Christmas Reflextion

This Christmas was amazing. Having my mom, brother, uncle and grandmother here at our home to spend the holiday was more perfect than I could have imagined. It has been several years since I was with my family at Christmas and I have really missed it. 

C and I baked and baked and baked this year. Russian Tea Cakes, Chocolate Rice Krispy Bars, Oreo Bark, Cranberry/Orange Bread, and Spiced Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. There was more I wanted to make...White Chocolate Popcorn Balls and Fudge but ran out of time. Either way what we did make was super yummy.

Our holiday started on Christmas Eve with a wonderful dinner made of brisket, ham, roasted potatoes, green beans, smashed spiced yams and some super yummy rolls my uncle brought in from a bakery in LA. Church service at C's school proceeded a few hours later and the girls did so well. the church was smart and made up bags for the little ones filled with crayons, a little coloring book, goldfish and a lolli. Defiantly helped keep them from fidgeting. We finished our night with several hands of 31. A traditional card game played in our family even before I was born. The girls placed their cookies and milk out for Santa and mini carrots for the reindeer. Then we stepped outside to sprinkle a glitter and rolled oats mix onto the grass. The glitter attracts the attention of the reindeer and the smell of the oats brings them to our front steps (so the legend goes). After the girls were tucked in and a sleep, Santa and his helpers went to work packing the tree with presents from friends and family from around the country.

 

 

Christmas morning came with a scream as C and M saw the tree light up and all the presents surrounding it.  C right away started looking for ones with her name and making a pile to one side. All the presents that were not hers were literally tossed to the side..lol Since we still had to wait for Great Grams and uncle Mike to show up we let them open their stockings after they had some breakfast. Just as they were almost finished digging into their stockings the last of our family arrived. Wrapping paper and beautiful ribbon began to fly.

 

 

When all was said and done the girls made out like bandits of course and this mama was excited to get her Christmas wish..well second wish....a Wii Fit Plus! Sweet! Needless to say this is how we spent the rest of our Christmas..hooked into the Wii. We had a Wii bowling tournament ( I kicked ass), and then took turns doing our BMI and Weight. Have to say I was very leary of this since I was allowing myself free rein on snacking and sweets..but it turned out great! It was a long night..errr morning? I was up until 0330 playing  with my hubby and brother. They stayed up until after 0400. Shopping with my mom and Grams that morning was not as fun as it could have been if I wasn't so tired and a little hung over...lol

All in all it was the best Christmas we have had in a very long time. Being able to be with people you love and who love you during this season is so spectacular. I hope everyone had the most amazing Christmas like we did, full of joy and love to last the whole year through.


P.S. Did I mention the puppy we just adopted yesterday?

Please welcome our newest member "Sookie"!

 

 

 

She is a 7 1/2 month old female lab mix. We just adopted her yesterday and she fits in so well with our family already, almost like she's always known us. Besides having 4 white paws and a white chest, she was born with a stubby tail which I find so adorable. She loves to snuggle on the couch and follows the girls (almost escorts them) when they go outside and she does not come back in until they do. Her temperament is wonderful and she is so gentle. The girls hug her and love on her and she soaks it up. She is not potty trained yet but at least she goes on the wee wee pads when in the house. Today we all walked down to the park/playground and had a blast. Tomorrow we are going to go visit the dog parks in our area. Yet another wonderful thing about San Diego, all the beautiful off leash dog parks...and of course Dog Beach in OB!

However she is still a puppy and as such we had our first victim today.......

 

Happy Holidays Everyone

Tonight my mom and brother fly in, I am so excited to see them. I see my mom every year even when we were stationed in VA, but I have not seen my brother since my oldest was 9 months old...she's now 4 1/2! That's a long time. So anyways I will be taking a few days off from posting..weird because I just came back to my blog and have been enjoying it again. But I will be back!

From my family to your have a wonderful, wonderful holiday season surrounded by your friends and loved ones.

"Christmas gift suggestions: To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect. " -- Oren Arnold

Muffin Tin Monday - Christmas

Yay, I back participating in Muffin Tin Monday and are my girls excited! So this week theme is Christmas..it was a tuffy but I came up with this:

Cheesy Jingle Bells  and  PB&J Christmas Tree
Mini Snowballs
Presents (Triscuit's spread with French Onion Laughing Cow Cheese and Cheddar Cheese Ribbons)

Want to see more awesome Tin's! Stop by the home of Muffin Tin Mondays, Her Cup Overflowth and join in the fun!

Sew Fierce Sale Extended

20%-40% Sale on ALL in stock items on Sew Fierce has been extended for the New Year until Jan 2nd 2010!

Stop in and take a peak at our clothing, infant accessories and more!

Rest In Heaven Brittany Murphy

I just read while on my Facebook page that Brittany Murphy died. Normally I do not post about a death of an actor/actresses, frankly usually I do not care, but I have to say I was a little shocked and saddened. I really liked her. Of course I as everyone else first was introduced to her in "Clueless"...blah. She was weird and awkwardly cute. It wasn't until Girl Interrupted that I became an immediate fan. Not like a stalker fan, or sending her letters with a collage of pictures of her pasted on my walls, but a real fan. I looked forward to what see what character she would give us next. Don't Say A Word, 8 Mile, Sin City, Just married...all movies I enjoyed her in. Then Happy Feet came out. She rocked it. I didn't know she could sing and it was great.

Brittany Murphy born November 10th 1977 dies at the young age of 32 on December 20th 2009.

Of course a lot of speculation is already spinning...was it really cardiac arrest? Was it drugs? Anorexia? Who the hell cares I mean really. What would it change in our lives if it was drugs or anorexia? Nada.... nothing would change except we would have more gossip, finger pointing and "how could she" moments to spread. Not now, not at Christmas.

Brittany my heart goes out to your husband and your family/friends left behind. I always thought you were a class act and I am sorry the world will not see what other wonderful things you could have accomplished.

More to come: Three of her movies, including "The Expendables" starring Sylvester Stallone, are in post-production.

YCMT Winner

Chosen by Random.org......

#4 La Yen

and

#17 tutugirl

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Our house is decorated for the most part. Our tree is up and beautifully trimmed. Stockings are hung. Unfortunately we do not have a hearth so we hang ours from our TV cabinet..lol Garland is strung around the house and soon I will start the holiday cookie making. My grandmother passed on to me the holiday cookie cutters from my childhood. Every holiday she would make a huge platter of sugary treats and it would sit for days on the table as we would pass by and grab one here and there. She would make several different types of cookies, fudge, and divenity. The house always smelled so good. I used to make Russian Teacakes every year but have not done it since we've had the girls. This year C and I will be baking up a storm, using the passed on cookie cutters, keeping the tradition going. The other day we made rice krispy treats, her first time, she had a blast. However the treats only lasted the day in our house, their just too yummy to let sit all by themselves!

I love traditions. One of the memories that always stands out the most of tradition growing up is on Christmas Eve. We would always have a big Christmas Eve dinner. Grandparents, uncles, friends and neighbors would come over for a wonderful feast. For dessert my mom and grams would go into the kitchen and prepare the pudding. Spooned into beautiful pedestal cups they would place a almond into the center of the pudding in only one cup. Then mix around the cups as to try to fool themselves as well. Then the pudding cups would be brought out and served to the table. Now here is the fun part, the part I always was excited for hoping and dreaming it would be me! Whom ever had the almond in their pudding got to open one present of their choosing that night, Christmas Eve. This to me was the most exciting part of dinner of course, what kid doesn't want to open a present early? This is a tradition I will be passing down to the girls when they are a little bigger to understand the rules and I know they will love it as much as I did.


What traditions from your childhood did you always look forward to?

 

 

 

You Can Make This Giveaway

With the holidays just around the corner, we thought it would be fun to showcase some quick and easy gift ideas you can give to friends, neighbors, co-workers, and oh yes…even your family! You can enter to win eBooks from  www.YouCanMakeThis.com and learn some fun new techniques, tips, and ideas not only for the people on your list, but also creative ways to decorate your home!

You Can Make This has created a free download for some fun gift tags. Each of them coordinate with ideas found as part of the DIY Gift Giving Series videos that can be found at www.youcanmakethis.com/blog , as well as designs and patterns found at www.SWAKembroidery.com and www.YouCanMakeThis.com.

You can also enter to win hundreds of dollars in gift certificates just for watching the videos that are part of the DIY Gift Giving Series and answering a question on the You Can Make This blog!

Besides the awesome giveaways going on over at YCMT they are offering 2 of my readers the chance to win two bundle packs. The bundle pack will include instructions for making the Kimber Kids 24" Doll and the “Gift-Giver” Patterns. These are the perfect toys to make every little ones eyes light up on Christmas morning.  

How To Enter:

Mandatory Entry: Visit YCMT, come back and leave a comment telling what other patterns piqued your interest. Please make sure if you do not have a valid email address on your blog or profile, add it to your comment so I can contact you easily.
NOTE: If you skip the mandatory entry, none of your entries will count for the giveaway.

Extra Entries: (leave separate comments for each entry)


* Follow Me

* Becaome a Fan of YCMT Facebook Page!

* Grab my Blog Button or Sew Fierce badge and Blog about the party. (Gain 4 extra entries, leave separate comment for each)



* Follow me on Twitter and RT this: (please leave status link in your comment)

APFOB Blog - YCMT Giveaway. Win 2 eBook Bundle Packs!  2 Winners will be picked @YouCanMakeThis  http://apocketfullofbuttons.blogspot.com


Giveaway closes Dec 18th @ 11:59pm (PST) Winner will be picked Dec 19th by Random.org and notified by email, a post will follow. Winner has 72 hours to reply to my email otherwise a new winner will be picked.

Open to anyone with a valid email address!

Thank You and Christmas Etsy Finds

This is a two part post. Thank you to my SITSta's for stopping by and visiting yesterday. I am blown away by all the comments left. A lot of them made me laugh and all made me smile which is just what I needed yesterday. I am still responding to the comments so if I haven't visited your site to say thank you yet, I will :)

This is one reason why I love SITS. Besides Heather and Tiffany being fabulous, all the members are so caring and generous with their time to pop in sometimes just because they saw you in roll call and wanted to say hello. So sweet.


Now for my Esty Finds. It's been awhile since I've posted one but I have been inspired by my Christmas tree. I love the mix of Burgundy and Gold so that is my theme for this week.





Schemata - Hand painted Glass Ornaments






Wildhare - Hand painted Superwash Merino





Gemma Beads - GILT CRANBERRY Scrabble Tile & Washi Paper Earrings





















A and V Designs - AandV Pleated Hobo Bag Autumn





My Mandy's Crafts - Poinsettia Napkin Rings






Mary McNulty Designs - Custom Order -Tennessee Waltz Asian Influenced Batik Fabrics Quilt

Welcome SITS Friends!

Welcome lovely's to my little piece of quiet...sometimes. When Heather contacted me about being featured I couldn't believe it. I have met so many wonderful bloggers through SITS roll call and featured bloggers and I am honored to be one today.

If you've read my "about me" on the right side bar that pretty much says it all. I am married to a wonderful man who makes me laugh and gives me support and encouragement every day. We have two amazing girls. C is 4 1/2 (can not forget the 1/2 part) and M is 2 yrs. Not only do they keep me on my toes, but inspire me to no end. We are a proud military family. Hubby is a United States Marine and has been in for 18 yrs so far. I do not have time for many hobbies but when I can finally sit down I love to sew. I opened a online boutique called Sew Fierce in June of 2008. My favorite things to make are clothing for my girls, they are the best models ever.

My blog started out to be a way for people to get to know me and my label Sew Fierce. However as everything else it has taken on another life I never expected. Besides my day to day stuff I post Etsy finds, recipes and write reviews and hold giveaways for various companies large and small. I can not remember exactly how I started down this path it just kinda happened and I have so much fun with it.


Here are a few of my favorite posts. Mostly about my family with other stuff mixed in.

Can't Help But Laugh

Any Given Sunday

Chorizo Lovin

Google Your Name


Thank you for stopping by today. I hope to meet many more of you and visit your blogs as well.

P.S. Until Dec 18th all in stock items in my store www.sewfierce.com is 20%-40% off. So stop by and take a peak you might find something interesting.

eBeanstalk.com Review

Would you buy from an online site that catered to your child, their age and developmental phases? Would it make you feel good to purchase a toy knowing all the information about that toy? Of course you would, I would too. That's why I was excited to learn about eBeanstalk.com. Not only are their toys listed by age group, featured categories and more, but you can get expert advice if your not sure which toy would be best for your child and learning stage.

The experts at eBeanstalk.com hand picked a wonderful toy for my daughters to try free of charge. All they asked me was the gender and ages of my girls and they did the rest. A few days later our box arrived. What was in it? "Play Foam, Remoldable Sculpting Beads". Did the girls like it? They loved it and still love it. They had so much fun squishing it together, making animals, submarines, airplanes and more. I even got in on it and made a multi colored car.

With each toy the experts at eBeanstalk.com pick for you comes with a Instruction Card. When I found mine in the box I was very impressed. Never seen anything like it before and loved the concept. Toy description, why that toy was picked, primary skills the toy develops and ideas to get the most learning and play from that toy are all on this card. That's a lot of information you wouldn't find anywhere else.

A little about ebeanstalk.com Mission:

"It’s our mission to help parents select the best learning toys and baby gifts based on the age of the child. We offer a unique way to select the right learning toys for your child at every stage of development from birth to five years old. Toys are categorized to allow you to shop by age or further refine the search by category.

The baby toys and kids’ toys on our website have been selected by our team of specialists. The team includes experts in clinical psychology, speech-language pathology, physical therapy, pediatric occupational therapy and education, as well as over 700 mothers from across the country. They looked at over ten thousand toys to select the best development toys for babies and toddlers according to age."

Right now for the holiday spend over $65 and get FREE shipping. See website for more details.

Disclosure: I received complimentary review products from eBeanstalk.com. No payment was received for this blog post.