merry and bright

merry christmas!  i hope everyone's christmas was merry and bright.  here are a few highlights.

savannah received a bell from santa's sleigh just like she asked for in her letter. (and yes, we all could hear it ringing.)

sarah was hooked up with a fabulous scooter from the big guy.  savannah liked it better than the one she has because of some fancy new bar on the back to help the rider do tricks.  i told her it's because it's newer than hers and she promptly corrected me and said "no it's because it was made special by the elves, mom."

and gracie was treated to a new bike by her loving parents.  (she forgot to ask santa so we kindly obliged.  the poor child deserved it.  she has never had a new bike and is using one that her two older sisters already went through.  and the dogs might have chewed on it a little and it's WAY too small for her.)

santa satisfied the selena gomez obsession.

i couldn't resist this one because i LOVE her face when she was opening it.  clothes just brighten a girl's day at any age.

this one was saved for last.  we have logged many hours on this thing already.  mom and dad scored with this gift!

and then the aftermath, that was, believe it or not, just cleaned up tonight.

christmas eve

we headed down to my in-laws for the traditional christmas eve celebration.  a good time was had by all.

girls in their christmas jammies.

cousins!

 

nice and sweaty after running around outside.

houston we have a decorated tree. finally!

our tree has been decorated for a few days now, but just getting things posted from this last week.  it's been one CA-RAY-ZY week!  why schools deem in necessary to do EVERY activity for the month of december during the last week of school is beyond me!  but we did survive.  here is our GORG tree.  we almost got a shorter one, but sooooo glad we rethought it.  it would have looked dwarfed in our living room.

*warning: lots of pictures. 

every year we give the girls a new ornament.  this year we found the perfect ones. 

here is sarah's cell phone one.  and it's even the color of her phone. thank you target.

savannah's is a piano since she started lessons this year.

gracie's is fitting as she started kindergarten this year.

here are a few of our other faves.

this one sarah's bff, katie, gave her one year when they were super little.

savannah loves and wants a cat sooooooo badly.  this is as close as she'll get right now.  i love how the lady put her name on the tail.  super cute.

i love these dainty ornaments we gave them one year.

this one was even named "grace".  how perfect is that?

notice anything missing?  poor ballerina's arm was amputated when the tree fell on dad in 2007.  grace was also hit by the flying angel.  it was a christmas to remember and we always will with this little reminder.  it used to really bug me, but now serves as a fond and funny (now) christmas memory.

i painted these little gems one year for the girls for their ornaments.  how can you resist that face?

these homemade ones are, by far, some of my faves. every year i always get to add a few.

this one we ALL love and everyone always wants to hang it.  it is quite heavy so, for now, it must be hung high and needs to be done by me or mauricio. (another year with a squabble avoided)  we love it because it looks just like us as we head home with the tree on top of our big red car with all of us inside.

and we always love to look at these as we hang them and everytime have to say "wow! you are sooooo big now!" time goes by way too fast.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

more crafty goodness

i am just a crafting machine this christmas season!  don't anyone fall out of your chair reading this post.  actually i love to craft i just feel i have no brain power for the creative part of it.  so i just steal other's ideas or just pick their brains.  my fab girlfriend, marybeth, suggested we do key fobs for teacher gifts this year.  genius!  it was so fun to make them.  after christmas we are going to make more stuff for next christmas! i'm smelling some ornaments and maybe jewelry comin on.

all we did was stamp out some really cool initials onto fimo clay, poked a hole in the top for the keychain, rubbed on some paint after they had been baked and VOILA! instant personalized teacher gifts!  she let us use her fimo and i found key chains at the dollar store 12/$1.  you can't get any cheaper than that! (okay free is cheaper, but come on!)

i love how they look all vintage-y.

 

add a cute saying with a key shaped die cut no less.

tie them onto some tasty homemade treats.

and you have a fabulous teacher gift that they will LOVE.  (for the girl teachers with long hair we also included some of the pony tail holders.)

watch out! i'm about to get all martha on your butt!

i had to blog about this momentous occassion because i actually did some really cute crafting that didn't involve recycling another child's previous class project or it didn't take me like a bazillion years to actually complete. and when i say CAUUUUTE i mean CAUUUUUTE!
i must preface this post by saying that i cannot take the credit for the idea.  my girlfriend, heidi, gave it to me when i desperately emailed her in dire need of an cheap inexpensive and lazy effortless gift for my girlie girls' girlfriends.  follow?  anyhoo.  it had to be something that i didn't have to whip out the sewing machine for because, well.....i'm not sure i actually remember how to even thread the thing.  (if you don't already know. i HATE sewing!) 

this is a BIG thing for me to make something and have it turn out so cute.  heidi made these last year for her daughter's friends/teammates (i think that was the case. don't ask me to remember that kind of detail.  i barely remember where i live).  She probably makes these things in her sleep considering she is a huge sewer (is that right?)/quilter/martha stewart prodigy.  for me....this is an occassion worth blogging about.

get yourself some of these from the dollar store,

 some of these shiny things with a 40% off coupon at joanne's, (don't be afraid to use your kids so you can get multiple packs at once.)

and some of this pretty stuff.

then you end up with these CAUUUUUTE thingies.

it became quite addicting and i got a little obsessed with the endless possibilities.

we made big ones.

and cute little bitty ones.

and even a twin pair for "pinkie tails".

this is one of my faves because of the color combination.

how sweet is this little birdie?

then tie them onto some yummy homemade snack mix and kachow! you have a fab gift for cute little girls. 

 thanks again heidi for the great idea.  they were a big hit!