Love them. I just do. These two are the sweetest, friendliest couple. Seriously. Besides my two redheaded nephews, cutest redheaded baby. Period. Oh, and this girl can cook and sew like nobody’s business. She’s like the second coming of Ree. You know, The Pioneer Woman. These three are truly a go-with-the-flow kinda family, and you can tell in everyone of their photos. Don’t they just ooze cuteness?

These were, of course, taken before xmas for holiday cards. Even for what seemed like a split second shoot the moments captured that morning are some of my all time favs.

This is where Baby C decided she was just about done with taking photos, and was letting it be known.

I took basic glass ball ornaments that you can pick up at any craft/hobby store or Target and jazzed them up a little bit. Does anyone else get a mental image of someone doing Jazz Hands anytime they hear, see, or speak the word JAZZ? Oh, just me. Never mind then.

If you intend on coating the inside of a glass ornament with paint I very highly suggest cleaning the inside before. I used rubbing alcohol to clean my ornaments. Just pour a small-ish amount into your ornament swish it around and upside down, with your finger sealing off the hole, and then dump and let dry. Some people reuse their alcohol I found that didn’t work well for me. My first few I cleaned the inside and the paint stuck just fine. My last few (the ones I spent the most time on and loved the most…of course) I didn’t clean. Let’s just say they have a melted look to them.

This first one I went simple. I poured white acrylic paint (slightly thinned with 7-8 drops of water) into the the cleaned & dry ornament and moved the ornament around until coated. Place ornament w/ paint upside down on a small cup to allow the excess paint to drip out. During this process you can move the ornament around allowing the excess paint to shimmy on over to areas that need paint. I allowed my ornament to dry overnight upside down, carefully placed the top back on the ornament, tied a cute ribbon to the top, and hung that baby up!

It’s best to allow this ornament to dry with the hole facing down so that the excess paint drips out and doesn’t pool at the bottom of your ornament causing a dark spot to appear on the bottom of your ornament.

This next ornament I did the same as the white one above, but obviously used green on the inside this time. On the outside of the ornament I wiped it down with rubbing alcohol so that my paint had a clean surface to stick to. Next, I dipped the back of a art brush into white acrylic paint and just free handed a swirly dot, and then allowed it to dry on a small cup. Once dry ,I tied a piece of baker’s twine to the top for hanging.

I wanted this one to look fairly messy. I’m sure it’s not everyone’s taste, but I think it adds a bit of whimsey to my ornament collection. Plus, I can always say the hubs or the kid made it if people laugh at it.

For these polka dotted guys I just cleaned the outside of an ornament and dipped the back of a sharpie marker into paint and dotted it around my ornament, and let dry. These were my favorite. Unfortunately, these were the ones I DIDN’T clean the inside of, so now they look all melted on the inside and will not be returning next holiday season. Always, always, always take the time to clean the inside of your ornament if you intend to coat it with paint. You can kind of see the paint on the inside start to “melt” in the photo below. Poor little guys. They never even had a chance.

Oh well, you live and you learn. I still left them on the tree. I just placed the really bad ones to the sides and back.

That’s what I named my tablescape.

On any given day you will most likely find our dining room table cluttered with diaper bags, baby shoes, cloth diapers draped over the backs of chairs drying, mail, and my current craft project. But since this was our very first Christmas at our house hosting others I wanted to make it a bit more special.

I’m not very good at putting a beautiful table together. I can just never decide on how I want things. Not to mention I decided not to register for fine china when we got married so I don’t have any of that fanciness. Nor do I have a ton of random decor stuff just tucked away in the house for random occasions. We simply don’t have the room for things like that.

So, here’s my sweet little table. Pun totally intended. Even my cute little moose got all gussied up for Christmas morn. I call her Bessie.

I’ve been dying to use my red and white napkins I picked up at Pier 1 last year after xmas. All the more reason to make my table a bit prettier. They look so cute all tied up with some jute and a candy cane.

I used a cream scarf from Old Navy as the runner. It had just enough whimsey to get the job done. I had big, giant coffee mugs at each setting ready to fill our bellies with coffee or hot cocoa.

And as the name states…there were quite a few candy canes on the table. I put a handful of small candy canes in two of my Crate & Barrel mercury votives. I wish it were okay to display snowflakes all year, because I would totally be leaving these lookers out. In the middle of the table was a cute Spode casserole dish.

Ahhh, my sweet little Spode dish. She played host to our cinnamon roll Christmas tree.

We also chowed down on a delicious breakfast casserole that Derek prepared for everyone. I love when a man cooks. Don’t you?

As I type this my dining room table has again become a miscellaneous item wasteland. Boo. It was cute while it lasted. Does anyone have any table decorating tips they could offer for a novice? Or just point me in the direction of a blog or website that can help my feeble efforts.

We started our Christmas celebration by attending Mass with my parents on Christmas Eve. I was quite surprised when my MIL said that she would LOVE to attend if possible. You see my in-laws attend a Church of Christ church. But not one of those severely strict COC churches. SVCC (where they attend) is a really laid back and open church. Back to the story. She had never attended Mass at a Catholic church before, and thought this would be a great opportunity to spend time with all of our family and experience the grandor that is a Christmas Catholic Mass.

So we went, and I think all of the Davenport’s enjoyed it. It’s a totally different experience than what they are use to. Grayson loved walking up and down the pew row. And hopping from grandparent to grandparent. The organ proved to be a bit much for his little ears.

After we celebrated the reason for the season; we all went over to my parents house and opened gifts.

I didn’t want to make this post crazy long so we are using the storyboard method today.

My parents now have three grandkids, three kids of their own that each have a significant other, and three grand dogs. That equals a lot of presents under the tree. Not to mention all of us kids brought presents for the grandkids, each other, and our parents. It was quite a full tree. Look at that baby’s face getting smushed from our kisses. He’s so stinkin’ cute.

Gray loves all dogs. Not all dogs love Gray. He’s a boy. A boy with lots of energy, and grabby little hands. However, Izzy seemed to enjoy Gray this visit. He’s so use to large dogs that he kind of overwhelms the little ones with his lovin’.

I just love how his Christmas outfit turned out. It looks a bit large, because it is. He’s in the 90% for height so I ordered it a bit large…just in case. Plus, it’s reversible. The other side is not Christmasy so I wanted him to be able to wear it for a few more months. Hence the extra room.

I ordered it from Lacey Girls Boutique. She has a Facebook Page, and an Etsy Shop. Check out her work. It is precious.

See that bottom left picture? See the package flying through the air? He has developed a love of throwing. You seriously can’t give him anything that’s round, because he then yells “BALL!” and chunks it across the room. The kid has an arm!

Have you ever wanted to see Gray’s pooping face? Check out that bottom right pic. BOOM! Now you have.

Gray got to know Frosty…from afar. He wasn’t too sure of that little white snowman.

When we got home we put the kid to bed, and got moving on setting up some Santa gifts. We also decided to assemble a couple of gifts Grayson got at my parent’s house. We wanted him to have some large(ish) opened gifts, ready to play with, when he woke up in the morning.

I loved putting the gifts together. Derek, on the other hand, not so much.

Oh, I forgot to tell you. I asked Derek if we could move the tree into the living room a few days before xmas. Since we were having family over and the tree was in our dining room I didn’t want to either be opening gifts on the dining room floor or lugging them all into the living room. He indulged my wish. Thank goodness for a very light tree.

Here it is all big and glowy. A few days before the main event.

I snuck into the living room, after Santa stopped by, to snap a few shots of the tree. 2 am does not make for good picture taking.

Here’s the super cute chair Santa dropped off with the L.L.Bean backpack my parents gave him. Derek said it was to add color. Okay? Looks like a little dog reindeer fur might have gotten on Gray’s new chair. Geez, wonder how that could have happened?

On Christmas morning my in-laws came over to open gifts with us. That’s why there are so many under our tree. We don’t have that kind of money or credit card debt folks. Before waking the baby up all 5 of us sat down to a wonderful breakfast complete with a carried on holiday tradition of the Cinnamon Roll Christmas Tree.

Then it was time to wake the little guy up. It was so cute.

Grayson is a grandpa’s boy. 110%. The second he laid eyes on Doogle (that’s what Gray calls derek’s dad) he ran to the other end of the crib and about lept into the man’s arms.

The working toy drill was a HUGE hit. And by huge I mean he holds down the button so much that we are now beginning to pray the batteries die soon, and then NOT replace them. He did get some quite gifts too. Like a little arm chair from Land of Nod, a bookcase, a alligator pull toy, and a Tickle Monster Book.

We let Gray open his gifts first so then we could let him eat, and the adults could open gifts in peace. While we were exchanging gifts I noticed Grayson sharing his breakfast with the blanket basket. He took all of the food from his bowl and placed it on the basket. Then put it back in his bowl and ate it. I guess his eggs needed a little dust for flavoring.

I got 5 post-it notes. Actually, it’s just how Derek covered my new 32 gig memory card so I wouldn’t know what it was. Men and their wrapping. Derek got a new down pillow. He loves it. Doogle got a personalized apron, because my MIL said that she’s tired of having to get stains out of his shirts from his seemingly messy cooking. After gifts my in-laws headed off to church…again! We stayed at home and sat infront of our crackling fire. Okay, so the fire was a streaming video on Netflix. How awesome is that?

Did anyone else have an oddly wrapped gift from a man, or do they just leave it in the bag from the store? That’s what he use to do. Now he’s getting all creative. Did anyone light a faux fire on Netflix? Forget xmas music. Fires on TV are way cooler.

I hope everyone was blessed with a wonderful holiday season. We surly were. As my friend Callie reminded me in a very touching post; treasure every moment you are given to spend with your loved ones. You never know if it will be your last.

Shutterfly hooked me and my boyz up with 25 free christmas cards this year. Nice. But it took me forevesies to decide on a card and photo(s) I liked together. I’m so wishie-washie about things like this. I did finally decided, and I am beyond thrilled with my decision.

Ladies and gents. The Davenport’s 2011 Christmas Card….

I thought the look on his face totally fit the “be joyful” wording on the card. If there’s one thing my child is good at, it’s being full of joy. Sometimes a bit more than Mommy can handle, but who cares…he’s so freakin’ cute!

I just wish I had ordered more, because I totally ran out of cards this year. No wonder people make christmas card lists. So they don’t make a bonehead move like me and order to few cards.

–> People that didn’t receive a christmas card from us this year please don’t feel shunned. I simply ran out of cards to send. I’m sorry. I suck. I know. Don’t worry though, I’m making a list next year and you are totally on it.

Here’s another super quick How-To on how to make a snowman ornament.

What you’ll need…

• clear glass ball ornament (any size)
• rubbing alcohol & cotton ball
• acrylic paint
• small paint brush
• baker’s twine (or ribbon)
• hot glue (& glue gun)
• faux snow

For my snowman ornament I first cleaned the outside of the ornament with rubbing alcohol, let it dry for a few minutes, and then balance on a small cup so I could begin painting. For the eyes I dipped the back of a small art/craft paint brush into dark gray paint and then touched the back of the brush to the ornament. I did this a few times until the eyes were the size I desired. Since I had the gray paint out I went ahead and did the dots for the mouth next.

With a 10/0 sized art brush (basically, a really tiny brush) I freehanded the nose. I allowed the nose to dry for 5 minutes or so and went over it once more to deepen the color and to fix any issues I noticed. Don’t worry about getting his nose perfect. I made 6 of these guys and everyone the nose is totally different. I think it adds to good ole Frosty’s charm.

Once Frosty was dry, I stuffed him full of some fake snow and then added his top. I also took a bit of baker’s twine and wrapped it around his top (where his hat would be) then added a dot of hot glue to hold the twine in place.

(here is the back of Frosty showing the dot of hot glue)

Once your hot glue is dry hang the little guy on your tree or anywhere else you feel needs a snowman.

These would make super easy and cheap party favors or even holiday gifts. You could even add a name or year to the back for a touch of personalization.  Go on, get your holiday on!

As promised, here is a quick how-to on how to make cute DIY burlap christmas ornaments.

Here’s what you’ll need…

• burlap
• sharpie (or chalk)
• acrylic paint
• paint brush(s)
• scissors
• elmer’s glue

I traced my shape onto my two pieces of burlap, and started cutting! Next came the paint. Since I was operating on the dining room table I taped down a garbage bag to prevent anything getting on my beautiful table. Having plastic there allowed for easy removal once my ornament dried. I used acrylic paint I had on hand to paint the designs one side of each piece of burlap. Since these were going to hang on the tree I wanted both sides to be decorated since ornaments tend to twirl.

Once my paint was dry I applied school glue (a.k.a – Elmer’s Glue) to the unpainted side of one piece of burlap. Then laid the other piece on top. (During the glueing process I also added my hanging ribbon between my two burlap pieces.)  I use any heavy object I could find to apply pressure to the glued areas. If you decide to stuff your burlap ornaments you should leave a portion of your burlap unglued for the time being. Allow the glue to dry overnight and you’re done! If you are going the stuffing route then add a few scrap pieces of burlap into the ornament and glue your opening together.

Here is my unstuffed burlap ornament…

And here is the stuffed ornament. I know it’s kinda hard to tell in the pic that it’s stuffed, but I swear it is.

** For the stocking ornament each side is two piece of burlap. The sock portion is one piece and the top red portion is the second piece. I glued them together just before I glued the two sides together.

I love my little stocking the most. I actually made it to look like the stockings we have hanging over the fireplace. I’ll probably make a few more for next year’s tree. The best thing about these ornaments is that you can make just about anything. I think a Santa and some snowmen might be on next year’s craft To Do list. Has anyone else out there made tiny little burlap ornaments? I know I can’t be a pioneer in this field. Can I?

Nah.