Nativity

There are lots of nativities out in the world and blog land these days. I love me a nativity set. I love that it is something tangible that represents the birth of a Savior. I know a lot of people that have multiple nativities. But I am the owner of only one. Not a fancy shmancy nativity, but one that is just precious to me and holds a special place in my heart. It was given to me by my dear friend, LaRue Skaggs, Christmas 2003, when we left the first church where Ryan was on staff in Texas.



It is a teeny, tiny little set with an angel, baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, four wisemen, and three animals. I just love it! It has been through several moves as well as a four year old boy, so it has seen better days. But look on the bright side for these particular stable animals, since they no longer have their ears, they don't have to hear baby Jesus crying...




Mary, specifically, was on my heart a lot through the Christmas holiday. I spent a lot of time thinking about the birth of Jesus from her point of view and where her heart must have been through all of the unknowns. I guess because it was on my mind a lot, it got transfered on to the kids. We talked as the days of Christmas got closer about Mary and what she would be doing right now. We had a lot of these conversations, "it's getting close", "they are traveling now to Bethlehem", "the baby Jesus is almost here".

I want my kids to know that these aren't just stories but real people that lived before us. A real Savior that was born in a stable to a virgin named Mary and an earthly father named Joseph... But you just never know if the things you're saying stick with them or go in one ear and out the other.

Well, I think my boy got it. The day before Christmas Eve, he was playing with the baby Jesus in the nativity set, and he looks up at me and says, "Mommy, the baby Jesus is almost to Bethland." That's right buddy! He is almost there. It won't be long now.

Etsy and some rules

I posted about a little family rules project that Ryan and I did a few months back. It was originally intended to be subway art, which I had been wanting, created by my 'oh so talented resident designer', while incorporating some family rules in a style and design that would fit our home. Well, since that post we have gotten emails, letters, phone calls, telegrams from hundreds of people willing to do whatever they had to do to get their hands on a copy of those family rules.

Or maybe just two people.

But that's neither here nor there.

So for those hundreds of two people, we introduce to you our Etsy store.

Alexander Creative on Etsy

Currently we have these two items for sale:



The kinks are still being worked out, but we are having fun learning the ins and outs of running an Etsy store and are excited about the potential. So, thanks for your interest, and stayed tuned for more items that will be posted soon!

And yet another craft...

Peyt and I made this for her teacher over the weekend. And by made I mean, we took the label off of a bottle of hand sanitizer and Valentined this little guy like no tomorrow. I think it turned out super cute! And best of all, it is a craft for even the craft-challenged like myself.

Words for your walls — part two

So, the next room on the wall words agenda was Maser's room. His room is still the same colors as we originally painted it before he was born, and he has a fantastic design around the top of the room that resident graphic designer hubz created and painted for him. So I was on the hunt to find something somewhat minimal that would not compete with what is already going on in there, as well as something that suits Mas and his little self. So I present to you the finished product …

And can I just say, there is currently not a more accurate statement on planet earth. Hubz put these on M's wall on Thursday night, and on Saturday afternoon when the little terror was supposed to be taking a nap, I go in to check on him, and instead of the cuteness that was on his wall it now says--M is for ief

Case and point on why these words are perfect for his room.

Words for your walls also know as wall words.

So, I have been aspiring to join the many who are currently decorating their homes in these super cute little sayings and captions with vinyl letters and characters that stick onto your walls. As we have established I am not artsy, (although, thanks for the vote Casey) but I thought if I can just tell someone, and by someone I mean ML, what I want, and then get that someone to print what I want for me, and then bribe hubz into placing them on the wall for me, it's virtually fool proof right? And boy was I right!

We will start with the master bedroom. This room has been the catch-all, eye sore, cave-like, close the door when you have people over room since we have lived here. I was so over it and hubz promised for my birthday and Christmas...and Valentines Day, President's Day, Groundhog Day, etc. that he would be a willing participant in a master bedroom makeover for me. So, over Christmas vacation we, scratch that, he painted the moldings, the walls, two walls in the bathroom, and, AND laid new flooring too! It is a gorgeous blue that hubz picked out and I just love it! It brings a smile to my face every day!
We have big plans for the walls in there, including but not limited to a monogram over our dresser and a big black and white pic of Whales Head Beach where we were engaged, but for now I was concentrating on the area above our closet doors. So after searching high and low I finally decided on what I wanted to put up there and then enlisted the help of ML and her cricut. And here is the finished project...


I am in love people! With hubz and my new words for my walls.

Stay tuned for the next installment of words for your walls--two more rooms to come.

Artsy....or not.

Okay, for those of you that know me, you know that arts and crafts projects are so not my thing. I aspire to be artsy or craftsy and we might as well thrown in picture takery, but who are we kidding, I am SO none of the above. I guess my adding y to the end of all of the aforementioned words is my attempt to somehow take the sting out of my nonartistic reality.

Well, today I am presenting you with my latest botched attempt at a craft project. Please, try and contain your excitement...


This is actually the second frame I made in my feeble attempt at creativity. The first one I do not have a picture of because my pal ML is putting it in a some dark, recessed corner of her house out of sheer pity on me, I'm sure.

I see these things on blogs and on websites that I think are so stinkin' cute and therein begins the cycle. I then think..."I need that for my house", and then that thought is followed with..."I can so do that"..."I'm going to make that." So ridiculous. Seriously, put down the brush and step away from the Mod Podge.

M

Our Christmas decorations and the new puppy, Sophie.

Last night I was getting the Christmas decorations down from the attic and Mason wanted so badly to be able to climb up and help. They were too cute.

**I did try to sneak one of my old Jordan posters down but Marty wasn't havin' it.