SUNDAY AFTERNOON

Today has been a lovely Sunday. Christopher and I ran errands together: most importantly, coffee first (!!!), then suit shopping for an upcoming business trip.

I discovered these gems at the grocery store. I was hesitant to try them after the Blizzard Oreo fail (ew), but, as a funfetti fanatic, these are amazing!

Our washing machine broke down, so we had to make a stop at the laundromat. We played Scrabble (I won) (of course!).

Calm town after a couple days of snowstorms.

When we got home, I made homemade granola and Christopher shoveled our driveway for the hundredth time this week. He called me outside to show off his snow steps for miss Lulakins.

Either she's a spoiled puppy, or we're crazy dog parents. Maybe both?

Snow days

As much as Christopher and I do not enjoy winter, our little snow puppy thinks there's nothing better than spending as much time as possible in the cold. I suppose the snow does create some pretty pics...

...and we've had more fun than we'd like to admit playing with Telula amidst the flakes. 

It's time for some Irish cheer

Using this adorable idea (and shamrock printable), I made some festive decorations for our house.

I reused these homemade decorations from our wedding:

And turned them into this:

For Christmas, my mother-in-law gave us a fillable lamp. It was immediately filled with ornaments:

I emptied the ornaments out and replaced them with the hearts that hung in the aisles at our wedding ceremony and from the ceiling at our reception:

This is our upstairs table now, with the hearts and the shamrock-filled vases:

Photo Wall

Since we bought (and redid) our house, we have wanted to create a picture wall in the main hallway. I love mismatched picture walls, but I was leaning more towards all black frames.

Sweet Christopher attempted it but hung the pictures too far apart for my liking. My vision was inspired by this photo.  I like the way the clean line pulls it all together.

I used painters tape and a level to create the line, then hung the frames wherever they fit.

We still have plenty of room to hang more pictures above and below!

I'm really happy with how it turned out!

Yesterday was my birthday.

via

Christopher & I at Nonie's house

Today, it was back to work. I still can't stop giggling about this conversation I had with my class:

{after reading a picture book about MLK to my students} 

Me --- "Does anyone have any important dreams like Dr. Martin Luther King., Jr. had?"

Kid --- "My dream is that the Goosebumps characters would come alive so we could be friends."

Me --- "Okay... well, that's not real. Does anyone have any real dreams?"

Kid --- "I have a real mouse that helps me read. He whispers me the word when I get stuck."

Me --- "Okay... hmm... so, I'm wondering if anyone has any real, important dreams they could share?"

Kid --- "My dream is that Daily Five was Daily Thousand and we could do that all day!" (Daily Five is our reading/writing/spelling block of the day. I'll take that answer!)

Between that and my kids' guesses that I either turned 1, 16, 19, or 63 yesterday (and TWO amazing birthday treats for snack!)... I'm going to go ahead and say it was a good Monday.

Gift tags, ornaments, and wine charms

I spotted this on pinterest and just HAD to make some. I made enough to give one to everyone we gave gifts, plus had plenty of extras to put on our own tree.

They were very inexpensive, but everyone thought they were adorable! I purchased shower rings ($1.04 at Target!), used yarn I already owned, and found some teeny-tiny gingerbread men and cookie cutters clearanced out at Michaels (less than $0.50 a bag!).

I had some leftover flowers from my yarn wreath, so I used those on a few mini wreaths: 

I also found rick rack trees on pinterest. I made some mini ones to use as gift tags. My students also made them to give to senior citizens at our annual Senior Tea at school.

For one more homemade, simple gift, I made wine glass charms. I purchased a pack of hoop earrings from Michaels, then added a few beads to each: 

There's the little gingerbread man and cookie cutters! 

Merry homemade Christmas! I know it's a bit late, but I'm already pinning things for next year!

I wreath you a merry Christmas

I wanted to make something special for my for my best friend's mom (my second mom!) for Christmas. I've been loving all the yarn wreaths popping up on pinterest and thought it was time to give them a try.

First, I made one for our front door in a fall theme.

When it came time to make one for a present, I was torn about which season/holiday it should be. If I made a Christmas one, she'd have to take it down almost after she received it. I decided to make a white wreath with blue flowers for winter. That way she could keep it up a few extra months.

I came up with this:

As I worked, Christopher came up with the best idea: make my wreath seasonally interchangeable! Seriously, leave it to the least crafty person to come up with the best idea! (Christopher's crazy creative and full of great ideas...even with stuff he has no interest in, like crafts.)

Behind each flower is a spot of velcro for easy removal. I wrapped the winter wreath in a large gift bag, then wrapped the rest of the flowers and directions in a small box.

Here is the finished product with the directions I included with the gift. I hope she loves it!: