Sibling Time

One of the things I have enjoyed about the holiday was having both of my brothers home with their families.  Dad & Mom watched all of the kids one evening so we could go to dinner together...just us siblings and our spouses.  We sat there for hours and just talked and laughed!  We have the best time together!  

I am so thankful they put forth the effort to come home...
I need that time with my big brothers!!! :)

Our Family Christmas

 We ended up having our family Christmas a little early since we had family coming into town & staying at our house.  It was nice to do it when we could enjoy our time together.

In all reality, this was the first year in many that Nathan & I have exchanged gifts and the suspense/excitement of it was killing me!

 Chase was just hanging out with Dadda and enjoying our family time! 

 Hunter got a new toy and some new bones.  A week later and he is still loving his toy!

We got Chase some some jammies and some activity toys.  His walker was supposed to be his Christmas as well, but we caved and gave that to him early! :)

Annual Children's Museum Trip

My Mom has made an annual tradition of taking the grandchildren to the Children's Museum the day after Christmas.  We had fun taking Chase today!  Even though he's really too small to do anything there, he was still taking it all in and sure enjoyed watching all of the commotion. 

Lots of activity planned over the next week still...we have Christmas with the family tomorrow and then another on New Year's Day!

Crazy Lady

Wow...December is flying by!  I need time to stand still for just a bit.

I made out a spreadsheet of all of my Christmas shopping - color coded what I had purchased & wrapped vs what needs to be picked up yet.  I need to focus over the next few days to get everything done by Saturday - my deadline!

In the middle of all of the holiday craziness, this precious baby decided to get sick on us!  He's been sick for over a week now!  We've had him at the doctor because his cough sounds just pitiful :(

If I can just make it 'til Monday, I'll have 12/24-1/2 AT HOME!  It's a Christmas miracle :)  It will be so nice to focus on my family during the week of Christmas and not have to worry about my job.

So, I'll be the frazzled, crazy lady over the next few days.  Hopefully after my shopping gets done, I'll have some exciting updates for you!

Our Home for Christmas

 Decorating for Christmas was different for us this year.  As excited as I am to celebrate with our little guy, time and logic tell me being a minimalist is the best way for us to go with decorations!

Chase & Hunter got new stockings that adorn our mantle :)  I also purchased a smaller tree that was so much easier to assemble...win, win!  

I have a few other Christmas touches throughout the house, but just spending time with my little family during this season feels perfect.  No extra "fluff" for us :)

After saying all of that, I am wanting to start traditions...
whether it is a gift theme from year to year or something to do as a family each year as we celebrate Christmas.  Know of any ideas you want to share with me???

stockings > nattythreads

mantle decor > reindeer, walmart / snowman, gift

Buckeye Baby

We dressed up in our scarlet & gray to support the Ohio State Buckeyes on Saturday!  Isn't Chase the cutest little Buckeye baby you ever did see!

Hard at Work

(old picture) When we bought this house it had a wood burner in the corner of the living room.  It wasn't supported and took up so much space, it was one of the first things we wanted to tear out of there!

(old picture) We have always loved the idea of having a fireplace - especially living out in the country like we do.  Once we got through most of the projects with this house we took a significant time away from house projects and have just enjoyed living.

Well, Nathan recently got the desire to take on another project and began researching and drawing up what he wanted to build for our living room fireplace.  Each step of this project he has taken his time to research and make sure it was the best solution for us.  He wanted something that could potentially heat our whole house in case we lost electricity.  He took time to hang our TV, hide the wires, move electrical outlets and more.

 He contacted someone in our area to get virgin wood from an old barn being disassembled.  He was able to use that for the mantle. 

 I can't seem to get a picture that not only does it justice but also shows how big of a project this has been.  

This is quickly becoming the favorite room in our house.  I love a warm fire on a cold winter night!

Now it's time to decorate!  We finally have a mantle to hang Christmas stockings :)  I'm happy to have enough space on both sides of TV to add a little of "my touch" to the room.

Now he would want me to share his side to this story...he says I don't like it!  The truth is, I think the mantle is too big.  The whole piece is a little more rustic than the look I was going for, but you know what, it's all growing on me.  He did an amazing job on the project and even though he keeps teasing me about it, I AM VERY HAPPY with it.  I'm also very thankful to have something that will help us cut down on heating bills this winter :)  Thank you for your hard work, Nathan!