New House, New Job(s), New Baby (on the way!), New Year!!

We're just exhausted from all the newness around here.  As in literally, falling down, exhausted.  As in, during just the last 10 days, we've had 1 sinus infection (poor G-man), 1 case of strep throat (a sick pregnant woman is NOT someone you want to have to deal with!), and 4 pink eyes (yes, we've ALL now had it!)

But we've also been so blessed... to have my sweet mom.in.law here to help all weekend.... to have my sweetest bestie Mrs. Everything swoop me off to a Monday afternoon pedi - her treat!... to live in the most beautiful house that really, really feels like home - even amidst the boxes and chaos!.... to be traveling tomorrow to be surrounded by family.

And I feel blessed that so many of you have followed me all year... despite my SLOWEST, least creative bit of blogging in my (somewhat short!) history.  But I was just telling mr. fix-it last night... that I can't wait for the new year and lots of creativity, semi-homemade-ness, and blogging.  Can't wait to show y'all the progress on the house and what I have in store for 2 big kid bedrooms and a nursery!  (Just as soon as AT&T stops pissing me off and moving back our internet service.. which is now set for next Tues, fingers crossed!  I'll be MIA until then, just stealing a quick minute on the web at work today!)  :)

Have a blessed Christmas!  I was planning to share a pic of our tiny 4-foot tree, that's been totally engulfed with all the wrapping (complete with tulle!) that I've been working on the last few nights..... And also send y'all the special Christmas card I made just for you.  But since all that is at home, where we are internet-less... I'm just sending a pic from last year's tree (which sadly went from storage to attic) and well wishes for all of you!

xoxo,

Semi-Homemade Teacher Gifts - Snowman Snacks & Suds

Okay, so this year was way more SEMI than HOMEMADE.  But....get ready for this, don't fall outta your chair.... I got them delivered to teachers last week!  Yep, ME!  Mainly because I knew if I didn't get them out, they would get lost in the shuffle of the move, and y'all know how much we love our teachers!

Both kiddos have new teachers that I haven't yet appreciated (Gman moved up after school started... and Sissy recently moved into a new class, which is a story all it's own - more on that later!)  In other words, I could resort to a tried and true idea and not worry about it!

So.... fancy gourmet popcorn from our favorite nostalgic shop downtown (total plus that I had purchased a Groupon from them!) and some foaming holiday soap from Bath & Body Works (had a fab coupon for that AND a giftcard, so these gifts were super cheap!)

Threw them all in bags... added some tulle and this tag:

This week is THE MOVE!  I'm so excited I can barely stand it.  And so overwhelmed that at any moment I think I could puke (nice, right?)  Mainly, I've got to figure out how, in the next 6 days, I can:

*  work about 50 hrs, possibly more
*  attend an ornament exchange party at Mrs. Everything's house
*  finish Christmas cards and mail them before they get lost
*  get my hair did (just covering the greys might ease some of this anxiety!) ;)
*  finish packing this entire apartment
*  try to get the major move check list started - mainly getting tv/internet and our mail!
 *  squeeze in 2 more runs for c25k wk 7 (got the first one in today - woo hoo!)
*  MOVE into our new dream house!

But Sissy's 5th birthday party went off without a hitch and was THE easiest birthday party I've ever even thought about throwing.  I'd recommend this semi-homemade party to anyone and will fill y'all in soon!  New house pics soon, too!

xoxo,

Ahh, the happier times...

Since January has sucked (the life right out of me, almost literally!), I've been thinking back to December. I'm not sure how we loaded all this in.... but hang on for a quick (or quick as I can!) pictorial recap! (This should more than make up for the LACK of pics in the last couple rants!)
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1. Mom's Weekend - the kick off to December! This was our 8th annual mom's weekend of shopping, eating and fun! This year we added something new: Pei Wei and Polar Express! We ordered some takeout one night... headed up to the movie room... and watched The Polar Express! (Most of mom's weekend is centered just around the moms and Mr. Fix-It and I... since there weren't any kids in the picture 8 yrs ago! So this part... was for them!)

2. Dec' the halls! I never got around to one of my big, semi-homemade recaps of all my fun decorating ideas... Big Sis's party took all my creative time and energy this year, so I'm saving a semi-homemade Christmas recap for next year, in the new house! ;)

Big Sis, decorating the Kids' Tree upstairs....

And our family tree... (shut up... yes, this picture is POST-Christmas... when I realize I never took a pic during the season!) And wander over here, if you want to weigh in on next year's decs...

3. Big Sister's Ballet Recital - you already know the details! (Or you can read them here.)

4. Big Sister's Nutcracker 'Sweet' Birthday Party - seriously, the upside to a December birthday? That you celebrate it 100 times. (I still wouldn't recommend it. Would highly discourage it. Have I shared my views on Dec children enough?) ;)

If you haven't been bored to death of the details yet, you're invited to check out her party!

5. Christmas Lights & Hot Chocolate - Mr. Fix-It and I have had this tradition since before we had kids... We make hot choc and load into the car to listen to Christmas music and enjoy everyone's Christmas decroations. We have a nearby neighborhood where every house has different wooden Disney cutouts in the yards... EVERY movie ever made, it's so cool!

We modified the tradition when Big Sis could participate and added Hot Choc in Sippys.... (yes, I still insist on sippys for 4yos... in my beautiful car....)

Last year, I modified my hot choc because I was nursing G-man (remember all that dairy-free ranting I did when I first started blogging?) I had soy hot choc that year... This year....

..... I had coconut rum hot chocolate.... yummmm.... ;)

6. Elfing! Our Elf first made his appearance in 2008 and he was quite busy this year... here, he's having tea with Frosty and Rudolph...

... and here, he's gone to the bathroom.... at least that's what Big Sis explained to us... it's 'green elf pee'...... hmmm....

7. All Aboard the Polar Express! This one is a new tradition... that instead of buying gifts for the Everything children... and them for us.... we'd just DO something instead! (This is probably the 17th Semi-Homemade/Everything family tradition, they just keep coming!)

We headed to a nearby suburb and boarded the Polar Express!

This way to the North Pole! It was even snowing!

Mrs. Everything, Baby Priss and G-man (looking like such a big boy!) are on the train!

Mr. Fix-It and Big Sis (and Mr. Everything and Miss Priss) sat in front of us, keeping their eye out....

.... for the big man in red!! I love it, so magical!

8. CHRISTMAS! We were snowed in for days in a teeny, tiny town in OK (where Mr. Fix-It happens to be from!)

"Twas the Night before Christmas...."

Have y'all seen these books from Hallmark? A grandparent/aunt/whoever records the story and each page reads back to your kiddos. AMAZING! I hadn't heard of it, but both our moms bought them for our kids (which is totally lucky because they sold out across the country!) I think it's special they'll have the story from both sides of the family!

Big Sis and Mr. Fix-It's mom always, always decorate sugar cookies together (for pretty much any holiday or any regular ol' weekend!) They were perfect to leave for Santa..

G-man's favorite gift? a box. That wasn't even from one of his gifts. (Haven't all of us parents been there?!)

Big Sis's fav gift.... a bike from Santa!

Then another bday celebration for Big Sis... complete with her wearing a big sombrero and being sereneded to at the local Mexican restaurant!

9. Christmas, part 2. We don't typically do Christmas twice, with both families (in fact, I don't think we ever have!) We trade off... But this year, I decided I just couldn't handle a house full of out-of-state guests and the 12+ 4yos for Big Sis's party, so... we planned to see everyone in OK so they could help us celebrate her big day. Thus... 2 Christmases, while we were at it.

G-man went nuts for his new 'man cave chair.' ;)

And now we can get rid of our tivo version Wizard of Oz... that's over a year old... By her choice of Halloween costumes and the look on her face in the pic to the left, I'm sure you can guess how important this movie is to Big Sis...

Then on to Big Sis's birthday, version 81. The theme this time? Hannah Montana... don't even know how she knows who she is, but that's what she wants to be when she grows up....

10. We Squeak-ueled! We took advantage of being back home... and free babysitting grandparents.... and left G-man with them while we took our soon-to-be-4-yr-old to see the new Chipmunk movie. So fun! Date night with the parents! ;)

11. Big Sister's ACTUAL birthday! By the time it actually came... we had celebrated 100 times and maybe even Big Sis was ready to move on. Okay, maybe not... but...only because that girl loves chocolate cake!

We told her we'd take her to dinner ANYWHERE, her choice....

..... so she picked the "Buffalo Princess Place"..... aka Buffalo Wild Wings!

12. Big Sister's first trip to the dentist (or reason 49 why I should be mom of the year)! Okay, in the picture above... or any of the other 80oo pics of her on this blog... have you ever noticed anything about her smile? Because I'm her own momma, see her every.single.day, and I didn't notice. Mrs. Everything is the daughter of a hygenist and a self-proclaimed 'teeth person,' and she didn't notice.... That Big Sis has an underbite that's unbelievable. She's going to have to visit an orthodontist in 6 months!! So that they can catch her next growth spurt and get her jaw to grow correctly..... WTH?! I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed... and I couldn't believe how sad that made me.

But on the bright side....no cavities and her actual TEETH are perfect.

13. NYE! We switched up the tradition and celebrated with "champagne in Joe's cups" in the Everythings' new house. It's one of those crazy stories... but at some point, years ago, we ended up drinking champagne on a random night... out of cups from 1 of Mr. Fix-It and I's fav college spots, Eskimo Joe's.

Uh, not sure where the Joe's cups were at this point..... ;)

14. New Year's Day Yumminess! We used to always, always make chili and queso on New Year's Day.... nurse our hangovers.... and watch football all day, without ever moving.

Those exact days are over, obviously (although I still nursed a surprising hangover this year, ouch!)..... we're grown up, so this year we decided on a more 'grown up' meal... Mr. Fix-It made THE perfect prime rib and I combined 3 recipes and made 'fancy steakhouse-style' mushrooms.... I'll share both recipes soon!

Hmmmm..... reading thru this, maybe I can see what led to all the illness we had this weekend! We were worn out!!! But.... I already can't wait for next year!

How do I.....

Switch out my Christmas decorations?

Okay, let me explain.... oh, probably 8-9 years ago, Mr. Fix-It and I (okay, probably just me, but I'm sure he nodded and said okay!) picked out a Christmas color scheme.... Blues with some white thrown in!

Navy blue stockings for us.... and now white stockings for the kids with their names in navy blue... very classic, in our opinion, but not quite traditional at the same time....

All sorts of shades of blue for our ornaments.... with special ornaments (plus the new ornaments we pick out each year, as a tradition!) sprinkled in between:

(fleur de lis and crosses.... additions within the last couple Christmases!)

...then blue in various other places - velvet table runners, tree skirt, decorations here and there.

Here's the thing... I've been saying for years that I'd like a new look for the tree. And today (while I was leisurely shopping during the day with my kids!) at Target, all their Christmas stuff was 75% off, making it super cheap and doable! So, here's where your advice comes in!
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What color scheme should I go with? I love the bronze/browns... but I think that would get outdated quickly. So... I've been thinking of a traditional red and green.... with some whimsical lime-ish green thrown in.... Share what colors you love!

Do I have to replace it all? Here's the thing.... we've gotten a new tree several years back, and we actually need a new tree skirt anyway (our current tree is pretty tall, so the tree skirt is too SMALL!) I guess my only hesitation is replacing the stockings, esp the kids with their names embroidered on them... I could just get new red/green stockings for me and Mr. Fix-It and just keep theirs.... or I guess I could wait til we're for sure done having kids and replace them all for baby #3's first Christmas.... ideas?

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Do I go whimsical? Like this?

Or like this? LOVE this Etsy shop! The next 3 pics are from Bim Kreations and they are oh, so cute! This is the color theme I had in my head:

More red & green whimsical fun! (And did you see in the pic above that she does tree skirts, too?)

Not into red? She does other stuff - so cute!

Or something more....traditional?

It's crazy to say.... but by next Christmas we'll be in a new house..... and after doing the blue Christmas in....5 houses and 2 states.... maybe it's time to switch it up!

Input, please!! Pretty, pretty please! :)

Semi-Homemade Holiday Teacher Gifts

Merry, merry Christmas to everyone from the Semi-Homemades! We hope you enjoyed the holidays as much as we did! We've done it all.... left TX in a rush to beat a blizzard, got snowed-in in Oklahoma, and even experienced life with no water and very little heat. But you know what? It was one of the best ever! Pics and stories later....

So, I realize I didn't get around to this til AFTER Christmas... but I know there are those of you (like me!) who start thinking of NEXT year/holiday/birthday/etc, the day after the other is over, so... this is for you. ;)

For the teachers, I wanted to put together some semi-homemade sweets with some custom touches, so our teachers would know how much they mean to us! I started with some Peppermint Bark (got the recipe from one of my faves - The Idea Room!)

I have the recipe at the bottom, but basically, you melt some choc.... then put it in the fridge to firm up!


And then melt some white choc (I kinda put together a semi-homemade double boiler... but next time, I'll just do it in the microwave, I think!)


It's a tricky recipe only in that you have cooled the chocolate bottom layer... so you've got to cool the white choc enough that it won't melt the bottom layer.... but not so much that you can't spread it. Well, I'm impatient. And I guess I didn't wait long enough for the white choc to cool.... and the milk choc started bleeding thru. So, my tip for all the impatient gals like me:

Drip a few drops of red food coloring onto the white choc as you're spreading it.... swirl it around. It hides the bleed thru and looks really pretty & festive!


You'll put crushed candy canes on top and throw it back in the fridge to harden.... then break it up into pieces (and honestly, you just don't want the pieces very big - it's rich!)



I used the leftover take-out boxes from Big Sis's Nutcracker Birthday party..... added the Peppermint Bark.....

and a gift card to Sonic (a little Sonic happy hour, anyone?)....

Then for the cusotmized part - I tied on a couple tags with some red & green tulle!

I loved this pic so much, I decided to use it for our teacher gifts! And I love this verse and thought it fit the picture and was a good thought, as we go into a new year. The front tag looked like this:

And on the back tag I listed the recipe, in case they wanted to make more! (And it was good, if I don't say so myself! A coworker who is addicted to the Williams Sonoma version said this semi-homemade recipe was just as good. Wow!)

Hope everyone is enjoying their holiday weekend! I'm on vacation all week (and home with the kids!) so I'm hoping to catch up on a few blog posts that are half written.... but for now, I've got to go! We're still in OK and about to take Big Sis to see the Chipmunk movie for her birthday!