Category: family

Our Week in Isle of Palm/Charleston, South Carolina

Mike injured himself days before we left for South Carolina.  I dropped the GoPro in murky ocean water and then Tanner found it because it happened to brush against his foot.  We celebrated his 11th birthday with an boat and island tour of the barrier islands. Our nephews tried sushi for the first time and liked it, and watching the kids meet the ocean for the first time wasn’t bad either.  Just a very short recap of our relaxing week.  If Isle of Palms and Charleston isn’t on your travel list they should be.  Hope you enjoy the video we made of our time there.  Thanks for watching!  If you like it and want to see more travel videos in the future, you can head over to our YouTube channel to subscribe. Be sure to follow us on Instagram @thesejonesys and Facebook (These Jonesys) as well.

 

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A Couple’s Getaway Week in Puerto Rico

When our oldest was 5 and our 2nd born was 18 months, and before baby number 3 was born, Mike and I were lucky enough to travel to Puerto Rico without kids. The weather was beautiful at the end of November early December, and the people were the friendliest we have found anywhere we have traveled thus far. Even though Mike was technically there for a work convention, we had some time to explore in and around San Juan when he wasn’t working. We stayed at a beautiful resort on the beach that sat along side what was then Trump International Golf Club. I can’t find the name of the resort and Trump International has since gone bankrupt.  Had I had known I would be writing a blog post about Puerto Rico in the years following our trip, I would have done a better job documenting our week.  Regardless, there are so many options for resorts or hotels in Puerto Rico. Here’s a short breakdown of what we did during our week in Puerto Rico.

Golf in Puerto Rico

We golfed the beautiful golf course near our resort that sat right on the ocean. It tempted me of course to hit golf balls into the ocean, because who doesn’t want to do that a time or two? I also met Chi Chi Rodríguez there as well. If you don’t know who Chi Chi is, he was a very popular PGA player who walked the fairways with the likes of Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Lee Trevino to name a few. He was also the first Puerto Rican to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. We stalked him for a hole or two before getting up the courage to interrupt his game for a quick picture. He was beyond gracious and so funny. I think he told me at least a handful of jokes (as they are his specialty) before I let him finish the rest of his round, half hoping he would ask us to join him (kidding).

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Chi Chi Rodrígues and I

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The prettiest hole with the best view

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Old San Juan

We mostly relaxed during the days at the pool or beach, but there was one day that we took a shuttle to Old San Juan. On the way there our bus driver was so enthusiastic about showing us around his hometown, stopping at food trucks along the back roads near the beach, and telling us what to try. Our next stop was Old San Juan where we walked around the San Juan Old Historal Site andCastillo de El Morro, an old Spanish fort. I definitely want to bring our 10 year old here some day. He loves history and would find everything about this place fascinating.SONY DSCSONY DSCSONY DSCSONY DSCSONY DSCSONY DSC

After our walking tour of Castillo de El Morro, we hit up the streets of Old San Juan. It really was the prettiest little town I have ever been in and a couple hours here just didn’t cut it. I don’t have any photos of our time spent walking Old San Juan, and I’m not sure why.  Maybe my phone or camera died, but take my word for it, it was so inviting and so relaxing, we could have spent all day exploring the old cobblestone streets Old San Juan.

Vieques Bioluminescent Bay

One of the most unique experiences we had while in Puerto Rico was kayaking out to Vieques Bioluminescent Bay. We arrived in the evening at dark and proceeded to kayak for 30 minutes through a tunnel of mangroves until we reached a clearing. The organisms in the water react when something moves through it. Every time we would paddle the water would glow. It was so magical.  We had a clear sky that night and the stars were so bright, I didn’t know whether to look down into the glowing water or up into the twinkling sky.  We would definitely do it again. It was just such a peaceful relaxing activity.

We highly enjoyed our time in Puerto Rico but feel we barely scratched the surface on what Puerto Rico has to offer. We can’t wait to go back and bring the kids next time.

So there you have it, a very brief recap of our time in Puerto Rico.  Next time we visit I’ll write a bit more of an informative post for those who haven’t been and not sure what to do or where to stay.  This was an impromptu trip that I had no input with the planning so I didn’t research much before leaving.  What are your favorite things to see and do in Puerto Rico? Favorite family friendly places to stay? We’d love to hear your feedback in the comments below as we hope to take our kids back with us someday.

Also, stay in touch with us on our adventures by clicking the follow button below:) 

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3 days in The Black Hills with Kids

Last summer we ventured on a little trip with friends of ours and headed to the black Hills in South Dakota.  Having never been to the Black Hills, we knew we were in good hands as our friends have been many times and were great guides to us.  Part of the fun of road tripping to the Black Hills is all the stops along the way.  You can read about all the fun places we stopped on our way out here.  When we arrived in The Black Hills it was late afternoon.  We decided to head to Mount Rushmore right off the bat.  The sun was setting and the kids were ready to get out and stretch their legs. The great thing about Mount Rushmore is that it’s easy to get to and it can be as long or as short of a visit as you want it to be.  Ours was more on the shorter side (sorry Mr. Presidents).  We made just enough time to admire and take photos of the iconic rock sculpture, watch a short clip on the history of how it all came together, and walk around a bit.  It was really all the time we needed there and then it was time for dinner.  We stopped for pizza on the way down the hill from Mount Rushmore in the little town of Keystone.  The drive to our house was about a 45 minute jont up into the hills, and with the deer coming out we didn’t want to be making that drive at dusk (which happened this night) or when it was dark.

Day 1 (or 1st afternoon):  Mount Rushmore

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For our time in the Black Hills we rented a house from VRBO in Lead, and it was in a ski resort area.  It was so quiet and peaceful up there which made the long drive to and from the main events each day worth it.  Plus, the drive was beautiful so we didn’t really mind it.

Day 2:  Crazy Horse Memorial and Custer State Park

The next morning we headed to the Crazy Horse Memorial.  Our 10 year old was really into the history of the rock sculpture of Crazy Horse and loved walking around in the museum.  We enjoyed a quick hoop dancing demonstration, and the kids loved getting up and trying their own hoop dance.  It was fun and educational.

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After Crazy Horse we ventured over to Custer State park and walked around Sylvan Lake.  We could have spent an entire day here at the lake, and now we know for next time how to best utilize our time for Sylvan Lake and Custer State Park.  We didn’t make it to the wildlife viewing part of Custer or drive through the so-called nail biting needles road, as it was getting late and we needed to head back down the windy road that leads up to Sylvan Lake to get home before dark.

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Day 3:  Cosmos and Keystone

We opted for a quirky little visit at The Cosmos Mystery Area.  Here we got a short tour of the property where they say weird things happen because of the magnetic hills and the gravitational vortexes.  Something to be experienced for yourself.  It was definitly entertaining and something different.  The kids thought it was really interesting and had a blast on this short tour.2016-07-15 10.28.19 HDR-2

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After our Cosmos experience we headed into Keystone.  We visited the popular tourist stop Rushmore Tramway Adventures.  We took the kids up the hill via a chairlift and proceeded to have lunch at the top. 2016-07-15 11.45.052016-07-15 11.50.58After lunch we headed back down the hill but this time riding the alpine slides.  My kids loved this so much.  Landry (our 3 yr old) was with me and kept saying, “Go faster mom!”  I was going pretty slow for safety precautions and even after me saying, “We’re going fast,” he wasn’t having it.  “No we’re not.  We’re going slow.”  He’s too smart for his own good. 2016-07-15 12.37.072016-07-15 12.37.352016-07-15 12.43.522016-07-15 12.44.37-2

Once at the bottom, I talked Tanner into going ziplining.  I have always wanted to zipline and they had one here.  He was a champ about it and we can now check zip lining off of our bucket lists.2016-07-15 12.58.05   After the ziplining, we all headed over the the 1800’s train.  The train ride was so relaxing and peaceful and was definitely a highlight of the trip and a must do again for all of us.2016-07-15 14.12.47Processed with VSCO with c1 presetDSC09293DSC09301DSC09323DSC09332DSC09383Visiting the Black Hills was the perfect little getaway for us.  It was a slow relaxed trip.  The kids were able to run and explore and just be kids.  For a mid July trip, the weather was perfect.  Such a memorable summer trip. We can’t wait to go again.DSC09448

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Our Top 5 Places to Eat at Disney World

Disclaimer: We have yet to try all the places that Disney World has to offer. That being said, we’ve tried a number of them and based on two family trips to Disney World, these were our overall favorites. These places include table service restaurants and counter service restaurants. Our favorites are not based on just price or food alone, but the overall experience as a whole.

On our first trip to Disney, we tried to make it a very budget friendly trip. We rarely ate at any table service restaurants or character meals. We ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that we made in the morning for lunch, and just tried to keep things as cheap as possible. For our second time around we were determined to try as many new restaurants as possible. We had so much fun trying all the different food options, and even after all of new tries, I still have not tried a dole whip! Here is our list of favorite places to eat at Disney World.

 

  1. Yak and Yeti (counter service): For a quick lunch while at Animal Kingdom we headed over to Yak and Yeti counter service for some Asian cuisine. Along with the Asian flare offered, they also serve hamburgers and hot dogs. Our favorite items of the menu were the egg rolls and the chicken fried rice of all things, in which our kids happily devoured.

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That’s a baby sleeping on dad

  1. ‘Ohana (The Polynesian Resort): For a change of pace we took the monorail over to the Polynesian on our last night in Disney World, to eat at their family style restaurant, ‘Ohana. Before dinner they have the kids come up and participate in a couple of games. One of them is coconut races using little brooms. My kids had so much fun doing this and it was great for them to burn some extra energy before dinner while we waited for our food to come out. We really ate ourselves silly at ‘Ohana as it is an all-you-can eat style dinner consisting of pineapple-coconut bread, meat skewers, stir-fried vegetables and their famous bread pudding for dessert. I will go back to Ohana for the bread pudding alone it is that good! There is something for everyone here and I promise nobody is going to leave hungry.

Coconut races and bread pudding!

  1. Cinderella Castle (Lunch): This one is a pretty obvious one. They could have served us cold mush for lunch and we would have loved it (just kidding). The whole experience at the castle is in our opinion worth the hefty price tag at least once. Here’s why… Before heading upstairs to the main dining area, guests get to have a meet and greet with Cinderella first and get their picture taken with her. You also get a framed photo of you with Cinderella, which is included in the overall dining price. They do a couple of special things for the kids once in the dining all, and the whole place is surrounded by beautiful stain glass windows. The food is good, but we were there for the princesses. Even our 7 year old boy at the time loved it.

  1. Biergarten (Epcot): Adults go to Biergarten for the gigantic steins of beer that you get. Kids go for the all you can eat dessert buffet and the dancing. While you are feasting on the all you can eat buffet, the live German band plays upbeat music while guests can dance along to the beat. I have to admit that when we booked our dining reservation at Biergarten is was for the experience but we quickly discovered that the food was exceptionally good. There were a lot of different options and I didn’t eat one thing that I didn’t really enjoy. We all agreed as a family that Biergarten was one of our favorites and a must do again.

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  1. Sanaa (Animal Kingdom Lodge): Ahhhh, Sanaa…When I think of Sanaa, I get all dreamy eyed and it’s probably because it was a meal experience unlike anything we have every had before. Once again, I booked this dinner based more on experience but had heard the food was amazing. We just weren’t sure what to expect once we got there.  We were greeted with a taken care of by the friendliest of staff.  We asked for a table by the window so our kids were able to get up and stand near the window where every so often the curious animals and birds would come over to say hello. We got to watch zebras, giraffes, gazelles and ostriches play outside while we munched on the most delicious naan bread platter consisting of 9 different dipping sauces.   My kids gobbled up the bread and their dinner and the plates were huge.  If you don’t have very adventurous eaters in your group, please don’t let the initial menu scare you away from not eating at Sanaa.  The whole atmosphere was so authentic and memorable as was the food. Sanaa is a must do again every time because we love it so much. It’s our new Disney dining tradition.

Naan bread platter, meeting animal friends and enjoying dinner

We can’t wait to go back to Disney World and have been planning our next trip for quite a while. In the meantime, I’d love to hear where your favorite places to eat at Disney are!  Did I persuade you to try one our our favorites?  I’d love to hear what you thought of it.

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Where there’s food, there’s a Toby

I love capturing every day moments with the kids, and I’m trying to do so more often. These pics I took last week of Landry eating blueberry pancakes and Toby-the dog, waiting for crumbs to drop on the floor pretty sum up every mealtime at our house. Where there’s food there’s a Toby…most of the time she doesn’t wait for the food to fall before her self control caves in and she’s up on the tray licking it clean.

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Disney World 2014- Day 2 All Things Princesses and Pirates

I have been waiting for this particular day for soooooo long.  I made reservations at the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique for Sam to get made up like a princess.  We also had plans for Tanner to get made up like a pirate at The Pirates’ League.  From there we were going to eat lunch with all our favorite princesses in Cinderella’s castle.  Since going to all three of these things is such a big deal, I made invitations for the kids to open that morning when they woke up.  I only have a photo of one invitation and it’s the one inviting Sam to the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique.  I also made one for Tanner from Jack Sparrow, inviting him to the Pirates League, and one for all 3 kids inviting them for a royal feast (aka, Cindy’s castle).  I got the idea for the invites from wdwprepschool.com.  Click here to see them or download her version.  The kids had no idea when they woke up that they had some special surprises in store, which made the morning that much more exciting.  We were able to get into the Magic Kingdom before the rest of the public because we had early reservations. I would have taken more pictures of the castle except that they were doing major work on it so they’re were some very large cranes intruding on all my pictures.  I have not one great photo of all of us in front of Cinderella’s castle.  Oh well, I should have taken some anyways just to have, but I didn’t.. I guess we’ll just have to go back again (sigh)…soon 🙂

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My beautiful castle picture…

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The Bibbity Bobbity Boutique:

Sam wasn’t quite sure what she was in for but was being treated like royalty from the moment we walked in.  They had her change into her Belle dress that I brought from home and sat her in a chair at her very own vanity.  She waited very patiently for her fairy Godmother to do her hair and makeup.

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Her fairy Godmother putting her hair up in a tiara just like a real princess 🙂

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Putting on some lipstick.

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Her reaction to seeing herself for the 1st time is priceless 🙂

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Dad told her to give us some sass.  I don’t think she knows what that is, but she pulled it off quite nicely.

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Waiting patiently for rope drop. The calm before the craziness.

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We got to see Peter Pan and Wendy fly by.  I love this photo because they are running flying in perfect unison.

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Pirate’s League:  Tanner’s turn 🙂

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As if he didn’t already took mischievous, those eyebrows killed me.

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Aye aye Capt’n Hook!!

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We battled it out a little.

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The boys on Dumbo

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That’s one way to get us all in the picture:)

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Tanner got shy around Ariel and Sam came alive.  Her first princess meet and greet and I think she could have talked to her all day!

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Cinderella’s castle for lunch with all the princesses…

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Where’s my girlfriend?

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This reaction was for Miss Snow White herself 🙂

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Well there you are 🙂

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No captions needed…

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Time for some rides 😉

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Found a cast member whose name was also Sam.  Because  our Sam was wearing a “Happy Birthday” pin she gave the kids pixie dust in their hands.  Told them to close their eyes and make a wish and then throw it up in the air!  Love witnessing moments like these through their eyes 🙂

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This capped off another magical day at the most magical place on Earth :))

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Disney World 2014- Day 1 Epcot

Just got back from our Disney trip and it was nothing short of THE BEST TRIP EVER!  We’ve been planning this trip for a really long time, and it seemed like it would never get here, but once it came it was such a whirlwind.  We packed so much into that 1 week that we were there and the kids were absolute troopers.  Not even sure how to recap everything about the trip without writing a book (maybe that will be my next project), but we’ll start with the surprise…
We knew from the beginning that we weren’t going to tell the kids about Disney until the day we were leaving.  Considering this trip almost didn’t happen, it was a good move on our parts.  However, it got so hard, planning and packing for the weeks leading up to the BIG reveal.  I had suitcases in our bedroom for weeks (I started packing early), and luckily the kids never really noticed.  We decided to have a personalized audio message made from Mickey Mouse telling the kids that they were going to Disney.  We set up the 2 cameras up so we were hands free and they wouldn’t think it was weird that one of us was recording them.  Plus, we were able engage with them, and that was the best part.  We surprised Tanner once before when Sam was a baby, and he was in shock, plus he had never been to Disney before so he didn’t really understand.  3 years later, he gets it.  Their sweet reactions were priceless.   So glad we were once again able to capture this great memory on film to have forever.
 
 
We split our stay at two different resorts.  When we landed in Orlando at 8:30pm, the magical express bus dropped us off at Port Orleans-French Quarter.   We were all exhausted and hungry, so we had pizza in the room around 11pm and then it was off to bed.
 
 
Day 1: EPCOT
This was our first time visiting Epcot, and throughout the trip, it quickly rose to the top of our list for favorite parks.  So glad we did this on our first day.  We didn’t have any real plans and were able to just walk around at our own pace and be spontaneous. Although we were a little spoiled since the Flower and Garden Festival was going on.  
 
We saw Pluto right away and had to get his autograph and some pictures.
 
 
 As you can see, Sam’s skiddishness of characters has diminished since our last trip when she was a baby and was absolutely terrified.
 Even Landry surprised me with his playfulness with them all. (Hey, Lan, I think Pluto wants his ear back :))
 
Chip and Dale
Tanner wanted to meet them, Sam did not (obviously).
 
After meeting Pluto and Chip and Dale, we moseyed our way toward Norway in the World Showcase.  Not because we actually thought we would get to meet the “Frozen” sisters.  Oh, no, no, no. Unless we wanted to stand in line for 3+ hrs.  
 
Taking in all the pretty flowers and topiaries made into different characters.  If there’s one reason to visit Disney in the spring, this is it.
 
 
 
Playing in the fountain :))
 
 
 
 
We hit up Maelstrom which I thought was going to be a little boat ride, and instead turned out to be the boat ride from Hell that went down a hill backwards, had what looked like scary trolls and polar bears that flashed their teeth at you and left our kids screaming till the very end and covering their eyes.  First Ride! I can kiss that dream of getting them on other big kid rides goodbye. We tried to distract them afterwards with lunch and dessert from the Norway’s Kringla Bakeri.  It worked.  Just look at those goodies!
 
I’ll take that..and that..and that.
Before dessert we all shared a club sandwich.  It was also delicious!
 
Walking through Mexico…
 
 
 
Trading our first ever Disney pin!
 
 
The rest of our day at Epcot, we rode Nemo and Friends, Soarin’ and talked with Crush the turtle.  Unfortunately, we did not ever make it to Test Track, or any other ride at Epcot the rest of the trip.  The kids loved Soarin’.  They felt like they were really flying and even went on it twice!  Crush the turtle was also a huge hit. 
 
Just so we’re clear, this is the Nemo ride (which came after Maelstrom-dark and scary ride). Naturally this is now an instant reaction for the rest of the rides following suite.
 
 Tanner got to talk with Crush!
“Hey, Little Dudes!”
Bathroom Break for everybody else.  Landry didn’t think he was getting enough camera time out of the stroller.  I agreed…SELFIES!!
I may have lagged a little behind the group, and found a margarita stand in the process…

This little guy swam past Tanner probably 30 times and literally waved at him every time.

 

 
Oh Canada…
 
 
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TICK-TOCK, TICK-TOCK

Aye aye, Hook!

Look! It’s Pan!

Messing around in Mexico…

We walked around the World Showcase, and Tanner and I split a Mickey ice cream bar while the younger 2 took naps in the stroller.


 Daddy enjoyed an ice cold beverage
It’s time to go…
A little bit of swim time at the pool
1 day down, 6 to go.
 

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Our Advent Calendar

I love Christmas! Love, love, love, love, love Christmas! The music, the baking, Santa…all that good stuff.  This year I wanted to try something different and decided to make an advent calendar for the kids.  The only advent calendar we ever had as kids were the little boxes with the windows that you opened and got chocolate out of.  In true Kristin fashion, I decided on 3pm on December 1st, that yes, I was going to make an advent calendar.  I headed out to Target to grab a couple of supplies since I had most everything at home that I was going to use.  While I was wandering around in the holiday section, I stumbled upon the Christmas trees.  I thought how fun would it be to surprise the kids and get them their very own Christmas trees and decorations for their rooms? SO FUN!! So I gathered what I needed and headed home to get to work on the Advent Calendar. I Incorporated the trees in the calendar so the note that they read in the bag for Day #1 was, “There is a surprise in your rooms!” (to find out what was in the rest of the treat bags keep reading). The excitement on their little faces were almost too cute to bear, and luckily I had the video camera rolling to capture there reactions.  When they opened their doors and saw their very own trees all lit up, they were a little speechless at first. And then it happened.  My darling 7 year boy, started yelling, “YES! YES! THIS IS WHAT I’VE ALWAYS WANTED! MY DREAM COME TRUE!”  He had been asking me for the last couple of years to decorate his room with lights and we just never got around to it.  If I would have known that he would have been this excited, I would have done this in years past. The emotion in his eyes and face were something I will never so real and sincere, it nearly brought me to tears.  He was bursting with happiness like I’ve never seen from him, and it was one of those mommy moments for me that I will never forget! (also because I video taped it).  I hope this is one of those childhood memories that he remembers forever as one of his favorites when he is grown because it sure was one of mine. Sam was also thrilled to pieces, but the best part about it was that when it came time to decorate, Tanner dragged his tree into his sisters’ room so they could decorate them together.  It was so fun, and they’re so excited to be able to get their very own trees out every year now and add to them.  Pics of this below…

My DIY Advent Calendar

I’ve had a few questions about our advent calendar, the most common one being, “What’s in the bags?” So, here’s how I made mine.  I scoured the Internet and Pinterest for all things Advent Calendars.  I was late in getting started on mine since it was Dec. 1, so I needed something quick, simple and cost effective.  I decided on hanging paper bags with goodies in them on our little chalkboard wall that is between the kitchen and the mudroom/garage door.

Supplies:

Twine
Laundry clips
paper bags
whatever is going in the bags
hammer/nails

This project to me about an hour from start to finish and here is the process…

First, I drew out the month of December on paper and filled in every day with what was going in each bag, so I didn’t double up on something or forget something.  Once I was satisfied, I cut little squares out of scrapbook paper so I could write little notes on them.  I gathered all my goodies and started filling bags.  Of course I could have made them cuter, but I didn’t have time.



 Of course we have to make them perfectly level…




Scary Photo Bomber!



TA-DA!!



Examples of goodies I put in the bag: Halloween candy, candy canes, animal crackers, fruit snacks, unopened Pez dispensers they got last year for Christmas, a couple of crafts from the $1 bin, stickers.
I tried to use what I had at home already and only picked up a couple of cheap goodies at the store for fillers.

Some examples of what I put in bags without treats; mostly they were notes for doing a Xmas craft, doing something as a family or doing something for someone else. Here are a few examples of what ours say.
       
       – write letters to Santa
       – make snowflakes to hang around the house
       – watch Sound of Music as a family, and clap as mom sings along to all the songs
       – go on a carriage ride
       – gather unused toys and things and donate
       –  pass out teacher gifts
       – bake cookies and hand out to neighbors (with a note clearly stating, ” EAT AT YOUR OWN RISK. MADE BY LITTLE PEOPLE”
       – watch Polar Express
       – Drive around and look at lights
       – sleep under the Xmas tree (this one may be a big hit. It will probably turn into, “hang out under the Xmas tree until mom and dad decide it’s time to sleep in our own beds,” in which case there will most likely be tears).
       – make Xmas ornaments
       – make Xmas cards and send out to family and friends
       – (Xmas Eve) open 1 gift, our tradition

So, that’s it! Simple and quick! Also, pleased that our Advent calendar doubles as a place to hang holiday cards, since I don’t currently have a specific place for them it is perfect!!




Landry wanted in on the action…Holy Cow, Look at that mess!!!  Landry, naughty…

Like I said, nothing special about these bags



 Sam’s pouting because she just realized that she doesn’t get to open Bag #1 🙂


Decorating their trees together






Merry Christmas!!

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A Welcoming Front Door

  Monday I shared my color swatches that we were considering for our front door.   Of course nobody wants a “before” pic if there isn’t an “after” photo.  And if you’re anything like me I like a good tutorial to go along with someone’s sharing of anything.  This was a pretty easy project and quick.    I painted the door in one afternoon.  Our door started off beige, and in desperate need of a makeover.  Since I didn’t want to paint our options on the door, I instead took a bunch of swatches of each color we were considering and taped them on the door so we could see what they looked like.  Once we picked a color I went back and grabbed a small can of paint and a short time later? WA-LA! A brand new door! 
As for the color we chose, it is Behr’s “Jamaican Bay”.   I couldn’t take my eyes off this color and it just makes me so darn happy when I see it, so it had to be.  Sam is upset that it isn’t pink, but I can’t win them all.  Mike seems to like it so that’s all that matters.  
  Here’s what I used:
1. angled 2 1/2 inch brush and a 1 inch brush for the nooks and crannies. 
2. a sander- fine
3. Behr’s Jamaican Bay in exterior satin finish with primer (2 coats). The nice man at the counter suggested a satin finish and he seemed to know what he was talking about.

 ALL DONE!! AIN’T SHE PRETTY?

I can’t help to smile when I pull up to my house now! Before my front door said, “I’m boring.” Now it says, “LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME!” I love the color so much, I may just paint the inside of it…and the garage door leading into the house too.  The possibilities are endless!  Did I inspire you? Do you have a fun and fresh front door? If so, I want to see it. 

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Oh Baby!

Well lazy doesn’t even begin to describe our winter break, but with baby #3 on his way in February, I admit that our laziness was mostly due to my hibernation habits that I’ve acquired over the past couple of months.  With less than 6 weeks to go, I’ve finally started to make some decisions on baby boy’s room.  I love decorating, especially my kids’ rooms, but my problem always lies with my indecisiveness.  I always have too many different ideas, and can’t always seem to make them work together.  Does anyone else get this way?  Then I get frustrated, and procrastinate.  I think also since this is baby #3, the room got put on the back burner.  With 2 kids to take care of already, and a house full of other ‘in need to do’ projects, I’ve kinda been feeling like it doesn’t “need” to get done right away. That being said, it’s getting close now, so with many o’ projects in mind, we have been slowly working on bambino’s room.  There is paint on the walls! YES! Oh, and the crib we didn’t want to spend a lot of money on?  Well, let’s just say that my daily visits to Target finally paid off.  While browsing around the baby section I just happened to stumble upon a crib that someone had returned from online!  Not only that, but I scored a $250 crib for $85! I know you’re impressed. Because they don’t sell it in the stores, they can’t sell it at the same price that it is online.  Nothing wrong with it and I’m still grinning about that steal of a deal!  Never underestimate a good ole Target run.  You never know what you’re going to find.

This weekend was a busy one (for Mike).  He lugged the heavy, old dresser down 2 flights of stairs to the basement, via wheely cart..I don’t know what you call it, and sanded, primed and painted that baby. It’s nice to know we now have a place to start storing all of bambino’s things since I’ve already washed and folded all his newborn clothes.  Also, I ordered his bedding, YAY!!  It won’t be here for about a month, but if anyone is on the lookout for custom bedding, modifiedtots found on Etsy is a great place to start looking.  She has loads of fabrics to look through and choose from and I found the prices to be reasonable considering what you get for the price.  She will also help put together options if you’re having a hard time trying to decide what you like, and will keep doing it until you’re 100% happy.  I’m so excited to get the bedding.  I’m going to try to save a little mula by attempting my own changing pad covers and maybe some curtains (gulp). I do have a back up plan if my brilliant attempts end up to be just that…attempts.
 There’s still a lot in the room to get done, but for some odd reason, I’m just not in a rush…

The list:

Order bedding
Paint the dresser
Make changing pad covers
Curtains
Rug
Recover the glider
bookcase of some sort
bins and baskets for storage
lamp
wall decor

Those are the main things, but since little man will be bunkin’ in our room for a while, I’m just taking my sweet time…kinda like he is doing in my belly 😉

Pics to come of the progress soon…HAPPY MONDAY!

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