Dolls

It seems that nearly every Christmas, Katie starts playing with her American Girl dolls again, even is she has hardly touched them the rest of the year. It seems that if she has friends that are 'into' their dolls, then she is too. Otherwise, it is stuffed animals and Littlest Pet Shop stuff. She's been branching out in hobbies too, especially sewing. She wants to learn to sew for her dolls! Actually, she wants to learn to sew so she can give girls in the hospital outfits for their dolls OR sell her doll clothes and raise money to help kids in the hospital. Why? Because she remembers how it was 2 years ago when she was in the PICU and hospital and how scary it was and her American Girl Molly by her side helped tremendously!

Elvish Mischief

We love our elves! We have 2: Gabriel and Noel. A third came for a brief visit before joining her forever family across the street.

Maestro Manager

My friend Jessica Pattison created a truly useful, wonderful LIFE PLANNER called the Maestro Manager  that is perfect for anyone, but especially busy moms! Of course, I could be biased about this because I am a busy mom! But seriously, this thing is incredibly useful at orchestrating all 6 areas of life - mind, body, soul, community, work and home. This thing has EVERYTHING - a plan to incorporate housework and cleaning (on a weekly, monthly, and seasonal basis!), a place every month for a budget, goals, books you want to read, prayer and journaling areas. Did I already mention this thing is amazing?

I didn't think it would be this nice! The cover is sturdy and comes in 3 colors - orange, gray and green. My friend Jessica was kind enough to send me one. I got the green cover and I simply love it! Even unboxing it was an "apple-esque" experience. It is obvious even care and thought went into packaging it! It was beautiful - perfectly boxed, with tissue paper that you pull back to reveal a Maestro Manager pen and sticker. Then you see this gorgeous hardback cover that encases a spiral bound Maestro Manager life planner. The pages also ooze (useful) luxury. (okay, I'll admit that I am a bit nerdy when it comes to paper, pens, books, and stuff like that). The pages have a slick feel to them and a nice weight. The pages don't bleed ink through, even with my favorite pens and highlighters. (yay!).

It is such a gorgeous planner that you will want to keep it in easy reach and won't mind leaving it (displayed?) on a table or armchair, or even with your Bible and journal. (though there is space in the planner for some journaling and even prompts,  if you're like me you'll also want a moleskine if you write too much!)

I can't even address all the stuff this thing has! Shopping list area, To-do lists,  this thing has it all and beautifully and thoughtfully put together. It truly is an everything you need life planner!  You can check it out at http://www.themaestromanager.com

Our 2 Elves

Gabriel and Noel having quite a bit of fun this year!

Christmas Wish Lists

It's so interesting; nearly every year Katie becomes enamored with her American Girl dolls right before Christmas. All of the sudden, she totally wants a doll for Christmas - even though she hadn't played with her dolls for 9 months prior.

I'm loving this and embracing this! I fear it won't last too long before she feels she's too old for dolls. She is planning a party for her dolls, and she asked me to take a few pics of some of her friends.

Elf on the Shelf Returns

My kids are too old for Elf on the Shelf but my youngest (11) LOVES the tradition of the Elf. She looks forward to awaking to see what crazy antics the elves were up to the night before. Oh, she knows I move him. It doesn't matter. She loves them. (we have 2, a boy and a girl elf). Last year I tried to do less crazy antics and more sweet, cute ones but she prefers it when the elves are naughty.  So far, our elves have been pretty nice. In fact, they've brought things and encouraged us to have game nights (with a new board game they brought), movie nights, complete with red vines and popcorn tin they provided, and even a gingerbread house to decorate.

That's a Wrap!

It's only November but my mind is on Christmas.... not hard to do since  ALL the stores have their Christmas decorations and signage out in full force! Plus my little elementary kids are practicing all their Christmas songs on recorder, flute and saxophone. (yes, there's a lot of noise in our house!)

One thing I enjoy is getting a good deal, which is why I love Target Clearance, which at times will eventually reach 70% and even 90% for certain seasonal products. After Halloween I purchased a bunch of stuff for 70 and 90% off, keeping in mind stuff that didn't necessarily scream "halloween". I picked up lots of stuff for lunch box snacks, like goldfish crackers in small portion packs, and pretzels. I did buy a few bags of candy, thinking it would still be quite fine to consume at Christmastime for the kids' to put in treat bags for their classmates.

In the dollar /three dollar spot I saw a few large glitter pails. There were 2 colors left - glitter white and glitter green. I thought they could also be Christmas colors and so I picked up four of each color. Regular price was 3 dollars a pail but since it was after halloween they rang up 90 cents each. I picked up some cellophane at Michaels with a 50% off coupon and thought I'd perhaps decorate the pail in some way. But then I went to the dollar store and picked up a little red plush Santa hat, hoping I could use it in some way.

Surprise! It fit perfectly on the pail (with a little tugging!). Once I put the handle up on the pail, it perfectly held the hat in a cute position. I am still trying to figure out if I want to leave it like it is or use embellishments to make a frosty the snowman face or other similar feature. The hat also fit on the green glitter pails.... looks like the Grinch!

Here's a photo of the pail with the dollar store hat on it. I think it looks adorable and would make a fun alternative to wrapping paper or gift bag!