Today's the day!

Madison has studied ballet since she was four years old--8 years so far. This year marks her third Nutcracker production & we are so excited for her. This week between rehearsals & actual performances she will put in over 30 hours...but she loves it. Today she will have her first 3 performances!

The picture below is from the first time she went to the Fox Theatre here in Atlanta ---she was absolutely spell bound. She looked up and said "mommy , I want to do that one day". Isn't it wonderful to see your child's dream come to fruition?
As I've shared before, I'm a confessed neat freak ---clutter makes me nervous! ha! However, the one space I don't mind looking too busy is my scrap area. Hopefully after this current crazy week I will get back in here and create!

Since the rest of my home is much more simple & neutral--this is where i have placed some of my fun & funky little pieces.


We have a tiny , dare I say dining room---not sure what the builders were thinking. Anyway, it holds one of our 'little' tables for six. Last year I found these wonderful huge pinecones that are a light silvery color. They look wonderful in the candlelight.
Had to share another shot of these fun old ornaments.



Fun sisboom stocking hung outside Caroline's door.




She has an old armoir in her room--we took the doors off and added a little light inside....looks so sweet at bedtime.
Once again some of my little bottle brush trees & a sweet star from last years Target collection!
I love this simple ( but glittery) nativity scene. Hope everyone has a blessed weekend.!

Its beginning to look alot like Christmas

Emily has been playing Christmas carols on her violin

Madison is up to her ears in rehearsals for the Nutcracker

Caroline & I are watching Charlie Brown's Christmas

Savannah is preparing to have her end of year cheer holiday party at our home Sunday

& I am loving decorating for the holidays.

While I by no means feel as if I have a decorator home--not by a long shot, I will humbly share some of what's up so far.

We will go get the tree hopefully this weekend & at that point I will be able to add greenery here and there.

Like I mentioned before, this year I really tried to keep my decorations simple , not fussy , but just my favorites. I really love the vintage patinas of the silvery & gold ornaments --some truly vintage ,many just made to look that way. We get loads of full sun in our house-therefore the dark tones just don't seem to fit.... so many white Christmas themed vignettes...no shocker there! This year I hung just a simple live wreath over the mantle in front of a couple old chippy frames...I hope to add some live spruce and little white candles this weekend.
My favorite picture of my mom in santa's lap from the 50's. I did a little digital restoration of the photo, printed in on inkjet canvas and then added a little white glitter...so sweet!

One of the things I have loved to collect over the years is bottle brush trees....love the ones from Cody Foster.

A few things in the kitchen....
More soon ---and a big yippie for Helio & Julianne! They are so much fun to watch--she is an amazing dancer and so gorgeous and he has the sweetest personality --i so enjoyed watching the two of them dance together!

Have to add my favorite Santa picture of my girlies

...obviously an old one but of course what would a truly fabulous Santa picture be if the baby wasn't flipping out!!

& yes she has recovered & loves the jolly ole' fella!

Happy Birthday Big Guy!!

Happy Birthday week to

my sweet soul mate

my best friend

my loyal man

the man I am proud to call my hubby

You show the girls what tenderness is all wrapped up in 6 feet and 4 inches.

You teach them kindness

You show them gentleness

You demonstrate what a Godly daddy looks like by your walk each day.

You tell me you love me hundreds of times a day & you show it even more.

I will love you forever, big guy!

~~allofmylove2you~~

I heart vintage ornaments

Each year I really try to do something different in my Christmas decorating plans. Most all the rooms in our home have a tree...maybe a small table top tree, or a vintage style tree held in an urn, a white Christmas tree filled with glittery balls, maybe a tree on our back porch and obviously the tree.
Most years I take photos of the things I've done so I can decide what I may or may not do the next year. But my goodness....I look back on some of my photos and think "what was I thinking?" " why didn't someone stop me?" " oh how cluttered that looks" or " yuck, i don't like that anymore!"

But one thing I do love is my growing collection of vintage glass ornaments. While I love the neutral back drop of most of the spaces in my home, these fun colored balls really seem to pop and add a little jolt of all the fun colors that I love. I have placed most of them in the ever so famous huge antique dough bowl that I love to fill with seasonal goodies. I love the juxtaposition of primitive with the fun colored shiney brites of these balls. This year I have the bowl on my kitchen table & its oh so fun!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful relaxing time with family these last few days.
Our next three weeks are so full with Nutcracker rehearsals and productions, chorus recitals, parties, open houses, events at the girls school, baking, sending cards.... but I pray we are able to focus on the reason for the season....the birth of Jesus. While some things in a holiday schedule can't be changed, I pray my attitude and focus is on the right thing and that our home is an extension of what we love & who we worship.

Gratitude

We are switching gears....Savannah's cheer season has ended & we're full swing with Madison's Nutcracker production. I can't wait to see her perform this year. She will be a soilder captian & in the waltz of the flowers~~gorgeous costumes! I'll share those pics soon!

Savannah's competition squad did awesome!! They worked their tails off & won most all of their events. Crazy pressure on those days!

Football games were obviously much less intense & I loved watching them just enjoy theirselves. Too cute!



Well , as much as I'd love to share one of the , hmmm-shall we call it "family issues" that seems to roll around each holiday ( don't worry mom--not you!) and give you all quite a laugh ( insert my rolling eyes & hear my grumble now)....I will choose the higher road & share some images that make me laugh!

I haved saved everyone of these that my girls have made.....love 'em!!

Emi's pilgrim costume & feast from kindergarten Cracks me up---surely you can sing along

"five fat turkeys are we, we slept all night in the tree, when the cook came around we couldn't be found, that's why we're here you see"

My favorite little indian princess!!

One of the main character traits I encourage my girls to have is an attitude of gratitude. I want them to learn to choose to be thankful & focus on those things. Obviously there are times in our lives when things don't seem fair or that our prayers weren't answered the way we had hoped and in those times we struggle with our emotions....wonder if God is there....or feel alone.

But most of our days we are blessed to live days filled with blessed normalcy.

I want to have a spirit that praises God for the little things. I want my girls to realize that He could have allowed the leaves to just go from green to brown and then fall off the trees. But instead, he gave us the pleasure of watching nature & see His glory through the gorgeous reds, oranges & yellows in the leaves. He could have made night simply turn to into day by a heavenly flipped switch. But instead, he gave us the treasured sunrise & gorgeous sunsets. The heavens declare His glory.

My prayer is for this Thanksgiving week which turns quickly into the hustle & bustle of Christmas, that my home will be a place of warmth & love and our hearts be greatful to the Lord for who He is!

I love this song....turn it up!!

Have a blessed Thanksgiving!!

xo

Thankful Thursday--Wednesday!!

I want to thank each one of you for all the warm, heartfelt comments & personal emails. You just don't know how much I treasure each one.

We took the girls to Gregg's graveside Sunday. This whole concept has (understandably) been very confusing for Caroline. I think she is still trying to understand where she fits in among the story & timeline. She was very upset that he died before she was born. So, last night I pulled out all her Madame Alexander little huggems dolls & using/taking away dolls/adding new ones I tried to clear it up for her. I explained how it was just me & her older sissies for a few years, then Daddy ( her biological daddy ) came along & then she was born a couple of years later. Of course, she then asked me "where do babies come from".....oh my.... We are so thankful for this wonderful dog. We adopted Brinkley ( if you didn't see that post ) through a golden retriever rescue a few months ago & he has proven to be the perfect dog....no shocker there if you know goldens. He is a velcro doggy who follows me everywhere. He is an old soul and very laid back---whew! He never barks and has had no accidents. He is obedient & has his manners. What a love!!

Our community has its tour of homes Sunday so I'm itching to start decorating. Yesterday the garbage men took away all my pumpkins & gourds , so bring it on! I don't know if its just me this year but I am completely unimpressed with any of the mass marketed Christmas decor. My taste has changed or I feel like I've seen it all before---well that plus the fact that I have simplified my decorating. I try to put out just what I love , not every little bit piece .

Last year I kept my colors creamy whites, silver & muted gold. I used white poinsettias & loved the simple white Christmas look. This year I'd love to add in some brown & tiffany blue....we'll see. Found this little cutie at the candle light shopping Saturday night at our local antique shop.

The monogram reads MHC....threw one of my daughters off---why on earth I'd purchase something with the "wrong monogram". So Madison & I tried to make it work---M for Madison, C for Caroline.....hmmm....how about Merry Happy Christmas....she felt better after that!
Cancelled one of the two scrap kits that was coming monthly & feel some scrapping relief! Such pressure to keep up with all this craftiness & do the laundry!
Anyway, here are some of my layouts from Jenni Bowlins October kit.

This little embellishment topped a little treasure from Melissa. Even though this is the simplest of my layouts, it was my fave.

This one didn't turn out at all as I had envisioned....oh well.

Have a great day!!

& hugs to each of you!