My favorite Christmas photos

We had such a wonderful Christmas together as a family. I got a new camera for Christmas and had so much fun taking tons of pictures. I thought I'd share some of my favorites with you.


This is my new favorite picture....just love my babies.

This was the best family pic we could get with Santa.

Drew did not like him at all. Because my children look so much like their dad, this was validation that my genes are in there too. I hated Santa.

Here Micah and I made our first gingerbread house together. He was so excited. It has been super dry out here lately...his hair is proof!


Here's Drew on Christmas day.
I always love wrapping Christmas presents. I'm mad at myself for not taking pictures of all the other ones, but here are two for my parents.

I hope you all had a lovely holiday. We are enjoying being home with the kids and hanging out together as a family!

Merry Christmas!

Micah's Big Boy Birthday Bash!

We recently celebrated Micah's 3rd Birthday by having a letter "B" themed party. Micah actually turned 3 on December 19th, but have learned to celebrate earlier in the month to make it easier on ourselves and our friend's calendars! So, here we go, it was the B-Birthday to the 3rd power.

I take themes pretty literally, so that meant my color scheme was blues, blacks, browns, and beige. I'm sure no one noticed, but I just couldn't deviate! I had this "balloon chandelier" hanging over our kitchen island where all the food was. I put a marble in each balloon to keep them hanging down. I used brown and white Divine Twine to hang then from the ceiling.

My Cricut really came in handy at this party. I used it for all the words on the wall as well as for the hanging "B's" I used everywhere. Once you get going, you really can't believe how many kid things start with the letter B. It really is a perfect theme for a 2-4 year old.


There's the birthday boy taking a break from all the bouncing!

Here is Drew still trying to figure out why all these people are in her house again!

Here is what we did for the lunch menu!

Here's the spread...anyone notice my Missoni bowls? :)

Micah and his best-bud Malcolm eating some lunch.

And we can't forget the desserts! Yum. I made everything but the birthday cake. That was provided by the fabulous girls over at Cake here in San Diego. I froze the leftovers (Banana Truffle) to enjoy at a later date!







You know that every party I always label the guest bathroom. For Micah's camp out party, it was the outhouse and for Drew's kitty cat party it was the litterbox. Couldn't resist this year again!

Whew, what a busy month it has been so far! Micah's party was so much fun...only bummer is of course, we didn't get a shot of him blowing out his candles or a family picture. Oh well, it was a very successful day none-the-less!

If you've missed any of Micah's previous parties, check them out!
1st birthday - Camp Out Style here
2nd birthday - Surf's Up here

My DIY Advent Calendar

My last project for this Christmas was to do an advent calendar. I knew I wanted to do one this year since the kids were getting old enough to get excited about Christmas. I began to look on Pinterest to get ideas and kind of came up with my own version of a ton of ones I saw.


I went to Home Depot and had a piece of wood cut. I then stained it with this black stain I had left over. I used my Cricut to do the numbers, making the 1, 12, and 24 an inch larger. I thought it would look better if they were not in a perfect line.

After decopage-ing (is that a word?) the numbers on, my hubs helped drill holes through the board.
Here is a stash of knobs I had been collecting over the last couple months. Some are from Home Depot, but most are from the clearance bin at Anthropologie.

I wanted to use golds and silvers as well as hooks and a few colors.

I had myself a little helper during this project.

I hung little bags with goodies as well as candy canes. This project was so fun! Now that I'm done with our advent calendar, I think next year I'll put a lot of time and energy into coming up with really fun activities for each day. Hope you enjoy!

My DIY mantle art projects

I really love getting my mantle all dolled up for Christmas. Everything this year was a DIY project that I dreamt up in my head. I'm really happy with the way it turned out! The only bummer is I didn't have time to get our new stockings embroidered with our names.

First up, was my idea to use all the doilies I've collected lately. I scored a bunch at the Santa Monica flea market a few months back (.50 cents each). I had some old wallpaper laying around that I just wrapped around a canvas. In the meantime, I used brown and gold spray paint from Home Depot. Warm up your glue gun and wah-lah! It was that easy! You may remember the doily art I did for Drew's room that you can see here or here.

Next up was a large canvas that I painted gold. I picked my favorite Christmas carol, O Holy Night to write out. I did it freehand with a white Sharpie paint pen. It didn't quite show up as bright as I'd like it, especially since my living room is so bright with natural light. I finished up with a brown Sharpie, and actually ended up liking the shadow effect it created.

Lastly, I wanted some pink and green incorporated somewhere, so I just drew these scallops and painted the colors in. I left a few blank and filled in with glue and glitter. Here is a close up shot. You can see they scallops aren't perfectly drawn (or painted for that matter), but I like the imperfections. If you missed my post on my DIY snowglobes, check it out here. These projects are so super easy, there is still time to squeeze in a few of these to make your Christmas decor extra fabulous! Have fun!

A handmade tree star

Those of you who follow my blog and know me, you know that my dad is SO super talented. My dad is the one behind our handmade beds we sell on Etsy.

He made this tree topper by hand for my sister and her family, and if you look closely, you can see all their initials on the inside (R, N, R, E & C). Love this idea and maybe we'll sell custom stars next year in our Etsy shop!

My Anthro inspired snowglobes

I'm a bit of a copy cat here. When I saw snowglobes at Anthro in October (see this posting for picture), I immediately thought "DIY"!!!! I studied them carefully for a minute and had a plan! They probably cost under $5 each to make. I headed straight to Michael's, and wah-lah! Take a look at our mantle and a DIY for you on how to make them yourself!

All you need is a 1) mason jar, 2) fake snow and/or glitter, and 3) a small decorative Christmas object like a tree, figuring, or ornament. You'll also need a glue gun and probably something to prop up some of the objects you use. Here's how to do it:

For this one, I was putting this tree in the xtra-large mason jar, so I needed to prop it up a bit. You could grab anything from around the house, but I had this wood spool lying around so it worked great. Just use your hot glue gun to secure it.

It really is that easy! If you happen to make these, please email me or comment, I'd love to see your creations!