2008 November — We are THAT Family

It Just Might Come to This

7:00 am Bykristen

Dear Santa,

I think we might need to put this at the top of the list this year:

If it doesn’t work for my toddler, maybe it will work for me? One of us needs relief.

P.S. My hips won’t fit, does it come in extra large butt?

Signed,

Desperate Mother

Filed UnderMy Life, Those kids, Uncategorized Leave a Comment

Our Family Advent

7:00 am Bykristen

Advent is a time of waiting for the arrival of Christmas.

And even though we are still more than a week away from Thanksgiving, the holiday spirit is in the air. Or maybe it’s just weather below 70 degrees (which puts Texans in a festive mood).

This year, I really want to slow down the faced-paced hustle that is the American Christmas and capture each day with my family. And so I’ve purposed in my heart and my calendar to do so.

I’ve been working on creating a special Advent calendar and I wanted to share it with you.

Our plan is to ‘open’ each day in the early evening hours after dinner, so we will have time to focus on the activity for each day. For this coming Saturday’s Do-It-Yourself Project (DIYP), I will show you exactly how I made mine look fun and festive. If some of my ideas won’t work for your family, use what you can and come up with creative ideas to fit your family.

I planned our days with my calendar in my lap. Some activities are time consuming and perfect for the weekends, while others can be done during the school week.

Many activities are just plain old fashioned fun that will help us spend quality time together. I hope some of the other events will remind my children the true meaning of Christmas. I also think it’s important this time of year to focus on others: those we love and those less fortunate.

At the end of this post, I’ve included a pdf of the advent calendar. Please feel free to print it out and enjoy it!

Sshhhh! It’s a secret from my kids…each day will reveal the following:

{December 1} Send a letter to our Compassion Child (Don’t have one? Talk about getting one in the New Year. I highly recommend sponsoring a child. It’s such a great way to teach your kids about others). Read I John 4:10

{December 2} Visit Santa at the mall or make a list.

{December 3} Let your light shine! ask: How can we do this? Read John 1:5

{December 4} Build a fort from blankets & sheets/ Read a Christmas book in the fort!

{December 5} Lay on the trampoline and stargaze, talk about your dreams for the future.

{December 6} Fill a shoebox for a needy child (Samaritan’s Purse).

{December 7} Go ice skating!

{December 8} Make paper snowflakes (here’s some great patterns) Read Ecc. 3:13

{December 9} Play a board game.

{December 10} Pray for poor people.

{December 11} Work on teacher’s gifts (we’re making these).

{December 12} Leave little notes of encouragement all over (i.e. the mailbox, grocery story, park, etc)

{December 13} Make hot chocolate with lots of marshmallows!

{December 14} Watch a Christmas Movie

{December 15} Give $5 to someone (find a needy person) Read Rom. 5:8

{December 16} yle="font-size:medium;"> Make cookies

{December 17} Pray for The Persecuted Church and Uzbekistan (You can join us in this one. Our Russian friends would appreciate it!)

{December 18} Make a birthday card for Jesus. Put it under the tree.

{December 19} Fix Mom’s hair/give her a massage (my 36th birthday!)

{December 20} Go look at Christmas lights.

{December 21} Christmas Carol at someone’s house.

{December 22} Make a spinner www.thetoymaker.com

{December 23} Take bubble baths with Christmas confetti (recipe).

{December 24} Read Christmas story from the Bible (children’s version).

Open Christmas Eve gift from Mom and Dad (snowman pajamas)

{December 25} Go visit NICU (Every year we visit the Neonatal Intensive Care and drop off cookies to the nurses and doctors who watched over our third child on Christmas a couple of years ago).

Click this link to print out a copy: December 1pdf

Here’s how I’m displaying my advent ‘tree’. It’s a fun, easy DIY project!

Filed UnderHolidays, Uncategorized 45 Comments

THAT Family Tree Society-Issue 18

12:01 am Bykristen

Grab the button, email me the answers, join the club!

Week in Review:

Now, y’all know I’m an introvert. I don’t like seeing myself on my own computer screen. But I felt bad about ignoring your requests to see my new ‘do, so here’s a couple of hair pictures. I won’t even tell you how many photos I took to get these. Photography? Not my gift.

Introduction into The Society: I’m happy to introduce you to When Does Daddy Come Home. I love the name of this blog. For obvious reasons! Visit her today and she’ll tell you more about how lucky she is to be a part of this tree!

1. Tell us a little about your blog (name/reason why you blog):

I actually did not think up my blog name. I had to bribe someone, with a prize, to think one up for me! This was my favorite from the many ideas I was given because it fit our lives perfectly. I’m constantly calling DH at work… “When are you coming home? I’m going crazy over here… get home NOW!”

2. How long have you blogging?
January 2008— I’m a newborn blogger

3. How would you define THAT family?
THAT Family is comprised of NORMAL people who are just trying their hardest at this thing called parenting. Parenting is a learning process and we all need to band together in support, not in judgement. We slip up, we mess up, but most of the time it happens with an audience…

4. When did you discover you were a part of THAT family?
Probably the day my 5 month old daughter crawled (yes, she crawled VERY early) off my bed onto hardwood floor while I was in another room (I think I was actually on the toilet). The pediatrician on the other end of the phone had a tone that made me feel like THAT Family! Oh, and we’re always getting stares in stores. Not that we’re stupid or redneck— I’m one of those “ignore the tantrum throwing toddler” parents so it drives everyone around us nuts.

5. Where can we find your blog?
http://whendoesdaddycomehome.blogspot.com

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DIYP-Painting Your Kitchen Cabinets

12:01 am Bykristen

I’ve been wanting to post about my amazing kitchen cabinet makeover for months.

We moved into our house 5 years ago this Christmas. And even though it came with nice cabinets, I didn’t like them. Call me picky, but they were pink.

Not princess pink, but a bleached creamy light pink. Gag me.

Before:

After:

Our home came with gorgeous black-speckled granite that only made the cabinets look, um, more pink.

So, here’s what I did:

I waited until my hubby went on a long business trip. (Ya know, in case I ruined my house and had to find another real quick-like).

I unscrewed a cabinet door and took it to our local Sherwin Williams.

They didn’t even blink twice when I sauntered in with three kids and a door.

I was instructed to lightly sand the slick surface. This doesn’t require labor intensive sanding, you just want the paint to be able to ‘grab’ onto the wood. You cannot skip this step!

And then I bought Black Oil Based Satin Enamel. It’s pre-mixed and comes in black or white. This paint is amazing. It’s chip resistant, durable and great for furniture and cabinets.

I also bought a really nice brush that cost around $15. Because it was my kitchen cabinets and my $ Dollar Store brush wouldn’t cut it.

During nap time, I sanded and took off the hardware and carried the doors to the garage. And during bedtime, I painted until midnight every night.

The first coat was pretty easy. I slapped it on there and didn’t worry to much about stroke lines. It served as my primer (very good paint, stinky, but good).

I took more care with the second coat.

But it wasn’t perfect.

(And I didn’t do the inside of the doors. Because I decided one night late o’clock, I wasn’t Superwoman).

But that was fine because once everything dried, I sanded off the edges and a few areas to get the worn, country look I love so much.

This was a very time consuming Do-It-Yourself project, but worth every hour.

And now the granite counter tops look amazing. (So, does the fake stainless. And while I’m not exactly thankful for the electrical storm that killed a couple of our white appliances, I do think the stainless makes the cabinets look even better!)

I must admit I feel so proud when newcomers enter my kitchen and say, “Wow, I love your cabinets, who did them?”

“I did.”

And you can too!

Check out more painted wood projects here!

Filed UnderDIYP, Uncategorized 60 Comments

Who Couldn’t Use Some Etsy Jewelry?

7:00 am Bykristen

*UPDATED* We have a winner! And when I counted my way thru the comments, I almost cried when I read the winner’s comment (I got behind and hadn’t read them all). It just seemed this random winner was meant to be! She wanted to win the ‘shine brightly’ necklace for her child who is losing his eyesight. Congrats to Ramblings of a Mother and Wife!

One of my favorite things to shop for on Etsy is jewelry. Hellllooo? Have y’all typed in jewelry into the little search engine?

It’s a hot item.

I did so much perusing the other day, I lost my vision.

Not really, but I did see everything in sterling silver for two hours.

I kill me.

I was looking for a special personalized item for my son’s first grade teacher. She just announced she’s expecting her first child. She’s five months pregnant already. Yep, I totally missed that one. Just call me observant.

Anyway, she’s having a boy and since she’s doing such a great job loving on my boy, I bought her this at rhbdesigns for Christmas!