Christmas at the office

I decided this year that our office needed to have more Christmas spirit! In years past we have not decorated at all. I am the only female at my company, so this makes things a problem. I am not saying that men don't know how to decorate. I am just saying that it is not a priority for them. I wanted this to change this year. 

We decorated the office in fun red and white garland. Small Christmas tree in the window. Larger tree in the break room. Now because I was on a small budget, I made most of the ornaments and decorations on the computer. Here are how things turned out. 

To add to the decorations, we decided that a fire place was needed. So, we built one out of cardboard and printed off brick wallpaper. To top it all off we added some snow and a chimney! It turned out amazing!! 

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Christmas In Heaven

Every year my husband and I try and think of something special to give to our parents for Christmas. This is a hard task because we both lost one of our parents. I lost my mother and my husband lost his father.

I try and make each year special and celebrate our loved ones who are no longer with us. Last year I made this wooden sign that could be hung in the kitchen or dining room for the holidays.

This year I will be doing a memorial candle (kids will be making the candle). Pictures coming soon!!! 

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12 Days of Christmas

This year I am doing the 12 days of Christmas for our nieces that live in another state. I thought this would be something fun that they could open every day. Plus, it could help mom and dad with behavior. If you aren't good, you can't open today's present (they are always good though)!! I hope they have as much fun opening them as I did making it! 

Starting on December 13th through December 24th 

 

On the 1st day of Christmas - It's the first day of Christmas so here is something for your tree with love from your Iowa Family 

 

On the 2nd day of Christmas - Start decking the halls with boughs of holly - we hope that this treat keeps you jolly!

 

On the 3rd day of Christmas the air was losing all of its heat. So, we thought you could use these fuzzy socks to warm your little feet!

 

On the 4th day of Christmas  - We wish you a Merry Kiss Mas & a Chappy New Year

 

On the 5th day of Christmas - here is something sweet - there is nothing like a little chocolate to make your day complete

 

On the 6th day of Christmas We are having so much fun! So, here is a game to play! We hope its lots of fun for everyone! 

 

On the 7th day of Christmas - May your heart be warm, and your cheeks be rosy, may your arms be full of love and your hand be cozy! Here are some gloves to help keep those hands warm! 

 

On the 8th day of Christmas - We are wishing you days that are merry and bright....We wish that your nights are merry also and thought this little flash light would help keep your nights bright as well! 

 

On the 9th day of Christmas - Merry Christmas to all and to all a movie night!! You can't have a movie night without a Christmas movie & popcorn with M&M's!!! 

 

On the 10th day of Christmas - There is only a few days left but it still feels so far - we thought that it would help if you had a little candy bar! 

 

On the 11th day of Christmas - It's time to relax from being busy and on the run! We thought these bath bombs would help make bath time a little more fun! 

 

On the 12th day of Christmas - Santa is on his way! Leave this on the lawn for this reindeer to have a snack before Santa gets back into his sleigh!

Our twist on Thanksgiving!

 

 

It has almost been a week since Thanksgiving and I have been trying to recoup from that and Christmas shopping! 

 As always, our Thanksgiving was a hit! We had so much food and everyone that was able to come had so much fun! This was one of our best Thanksgivings yet!  We are so lucky to have such an amazing group of friends (who are family) and family every year!

 

So, this year we wanted to do something nontraditional for Thanksgiving. We decided to make a turporkin! Yes, that is a turkey, with pork and chicken!! I have to admit I was so nervous when making this and cooking this. It turned out to be the best turkey I have ever had!! The gravy was also amazing! All the flavors and it was so juicy! 

 

  We had to de-bone the 20lb turkey. Then we started stuffing and layering! First layer was stuffing so the shape of the turkey would start to come back. Then it was layers of bacon (pork) and chicken! Tur(key)Pork(Chick)en!

 

We had a lot of meat leftover. I decided to make Thanksgiving leftover rolls. This was a lot more challenging then I thought it would be. In the end they were delicious and we even had some leftover cranberry sauce from my bacon wrapped stuffing balls to dip them in! 

 

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Now on to Christmas stuff!!!

 

December Menu

December Menu! Omg where has the time went!! I can not get over how fast these months are flying by! December is so crazy busy so here is an easy but fun menu! Hope you all enjoy!

Veterans Day vs Memorial Day

With Veterans Day coming up I wanted to express the difference between Veterans Day and Memorial Day!

Veterans Day is a day to thank all of our living active and retired service members. Veterans Day actually started in 1926 as Armistice Day. This was to honor all WW1 veterans. It wasn't until WW2 in 1954 that it was changed to Veterans day to honor all veterans in all wars!

 

I can't thank all of my family and extended military family enough for everything they do.

Memorial Day is a day to remember and honor those men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice. Memorial Day actually originated after the Civil War in 1865 and became an official holiday in 1971.

Both of these days are dear to my heart! I have active family members; retired family members and my mother was killed in Iraq in 2007.

So please make sure that this Sunday November 11th 2018, (Observed on November 12th) you thank all of our active and retired service members!

Good bye Halloween....Hello Thanksgiving!

I can't believe that October is already over! Now that all of the Halloween stuff is put back up until next year we can start to focus more on the BIG TURKEY DAY! Pumpkins are out, New tablecloths, and hand towels. We also have to make sure our turkey is front and center in the yard!

I try so hard in the month of November for our house to reflect things that they are thankful for. The past few years I have made a board everyone could write on. There was an I am thankful for jar. This year I thought it would be fun to write on white pumpkins! I am going to purchase artificial pumpkins, so we are able use them as a centerpiece every year!

My list is made for our Thanksgiving dinner. Now the timeline for when I will need to start prepping food and setting up! Each year it feels like our dinner grows larger and larger! This makes me so so happy because I love hosting for allot of people! As it has grown larger, we have had to move out of our small kitchen and into the garage! Thank goodness it is a finished garage that holds heat very well!

I know there are families out there that do not like TV in the dining room. Our family is not this way. All of the men (and some women) want the game on for Thanksgiving. The volume is muted though while we are eating! The T.V. is also in the corner of the garage so it is not in the way.

Last year we added these cute lights to our dinner. It made dinner so nice and calm!

Decorations for the dining area are a huge thing for me. Especially since we have grown so much and had to move into the garage! We purchase this plastic tablecloth roll to hide our garage walls!  This year I am hoping to make things just a little fancier!

 

I have been looking up allot of ideas on Pinterst and think that I have finally found what I can put my own twist on for decorations! Follow me on Facebook for more updates!

Happy Halloween!

 Beggars night is one of my favorite nights! You get to see so many adorable, creepy, and funny costumes! Every year there is something new! This year I have a feeling that I will be seeing a lot of Fortnight costumes. That is what our 10-year-old wants to be this year. 

As beggar's night gets closer and closer the question always arises. What age are you too old to trick or treat? There are people out there that get so upset when older kids are out getting candy on beggars' night. My opinion is let them! Why is it a bad thing that older kids are going door to door all dressed up and having fun? Why wouldn't we support this? Would you rather them out on the town causing problems? Getting into trouble? Partying? I mean come on this is about as innocent as it gets! 

When older kids come to the door I am happy that they are having fun. I may be stricter on telling jokes. The younger kids if they don't have a joke then they still get candy. The older kids they better have jokes! 

 

Let our kids have some fun this year! Parents its time for you to have fun also! Get dressed up when you are handing out candy and just have fun! Life makes things so busy and it is hard to have fun! This is the perfect day to just let go and enjoy the 3 hours of fun!!! 

Prep for Thanksgiving dinner

It doesn't matter if you are hosting your 1st Thanksgiving dinner or your 20th Thanksgiving dinner you will still want to make sure that you have everything planned out!




Like everything else I have a check list. This has helped me the past 4 years we have hosted Thanksgiving at our house. The first year I was a complete mess because usually we always go to someone else house and decided it would be so nice to have a big family dinner at our house. Little did I know what I was getting myself into.

So, the second year I made sure that I had everything planned out. For the past 3 years it has been wonderful! I have never been happier and am so thankful we have such a large turnout of family and friends!

Here is what my Thanksgiving Dinner list looks like. I keep this in my planner. This way I have it when someone messages me and tells me what they are bringing. It also helps so you will not have 5 pumpkin pies and no pecan pies!

I will start prepping all of this the end of October first of November. I think it is easier to plan early then scramble at the last minute! You can find more recipe & fun Thanksgiving ideas on my Pinterest page! Happy Holidays!

Christmas Shopping Organization

The trees have just started turning and all I can think about is how much time is left before Christmas! It's crazy but, as parents we have to start planning early. If you do this then it seems like it is easier on your bank account and your sanity!

 

I like to start early in the season for all of our extended family. We don't get a list from them so when I see something that I think would be perfect then I buy it. This may be an impulse pulse purchase, but it has worked for me so far! This also works for stocking stuffers! When you see some fun little trinkets in the store or online that are cheap don't pass them up! Those are going to save your ass when you are trying to wrap presents, bake cookies and do everything else this holiday season!

 

Here is my schedule that I try my hardest to stick with!

 

 

End of October -

1. Make list of names of people you need to shop for - Family, friends, and if you have any annual parties you attend.

 

2. Keep your eye out for clearance stocking stuffers - summer stuff is on sale and will be marked down pretty low by this time.

 

3. Budget - get your budget in order so you have an idea of how much you need to save. This will help when you start shopping in the next couple weeks!

 

4. Make a list of gift cards for those hard to shop for people!!  

 

 

November -

Now is the time to start your shopping. Leave the big items you know will be on sale for Black Friday on your list but, start getting those other items checked off! This will also help your budget, so you are not spending a ton of money all at once!

 

Black Friday! Start planning your Black Friday shopping list and you game plan for the day! This is important, so you can take part in as many deals as possible! 

This is also the time I will start getting family who is out of state and we will not be able to see checked off my list. We have 2 nieces that live in Minnesota and I like to make them a Christmas Eve box. I will explain more about these boxes in my DIY Christmas post!

 

You all know how much I love lists! I also have a list for all of my D.I.Y gifts also! This helps me stay on track both in the store and at home!  

 

 

December -

Crunch time! Starting in December you are now like the jolly fat man himself! Get that list out and start checking it twice! Along with gift shopping December 1st I will usually start getting my baking list started. I like to make baskets and trays for people. By getting my list done now I will have time to plan everything out! 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!