Saturday, December 31, 2011

Happy New Year!!!


Ok, I know I have been a major slacker for the past couple, few, several days!!! I had big plans for many different post during my Christmas break, but as we can all see I majorly failed at posting anything!!!  

I thought that I was going to have an uneventful break, but between Christmas, family visits, and many many shopping trips my Christmas break has flown by!! 

I know some up coming post may be about Christmas, but I still wanted to show y'all some pretty cool stuff that can be used for more holidays other than just Christmas!!
So look for some great ideas being posted soon!! (I promise :))


I cannot believe tomorrow starts a NEW YEAR!!!
I cannot wait to see what 2012 has to bring!!!
HAPPY NEW YEARS EVE!!! 
have fun and be safe!!!

mSs

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Rockett's Final Visit (until next Christmas)

It is finally that time to say good bye to Rockett until next Christmas :(  He has been super fun and creative this holiday season and I cannot wait to see what he has in store for Miss Avery Grace next year!!

Good Bye Rockett!!  Tell Santa we all said HI!!!!!

Day 24
For his last visit, Rockett built himself a snow fort and was ready to have a snow ball fight!!!  

mSs



Friday, December 23, 2011

Where was Rockett today...and yesterday???

Sorry for being so lazy with my posting these past couple of days, we have been super busy with any and everything dealing with Christmas, but Rockett has been super creative these past couple of days!!!
Check him out!!!

Day 22
 Rockett bought "magic snow" back for the North Pole to go sleigh ridding!!!

Day 23
Rockett made himself a camp fire and roasted marshmallows for s'mores!!

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Where was Rockett today???

Day 21
 Rockett is in his western get up, I guess he was as excited as we were to have Lo and Peyt home!!!

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Finally, It's Christmas Break!!

Yesterday was my last day of work until 2012, and I couldn't be more excited!!!  So I will finally have more time publish all of these blog ideas I have had!!!

So...y'all may get sick of me over the next several days, because I have so much fun stuff that I want to show y'all!!  So I decided that today I will just give y'all a little taste of what I have been up to!!  

Enjoy, I cannot wait to show everything!!

First, I wanted to show a few pictures of Miss Avery Grace cheering!!  She had so much fun last friday night and she still walks around the house saying her cheers!!

Thanks Ladies for all of your help!!!

                               



I think that I have mentioned this before, but this year I wanted to do something a little different with my wrapping!!  I decided to keep it simple, paper wise, and add super cute details using the supplies below!!

Sunday/Monday I decided to make these cute little balls of amazingness!!  This one is technically a cake ball,  but I really made cake pops.  In the cake pop post I will do my best to show and tell you how to make them!! I promise, they are not to very hard!! 

mSs


Creative "anytime" wrapping!

With a special thanks to Pinterest, I decided back in November that I wanted to do something a little different with the gifts I was giving this year.  I found about a million ideas on Pinterest, but I knew I would not know exactly what I wanted to do until I went shopping for all of my supplies!  

Besides the alphabet stamps that I already had, I did not have anything else to decorate the gifts, so I dragged my wonderful bf to Hobby Lobby, and by dragged I mean he gave me 10 minutes to find what I needed.  Little did he know how big and how much awesome stuff Hobby Lobby had, so about 30 minutes later I finally came out with some cool ribbons, twine, and pom-pons.  But this was not all I needed, I still needed to wrap the presents, I finally found the brown craft paper I was looking for at Target (if you are curious, after Christmas I found a huge double roll of the paper at Wal- Mart).




Once I was finally ready to sit down and wrap all of my presents, I intended to wrap them all first then decorate them later, but that plan did not work out and I ended up decorating them as I wrapped them.  It may have taken a little longer than a normal wrapping job, but it was really fun deciding how I would decorate each person's gift!  
Here are some pictures of my favorites (which is just about all of them!) 




I hope these tips below help you get creative when wrapping!!




1. Lace, ric-rac, buttons and twine were my favorite to use.  I also acquired a new love for bakers twine, I now have green and red with every intention of adding more colors to my collection.
2.  I tried to have use a common theme when decorating, such as a color, but I found that I liked to decorate based on who the gift was for.




3.  ANYTHING can be used!!!  My mom had a bunch of old fabric scrapes that I used.  I used sequins, lace, and pom-pons strung on thread too.  Anything that can be wrapped around the box is perfect!
4.  Add a little something extra for the kiddies!!  I included a lollipop ornament to make theirs a little more special.
5.  My best "investment" was purchasing the alphabet stamps!!  They were about $25, but I figured after spending money on gift tags it would probably equal about the same.  They are nice too because you can add what ever you want, not only names!


6.  Mix and match different colors and materials.  I loved the look of metallic ric-rac paired with grey velvet ribbon.  

7.  Some of the decorations can be saved and reused, especially the buttons and ric-rac!!  
8.  Use paper other then craft paper!  Maps, newspaper, and even paper grocery bags would be cool!!




I hope this has inspired y'all to take a little more time and custom decorate your gifts!!!  
Have fun and get creative!!!

mSs


Where was Rockett today???

Day 20
Rockett was enjoying a juice box this morning!!  I hope Brian does not get mad that he messed up his refrigerator!! 

mSs

Monday, December 19, 2011

Happy Birthday Big Brother!!

Today I would like to say Happy Birthday to the best big brother ever!!!!!!!

Lo with his favorite sisters and wife!!

and tomorrow he will be back home for Christmas!!! I am soo excited!!

<3 you!!!




Where was Rockett the weekend????

Sorry, I kinda forgot to post what Rockett was up too on Sunday, so I included pictures from today and yesterday..

Day 18
Rockett was found knitting himself a scarf!! I am sure it came in handy this weekend! It has been CHILLY!!

Day 19
Rockett displayed some of his own art work on the refrigerator this morning!!



mSs

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Where was Rockett today???

Sorry I am posting Rockett so late today, but my uneventful weekend turned eventful when I agreed to go to the Williamsburg Outlets with my sister and aunt.  Although I did find some good deals, I do not know if dealing with the crazies and chaos was really worth it!!!  I am super thankful that I did not drive, my road rage would have kicked in big time!!!  
I know people get crazy around the holidays and I may be one of them for agreeing to go shopping the last Saturday before Christmas!!!  In the end I had a blast spending time with the girls, and boy!!!

Day 17
I guess Rockett was a little cold after his trip back to Santa last night and needed to warm up!!!

mSs

Friday, December 16, 2011

Where was Rockett today???

Day 16
Rockett left Avery a sweet little note for her this morning that said
"Good Morning Avery!"



mSs

Friday Fabulous 5

Yay!! Happy Friday everyone!!! 
This week has seemed to drag on and on and I am sooooo HAPPY it is finally Friday!!!
Here are 5 reasons why I am sooo ready for this weekend!!

1. ONLY 2 SCHOOL DAYS LEFT UNTIL BREAK!!!
I know I talked about this last Friday, but I am so excited that I can finally count the days on one hand!!  
I cannot express how excited I am!!!!! (if you cannot tell from all of the exclamation marks!!!)

2.  I am trying something new with my Christmas wrapping.
I do not want to give away everything that I am doing yet (I will include all the details in a later post), but I will tell y'all that I love to craft and be creative and I love how what I have done so far has turned out.  I  cannot wait to show y'all the pictures!! And if you are lucky, you will receive one of them!!! 

3.  Let the Christmas baking commence!!!
 Christmas is my favorite time of year because of a ton of reasons, but one of those reasons is BAKING!!!!  If i could live off of baked goods (and not be the size of a full grown dinosaur) then I most defiantly would!!!  My mom is usually in charge of all of the "real food" cooking, and I am in charge of baking, and this year I have decided to try a few new recipes!! I cannot wait to share those with y'all either!!!

4.  Avery is cheering at tonight's game!
For the past 2 days she has attended a Cheer clinic put on but a local gym with the help of some of the fabulous high school cheerleaders!!  I had planned to go with her and watch, but I was not able to make it to either of the night but they are cheering at half time tonight during the high school basketball game and I can't wait to see them!!!  I know she will do amazing!!!  I think that she is gonna follow in the footsteps of all the women in my family and be a cheerleader!!!

5.  Event free weekend (last one until after Christmas)!!!
well... maybe not entirely event free, but most everything that I have to involves me staying at home or close to home.  I will be super busy with baking, wrapping, cleaning and finishing up shopping for the last few people on my list, but most of the above can be done in my comfy clothes and no make-up!!!

I hope y'all have a Fabulous Friday!!!!
Only 9 more days!!!    

mSs

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Where was Rockett today???

Day 15
I guess Rockett was all rested up and ready to be fun/mischievous again!!
This morning he used Avery's EasyBake oven to bake cookies, but instead of sharing, he ate them all and did not clean up his mess!!


 I included 2 pictures today because he was so darn cute!!! check out his APRON!!!!
Who said boys could not bake??

mSs

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Where was Rockett today???

Day 14

I guess Rockett wanted to take a little break from all of his CRAZY hiding spots!!!  Hopefully he will think of something good for tomorrow!!!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Where was Rockett today???

Day 13
Rockett wanted to help with wrapping Avery's gifts!!

Monday, December 12, 2011

Holly Ball 2011

So Friday night, I felt like I was back in college getting ready with my sorority sisters for a function!! 
There were four girls piled into one bathroom fixing our hair and make up and trying to figure out what to wear before everyone showed up for pregame!!
Like normal, we were all in a hurry, because, what group of girls getting ready is ever on time??  

By the time we were all dressed and ready, people were starting to show up and the party was starting!!!  We all hung out, drank, ate (luckily) and socialized until we were ready to head out!!

When it was time to go we all loaded up the cars (I'll let you know why soon) hopped in and drove the less than half a mile to the location.

When we arrived, about 2 minutes later, we unloaded and walked on in to find our tables.  The reason that we had to load and unload our cars was because the Holly Ball was BYOBFA (bring your own beer, food, and anything else you want to bring), and we did not slack on anything!!!
We had 3 full coolers, 2 tables full of food, and half of a table full of all the fixing for a variety of cocktails.  With everything that we all had brought, there was no way you were not having fun!!!

Once we were all set up, it was time to dance!!! The bf came with me, and I was worried that he was not gonna want to dance, but to my surprise, he was dragging me on the floor before I got the chance to drag him out there!!
The crowd was a mix of young and old, and it was great and also entertaining seeing everybody out on the dance floor dancing together!!


My only regret from last Friday night was that I only took 2 pictures.  I really was planning on taking a ton to show y'all, but typical me forgot my camera, so all I had was my phone to use, but I will show them to y'all because I think they are pretty funny!!!

This is Me and the bf, and yes, that is his tie around his head!!!

and this is my lovely sister and her bf, I think this was taken just after he nearly tackled a girl on the dance floor (on accident of course!!)

It was a great time and I cannot wait until next year!!  
The bf is already talking about it!!!!

mSs

Where was Rockett today??

Day 12
Rockett was hanging out, watching TV while he was waiting for Avery to get up!!

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Where was Rockett today???

Day 11


Rockett was found having a little Christmas Tree snack this morning!!

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Where was Rockett today???

Day 10
Rockett was just hanging out with Some Santas!!!


Sorry for such a late post!! We had a little to much fun at the Holly Ball last night (you will hear all about it soon!!) and we are getting ready for the Christmas parade!!!

And I am trying out blogging from my phone so let's hope this works!!!

Friday, December 9, 2011

Fabulous Friday


Because Friday is the best day of the week, I have decided that each Friday I will post 5 reasons why I am super excited that it is Friday!!

This weekend I have a super fun, jammed packed, exciting weekend that is kinda stressing me out, but also I could not be more ready for!!! So here are my top 5 reason why I am ready for the weekend!

1.  There are only 7 days left until Christmas Break!!! 
I always thought that I could never be more excited for breaks and holidays while I was in school, but now that I work in the school system, that excitement has doubled!! I really think that I may be more excited then some of the kids!!!  I now understand why all of my teachers seemed happier right before breaks!!!

2. The Holly Ball is tonight!!!  
This is my first Holly Ball and the bf is coming with me!!!  I am super excited to hang out, dance, and have fun with all of my family and friends!!  But I am a little worried because I have 4 hours after school to decide on a outfit, fix my hair, get my wonderful aunt to make me pretty, go grocery shopping, cook, paint my nails... oh goodness I did not realize I have that much to do! ahh!!

3.  The beginning of the Christmas party season!!
If any of y'all are like me, then you know that it is super important to have a new outfit for any new party!!!  I do not know what it is, but I stress out the week before any party that I am planning to attend because I want to have the perfect outfit, and with all the Christmas parties we have I never want to wear the same thing twice!!!  So of course, my solution to this problem is to shop, shop, shop (my other problem!) So along with celebrating this Christmas season with family and friends, I also get to expand my closet!!!  

4.  7 Days until my Lo and Peyt are here!!!
I have no words to express how excited I am for them to get here!!!  It has been a few months since they have both been able to visit home but they will be here soon to spend Christmas with us!!!
 Let me also say that the list is in not order of importance!! I want to include this because I know that will most likely get a call from my wonderful big brother asking why he is number 4, and not 1!!

5.  It is finally getting colder!
Some people may think that I am crazy for saying this, but it is absolutely true!!!  Do not get me wrong, I love warm weather and everything that comes along with it, but there is something about the winter that makes if my favorite!  Also, now that it is getting colder, makes it really feel like Christmas is almost here.  Now, I just cannot wait until it snows!!! But I hope it waits until after Lo and Peyt gets here!!!


mSs

Where was Rockett today??

Day 9
I guess Rockett was a little hungry after his trip back from reporting to Santa Clause!

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Where was Rockett today??

Day 8
He is sitting with Santa reading a Christmas story, I guess he is trying to be a good little elf today because Santa is watching him too!

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Where was Rockett today???

Day 7
I think that Rockett has jokes!!!


mSs

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

New take on the old gingerbread house tradition!!

Each Christmas, my family (really just my niece and myself) assembles and decorates a gingerbread house to set out and be admired throughout the holiday season.  But this year, my sister found this awesome product, The Candy Cottage ( What Rockett was helping to decorate it yesterday!) that we decided to give a try instead of the traditional gingerbread house.

This is what the Candy Cottage looks like.  It is already put together and it is the color of gingerbread so it is really hard to tell the difference after it is all decorated.


Last night, Avery and I decorated her Candy Cottage for Christmas.  It was so much fun, and so much easier to do then the normal gingerbread house, not to mention it took half of the time.  In my opinion, the worst part of a gingerbread house is assemblying it, and the best part is decorating it, and with the Candy Cottage you get to skip the assembly and start decorating!!
Avery getting ready to start decorating!!  It was super easy!!! We just slapped on some white icing and started decorating away!!!  I loved hearing the great ideas that Avery came up with for what each different candy should be used for!!  She was the one who thought to use the peppermint bark as stones on the side of the house!!

The finished product!!!

Like I said earlier, this is such a great idea, and so much fun to do with little ones!!!  Check out their website, it has so many ideas as to how to decorate the cottage for other holidays and seasons!!!

mSs

Where was Rockett today??

Day 6
Rockett was just hanging out, waiting for Avery to get up this morning!!

Monday, December 5, 2011

A Hunters' Girlfriend



"I'm tired of deer season. I want my husband back and the nastiness in the garage gone."
-tweet from Miranda_Lambert


When I read this the other day, I knew exactly what she was talking about!!!
My wonderful boyfriend thinks that he was put on God's great earth to hunt, and occasionally fish!!

Now that hunting season has started here in good ole Virginia, I will know where to find him... in the woods!!!! Expect for the occasional Christmas party, my boyfriend will be a slave to his hunt club, their dogs, and of course the deer.  Some may think that this is a bad thing... but hey, now I have time to shop (for Christmas of course), craft, and do everything girls like to do, while he is out doing everything completely opposite of anything girly!!


But, when the shopping is finished, the presents are wrapped and the decorations hung, I am ready to have my boyfriend back, instead I still have weeks to wait until hunting season is over.  On a few occasions, I have thought that maybe I too should take up hunting.  Being from a super small town, girls going hunting was not something out of the norm.  I thought that I would start going to the club at night for dinner, wake up at a ridiculous hour on  Saturday mornings, dress in complete camouflage, and join him on the "morning drive."  Then I really thought about it, and laughed out loud because it was the most ridiculous idea that I had ever had!!  We have survived 7 hunting seasons without me having to partake in hunting, so why start now?? 


 So until then,  I will just continue to shop, craft, and be extremely girly.  And January 7th, will be marked in my planner with a huge circle with the description: The Day I Get My Boyfriend BACK!!

I will leave y'all with these lyrics to the song by the AMAZING Pistol Annies called "Hunter's Wife."  When I first heard it I cracked up because I know that will be me in a few (maybe more) years!!

Well, I'm sick of squirrel gravy and I'm sick of coon stew
Fence posts, shock collars, chicken wire, too
If he ain't a'huntin' he's out at the Lake
Suckin' on a long neck, changin' his bait
-Pistol Annies


Luckily when hunting season is over, I have a few months of him to my self before the weather is right for fishing... which begins an entire new story...


mSs

Where was Rockett today??

Day 5
He decided to help Avery start her gingerbread house!!


If you are wondering why the gingerbread house look a little funny, it is because it is a reusable gingerbread house!!  We found them yesterday at the Bizarre Bazaar in Richmond, and in my opinion, this is the best idea ever!!! 

Check out the website, The Candy Cottage!!! They have awesome pictures of the houses decorated differently for each holiday and season!!

mSs

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Where was Rockett today???

Day 4
I guess Rockett was feeling mischievous today!!!