OK, so I gotta gush...

Gabe fell asleep on Mommy after his before-bed bottle on Christmas Day. Definitely my most cherished Christmas moment!

OK, I'm going to take a moment, because well, heck, most Mommy's blogs are all about how darling their children are. And mine are obviously darling...but did I mention brilliant? Because I'm not even sure brilliant describes it. Seriously, my heart swelled this morning!

This morning Abbi and I started singing the song, "Slippery Fish" from her music class. It includes a number of actions throughout the song. Well, lo and behold, I look over and our little Gabey is doing the actions along with us! Now I have never made a point to teach him that song, and he would have only seen it being acted out in her music class over the past couple months (we maybe went 9 times out of the 12 weeks. It ended at the beginning of December). So even though the music class was for Abbi (or at least I thought it was), Gabe apparently also picked up quite a bit from it.

Like seriously, it was one of the most adorable things I've seen in a long time. He puts his hands out beside him and moves them from side to side (like swimming). Then you say "gulp, gulp, gulp...oh my!" at which point you put your hands on your cheeks (like a shocked face), and he is right into it, putting his hands over his mouth. Then when it gets to the barracuda verse, he's in there like a dirty shirt, clapping his hands together (like little jaws). Oh my word, that's one way to just melt your Mama's heart!

This little boy has just been on a roll lately. Said his first word "dog" a few days before Christmas. Then on Christmas day he took his first steps (with all of us in the room watching, while we were opening our gifts. Talk about timing!). In the last month he has also picked up quite a few signs, which has helped us immensely in communicating with him. It really is incredible how much their little minds can process. Its just that their vocabulary isn't there yet, so sign language is a great way to break that communication barrier. He can sign "milk" (clenching your fist, almost like milking a cow), "please" (patting your chest/belly), and "more" (he pokes one finger into the palm of his other hand). He also understands "eat" (putting your hand to your mouth) and "all done" (clapping your hands together them dropping them to your side). Geesh, and we thought Abbi was smart!

So there you have it folks. Some good old fashioned Mommy gushing. And I figured just for a added touch, I would include the lyrics to Slippery Fish. You never know when the urge might hit you...

Slippery Fish Lyrics

"Slippery fish,
slippery fish,
swimming through the waaaa-ter.
Slippery fish,
slippery fish,

Gulp, gulp, gulp!

OH MY, I've been eaten by a...

Octopus...
Barracuda...
Great White Shark...
Humongous Whale...

Gulp, gulp, gulp...
BUUURRRP, Excuse me!

The squeaky wheel gets the...

...COFFEE!!!

Say what? What are you talking about woman? Well, this afternoon a lovely little knock came upon my door, and behold, it was a teeny little mail lady bearing gifts. Not from her of course, but she was the messenger.

This is already looking good...

Then to what to my wondering eyes should appear, but two pounds of Hoodoo Jo made by Kicking Horse Coffee, should appear (OK, so that last bit is a bit wordy!).

And why did two pound of Hoodoo Jo coffee come to my door? Well, because a few weeks ago we bought a bag at Safeway, and when the got to the bottom 1/4 of the bag it seemed like the beans had gone rancid. Now, I promise this all took place within two weeks of buying the bag, which is definitely not long enough for beans to be getting that funky.

So I e-mailed Kicking Horse and told them about this. Thinking it might have been a funky batch. They responded promptly, and initially asked about how I store my beans. Nothing different (sealed glass jar in a dark cupboard). So they suggested there may have been a faulty seal on the bag. They asked me to send in what was left of my beans so they could do a quality test, and they would send me one bag for my troubles, and another one to cover the cost of me having to ship the beans back to them (I really wonder if they realized it would cost me only $1.15). So with no guarantee that my beans had even gone rancid, or that I would even send back my junk beans, they shipped me these two little darlings. Golly gee. Now if that isn't customer service, I don't know what is!

And its all because I took a few moments out of my day to let a company know how I felt about their product. Now don't get me wrong, I don't complain to every John, Dick, and Harry, but when somethings not right, I definitely make it a priority to let the company know how I feel about it.

Behold, free Lagostina frying pan. All because the one Rob originally had formed a funky bubble on the bottom, which made it not sit properly on the burner. No receipt, no nothing, but they still sent me a fab frying pan!

Yup, you read that right.

Some other instances where I've let a company know would be my Sears experience. Gabe had gotten a baby gift that was way out of season, and he was already way too big for it. So I took it back to Sears without my receipt. Their policy? Well, you can only return something without a receipt within 10 days of buying it. Excuse me? The first thing she asked me was when I got it. I said a few months ago. Bingo! I screwed myself with that little answer. So I said, I could come back in here tomorrow, with the same item , different cashier, still no receipt, but say I bought it 2 days ago and you would let me return it? That quite baffled her (as it did me), and she somehow mumbled out a yes. The worst part? They still had them on the racks.

So...I sent Mr. Sears a lovely little e-mail and I said with customer service and a return policy like that, your company doesn't deserve my business, and I will make a point to no longer support your company. And guess what? Over 6 months later, and here I am, still Sears free!

Take the night of Rob's staff party as an example. We had to pick up our car from Canadian Tire. After $750 worth of work, it definitely had to go on the credit card as we didn't have the cash. So when I went to pay, it was one of those damn chip machines (pardon my French). Well, I was fairly convinced I knew what my pin was, but apparently I didn't. So I screwed it up and it said to call customer service. Well, with my hair done up, my stockings on, my dress on, ready to go to a party, I sat in their waiting room on hold with Mastercard. When I finally got a hold of the girl she literally told me there was nothing she could do.

Essentially I had locked myself out of my account by screwing up my pin. I said then reset it. She said she couldn't. I said why. She said because they will be reissuing me a new card in January, no adjustments can be made to my old card. Excuse me? She said well a card is coming in the mail to you, and its a security risk to allow changes on your old card. I said, well the card that's coming in the mail is not relevant to me, because I have the old card here, I have a car that I need to get out of the shop NOW, and I've got somewhere to be. Long, long, long story short, they did nothing for me. I can't use my card on any machine that has the chip thing, and I'm still waiting on the so-called "new card." So guess what? Mastercard will be getting a lovely little e-mail from me, and I will be finding myself a new card provider promptly.

As you can see, I'm definitely not the customer you want on your bad side. I'm generally quite loyal to companies that I see a point in putting my money into. So I also feel the need to point out that I also do take the time to acknowledge customer service that has blown me away. Whether it be my Safeway cashier, the girl at the pizza place, or customer service going over and above.

But yeah, next time you feel the need to make your point known to a company, you might just have something as fabulous as 2 pounds of coffee arriving at your door!

Merry Christmas

I wanted to take a quick moment and wish all of you faithful readers a very
Merry Christmas!!!

We had a great day celebrating with Rob's family, and a very relaxed night just as a family. Of course we were all spoiled (pictures to come), and have stuffed ourselves silly with all this delicious food! Sigh...I'm barely squeezing into my pants and the Christmas season is barely done! Phew, thank goodness for New Year's Resolutions!

I just finished watching Julie & Julia. Honestly, if your cooking is in a slump like mine is, this movie might just be the thing to get you inspired again. Now I don't see myself cooking lobster or duck anytime soon, but really I've just had no interest in cooking or trying out new recipes lately (which I normally love). So yes, its good food rehab. Definitely recommend!

Tomorrow morning I will be out and about early checking out Boxing Day sales. I've already scoured the flyers and been doing online eraserch (yes, yes, an "operation" such as this takes much planning and organization). I'll mainly be doing Zellers and Starbucks. Well, no, Starbucks then Zellers. Because if I ever needed a Grande Reduced-Fat Eggnog Latte, I definitely need it tomorrow morning it to get through the mad, early morning Boxing Day crowds. I should probably add a few drops of whiskey while I'm at it!

I hope you are enjoying this Merry season with loved ones. May you be blessed as you celebrate!

Modge Podge Photo Frame Fridge Magnets

Dang, that's way too long of a title, and one that I could never market. Like talk about a tongue twister extraordinaire! Although at the same time, it is very, very, very self-explanatory! So I guess there is no need for me to reintroduce what I'm sharing on DIY Day. You get the picture ;)

Yes, today I'm joining in with Kimba at A Soft Place to Land for her ever-fabulous DIY Day.

I had to wait until my Grandma was over at my parent's house for Christmas to post this, so she wouldn't happen upon my blog and have her Christmas gift surprise ruined. This was a super affordable, and a quick gift that I figure any Great-Grandma would love. Some lovely fridge magnets of each of the wee ones. In our family, that means 7 great-grandkids.

I had originally planned to buy little mini frames, but I couldn't find anything like what I wanted at Dollarama, so I picked up the following items:

Three wooden plaques ($3)

Three packages of magnets ($3)
Three packages of letters/stickers ($3)

I had the rest of the items on hand. So essentially it worked out to $9 for 7 little photo magnets...a pretty fab price if you ask me!

I got my journeyman carpenter husband (yes, I do have to add that now, it just sounds so impressive!) to cut the three plaques, into nine equal pieces. He also sanded them down to make sure there were no sliver-ous edges.

Then I painted them with white craft paint (that I already had). After two coats, I applied the Modge Podge, then put on the already trimmed scrapbook paper, the pictures (which I printed with my home printer), and any other embellishments I thought looked good. Then slapped 'er with another coat of Modge Podge, and voila, this is what I came up with...

Miss Abbi
Mister Gabe
Miss Jasmine
Mister Max (what a handsome little chap!)
Miss Lola
Miss Suzanna
Miss Tatum
I wanted them to all be different, because really, we are all different, especially all 7 of the great-grandchildren.
A shot of the back. I wish I would have bought the bigger magnets intially, and did one on the top and one on the bottom. We intially did the 4 little ones and they didn't have enough oomph. So we added the big one in the middle and that seemed to do the trick. A little hot glue gun magic, and voila!
So there you have it, a cheap gift, great for Grandparent's, Parent's, well, heck, you name it, I'm sure anyone would like something like this. I know my fridge can always use a little prettying up!

Head on over to Kimba's to see some more DIY fabulousness, and considering the week it is, likely a lot of Christmas inspiration!

A Shopping Spree - Nepper Style

If you'll remember I was "gifted" a Value Village shopping spree for my birthday, and I finally got the chance to go a few nights ago. Now I know, most people don't equate a shopping spree with Value Village, but when you get to spend $100, it goes a long way! (and then once I spent $100, I got $50 off of that with my coupon). I'm now fairly outfitted for winter, for a grand total of $70 (I went a little over my $50 limit!).

I went on a Tuesday night, which I've read is the best time to visit thrift shops. Mainly because people generally have the most time to donate items on the weekends, so then you need to give them a few days to sort it and price it and get it out on the racks. I definitely saw the benefit of going on a Tuesday. So many great deals to be had!

Here are some of the items I was able to scoop up...for cheap!

This dress from Reitman's just screams "me" to me, and I love it. Not to mention its super flattering. So I had to buy it, even though in our current temps I likely won't be wearing it for months!
Even better...tags still on. Regular $40 at Reitmans, got it for $15.99 at VV.
Another fab dress. This one also from Reitmans. A lovely black linen dress. Its quite tailored, so I also found this one to be quite flattering. The plan is to wear it to the Hubby's staff party tonight, with my fab green cardi from Reitmans as well (scooped that one up off the 70% off clearance rack for $4!).
Doesn't show the regular price, but I paid $18.99. A little pricey for VV, but I adore the dress!
A cute white sweatery/jackety thing. I love these things. $8.99.
Oh my word, I love this sweater. Seriously, I'm living in it. So soft, so cozy. Another $8.99 steal!
A cute purple wrap-around sweater from Suzy Shier. Not as flattering as I had hoped, but super cozy nonetheless. Might end up being an around the house type sweater. $8.99 ish.
Now this sweater I just had to buy. Never really seen anything like it. I love the giant wooden buttons! It has a fitted waist, which makes it so flattering. From Urban Outfitters, with tags still on! I paid $12.99. I reminds me of my dear friend Sarah, what do you think girl?
I love the detail on the back...
I picked up two pairs of pants. These grey ones are still a touch snug, but for $2.99 I had to buy them. I'll add them to the "post-Christmas" pile!
Finally, I wanted to show this great Bluenotes hoodie. I adore it. The pattern. The colors. Mmm, delish. I think it was $9.99, which is a bit much, but again, couldn't pass it up!
I love the ruched pockets!
So there you have it folks. $120 goes a long way at thirft stores (there's probably another 5-6 items I didn't put pictures of). I'm hoping to get a nice picture of the Hubster and I tonight pre-staff party. If the dress and cardi don't work together, I also picked up a pair of the most comfortable dress pants I've ever owned, so they are on back up.

Rob is finishing up his last week of trade school (like last week, EVER!). Its been a week of tests, tests, and more tests. He wrote his NAIT final last Friday (got 84%), handed in his practical project on Wednesday (a desk), wrote his Provincial final on Thursday, and today he writes his Red Seal. Red Seal meaning that he would be recognized as a journeyman carpenter in any Province in Canada. AKA, a very big deal! So its been a bit of a crazy, stressful week around these parts!

Its hard to believe that its been 4 long years since Rob started his apprenticeship. Every time he is in school that means 8 weeks of EI (Employment Insurance), so tight times. You do come out of school with a raise, but during those 8 long weeks, you really wonder if its all worth it (the ticket). So here we are, at the end of the road. So happy to be done! I'm so proud of Rob for sticking it out, and doing his best! Congratulations, you deserve this Babe!

So tonight his company is having their annual Christmas party at Northlands Agricom. They essentially built the thing, so we have a bit of a "in" around those parts, so every year we return. With a staff base of 300-500 people in the Edmonton area, its no small affair. They have to rent an entire hall at Northlands! The evening is generally the same, cocktails, then a buffet-style dinner, long speeches, and then a DJ for some dancing. We are thinking we will skip out before the dancing starts and get out to a movie. Its been ages since we've been to one, and it seems much more enjoyable rather than watching the higher-ups make fools of themselves as the evening progresses. Sigh, a given at any company Christmas party...

Is anyone else in shock that its Christmas in exactly one week? Wow!

Nuts 'n' Bolts and other drama...

I can hear all you Brenton's and Derksen's gasping...
"No, she wouldn't, she couldn't, she shan't, give away the totally top secret family recipe."

I've probably been disowned by now, but alas, but I figure its a dang good recipe, and heck, if you haven't done any Christmas baking, this is a simple little recipe that could get you lots of results, in not a lot of time! So there you have it family, I'm giving away all our secrets now.

Well, I won't tell how we all stay so stunningly beautiful and brilliant, even into our older years...that one is staying under wraps.

First of all, a most adorable little helper is essential. If you are lacking in the adorable little helper department, I have two to offer. I accept cash, cheque, and chocolate as payment.

*Disclaimer on the most adorable helper bit, they generally just end up eating pretzels, while you do all the work, but they do intially seem to enjoy dumping all the cereals into to the bowls.

The recipe. Hope you can read this...
I printed it up all purdy, then attached it to some scrapbooking paper with some brads. Then got some ribbon, attached it to purdy bag. And voila, a purdy, yet afforable little gift for some church folk.
So I use a large roasting pan to do mine up in. It usually works out that you have to split it up into two batches fit it all. So I poured half into this large bowl, and half into the large roasting pan. Once they were poured in, I divided up my liquid and drizzled each batch (but only drizzle the batch once its ready to go into the oven. Otherwise it will get soggy). Am I making any sense?
So after 1 hour in a 250° oven, stirring every 15 minutes, this is what you get...
Mmm, mm good. And from this "little batch" I was able to make up 5 family-sized baggies, and 4 small baggies, not to mention all the munching that our family did. I'm thinking I should still do one more batch before Christmas (that would be my third), but we'll see. Hopefully I can I get these baggies out the door before one of us breaks down and opens one up! And I do say that you need Bugles for the recipe, but I had a heck of a time finding them this year. I'm getting the feeling that they may very well be discontinued. Bugle makers everywhere should be ashamed!

In other news, I thought I'd report on a most troubling occurance taking place at the Nepper household over this past week. The Cord Swiper. Grr. Yes, you know the one. 4 times over the past week, our plug-in cord has been unplugged. I mean seriously? What is wrong with people? Its been like -30° around these parts, and believe me, I am none too impressed when I am rushing out to the car only to discovered its been unplugged for who knows how long.

Evidence. Slide A.
So we started theorizing. Well, it has to be the mailman, right? Our mailman had a bit of drama about our hedges this past summer. He said it was "too dangerous" to approach our houses (us and our neighbors) because our hedges weren't trimmed to the right length. So we received a notice that he wouldn't deliver our mail until we trimmed them up. Yup, mailman drama. So the mailman was definitely a suspect.

My theory was that it was some Greenpeace loving, tree hugging, throwback Hippie from BC. They figured we were wasting too much energy plugging in our cars, and we should have them on timers (and yes, we should, but do you have time to run over to Canadian Tire?). So I figured they were taking out their ecological aggression on our poor cars. "Don't you know that people in Africa can't even plug in their cars?" they would say.

Rob's theory. Some punk kid, thinking he was fairly hilarious with his little prank (Of course its a boy. Darling little girls would never get up to trouble, now would they? My Mother would beg to differ!). I said, no way would any kid do that, and Rob said, "I totally would have done that!" Oh my...

So Rob's solution. Well, his intial thought was to fray the wire a bit and let them have it (I know, I know, I did talk him out of that and explain why killing the person unplugging our cars was not socially acceptable). So instead he got some rebar wire and basically made it impossible to remove our plugs without a wire cutter. "Take that Cord Swiper," he said, with a little glint in his eye, might I add! The next day, our plugs did not move, although our neighbors got unplugged, so we knew they were still at large.

So yesterday morning, it was a very laid back morning about the Nepper house, as the past week has been. Seriously, do you have anywhere to go when there is like a -48° windchill outside? I sure don't! So I was rocking my sexy morning hair (READ: So crazy that it would give small children nightmares, type of hair), and the Hubster's most fabulous black housecoat. Abbi and I were in the kitchen. Out of the corner of my eye... I spotted them...THE CORD SWIPER!!!

Who was it? I know you are on the edge of your computer chairs...

ROB WAS RIGHT! A punk kid!

I could see his Mom walking along the road with some other children in a stroller and he came running down the path in front of our cars. He stopped at the plug in, and started messing with it. Of course, Rob had foiled him with his rebar set up. So in the meantime, I nearly bowled Abbi over trying to get to the front door. I flung the door open just as he was starting to continue running down the path (probably realizing he had been foiled).

I said, "Hey!" Nothing. He kept on running. So I found my deepest, angriest, loudest man voice I could muster and bellowed (I'm serious, it was a bellow. It was shockingly loud. I'm sure everyone in the complex turned around!), HEY!!! The kid stopped dead in his tracks and looked back at me, and in keeping with my man voice I yelled at him, "DO NOT UNPLUG THE CARS!!!" I'm sure he peed his pants at that very moment, he looked so frightened.

Ha, ha, ha, ha...oh, too funny. What a rush I got from yelling at what appeared to be a 7 year old boy. The mystery was finally solved (I cracked the case, thank you very much), and heck, I got to let out all of my cord aggresion. Bwa ha ha ha...

So now our orange car can rest in peace again. Mind you it looks like one of the brake lines cracked with our recent cold snap and its at the shop right now. Poor thing. Probably couldn't take all the cord drama...

So there you have it folks. The mystery has been solved. The Cord Swiper was caught. Or at least I hope so. After all my yelling I can't imagine he would try it again, but we'll see just how stubborn the little guy is. I figure Rob could figure out some priceless ways to teach the kid a lesson, but hopefully it doesn't have to go there.

A Nepper Kind of Christmas...

I'm barely making the cut, and I think if we get technical with time zones, I've probably missed the Nester's Home for The Holiday's Tour deadline (I believe she is on the East Coast). But alas, here I am on the Western side of things, trying to get into the club. So I'm out of breath from running around from my crazy day and trying to take pictures...but, huff, huff, here I am. Ready to go on tour...Nepper style!

PS. Did I mention that by 9:00am this morning 685 people had already joined this most fab party? And here I am 12 hours later and there are over 900 people. Seriously, all us bloggers must be plain 'ol CRAZY!

And I do just want to add, that please, please, please, take the time to go to the post and at least watch the Nester's home tour. Honestly, its stunning. Her decorating is out of this world. Her style is fabulous, and well, I really don't need to look any further (although I will, just maybe not at over 900 blogs, gulp!).

My disclaimer? First of all, I was legally allowed to take these pictures, and well, my day has just been so darn crazy with unannounced trips to the doctors (Boy + snot + clingy, irritable, grumpiness = trip to the doctor. Result? Thankfully, nothing other than a cold and some fluid in the ears. Phew!). So my house technically is a disaster, but with some fancy camera handling, and a little "rearranging" I've been able to make my house look like the spotless palace it is, oops, I mean, it should be!

First things first. The front door wreath. I'm loving these red berries, courtesy of Dollarama. Not like they gave them to me or I stole them, but for $1 per strand I might as well have. A twig wreath I've had for years. Friendly snowman ornament, and voila, adorable wreath!

Ain't he sweet? $2 at the consignment store.
The ledge between the entrance and the kitchen.
My three trusty reindeer that I picked up at Fabricland for 90% off last Spring. Um, yeah they were like $1 each. So cute!
I strung up this jute rope, whipped out some of my fab hammering skills (it really is a good thing the husband doesn't witness these shocking handywoman displays!) and had all my Starbucks mittens hanging with little clothes pegs, and as the Christmas cards come, I pin them up too!
My festive serving tray atop the dishwasher. I got the snowman napkins not only because they were cute, but because Abbi has really been working on learning "Frosty the Snowman" this year. So cute!
I adore this door hanger. I picked it up at a craft sale last year. If I could have bought all of the woman's wares I would have. I love her rustic country Christmas style!
Another fun door hanger. This one from Bargain Shop for $1.99
A cute little Santa spoon holder and a candle on my stove. And yes, 9:41pm is late in my world!
A funky Spode platter that Rob's Mom gave me sits in the corner of our countertop.
In the small, half-bath, off of our kitchen and entry way I've dolled it up a bit.
A few red candles on top of the toilet add a touch of festive.
Some festive hand towels I received as a gift last year. I love these!
The mirror. Some red baubles. Some Santa figurines. Santa tissue. Yup, its Santa land in here. And every time Abbi is washing her hands, she has to say, "Mommy, I like your Santas."
"Yes, dear, I know, you only say that about 10 times a day!"
My wreath Starbucks "gave"to me two years ago (the glorious year where I scammed my entire store's Christmas decorations). Love the red bow & ribbon I added. Thank you Starbucks!
The display atop our hutch (although I definintely need different paper inside the frames. They say each of our names). My $2.25 stocking holders that I got for 75% off at the Bay last year. Yup, I had my eye on them for awhile!
These adorable little sweater's I got from my cousin, Ruth. Are they not so completely, totally, utterly sweet?
I got this platter/serving bowl from my Mom for my birthday this year, and I love it! The red goes perfectly with our house, and seriously, hand-painted, country style snowman. Yup, I'm gonna love it for sure!
Another mitten/card hanging area. We seem to be fairly popular this year!
Now atop my TV hutch. Not exactly what I had envisioned when I started out, but I'm still pleased with it. I think it needs more height, some greenery, maybe a strand of lights in the background. But alas, not a lot of time to spare...
I absolutely love and treasure this nativity my cousin Ruth got for me a the second year we lived in Edmonton. It is beautifully made, and wonderful reminder of why we celebrate any of this.
I have these four trees, also courtesy of Starbucks. Again, I saved these poor fellows from the dumpster. So I figure, we all won in the end!
Remember my mini pumpkins from the fall? Well, they've been Winter Wonderland-ized. A little white craft paint, some glitter, and some silver paint pen, and voila!
A shot of our tree. Also not up to par (or at least my par). We set it up and it all of sudden was so reminiscent of a Charlie Brown tree. I think the solution is to take some garlands and kind of fill in the blanks, but that is something that needs to take place before the tree is set up and decorated. Oh well, still very pretty!
A star that I picked up at Zellers for like $1 or something. Love it.
The crazy amount of gifts already under the tree. Mainly thanks to my Mother. You know the one. Christmas lover extrodinaire? Well, yup, that's after one SUITCASE full of gifts from her and my sister! Also, the tree skirt that Rob's Mom made for me this year. I got it as an early Christmas present, because, as you can see, I couldn't exactly put it on top of the gifts, now could I?
My fan-tab Eddie Ross wreath. Because, seriously, who doesn't have an Eddie Ross wreath this year? And if you did actually raise your hand to that question, and like it, and are willing to spend less than $10 to make it, let me know, and I will post a tutorial on how to make it, because it is shockingly simple, and super fabulous, all at the same time!
The top of our computer desk. Also schmeh. I was having a hard time pulling it all together this year. Or perhaps I just have two small children?
I did want to share this cute tile I got from a company called Word Play Designs. It was really cheap for the actual tile (like $11), but I also paid for the plate holder, which took it up to about $15. You can also pay less if you are willing to apply the decal yourself. The only thing I did was scratch off a bit of Joseph's facial hair. He was looking a little too scruffy. Like what do they think he's Ryan Seacrest or something?
A little Christmas lovin' at the top of the stairwell on my bookcase. A sleigh I won at a Ladies Chinese Gift Exchange quite a few years ago now. If you want to have a hoot with some fab ladies, set one of these up. Now I can't guarantee that there won't be any cat-fighting or hair pulling, because this one got pretty ugly. But I think we all managed to stay friends after, and we can now laugh about it. This sleigh was a hot item!
Rob's Mom made these door hangers for each of the kid's doors.
And in Abbi's room, she has her own pretty pink tree (the same one I had growing up in my bedroom). We made the paper chain together with some bits and pieces of scrapbooking paper. I picked up these uber adorable light bulb ornaments at WalMart for $2.97 (Seriously, for 30 of them!).
My sweet girl. She's two years old in this picture.
So that's the end of my excessive amounts of pictures (some of you are sighing a big sigh of relief right now), and the end of our house tour. I hope you enjoyed yourselves. And I hope to have some more Christmas-esque posts coming up over the next couple weeks.

And if you get some time, head on over to The Nester's to check out some other Christmas fun!