A little bit of Christmas!

Its crazy to me how fast Christmas day is approaching. When I was younger, the period from when I started school in the fall until we were out for Christmas break always seemed like lightyears- and now, I feel like I hardly have time to catch my breath in the same amount of time. I have always loved Christmas so much, and I'm getting a little giddy over a nice possibility that we will see some snow on Christmas!
Today I want to share with you a bit of our Christmas decor. I've always been pretty minimalist when it comes to decorating and its no different when I break out my holiday gear. This has become even more true in recent years, as I find the less I have out, the less I have to say "NO DON'T TOUCH THAT!"


The wall shelves I built when we moved in got holiday treatment with a few live pine sprigs and some ball ornaments. As a side note, I get so, so many compliments on these custom wall shelves- and people are always impressed that they were made for so little money and time. If you have an empty wall in your house I highly recommend taking a few hours and whipping a few out!

The little bird that we brought back from Hilton Head even got a santa hat!

Cameron and I have been busy little bees the past few weeks, baking and crafting our afternoons away.

The other day I cut some Christmas trees out of foam, glued them onto some wood blocks I had in the garage, and instantly we had ourselves a stamp. 

Originally I wanted them so we could stamp on brown craft paper to wrap gifts, but we've found many other ways to use these! I can definitely see us making stamps like this all year. Those foam stickers/letters they sell everywhere? Those would make perfect stamps.

Cameron stamped up his Christmas countdown! 

I have never in my life had a real Christmas tree, but this year I made a real wreath and got live garland for the mantle. While I LOVE the real pine on the mantle, I don't know if I could do a real tree. It has made SUCH a mess dropping needles everywhere.

And finally, our Christmas tree. It actually started off pretty bare but Cameron has been producing ornaments left and right!

My shopping is done (but the wrapping is not), so we're just enjoying a quiet week together before the holiday! I hope you all have a merry Christmas! 

Four.

One. Two. Three.

Today, my baby turns four years old! I hear and read a lot of the time, that parents "can't believe" that their kid is turning a year older when their birthday rolls around. That would certainly be the case for Kylie, who turns 2 in January. But not so for this guy, who is CONSTANTLY talking about being 4, 5, 10, etc, that to me, it didn't seem possible that was still 3 until today. After all, when asked his age by a stranger, it's not uncommon for him to answer "64!",  a response guaranteed with a giggle from the stranger.


In some ways, it seems like SO long ago that we brought Cameron home, a 9lb, 8oz baby who was two weeks late. Yet certain memories while in labor (watching the 2008 Victoria's Secret Fashion show, two weeks late, contracting while making no progress can make you feel like stabbing someone) seem quite fresh as if it were only yesterday.

This boy, so smart and so sweet is equally a mama's boy and a daddy's boy. He has become my favorite shopping partner, but would do anything to go riding on the four-wheeler with his dad. I love to spoil him, not (just) with gifts but with love, ultimately teaching him the unconditional love that Christ has for us. He loves spiderman, our 10 year old neighbor-girl Morgan (eeek!), and helping me cook and wash dishes (though he does not like to clean his room). I can't express into words how awesome and silly he is, he's just such a joy and I'm so happy he is my son!