

It’s been a rough week getting back into the swing of things after such a long break. I was so excited to go home that I kind of left my office (and to-do list) in shambles. I spent last week pieces things together and am now on track for the next two weeks. I cannot believe that the halls close in two weeks. I cannot believe that in one week my staff and I will be moving out 400 people and shutting the place down for renovation. I can’t believe that in three weeks I will begin my job as a coordinator in another building, with another staff, and another crop of challenges and celebrations.

I will miss my students and staff after we close. Really, I will. But I am definitely looking forward to a few weeks of uninterrupted work. I’m also looking forward to getting rid of my stress headache. It’s going on a week and I think it will finally go away when the last students have moved out and I lock the doors behind them.

This weekend was sure a crafty, nesting kind of weekend. Thursday I found out we’d be staying in our current hall through Christmas so we hurried to get the few Christmas decorations up so we had optimal time to enjoy.

Our tiny tree.

A terrible picture of the best button garland around!

This was my project yesterday.

Peace and joy indeed.

I don’t think many people read my blog (I’m still getting this started), but I really do appreciate all the inspiration I get from bloggers. There are incredibly talented and amazing women and I have loved learning their secrets.

I was not happy with the way the birds turned out, so I decided to make birds 2.0. They looked fantastic, however, in my excitment, I got the wrong size canvas for the frames. I did a little redo for the bedroom...birds for every room.

I'll show you the finished product soon.

Remember this...

It's now this...

I need some wood glue and it's good as done. We'll hang it after we move and I'll share pictures. I know you're dying to see it in its element.

I also whipped this up for a dear friend. I can't begin to tell you how much I love making cards!

So there it is folks. You're up to speed.

Oh, I almost forgot to share with you the early Christmas present Kyle brought home.

No animals or fancy backdrop. Just Joseph, Mary, and Jesus.

We are so blessed this Christmas and we are looking forward to celebrating the birth of Jesus this year as husband and wife.