My Christmas

Well this year was pretty slow paced compared to our Usual Christmas ordeal.
On Christmas eve we went to Daniel's Parents house for our traditional, board games, Munchies, and Presents. I was just feeling awful, and the kids cranky so we stayed home and had a long nap.  As we drove there, on the ring road a truck in front of us had a shelving unit fly out of the back of his truck and smash into my car... :'-( My poor precious car. Now I have a hole in my bumper, and slices of wooden slivers in my Fog light. It was a Christmas Miracle (or a bad sign for my car???!) That the airbags didn't go off in my face. We were traveling 130 km/ hour and it hit on the front passenger side of the bumper. We were late, and now Cranky, oh my. And although we quit the game before we were done I definitely spanked everyone in a game of Monopoly (Isn't that Right Dan? ;-D) Then we opened our presents. The girls got matching rocking chairs with their names inscribed on the backs, Sophia got a baby Alive, and a light up tracing/ colouring table. And they both got lots of clothes. It wasn't until about Midnight before we finally lugged our tired butts home. We had to finish up assembling the girls Cradles that we made them for Christmas. Talk about procrastination, we were working on them until 2am. 5 hours before they opened them... Oh dear. Christmas Morning My Daddy, his wife, and my brother Brad came over to open presents. We got Dad a Roomba, Brad a new watch, Daniel got a new surround sound, a new sub for his car. Some tools, and money to go buy an amp on boxing day deals. I got Spoiled rotten this year. Daniel got me this bad boy:

Bradley got me a coffee maker, and this attachment:

My In laws, and Daniel went together for my sweetest present eva:

 

EEEEIIII!!!!! I haven't even received it yet, it was special order, but I'm all ready tingling waiting to get my fingers on it.

I also got really generous gift cards, Pajamas, Christmas socks, Beautiful earings, a calendar and more.

It's nice to be blessed with a loving Family.

Our usual Christmas day usual consists of a trip to Moose Jaw to see Daniel's Grandparents, then a rush back home to be with my Westendorp (fathers side) family for a big Christmas celebration, Which is usually 40-50+ strong and held in either my one Aunts restaurant, or my other Aunts warehouse. Non of that this year. I spent the day cleaning (We ended up with an entire deck covered in garbage, barbie boxes, baby doll boxes, stand mixer boxes, bags full of wrapping paper. I felt SO wasteful that day. Maybe next time I'll have to make cloth bags if I'm feeling ambitious), and cuddling with my Honey.  Brad returned after his adventure snowmobiling, and we made Ham, Potatoes, Perogies, Brussels sprouts (yum), corn, and APPLE BAR!!! A family favourite dessert, and I got to make the dough in my new mixer. Add in some trailer trash wine (aka Arbour Mist delish) and Caesars and we had a really nice evening... Oh did I mention I had to work Boxing day at 5 AM?!

 What did you do for Christmas?

Christmas Baking - Cake Pops

 Simple, cute... And a great way to rescue a flopped cake.
These are Daniels Favourite, and on his request list for Baking this year. It's really simple, easy to personalize, and kids go nuts for them (They seem to like anything that's on a stick).
Start off with a Cake, and start breaking and crumbling it up, Mix in your favourite frosting, or filling. I used Raspberry filling, and a butter cream frosting for this one. I whipped it all together with my hand mixer until it was sticking together, and easy to form into balls. Then Sophia and I got rolling, We rolled Tbsp sized Balls and put them in the fridge to chill. The next day (because that's when I had time, they do not have to sit in the fridge overnight) I warmed some white chocolate (full box of bakers chocolate, 8oz squares) in a cup, and added a tsp of oil to it to thin it out. A cup works really well because it keeps the chocolate level high and is great for dipping. I dipped the sticks in the chocolate, got about 1" of it coated, then pressed it into the cake ball, and dipped that in the cup of chocolate. If you want them to be precise balls with a smooth coating than stand them upright in a floral foam, or some sort of Styrofoam while they harden. I did that the first time, and it didn't seem worth my while. So I just plop them upside down on a wax paper lined cookie sheet. Then I drizzled them with some semi sweet chocolate... DELISH!!!

Graham Cracker Houses

On Sunday nights we try to get together with Dan's family. This weekend I took a goodie bag with me and we played Board games and made Graham Cracker Candy Houses. It was inexpensive and lots of fun. New Family tradition me thinks.

 

Sophia's House turned into a bed. She kept toppling over the house so I started to make a stack of crackers to give it a filling, than was going to cover the outside and add a peaked roof. I got half way there, but Sophia liked it as is. Who am I to argue with her ;-) It turned out gorgeous, and she has pretty stained lips from eating all the jube jubes.

 This is My Sister-in-Law Stephanie, she put us all to shame with her precise piping and writing.

My Sister -in- Law Rachelle, Can you believe that at 28 years this is the first gingerbread/ candy house she has ever made???? Wah?! Not too bad for a Newbie ;-D

I hate pictures of myself, but Fair is fair. Here's my Graham Cracker house too. It was fun to make, and simple!

Here are our houses Clockwise starting from the left Mine, Stephanie's, Rachelle's, and Sophia's.

What are your family's Christmas Traditions? I'd love to hear about them. Leave a comment.

Christmas Jammies

One of my Families Traditions was on Christmas eve we'd open one present, a pair of Pajamas. Something nice, warm, and Christmasy. I've been continuing this tradition with my daughters.

 Sophia and I Christmas Eve 2007 In Christmas Jammies

Christmas Morning 2008. With Uncle Brad and Puppy Bella

Annalilia and Sophia Christmas Eve 2009. 

This year I got brave and decided to sew them myself. This was my first time making pants, It was far easier than I had ever expected.

I took a pair of Pants that fit Annalilia Really well, They're a bit too short, but The legs and waist are perfect

With the front of the pants on a fold I cut 2 pieces, folded right sides together and stitched up the leg, stopping at the crotch.

Turn 1 leg right side out, and stuff it inside the other leg,

Sew along the inseam

Unfold the legs from each other,  Double fold a casing for the elastic band to slide into. Remember to leave an opening. I also double stitched the crotch by ironing the fold open, and sewing 1/4 inch away from the seam. 
I hemed the pants, (A little too short I think... Whoopsies) and Appliqued a little matching top. I am not a pattern follower and The only shirts I know how to make aren't exactly jammies, So I opted for a plain $5 t shirt that I dressed up with Scraps. I love the way It looks and even if It makes it for 1 night it will be worth my time. 

And a pair for Sophia. They're Cute, and Similar, without matching, And the girls each picked out their own Fabric for them. Too cute, right?

The Girls' Christmas Outfits

 I'm having some serious Issues with not being able to upload pictures on Blogspot. I've tried a bunch of times but It's just not working properly. I have lots of tutorials, and pictures to put up. This has been a Test of my patience. It's working now, I'll try to get as much done as I can. I hope that you're all having a Blessed Holiday.

For the Record it's REALLY hard to get a nice picture of these two together :-(

EEEEhhh! I got an early Christmas Present

 THANKS KRISTY, DAVIS, and Mr. FOSTER!!!

 The Girls Got a present of their own Giraffe Footie Jammies, and cute outfits, from my Mom and Keith. Grandpa Keith came to town for the weekend. We had lots of fun playing Wii, Watching football and hanging out. Thanks for Visiting Keith, Try to Come again soon ;-D

Rag Doll

I made a rag doll, she looks a little goofy, and I haven't painted her face yet, but it was really simple, and the girls love it.

What I used:

• Skin toned fabric
• Colourful cotton for dress
• colourful cotton for leggings
• felt for hair
• fiber fill
• Lots of Pins
• Thread that matches the hair
• Sewing machine

I got the idea for this off of the Martha Stewart Website There is an awesome tutorial and pattern, unfortunately for some buggy reason my computer won't let me open the files, so I just made it up as I went, it's not quite as cute so if you want to make one I suggest following the pattern.

I started off by cutting my Head pieces, 1 skin coloured circle for the face, 1 felt circle for the back of the head, and  hair to frame the face. I also lined the back of my head with fabric because I used cheap thin felt.

I sewed the hair to the face using a matching thread, and also cut 4 tear drop shapes out of the hair felt, added a small bit of fiber fill and stitched around the edge to make piggy tails. And sewed the dress rectangles onto the heads, Right sides facing.

I sewed long tubes for arms out of the beige, and long hockey stick shaped tubes out of my legging material. Turned them right side out, stuffed with fiber fill

I pinned the Arms, legs, and piggy tails to the right side of the doll

And then sandwiched them with the top piece of the dolls body

Pin all the way around making sure that the ends of the arms, legs and tails are in the seam, and the tips of the fingers and toes aren't going to get sewn in.

Start sewing above one piggy tail, back stitching at the beginning, and finish just past the second piggy tail, back stitching at the end as well. This will leave an opening of 2-3".

Ensure that all the edges are sealed, double check the neck, it took me a second shot to seal the head to the dress. Reach through the opening at the head, grab Dolly's feet and pull her right side out.

Stuff her full of fiber fill, or add some rice to her bum to weight her down, Pin the top of her head shut and whip stitch closed.

I haven't made a trip to Michaels yet to get some Fabric Paint medium, but I plan on painting her face on. I also have a doll I made before this one, she's even goofier looking, but once I paint their faces I promise to put some pictures up.

Some pics of the basement!

Bottom of the stairs pre any work being done. Also where we found bags of weed and cocaine

behind where the washer and dryer sat, before any work was done

front corner of the house the construction workers had all ready started bringing stuff in when this pic was taken

one of the two windows on the South side of our house

Our old stairs

From the top looking down

beams and rebar going up

they had to cut some of the cinderblocks because they stuck out too far

south wall

North corner, front of the house

Our stairs now! They're sideways and you need to climb it like a ladder, And see that chair post going through the centre of the stair well? Yeah, we have to build the new stairs around that. Not so much fun!

View from the other side. If we put the old stairs back how they were you'd smack your shin on that bar when you hit the 4th or 5th step :'-(

North wall front of the house, they have the beams up outside the form to hold the weight of concrete

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They Poured the cement today!!! Now all we need to do is wait for the cement to set, then the crew will come back and take the forms away! Voila, no more crumbling walls :-D