Zoolight Safari!

Note: I'm apologizing in advanced for the bad quality on some of these pics. Clearly, I don't have a clue what setting to use on my phone for taking night pictures...


The weekend before Christmas we headed out to the zoo for to see the millions of Christmas lights displayed all over the zoo. It was so pretty!! I love the zoo at Christmas!! Here is a taste of what we saw (click on the pic to see it bigger):

From the top:

Can't leave out the Chick-Fil-A Cows! And, of course, Andy loved those blue elephants 

The tree in the middle of the swan pond (from one side of the zoo)

They boys in their wagon - tried 500x to get a smile... They loved it, but were just so amazed by it all. 

Cool parrot Alex said to take a pic of :)

The tree from the other side of the zoo

Gingerbread houses - Andy said, "That's where the cookie mans live!!"

From the top left, clockwise:

Andy driving the tractor

Mountain Goat. LOL

The boys in front of the giant snowman

Alex's turn on the tractor

 Guess who we saw?! 

These two cracked everyone up. Andy went up to Santa giggling like crazy and Alex pretty much jumped into his lap. No joke. I thought Alex would be shy or something. Oh, no. Not one bit. They were THRILLED. 

YES!!! A PERFECT picture of me and my hubby! He's a hottie, I know. ;)

(btw - Jason took that picture of us! woot!)

From the top:

On our way home we hit up a few neighborhoods to check out the lights. This house was DECKED out! The whole front window had a village inside. Trees all over, every character that has anything to do with Christmas, everything!

Andy was saying "WOW!" the whole time

While Alex was saying "look!" and finishing off his lollipop from Santa

Yes, the hose from the 1st two pics also made sure to include the reason for the season :) Everyone from the Nativity was present here! Animals, shepherds (yes - with an S!! I don't remember how many, but there were a few). It was great. The boys both saw and yellowed out, "Baby Jesus!"

Finally, I just had to share...this is from another house. Go ahead. Click it to make it bigger... This has got to be the tackiest Christmas blow up ever. And we have seen a lot... But this tops it. Santa. In a tub. Bathing (his arm with a brush in his hand moves). And a reindeer is just hanging out rather close by. Interesting. And this wasn't the only one.... Oh, goodness...

Anyone go check out their town's zoo at Christmas? 

What's the wackiest Christmas decoration you saw? 

Do share - I want to see if anyone can top the "Santa in the tub" thing.... LOL

Christmas!!!

I am so happy that MOST of my decorations are up and MOST of my Christmas shopping is done - YAY! I have a few projects I am working on around the house still. But, I can show you what we have done so far. Ready?

 

First thing first - the kiddos need their stuff up! We LOVE our Little People Nativity - so cute! Alex loves to keep Baby Jesus with him all. the. time. Andy gets a little annoyed that Mary isn't with Baby Jesus in the stable. But is fine with it as long as he gets the 3 kings. Goodness... 

 Yes, we have the North Pole, too! This set actually belonged to my little brothers!! How cool!!

 Playing in the morning when they found the Christmas stuff I put out. 

This cracks me up. The boys made Santa take his train over to the stable because Baby Jesus needed some toys. I told them how the 3 kings brought gifts to their king (which is yes a baby at that moment) and they were confused why Baby Jesus couldn't play with those presents. So Santa took care of that part, I guess LOL Too cute.

 After breakfast, we set up the tree. This is how a toddler decorates the tree :)

Andrew puts all ornaments in his favorite color on first while Alex pulls off all the hooks. LOL

 After the tree was up, they guys wanted their other trains to play with. That's when I brought out yet another Christmas surprise that belong to my brothers. The tree from the Polar Express! And, it makes magical noises and lights up :) FUN! 

 We bought some impromptu decorations for trees I didn't think I was using. I had these 2 tiny trees before we had the boys - one was in our guest room and one was in the kitchen. Now, they are decked out in the boys' favorite colors and in their rooms!

 Andy's Blue Christmas :) The tree is from Hobby Lobby years ago, but still available. The star, ornaments, and battery-operated LED lights are all from Target.

 Alex's Ever Green!

 Of all the decorations, this is my favorite! It took me FOREVER to figure out how to display my Nativity scene, but it's up! I have all the pieces, but not enough room to put it all up this year. Plus, I have 2 toddlers who want to touch every. single. thing. So, yes, this was the solution. The cranberry wreath and star are tied together (both from Target a few years ago). I figured they needed the STAR over them somewhere and I needed to add in some color.  LOVE IT!

 In the bottom of one of my Christmas boxes, the guys found the Packer Santa hats. We had a lot of fun with those!

I was playing around with my camera settings on my phone last night trying to get a picture of our tree. These were the best ones :)

I love Christmas!! Do you have your decorations up yet? When do you take them down?



**Linking up with**
Organize & Decorate Everything - Deck the Halls Holiday Pinning Party!
I'm an Organizing Junkie 
 A Bowl Full of Lemons 
Diana Rambles - Pin It Party  
Smart! School {House} 
Skip to My Lou 
The NY Melrose Family

Mantle-morphosis

HA! I thought it was funny.

September 1st Mantle: Welcome Fall!! I had almost everything from last year that was placed elsewhere for the holidays. That "garland" is just a bunch of leaves stuck behind everything to look like a garland. I did get a bag of those mini pumpkins at Lowe's that Andrew begged me for so that Alex could have some pumpkins, too. The squirrel, Miss Suzy (Yes! From the book, if you read it when you were little. Such a cute story for little ones!!) is actually a salt or pepper shaker from Target (part of this collection, but cannot find it anywhere online...) But that is all I bought this year! Go me!

October 1st Mantle:  Let's Get Spooky!! Again, I pretty much had everything. Actually, in the picture there is nothing new! Nice! I got the Sleepy Hollow book from the bargain bins at Books-a-Million the year before last. The pumpkin wizard is from Hobby Lobby.

Other items:
Mantle shelf - Hobby Lobby
Black candlestick - Target
Apple - Hobby Lobby
Green stand - Part of the Willow Tree Nativity scene - gift from Jason's mom
Antique backgammon board - gift from my mom at one of her go-to's for awesome old stuff :) Mom, what is that place called???
White candle (has an autumn song written on it) - Target, last year on clearance
Small yellow pitcher - Hobby Lobby

Back-to-School Mantle

Yep, it is that time. Time to start putting some of the summer things away (Thank God I live in the South. I do not want winter...70s are perfect. 90s, yeah, ok...not so much. But NO SNOW) and time to start pulling out the school supplies and go through the fall clothes. I'm sure some people might be ready to put out pumpkins (Ahem, Hobby Lobby needs to slow it down. They already have Christmas stuff out...), but us? Not just yet. A change in decor was needed a bit, though.

Here is what our summer mantle looked like these past few months:

And, here is out back-to-school mantle! 

And the awesome thing? This was a $0 change!!

Things used:
Mason jar filled with letter tiles and some floral branches from the vase in the first picture
Fake apple - it was on the top of my cabinets in the kitchen.
3 window frame filled with flash cards - from from previous gallery wall in living room; flash cards from a deck I used last year with Andrew.
Candle holder - switched it out with another item on the top of the kitchen cabinets
White candle - under the sink in my candle stock

No money, no problem. You what you have in the house!

**linking up with**

Thirty Handmade Days

The Grant Life 

Tatertots & Jello
Miss Infomation 
Skip to my Lou
The NY Melrose Family
Lil Luna - All Things Good
Southern Lovely
Tip Junkie
Home Stories A to Z
A Bowl Full of Lemons
Mercy(ink)

Spring Mantle

I know, you are wondering, "What mantle?" since we now have a new living room set up. It's all good, I have a shelf in the kitchen that is claiming to be a mantle. I actually did this back in January when we were doing all that reno in the living room, but this is all the Spring you see in the house for now. I have a bit more to take care of around here :) And, since I did change up the decor in the kitchen, I might as well show you that while you are visiting. So, grab some sweet tea and pull up a chair!

Like my Hobby Lobby shelf - ahem, mantle? Got it for $12 instead of $25 during a sale last summer.

The pear is from a set that my mom gave me as a housewarming gift when we moved here after our wedding. In the picture below, you can find the other two (yellow and white) hiding on the top of the cabinets.

Turn around and this is the view of the kitchen :)

And, walk down to the door and this is what you see looking back. 

So there is my Spring Mantle, plus a bonus tour of the kitchen! Have you started decorating for Spring? Today is the 1st Day of Spring! For some inspiration, check out what a few others have been up to in their homes:

Also linking up with:Thrifty Decor Chick

Christmas Cookies, Lights and Pajamas

We just LOVE that we are able to do these things with our little guys. I love that Andy loves to help me bake. He used to just watch. Now he like to take charge! He helps me count eggs and measuring cups of flour and sugar... Finding the number I need on the measuring cup for milk and such. He is fantastic. He even helps me clean up! Awesome :)

1. Helping me unwrap kisses
2. Then we thought of being silly and acting like we really ate all of those lol
3. Licking off the dough - note the sugar on his forehead! (if you click the picture, it will get bigger)
4. Rolling out the dough
5. Had some help from mama, but really not a lot - just when it got sticky and needed more flour
6. The amazing ingredients from Betty Crocker & Hershey's that I won. I won a prize pack of all of this, and apron, and some goodie boxes for a cookie party I was going to host a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, with it being the wintry cold time of year, my boys got sick this time. :( But, we ended up making cookies for some of our neighbors!
7. YUM!!! Peanut butter blossoms!
8. My baking man in training - always start out with a rubber spatula, then a wooden spoon, and THEN you can help mama at the counter!
9. A great little cookie cutter guy
10. Making Santa's soldiers. He calls them soldiers, not nutcrackers. Not sure where he got that idea from. But it is cute!


After dinner tonight, we headed out around town to see some Christmas lights. I tried to get pictures, and I took as many as I could..but these are the best:

1. Love how the lights outline the roof of this house
2. SO awesome. There is that mega snow globe, that boxy snowman, a "seasons greetings" train, wreaths, and I wish I had gotten a decent pic..but there is also a Ferris wheel on the other side! Awesome!!!
3. This is our front door. Finally got it. I still cant figure out the best setting to get the lights to twinkle in the picture, but this is the best for now. :)
4. RTR...ugh. Someone please explain to me what Bama and Christmas have in common.... Yes, fine, red and white... anything else?
5. This house has to have it's own Alabama Power station for the amount of lights that are on this person's house and property. WOW! Very cool!
6. Andrew enjoying the sights of Christmas!

I wish I had gotten a pic of something different we saw... A car that passed us on the road was decorated in Christmas lights! CRAZY! Only the top though...so you had to do a double take if you were speeding LOL

1. Alex trying to get those sneaky reindeer lol
2. I love our Christmas tree!!
3. Andy asking for 1 more cookie even though he has 1 in his had already...
4. Alex just being cute :)
5. Andy putting the ornament back on the tree that Alex took off
6. Jason and his "littlest guy" as he calls him - love it!
7. Seriously, I'm obsessed with our tree!

Oh, Christmas Tree!

Ah, I love it!

Christmas in the Kitchen

This was the first year that I have done this - decorated the tops of the kitchen cabinets for Christmas. I usually have collection of baskets up there, but we have collected a lot of things over the past 4 years of marriage  that I wanted more of it out. I must say I am quite pleased! :D

 

 The "cooking" side of the kitchen (left to right):

"Home Sweet Home - Where something good is always brewing sign" Found that at Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago. Not Christmas, but the red worked and I loved it so much! It's sitting on a basket with a huge handle to help hold it up.

Grandmother's vase filled with Christmas ornaments (from Dollar store a few years ago)

Mini Tree (from Hobby Lobby a few years ago)

Random candle

My "W" sign I painted place in front of our wreath that used to be on the front door - I have a new one outside this year!

The apple from my fall mantle sitting on a candle holder in a basket of red flowers

The "prep" side of the kitchen (on the left cabinets):

Basket

Angel of Prayer on a candle holder (she goes with our nativity)

Square vase filled with gold beaded garland (Hobby Lobby a few years ago)

 The "prep" side of the kitchen (on the right cabinets)

Another vase filled with more red flowers and ancient candy canes (Ew. Seriously, I found them in one of the boxes from the attic. Thought to use them here instead of throwing them away.) 

My awesome vase from my Maid of Honor, Christina, filled with Christmas bells

So what do you think of the kitchen cabinets?

Do you decorate the tops of yours throughout the year, just at Christmas, or leave them alone?

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

I love in the South for a reason, people. I love the warm weather and enjoying a glass of sweet tea. But it is 47. And, my hands are freezing. Oh, I'm inside the house though...

Friday night, though... It was 10 degrees colder! 37 at the Zoo. I'm shivering just thinking about it. LOL.

Anyway, after our morning adventures with Santa, it was time for lunch and a nap. Once everyone was recharged, we headed back out for more fun!

Starting at the top row:

Alex all bundled up ~ Nutcrackers in the butterfly house

Lots of lights ~ Welcome to the Zoo ~ My favorite misfit, the Polka Dot Elephant

Andy pointing out the lights and all the colors ~ Andy and his Auburn megaphone

Ok, so I have some explaining...

As y'all know (those who keep up with us), we don't really do college football. We are an NFL house. However, when you live in AL, there is no NFL and the first thing people ask you when they meet you is who you root for? And that person always assume you will say either Alabama or Auburn. Well, I was a swimmer so naturally I say "War Eagle" as they have typically had an amazing swim team. Jason says "Roll Tide" just to 

make me crazy...but, maybe he really is a Bama fan. Anyway, Andy LOVES elephants. But he runs around the house/playground screaming "EAGLE"

SO I HAVE NO CLUE! But!!!! The girls at the fan table at the zoo asked him and he said....

EAGLE! Good, boy! LOL

I know, we are silly... Gotta love it! 

Well, after seeing a few more lights, our numbed bodies decided that it was time to go. As we are walking to the car, Andy is VERY sad. But, Jason (all of a sudden) asks him if he wants to get something special. 

WHAT?!

This day has been full of special things, what else could there be?! 

How about warmth in a cup at Dunkin Donuts? YAY!

Hot, huh? The hot chocolate, people! But, yeah, he is!!! :)

Isn't this the coolest tree ever?! 

As Mary says (from Jack's big music show)... 

"Whaaaaat a day!!"

Happy Spring!

First Day of Spring! First Day of Spring!

Unfortunately that means wasps and allergies, but that's ok.... We have a fancy new wreath on our front door to celebrate Spring! WOOT!

Even though my car is being fixed at the moment, my super awesome friend saved me from doing laundry this morning. So, we headed to Hobby Lobby!! I saw this great spring wreath on one of my favorite blogs, and we both had to make our own version. It was super easy and only cost $12 :)

Happy Spring!!

Fabulous New Wreath

YAY! I have never made a wreath before. I always figured I wasn't that talented in that department... But, the one I saw over at Little Big Nest changed my mind. And her's has a "W" just like mine would need. That was a winning factor, too! Gotta have my W! You can go here to see her wreath that inspired me to make one for our door.

That grapevine wreath was only $5 at Hobby Lobby. I know, I couldn't believe it either... The W was $2, and the branches that I cut up and wove into the wreath were on sale for $1/each (and maybe some change). I had the paint from all of the other projects I do around here :) So, what? $10 for an awesome wreath. Yay me!

Zoolight Safari Nite

Note: You will need to have your speakers on! I have a festive song :) And, yes, it is true, "Mrs. Claus ain't got nothin' on me!" 

Zoooooooolights!!! I love the holidays!!! Tonight, we went for a quick dinner at 5 Guys Burgers (YUM! One of my favorite burger places ever). Andrew ate a whole hot dog and 1/2 of the bun! He eats like a football player, but like those big linemen or something. It's crazy. Anyway, after that, we headed over to the ZOOOOO for the opening night of the most fantastic display of Christmas lights - Zoolight Safari. FUN!

Andrew was in complete state of amazement. He had seen the decorations for the Boo at the Zoo a few months ago, but this was so much more. Lights, lights, lights! Santa, his elves, snowmen, trains, everything North Pole! I love this time of the year. It is my favorite. I wish it could be Christmas all the time! Ok, maybe not...but you know what I mean.

Anyhoo! Enjoy the music and pictures!






If you have trouble viewing, click here.  Song: "Mrs. Claus Ain't Got Nothin' On Me!" by Little Jackie (part of The Christmas Gig Album available at Target.com)

Window Clings are soooo tacky, but...

Andrew really was about to jump out of the shopping cart to get these:

He loves these snowmen. I think it is because of the birds. He seems to love red and things that fly these days. He went all crazy-excited over a Southwest plane that flew over our house the other day. I know...it is orange, but it was close enough the color to think it was red.

Oh and he even made Tusker (his blue elephant)look at the snowmen. He pointed to them, looked at Tusker, then shoved his trunk up against the window, like "Do YOU see the snowmen???" LOL

Anyhoo! That is my breakdown for the week. $1 Window Clings. Not bad, eh?