Christmas Surprise for Me.....Valentine's Surprise for You!!!

Go Texans!!

I married into football. My hubby is a huge Texans football fan and the rest of his family is too. No...let me get that straight. They are not Texans fans but 'football fans'. My in laws bleed Kansas City Chiefs and every year during football season their is a rift in the family. Most Sundays while he watches football by himself or with his family you will find me either taking a nap or reading a book on the couch right along side them. I've learned to tune out the hoopin' and hollerin' that goes on around that time. After many years of trying to learn the game of football I think I am finally catching on a little. Basically, if the team can get their ball to their side of the field at the goal they get several points. Then if they manage to kick it into the same goal right after, they get some more points. But they have 4 tries also called Downs to continue from their same yard line. If they don't advance a certain number of yards by 4 downs (i think) the other team gets the ball. I may be all wrong but that's how I interpret it. I used to just think it was a violent game of chase to steal the ball from each other but there ended up being more to it than that. You'd think that being in high school band and attending every football game during my high school years I would have understood all of this but...I had no interest on what was going on on that field. Except the score on the board of course....and making sure I looked cute with a band uniform on. That's a tough job, I might add.

NEways, Johnny and I don't get to go the games much but over the years we've had the opportunity to go several times. The highlight of course was getting to go to this past weekend's Playoffs!! Johnny was so stoked he was going to be able to go. He was like a little kid waiting with anticipation the whole week prior. It was the first game that I was actually paying attention to and actually understood what was going on a little. I was proud of myself when I found myself standing up to cheer just when everyone else was too. I wasn't just trying to blend in! I did it on my own and it ended up being at the right times just when an interception had happened or a touchdown was about to be caught. I especially love the community there is with complete strangers. Everyone was high fiving each other and celebrating together....it was awesome! Here are some pictures of us over the years enjoying some games with friends and family. GO TEXANS!!!

Crafty!

I have recently been inspired to connect with my inner craftiness since being hooked on Pinterest. I've always enjoyed making things but never had the time to come up with my own ideas or peruse magazines or other sources for inspiration. Welcome Pinterest b/c it's all in one place! If I'am looking for something specific to make I can search for it! Here are some of the projects I've done thus far.

Since we hosted Thanksgiving at our house this year, I felt like I needed something 'fallish' to decorate the front door with. Enter our Fall Pumpkin Wreath...

Since I was on roll with decorating the front door I for sure needed something new and fresh for the Winter! My old Christmas wreath wasn't cutting it anymore. This is what I ended up making...

Aside from my front door makeovers I found myself getting pretty creative with the Secret Santa gift exchange at my school. We were only allowed to spend $2/day for the first 3 days before the big gift exchange. With just $2 to spend you gotta be creative! I was thankful that we had some info with our person's likes and favorite snacks. I ended up getting our school librarian so I thought it would be neat to incorporate some handmade bookmarks into each gift to commemorate her love of books. I also included a cute little message with each gift. Check it out!

Santa & The Tooth Fairy

What are the chances of both Santa and the Tooth Fairy coming on the same night?! Well this year we were lucky enough to have a visit from both on Christmas night! We had...ahemm...Santa and the Tooth Fairy had their work cut out for them in the middle of the night, let me tell you. Ati just couldn't believe her luck before going to bed that both characters were going to pay her a visit during the night. Here is a pic of our official big girl without her two front teeth. Isn't there a song that goes something like "All I want for Christmas are my two front teeth, my two front teeth, my two front teeth..." ? Well it applied very well for our dear girl. Here she is excited that she had two down and a whole mouth full to go.

After the tooth debacle we had to prepare for Mr. Santa himself. Ati put out the usual couple of cookies with a glass of milk and this year since she knows how to write a little she decided she wanted to write him a note. I didn't manage to take a picture before his visit but here is a picture of the left over cookie and milk he left behind. He even wrote her a sweet little note back! So sweet!
On Christmas morning Ati came running into our bedroom crying. Crying?! Confused we woke up and asked her what was wrong. She was holding the 5 dollar bill the tooth fairy left her behind in exchange for her tooth and said, "The tooth fairy came and she was so nice she left me 5 dollars! BUT Santa was not nice! He came and ate all the cookies, drank the milk but didn't leave us any presents! Buahhhh...ahhh! I must not have been good!" Tears pouring out of her sweet face.

Well, little did she know that Santa needed some help wrapping up presents and asked for our help. The presents he left blended in with the rest of them b/c they had the same wrapping paper as the ones previously under the tree. So to Ati the area under the tree looked untouched as the night before. No presents added. But once we got up and inspected closely we managed to find the ones Santa left behind. The day was saved....close call.Here are a few pics of the kids on Christmas morning.

This shirt describes me to a "T"!

Maciah: "I am more interested in these empty bags!"

Maciah: What time is it again? Sorry guys I need to wake up with my cup of milk first. First things first. I don't care how many goodies I have under that tree."