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!!

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. 

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!