Happy New Year's Eve

happy New Years from our family to yours.

livi lost her 2nd tooth

livi has had a super duper loose tooth for a few weeks now, but she was so scared that she had fainted the last time she lost a tooth she was terrified what was going to happen this time. for the last 4 days she's had trouble eating because her tooth was so loose & uncomfortable. every time mommy has tried to get near her mouth, livi was having none of it!!! she really wanted it out so bad but was so scared of the getting it out part. she would wiggle it for hours on end trying to get it out. she even tried biting into a carrot (we were out of apples) but that didn't work either. she finally couldn't stand it anymore & knew it was past time for it to some out. her grown up tooth has come in about half-way behind it. let me tell you she was a nervous wreck, she was shaking non-stop, sick to her stomach, crying & clenched down. daddy held her while mommy reached in & took it out. livi had wriggled her tooth so much she had wriggled her tooth out & it was just resting in it's spot. it barely even bleed, but poor livi got really woozy, all the color drained from her face & her shaking got worse... it wasn't as bad as last time, but still awful. she was better after about 30 mins... thank goodness! hopefully with each tooth it'll get easier & we'll find the magic touch!

niger

we got word that our shoeboxes traveled all the way to niger & we know some beautiful children are loving their gifts they received... yay. did you know 49 percent of niger’s 17.4 million people are 14-years-old or younger. in the 2014 season, 112,896 shoebox gifts from the united states will be delivered to children in niger, which first received the gifts in 2005. since then, 347,000 children in niger have received a shoebox gift. we can't wait to make someone have christmas again next year!

also our daddy & mommy got the chance to volunteer at the operation christmas child dallas processing center. in the whole united states there is only 8 processing centers & we were so excited when we found out that there was one in texas. it's something mommy's wanted to do for a while now & they were both so excited to get the chance to do this! they inspected & prepared over 3 thousand boxes every hour for overseas shipment. they had never seen anything like it before & they even got to meet a man from russia who had been a recipient of boxes when he was a little boy in an orphanage. part of inspecting the boxes was seeing all the love that went into all of them, it was a very emotional evening for both of them & we know we'll doing everything we can to continue helping this amazing organization for as long as it exists. when i'm 13 i can go to the processing center to volunteer, i can't wait... only 3 more years!

we miss kris already

first of all we want to wish everyone a very merry christmas! it’s been such a joy having kris our elf on the shelf around this year.  last night on christmas eve kris listened for santa's bell & when he heard them it was time for him to fly back to the north pole until next december 1st. we have had so so so much fun with kris & can't wait to see him next year. boy, do we miss him, it's not going to be the same without looking for him every morning. here is some more of crazy mischievous things he he did while he was with us...

day 16: kris decided he needed to do some climbing & that crazy lil elf climbed all the way to the tippy top of our TALL christmas tree to the star!

day 17: somehow kris found all of daddy's old hot wheels from when he was a little boy & decided to have a monster jam with them!!! he had run over 65 cars & 2 tanks... he's CrAzY!!!

day 18: kris surprised with special festive christmas panties & socks. these are by far the cutest under clothes we've ever seen!!! we can't wait to wear them!!!

day 19: apparently kris had a huge sweet tooth & got into all the cookies i brought home from my girl scout cookie exchange!!! thank goodness he left a few behind for us because he would have been in trouble with a capital T!

day 20: OH MY GOODNESS, this was the craziest thing kris has ever done!!! so we think kris was more excited than we were about school being out for christmas break because he put a clear tarp over our bedroom & filled with over 60 balloons to celebrate the first day of the break! then we opened our door the balloons would cascade over us & cover our whole bedroom. poor livi was the one that opened the door & she thought a monster was trying to get her! she woke me up to come rescue her she was so freaked out. when i got to her i turned on the light & when we saw all those balloons we fell over laughing. it was the funniest thing & we laughed the whole day about it.

day 21: kris was so inspired by us making scarves for the homeless that he made some too. we thought that was the most thoughtful thing & were really touched by it. we also loved the adorable scarf he made for himself also.

day 22: kris decided there's nothing better than having a late night sack race with his best buddies. talk about an obstacle course the next morning trying to get to the bathroom!

day 23: kris has really lost his marbles this time, he thought sadie's cookies were people cookies. we got a good giggle over this one... what in the world was he thinking?!?!?!

day 24: kris brought us a new christmas book to read (pete the cat saves christmas) & some of our packed away stuffed animals we'd been missing. he was having a read along with them & they were loving the book as much as we do!

day 25: we love & miss you too kris! thank you for all the fun &  excitement you brought us every morning. we'll be counting down the days till we see you next year. have fun in the north pole!

kylie's prayer

tonight we went to serve the homeless with kylie's prayer, every year the evening before christmas eve a huge group always goes out with all sorts of supplies (sleeping bags, blankets, clothes, toiletries, prepackaged food) to give the homeless so they have their own kind of merry christmas.  kylie's prayer is a christian ministry dedicated to sharing the love of Jesus Christ with the homeless of downtown houston that was started with a 5 yr old's (kylie) prayer to help the homeless. now a few yrs later, the last saturday of the month a group of people meet together to help serve kylie's mission to spread the Word and Love of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to the homeless, through distribution of supplies, food, love, and prayer. there were over 20 carloads full to the brim, everyone wanted to make sure that the homeless knew they were not forgotten this season... it was AMAZING!

so tonight was the night to hand out all of our beautiful scarves we worked so hard on to give out. livi wasn't able to go because she's still recovering from the flu & she was really bummed out because she really really wanted to do it this year. it was her idea to make all the scarves in the first place, so i told her i'd pass them out with extra love from her. daddy & i packed up scarves, peanut butter crackers, candy canes, socks & some shirts to pass out. don't worry she'll make it out with us next time to spread her smile & love.  i was so so so  happy to finally pass out all the scarves livi & i had been making & with each one i gave out a lil candy cane too.  everyone loved the scarves, but all the black printed ones were the first to go, so i know for next year to get tons & tons of cool printed black fabric!!! my favorite part of the evening was being able to put smiles on their faces & letting them know how much i really do care for them. all the homeless people we met were so thankful & happy to see us, i'm so glad i was able to be a part of this. hearing their stories & having them ask us to pray for them really makes me want to do this as often as i can. these people really take care of each other & they know what each other needs. to see something this small make such a huge difference was so wonderful, it brought a smile to all of our faces. my mission for the evening was to make sure that i smiled at each person so they know that someone cares for them & i loved all the smiles/thank yous/God bless yous i got back. there are just so many ways to help & if you'd like to find out more about kylie's prayer or how you can serve please click here

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me…” Matthew 25: 35-36

christmas lights

well livi has come down with the flu so we're not able to do as much christmas things as we had planned on doing. poor livi was super bummed out, so we promised her when her fever came down a little bit we would at least drive around to look at christmas lights. well tonight was that special night, she only lasted a about an hour before she was ready to go home & back to bed, but we all really enjoyed the beautiful lights that we saw.  next year we'll just double up on everything to make up for this year.

 we did make sure to see the awesome santa in a roller coaster house... yay. it takes the man over 2 months to set up the roller coaster that he built over 10 yrs ago & it's worth every twist & turn that santa takes to see it!

easy peasy scarves

a few years ago i made some no sew fleece scarves to pass out to the homeless, well this year livi really wanted to make them again to pass out. i remembered how to make them so i was super excited to help livi out with this awesome project. these super cozy no sew fleece scarves are so easy peasy to make, it was great to do it again! we made about 40 of them & we can't wait for this tuesday to go pass them out!!! if you'd like to try to make some to pass out to the homeless, or your family or even your best friends, here's how...
first off, gather your materials.  you will need:
fleece - you will ultimately need a piece that is 7" wide by 64" long.  here, i used a yard length to start.  this is just regular fleece i picked up... it's rainbow so i had to have it!
scissors
self-healing mat
rotary cutter

cutting your material: lay out your fleece on your cutting mat. 

with your rotary cutter, cut off 7" of fleece, creating a long strip.  i didn't unfold my fleece to cut through it.  be sure to have an adult do this part because the rotary cutter is very sharp & very sharper.

mine is 7", but you can make your scarf whatever width you would like.  this is the finished width.

making the fringe: unfold your fleece and line it up on the cutting mat.  using your scissors, cut strips along the edge of your fleece every inch.

my cuts are 3" long.  you can choose to make yours longer or shorter depending on how "fringe-y" you are feeling!

next, fold the strips up and cut a small slit in the center of each of the pieces. 

once each of the strips is cut it will look like this.

next, pull the edge of the strip through the slit.  pull it all the way through.  repeat this for each of the seven pieces.

the finished fringe will look like this.  now, flip over the fleece and repeat the process to the other side of the scarf.

YAY, the finished scarf! Now give your handmade scarf to someone special.

our school holiday parties

on friday we had our school holiday parties & they were so much fun! in livi's class they decorated cookies, played bingo, made crafts, ate chick-fil-a & had a great time playing with their friends. the coolest thing was her teacher made everyone homemade stockings for the kids to fill for their friends & she turned her whole wall into a brick fireplace & mantel. it was amazing & made the room so cozy!

at my party we got to make ice cream sundaes, made a craft & played crazy minute to win it games... it was insane & loud in my room! we were having so much fun... it was awesome!