Family Christmas

We spent Christmas Day with Jared’s family..I had Christmas this year at our house..and everyone came over..We didn't do any fancy meal this year..This year we decided to do appetizers..That was a good idea..and so we had a BIG variety of a lot of different appetizers and then a whole bunch of goodies of course!!!  This Christmas down here was the BEST!!!!  WHY???  bc We had a WHITE CHRISTMAS!!  I'm not sure who was more excited a bunch of adults (who all are from snowy states)or the kids…HAHA!!  It snowed all day on Christmas and all through the night..It has been more then 60 years they said since SC has had a white Christmas…It really was picture perfect!! 
Some of the kids building a snowman….and Avery just eating the snow..haha!!!!  She couldn't stop…she loved it!!
 
Some of the kids sledding down our back hill..on boogie boards of course….that is South Carolina sledding!!! LOL!!!

We had the outside fire going all day too so you could just sit outside and drink hot cocoa and watch it snow and be all snuggly by the fire:)



We played a couple of games…One for the kids and one for the adults..For the kids we wrapped a box up with a few goodies and then put layers upon layers of wrapping paper on..(from our experience the little ones didn't like this game at all..we had more crying then what it was worth…but the older ones were ok with it..Then we had Boo play some songs on the piano and stop every now and then and then when the music stopped the kid had to stop wrapping and give it to the next kid…and so on and so on until it was all the way unwrapped!!!


For the adults game well now that was just hilarious!!!! We had a big box, then inside that big box was two other boxes and only one of the boxes had a prize in it.so when you open the first box you don't know which box to go for next...and lets just say that they wrapped it pretty good..with package tape, and wrapping paper many many times on each box!!!!!  So what you do is all sit in a circle and put the box in the middle…Then there is a pair of dice that is going around in the circle and when you get the dice you shake and if you get doubles you get to go and try to open the box..until the next person gets doubles…Sounds pretty easy huh????  Well nope before you can try to open the box you have to put on a hat, scarf and gloves…The gloves is what makes it tricky..and you want the prize in the box so you are hurrying trying to get the box open bc you don’t know how long you have until the next person gets a chance!!! Here's some pictures from it!!



The winner was Chase..a gift certificate to Olive Garden!!! 
  
Some of the kids opening up gifts..excuse the little blur spot apparently there was a smudge on my lens.. I caught it after a couple of pictures so these ones have to do:)

Do you like the outfits that I made my babies..little appliqué candy cane shirts with some ruffly black bottoms:)

Some of the kids got these marshmallow shooters from the grandparents!!!  I have to say Thank you for marshmallows everywhere:o)   All the kids had a blast with them though and even the adults did too..We were having marshmallow wars..haha!! The girls were pink camo..so cute!!! 

Yep she is getting ready to shoot one at me:)

The girls all got these dollies that Jared’s mom made with outfits that she made too....aren't they cute..each one was different with different colored hair..these ones are only my girls but not one of them were alike..so cute and the girls all liked them!!! If anyone is interested she actually has an etsy site now…she is slowly starting to add stuff to it…but I did see that the dolls were on there!!!  Here’s the link…http://www.etsy.com/shop/Cottonbees?ref=seller_info

I couldn't resist..SORRY!!!!  HAHA!!!  Love it!!

Our Christmas

We had a great Christmas this year…We did our little Christmas on Christmas Eve..Even though we didn't go home (back to SD) for Christmas..I'm Ok with that..bc I really didn't want to..it gets to be to chaotic with all the different Christmas’s  and really our kids are old enough that we have started our own family traditions and it is just really nice to be home (in sc ) for Christmas..I guess after living here for 10 years I should be able to call it home..We have made it home!!!!  So for our Christmas we went to evening service at our church…then came home and I had made a small turkey dinner for us…I should of taken the pictures before we ate but oooppps  I didn't so sorry for the dirty black shirts.  lol!!!  The skirts I made for them..I should of made them shorter but next time I will..I just LOVE the ruffle fabric and have been dying to make something with it…
Jianna, on right, Jayla on left

Destiny is holding Jayla, Brielle with Jianna

This is as good as I got..with five it gets to be a little difficult sometimes..lol

My babies are walking all over with the push toys..I cant believe it..Crazy!!! 

Then after supper was clean..We read the Christmas story from the Bible..the girls wanted to read it this year so they took turns…

The girls opening up there beds..They loved  them..can you tell by Brielle's face:)

The girls trying to open there dressers..apparently the paint dried with them shut so it was really hard to open them the first time…

The babies opening up some gifts..Jayla was only interested in her bottle!!!!

Avery loved opening gifts this year..she kept signing more after each one..hehe!!  And she wouldn't take off her chef set..She got a lot of  good therapy toys this year…especially this leap frog scribble and write..I have to say is the coolest toy I have EVER seen..and if your kiddo is trying to write look into this toy..Avery loves it..it shows you what to do first..like there is a draw option so it will do a line down and then you trace it..there are also letters too.. but we are at the basics first..like lines and shapes..I can not saw anything bad about this toy..when we had everyone over for Christmas every kid wanted to play with this toy!!!!  and i think it is pretty cheap..got it off of leap frog website when they were having a sale…

The girls both got some boots..

Kind of looks like a tornado went through..huh????!!!

Yeap Jayla still has her bottle..

Trying to ride on there car..

Some of the girls homemade gifts this year

Is anyone else's girls into the American girl dolls???  or any other 18” doll???  Well mine are really into them..and this year seems like they really have fallen head over feet into them..  so decided to make them a few things for there dolls for Christmas.. first up on the list is a bed of course…they need a place to sleep right…:)  So Jared did the wood part for the bed and then I painted it and sewed up some bedding for it…tutorial here for the bed and I have to add he did tweak the pattern a little… and here for the bedding…. it turns out we used some of the same fabric..not intended at all…got mine from Hobby Lobby jelly roll..first time i have ever used a jelly roll


The dolls need some pjs to sleep in right???!!! Brielle's doll even has bed head..HA!!

Then we did some dressers for them bc I was sewing them some outfits and where would they put them..right??? This one we made up ourselves..I had the idea in my head and tried to draw it out for Jared and then  he tweaked it some..and built them and then I painted them…it was a very long week before Christmas..lots of long nights!!!!  Next time we will start early!!!!

Next up we had to have some clothes to go with them dolls right???!!!:)   They each got one of these outfits..and them pillowcase dresses are super easy to make!!!!  I found an Oliver+S doll pattern online then I tweaked it a little bc it was too small for the target next generation dolls…and tweaked the collar a little too…but maybe 15-30 minutes per dress!!!
 

Then I made each one a skirt too but now Brielle wants me to make them some shirts to go with there skirts.. I think they have a list of stuff for me to make for there dolls..I actually am going to have my mother in law send me some of my wedding dress materials and make them a wedding dress for the dolls…I think they would love that!!!!  Well I also made Avery a few gifts too…this little chef hat and apron that i found the tutorial here…

along with some potholders to go with too..believe it or not but all of the fabric was from a twin sheet set..

Of course her dolly need some wipes and diapers too also from the same blog as the apron set…. perfect stocking stuffers!!! 

A Few Christmas Presents that I made this year

Now that Christmas is over I can show you all some of the Christmas presents that I worked on…. I was def busy,busy, busy!! Whew I'm glad its over and believe it or not I got a sewing machine for Christmas and its till in the box…I just need a break…lol!!! But I'm dying to try it out and maybe we (the new machine and me)  wont get in so many heated discussions…like my poor other machine really got the heat from me sometimes..haha!!!  I think my husband got tired of listening to me complain about my pile of junk!!!!  So thanks hubby for the new machine :) 
Anyways I found these scarves over  here and knew that was exactly what I was going to make my friends for Christmas…so I really liked them that i then made myself one  two bc I couldn't decide which fabric I liked better and then made one for my girls bc we were getting colder weather and they were being neglected:)
 
I made a more colorful one for Avery..these scarves are really awesome and comfortable…I used the same fabric that they used in the tutorial bc I LOVED it!! 

and bc they were all being neglected I made them some hats too…for Avery I seen this really neat upcycled  t-shirt hats here that I wanted to do so I went to find some scraps of fabric that would work good together and came up with this…sorry for the pic overload..I couldn't resist Avery was just having to much fun being my model:) 


For the babies I followed this tutorial and came up with this really cute hat. I think so anyways;) but  I had Avery model it bc the babies were sleeping..she was just having way to much fun!!! 


So yeah sorry back to some of the Christmas presents that we made… For all of Avery’s therapists we made these hand sanitizers …super easy and super functional …They all LOVED them…Will def repeat this one…. sorry for the grainy picture it was taken at night . The second one is the one I did for the girls teachers...tutorial here for both of them…

Then the girls and I made these baby Jesus ornaments for all of the nieces and nephews around here..and for the Sunday School teachers. We had fun…totally easy..found them here…
 
Stay tuned for the gifts that we made for the girls!!!!