Angry Birds

The family has become obsessed with Angry Birds. I downloaded the free app without realizing what I was doing. I thought this would be something for the girls to occupy themselves with when we are somewhere and they are ready to lose it. But little did I know the obsession that would also involve my husband. We actually have bought the apps, which we never pay for apps. So that in itself is pretty amazing. The girls and Thomas are constantly asking to use my Ipod Touch in order to play the game. They are in competition with each other to get better scores. The three of them have no idea what is going on around them when they are playing Angry Birds.

Bells went off in my head when I found a tutorial for making your very own Angry Birds. I knew this was the perfect gifts to put in their stockings.

If I had more time I would have made a variety of the birds and pigs. But if you are interested there are tutorials for each of the birds and pigs.

You can find the pig and blue bird here. 

The yellow bird can be found here.

The patterns were easy to follow and I am using my junior high sewing skills. (Shout out to Mrs. Whiting for providing those skills.) I did get a free motion foot for my sewing machine and that was a whole experience learning to use it.

Now the area I had difficulty with was closing up the seam and sewing on the beak. My hand sewing skills are non-existent. I made something up and it looks okay. Of course I found a tutorial after I finished all three. So I linked up the tutorial hoping others will not have the frustration that I did.

Reindeer Cake Pops

Two years ago, I discovered Bakerella's site for cake pops. I fell in love. I wanted to make every variety. Then I discovered she had a book. I ran out to get it the week it came out. My first cake pops were the Hello Kitty version. Last night I decided to make the reindeer version for the teachers at work.

 I had fun making them. It was just time consuming making over 70 cake pops, but not hard.

 Rudolph and regular reindeer were made.

 My dad made a board to hold the cake pops which was a real help. The board says "White Sox" for my husband. My husband actually makes cake pops every week for his student, but doesn't decorate them.

We had a snow delay today, which never happens for my district. The girls didn't have school due to the snow. So they came to school with me. Cake pops were eaten at lunch, but there were quite a bit of leftovers due to people not being there because of the weather. I believe I am going to use the leftovers as presents for the neighbors.

Christmas Decorations

I love Christmas. I love the decorations. But every year I feel overwhelmed with the clutter. This year we did things different. Our tree was put in a corner instead of in front of the window. We have so much more room this way. We spread the decor throughout the house instead of only in the living room. I think that has made the largest difference.  So on to pictures of our decor...or at least some of it.

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Our tree....I would like to change the angel to something that matches better...meaning silver instead of gold, but I haven't found anything in the after Christmas sales yet. I have been looking for a couple of years. I will find one, I will like it, and I will not pay full price for it.

 The ornaments hanging below the tree have since been moved because Princess, our cat, liked to play with them in the middle of the night.

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The ornament Melodye made in Kindergarten. So simple, yet so precious. Ever since I have been doing this project with my kindergarten kids. The kids are so proud of their creations and I assume the parents love them just as much as I love mine.

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I went to a local craft fair this year. (Side note...I was not impressed with the craft fair. This was the only booth I liked out of the whole thing. In fact my dad and I talked afterwards about how the craft fair seemed to cater to crafts from the '80's.) But I did love the work of this lady, but she only seems to do local craft fairs. How I wish she was on Etsy. But this was an early present to my dear husband, who just loves the White Sox and has passed that love on to the girls.

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The stuffed animals and noisy ones were moved to the basement on the shelf. This is where the girls spend the majority of their time playing Wii. So why not have their decorations with them and keep the noise away from the rest of the house. Win, win situation I think. 

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This centerpiece was made out of a candle holder and bowl from Ikea. We put this together during the summer/early fall, but haven't put anything inside of it. Couldn't make up my mind what I wanted. Melodye and I decided to take ornaments off of the tree and put them in the centerpiece. I am so glad that we did. It looks festive and has actually given me ideas of what I can do at other times of the year.

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The nutcrackers are a staple in our house. This is Melodye's collection. Some have broken through the years. They are well loved and played with like dolls. I love when a collection is used instead of collecting dust. The third one from the end was her first nutcracker. I know it's hard to see, but it's navy blue. We picked up at Walgreens that year, probably in 2003. Melodye slept cuddling with that particular one for many years. She would even wrap her blanky around it and she did not share her blanky with any other doll. She carried that nutcracker everywhere she went. That particular nutcracker was probably the cheapest, but my favorite by far because of the memories connected with it. (I really think I need to find a picture of her and that nutcracker and make a scrapbook page.)

Visit With Santa

Wednesday we took the girls to see Santa at Bass Pro Shop. This was well worth the time. We had never been before, but had received recommendations many times before. This was the best set-up I have seen. When you arrive, an employee gives you a card with your time and tells you to come back 10 minutes before your time and to stand in either the left or right line. While you wait for your time, there are crafts, games, and activities for the kids to do for free. The girls loved shooting the guns, racing cars, and writing letters to Santa. They didn't do the craft, a snowman mask, during the wait.

 While waiting in line I took pictures of the girls and they were willing which is amazing anymore. While taking these pictures, I realized that Melodye's glasses are quite crooked. Guess we need to take them in to be fixed. Luckily we bough two pairs this time.

So I took individual pictures of the girls, but Mel's didn't come out due to the crooked glasses. I asked the girls if they wanted to wear something else to see Santa. but they told me no and just wore their clothes from school.

 Melodye has loved nutcrackers since she was really young and Barbie and the Nutcracker movie came out. She has been collecting certain ones ever since. (We make her be picky so we aren't overrun with nutcrackers.) So of  course the girls had to take a picture with the nutcracker. After the crafts were cleaned up, Brooke decided she wanted to do one....sorry charlie I asked you earlier.

I love this photo of Brooke and Santa chatting. Melodye asked me not to take a picture of her and Santa. I respected her wishes even though I didn't want to really. The family took a picture with Santa, but I will not be posting it here. Santa had a reindeer next to him and this stuffed reindeer looks like he is "goosing" me in the photo. Needless to say, that is not a good photo.

Christmas Card 2010

Dotty And Nice Christmas Card

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This is what we ended up making as our Christmas Card.

Christmas Cards

Working on my master's program this year has left me with not enough time to do the things I would like. Isn't that always the story. But I feel I need to start anew and focus more on the things I enjoy. Things like taking pictures, learning to actually use my camera, scrapbooking, crafting, knitting, new things in my classroom, and the basic thing is that I just need and want to create. I have made sure that I have spent time with my family even if that means I have spent the time after bed doing homework and operating the next day on 3 to 4 hours of sleep.

Where this is going....normally I try to make my Christmas cards. I don't think that will be happening at all. I resigned myself to doing photo cards. Of course I still need to take pictures to use. I have looked at some, but have not been totally thrilled with them....until today. (Such drama there.) But seriously I found out about a deal that Shutterfly is currently having for bloggers. If you blog and post about Shutterfly and their cards, they will be giving out 50 (yes you read that number correct, 50) 5X7 photo cards to the blogger. The cards are amazing. And just the style I have been wanting to create. You don't believe me or think it is too good to be true. Well here is the link. Now to see some beautiful eye candy.

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 I love the colors and the Happy Everything...covers everyone no matter their beliefs.

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 I love the colors, the polka dots, and the asterisk above the Happy Holidays. 

In fact I bought some address labels that are similar. Hmmm that may be why I like this one.

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I like the idea of a whole photo card depending on the photo. 

I like Christmas being in different colors and another asterisk as the bottom.

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I like the list on the side. 

A nice way of adding journalling to make this sort of a scrapbook page.

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Of course I love this because of the colors, asterisk, and polka dots.

I am sensing a recurring theme with the cards I have picked.

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 I like the colors, patterns, asterisk, and the black background. 

Simple yet busy at the same time.

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I like this one for the three picture slots. 

The brown background is nice along with the little Christmas tree.

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 I like the whole photo look with the tag and ribbon look. 

Just finding the perfect picture that will fit around the tag is the problem.

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I like the polka dots, black background, and colors.

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I didn't realize until I was typing this, but I really am leaning towards the same colors, polka dots, possible black or white background, and the asterisk. Now I just need to take the pictures and maybe that will help me decide.

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At the same time I am also considering getting cards for New Years. Every year we have family over for New Years. I also try to do cute cards, but I think these are just adorable. Take a look.

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I like the blue and the square shape of this card.

 

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I love the black background and the countdown numbers.

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Of course if you are interested in cards that will benefit others, Shutterfly has those also. The cards can be purchased that will benefit Livestrong, American Lung Association, and Heifer. The cards can be found here.

Happy Holidays and enjoy looking at all the possibilities at Shutterfly.