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! 

A little Halloween fun.

Last night we partook in a little Halloween fun by taking the kids trick or treating in our new neighborhood. Cameron was a little shy at first, but really got into it when he started seeing all the other kids in their costumes. By the end of the night he was nothing less than a pro, saying "trick or treat" without being prompted, and even yelling "MOM! DAD! I GOT YOU GUYS CANDY!!!!" as he ran away from each house. Awesome.

The Super Hero, cape and mask made by yours truly:



And the ballerina/baby in a tutu, also made by me:
When we got home for the evening, we were looking forward to passing out candy, but by about 7:15 there weren't many people still trick or treating. Needless to say, we have much more candy than we know what to do with!

27

For as long as I can remember, I've always wanted to be 27 years old. In foresight, it seemed like an age where I'd have life figured out, a nice little career, be married (and possibly a kid or two), and love my life. I never liked being in my early twenties. I felt there was always a stigma of overall immaturity attached to being young and in college. People always were telling me to "go out and have fun," and I did- but still, I wanted to be a stable 27 year old with everything in place.

11 days to go!

Today, I am 27. And while I can't say that life is completely figured out and have everything into place, I feel like I have everything I need, nothing more and nothing less. I feel like I'm in a great place in my life, with much to be thankful for. This isn't the picture I envisioned for myself at 27; in fact, it's so much better than I ever thought possible! Sometimes I feel so unworthy of God's blessings in my life.

Today was such a perfect day. The weather here in Wichita reached 70 degrees- can you believe that? Pretty rare for one of the last days of the year.
We have really missed all this crazy weather that the rest of the states seem to be having the past few weeks. I spent the gorgeous day with my two favorite boys who took me to lunch at my favorite spot, and then to the Zoo (which seemed to be the hot spot for everyone in the city- it was packed!). I am also the proud new owner of one of these:
A KA Artisan stand mixer! I was shocked! I had mentioned to Jon a few times that I was considering purchasing a KA mixer on Black Friday if there was a good deal out there. I didn't find one, but was so surprised to unwrap one this morning!

Hope everyone has a great New Years!

Holiday hustle and bustle!

This year, much like last, is turning out to be a busy holiday season! And since 3 out of the 4 members of our family (me, Cameron and soon-to-arrive baby sister) have birthdays within 3 weeks of Christmas, I don't anticipate any lack of business or activity around the holidays for years to come!
This weekend, I'm co-hosting a baby shower for my sister-in-law. This is her sixth baby, so we're having a diaper shower since she doesn't need much else. I decided that there was no better time to attempt my first diaper cake- and I think it turned out pretty cute! There are definitely things I'd do differently (construction wise) but I'm very happy with it seeing as how I didn't follow any sort of direction.
Eek- I didn't realize it was a little off-centered until I took a picture. Oh well! I love the bear up top. I got it at Hobby Lobby and thought it would compliment the cake nicely.

We've got a lot going on in the G household; I'm trying to finish up a few things in the kids shared room, the downstairs bathroom is coming along well, Cameron's birthday planning (3 weeks!), Christmas shopping (90% done!), and decorating (I started pulling out a few things today). I don't typically decorate until Thanksgiving, but I'm over my fall decor and anxious for a change. The Christmas tree won't go up until the first week of December though.
How about you- have you started Christmas shopping or decorating?

Weekend snippets & pictures

Sunday morning before church, we headed to a local park so I could take some fall pictures of Cameron before all the leaves fall off the trees. I got quite a few shots that I love- and these will most likely serve as his 2 year pictures since his birthday is just 5 weeks away!
I'm not a fan of pictures of myself these days, but I like this one Jon took of us. It required a bit of doctoring but the lighting is fun.



Can you believe it's November already? It's starting to get pretty chilly at night here, so I'm going to put our Christmas flannel sheets on the bed this week. =)

Cameron got his first pet this weekend- a blue betta fish! His name is Alex (which is also the name of his 5 year old cousin who lives a few houses down). I love this tank, because it's small, but is still filtered and has a night light. I also think the quiet hum of the tank will be soothing when they sleep at night- especially for baby sister.
Cameron was a gorilla for Halloween this year! I found the costume at Kid-to-Kid (a second hand shop) for just $10 bucks. He really didn't care so much about the costume- but he didn't want anyone touching or holding his pumpkin bucket.
This one was taken last week, when he kept the hood on for more than one second. The sprinklers came on, and he decided to test it out in the water.

He was pretty mad that we kept trying to put his hood on and take pictures. This is the best we got last night!
Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Easter Sunday!

Happy Easter everyone! I hope everyone had a great, relaxing weekend- I know I sure did. The weather couldn't be more perfect here (which is good- last Easter I froze in my dress!). Anyway, we started off at church, and the kids got to hunt for Easter eggs before we headed over to Jon's parents house for lunch with the whole family. I'm still recovering from a food induced coma, per usual after we eat there! It's hard to put the fork down when there's good home cooking. Here's a few pictures from our day:

It's usually Easter and Christmastime when I really wish I had a girl to dress up. All those cute frilly dresses and hats leave me so disappointed when I move to the boys side in search for something half way decent. 95% of dressy boy sets aren't very cute, have weird colors, or have a huge teddy bear on it. I needed a nice little suit for Cameron, and one that wasn't 50 dollars. I walked into Burlington Coat Factory and found this cute linen suit set (pants, shirt, coat and tie) for just $20. I couldn't believe how adorable it was, and it was so cheap! He was the cutest kid at church, if I do say so myself! =)
Cameron sure does love splashing in water. He kept saying "Bath!! Bath!!" and tried to climb in a dozen times.

Happy St. Patrick's & the Flipnotes winners!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Anyone do anything festive? We all wore our green and headed out to breakfast early this morning, and then braved the chilly weather at the zoo for a bit. It's Spring Break here and the zoo was packed!
And now, onto the winners... Congrats to Murdock Mama (winning the brown) and Jen J. (winning the purple)!! I drew winners the old-fashioned way, choosing the names out of a bowl! If you two winners could email me your info (name + shipping address) to jhawks482 at gmail dot com, I'll get them right out to you. Congrats!
I have also decided, that after looking at and playing with these flipnotes notebooks all weekend that I'm going to have to get one for myself. What initially drew me in was how cute they were- that white little pad tucked into a sleek metal shell. But they are also spring loaded- so when you slide the pen out... it flips open! I can just see Cameron entertaining himself for hours with it- Open! Close! Open! Close! Open! Anyway, I found so many cute ones online at Wellspring Gifts. Here are a few of my faves:


Aren't they cute? I love them!

Christmas Snippets

Time for an update, wouldn't you say? A few snippets:

We had a jam-packed, beautiful white Christmas. We spent time with both sides of our families and had so much fun. Cameron gave us the best gift: sleeping in on Christmas morn until 9:00 am (he's usually our alarm clock!).


The G household is a giant sensory overload of toys right now. When we were child free, we liked to spoil our nieces and nephews with the loudest toys we could find. Now that we're parents, I can say with confidence that payback has begun.

The holiday season isn't slowing down just yet; my birthday is the 30th, we're hosting a small get-together on NYE, more family in town on New Years Day, and I'm hosting a bridal shower here on January 2. Whew!

One of the gifts I gave Jon resulted in one of my favorite Christmas memories this year: tight thermal pants + modeling tight thermal pants around the house= hilarity. I laughed, Cameron raised an eyebrow. Note to self- get Jon new thermal pants every year.

Sometimes I like to eat my own words. I mentioned awhile back that I'd never go shopping among the crazies in search of the best holiday sales (um, black friday). Well this morning I woke up, threw on some clothes and headed out in search of 50% holiday decor. I scored big at Pier 1 imports, and got tons of wrapping paper for next year. I'm thinking I might even go out again after Cameron goes to bed tonight!

I hope you all had a wonderful and merry Christmas!

Let's talk Black Friday.

This time of year it's hard to watch T.V. without seeing a department store's commercial advertising their doorbuster deals and steals. It seems as if the top stories on the news are constantly about "who's Black Friday ads have leaked" or the hottest toys that are flying off of the shelves, right?
I used to work retail. 7 years to be exact. And for that reason, I can't seem to get into the whole 'shopping before the sun comes up' thing. I can't justify dragging myself out of my cozy, warm bed to go stand in line with a bunch of crazies fighting over 3 dollar DVD's at Best Buy. I just can't.
A department store at the mall I used to work at didn't typically open early on Black Friday (the horror!) . And because of that, we had a lot of customers who were rude or upset because they had to wait until 9am to shop with us, when they've already been shopping for 6 hours. I'll admit- the only perk showing up to work to surviving Black Friday was that hefty commission check that I would be getting.
Maybe some year I'll venture out at 3 am- but this year I'll be hibernating in my king size bed (with flannel sheets, and warm down comforter) on Black Friday. Will you be shopping on Black Friday? What deals are you standing in line for?

Making my list. (And checking it twice).

Did you know that Christmas is pretty much next week? It is, my friends. I've been seeing these "100 days of cookies" or "100 days of holiday recipes" in magazines and online, and I have to admit, it's freaking me out a bit. Department stores are dusting off Christmas decorations as I write this post. And as soon as you have your last trick-or-treater, you'll see neighbors hanging up their Christmas lights and flanking their yards with inflatable deer and snowmen.

Anywho, if you are like me at all, I never know what to tell my family when they ask what I would like for Christmas. I never have anything in mind, and I always just tell them I'll get back with them and let them know later. Well this year, dearest friends and family, I'm armed with a list. Without further adieu, I present my Christmas list:




I'm happy to report that the #1 item on my list was purchased today by my wonderful husband! I have been telling him that if he waits until after Thanksgiving that there won't be any Uggs at ANY store, in ANY city. He was hesitant, but I softened the blow by telling him that he has his Christmas shopping done now!



I think this pretty, lightweight scarf from Gap would transition nicely into spring!



My next camera lens! A 50mm auto-focus, perfect for portraits.


A non-stick pizza crisper. So we can quit putting pizza directly on the oven rack, causing cheese to fall to the bottom of the oven, burn, and set off the fire alarm.



And lastly, a subscription to BHG. You may or may not remember this subscription was on my list for Mother's Day. I've gone from "casually" dropping hints at the grocery store newsstands, to flat out telling my husband that I'd like a subscription, to actually HANDING him a subscription card that's filled out with my name on it. Y'all, sometimes boys just don't get it. So for that reason, it's still on my list!
Anyone else have their list made? Shopping started?

Easy Cheesy Chimichangas!

I've never shared a recipe on my blog until now, but I've made these chimichangas a few times and decided they were too good not to pass on. And heck, with Cinco de Mayo coming up, you can make these, invite your friends over and have a little fiesta. I promise they'll be impressed (especially if you whip up some margaritas). 

I made this recipe up after having grilled chimichangas at a local Mexican joint, and I have to say that I think my version is better! You'll see that this recipe is far from "authentic" Mexican; the rice is directly from a box, and I didn't make my own tortillas.  If you feel adventurous enough to make your own tortillas or rice, be my guest! 

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. lean ground beef
  
• 1 package taco seasoning
• 1 package grated cheddar cheese or Mexican cheese blend
• 1 box cheesy Mexican rice (I used Old el Paso brand)
• 5-6 burrito sized flour tortillas
• Salsa, sour cream, queso or other toppings you like

Start by preparing the rice according to the package directions. Brown the beef, and add in the taco seasoning. Set aside until the rice is done.

Lay out the tortillas and begin by dividing the rice between 5-6 tortillas. Add a handful of cheese on top of the rice, and finish by adding the beef on top of the cheese, dividing it between your tortillas. 

Fold in the sides of the tortillas, and then roll them up. Place the seam side down into a buttered skillet on medium heat. Butter the top (go ahead and make Paula Dean proud) of the chimichangas, and carefully flip them when the bottom side has browned. Brown that side and they are ready to eat! I like them with sour cream and queso on top. Enjoy!

Though I haven't tried it, I think you could substitute shredded chicken in place of ground beef and they would be excellent. 

Dear husband: I present my Mother's Day wish list.

You always give great gifts. You know me quite well. But this is a "new" holiday celebration around our house, so I thought I'd help you out and give you a suggestion (or, 6) of what I really want for Mother's Day. If you didn't know already (and I'm sure you don't), Mother's Day is May 10. I know you like to shop for gifts at the last second, so with this list you'll be able to do just that. Oh, and don't forget our anniversary is coming up. You could just shop for that too and kill two birds with one stone. I know what you're thinking, I'm genius; that's why you married me!

I'd love to have a new video camera. This one is small, convenient, and inexpensive! You should know that it comes is a pretty pink color, but I'll settle for black so that you won't be embarrassed to use it.

Chopping garlic by hand is tedious and leaves my fingers smelling for days. A garlic press would solve that problem!

Every time we are in the checkout isle at the grocery store, I pick up an issue of BHG or Martha Stewart, and say "I wish I had a subscription to this." Welp, I guess you haven't been paying attention to my hinting, cause I still don't have a subscription to either.

A really tiny pair of diamond studs, perhaps?

A gift card to Forever 21. It's cool, I can still shop there for at least 6 more years.

 
And the thing I want most is to spend the day with my 2 favorite boys. Breakfast in bed would be nice. We even could take Cameron on his first trip to the zoo.

XOXO,
your wifey.