Spread Love December Challenge

This year I wanted to do something different in giving back for Christmas. Not that donating to charities and organizations isn't great, I just wanted to be a little more creative. I thought it would be fun to do a 'Spread Love' challenge everyday of December leading up to Christmas Day. I carefully thought out 25 different random acts of kindness in an effort to spread the love this Holiday Season. You can join along with me on Instagram as I post a different 'act' everyday. Look for this picture everyday in my feed, with the date and kindness act. You can use the hashtag #spreadtheloveCC15 when you post pictures of your kindness acts.

Image graphics from www.jonesdesigncompany.com

Let's have fun and spread lots of love!!!

Many Blessings,

A Blessed Thanksgiving & A Giveaway

I don't know about you, but I had a an awesome Thanksgiving!! My sister-in-law hosted 25 peeps at her house and she is 6 months pregnant! She rocked it! The food was so amazing and the fellowship with family and friends was even better!

Now that Thanksgiving is over, Christmas planning, decorating, and gift buying is in full swing. We are going to the tree farm this afternoon to pick out our tree!! Im so excited! I will be up all night decorating it!

I have also been working on creating my own advent for this Christmas. It is very simple, but moving, and to me, tells what Christmas is all about. As my gift to you, I am offering it to you as a free download.  ~Jesus: Hope-Faith-Peace-Love~ 

I also have the tutorial for the mason jar advent candle you can watch. The candle goes along with the advent devotional. Every Sunday you light the candle as you read the devotions and pray. This is a great way to prepare your hearts for Jesus this Christmas. I hope you enjoy it!!

I also decided to do an advent reading with my son Greyson. Every night before bed, starting December 1st, I will be reading a story from the Jesus Storybook Bible. These are great short little stories from the bible that lead right up to the Jesus' birth on December 24th, the night before Christmas! Then on Christmas day we will read the last story in the book, A Dream of Heaven. I am so excited to do this with him, because he is finally starting to sit still and listen when I read books now. Get a copy of yours today on Amazon and have it time to start on Tuesday!

Finally, the best part, a giveaway!! I am so thankful for all that God has blessed us with this year. The good and the bad, because even the hard stuff is a gift that makes our faith stronger in Him. As a way of giving back, I wanted to do an "Oh, So Thankful" giveaway.  See below for all the goodies I am giving away to one lucky winner. It's so easy to enter!

"Oh, So Thankful" giveaway basket includes:

1. $25.00 Starbucks gift card

2. $25.00 Target gift card

3. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (Best movie ever)

4. First Snow scented candle

5. Peppermint slims pretzels

6. "Hey Santa" banner

7.  2016 wall calendar (to start planning for next year)

8.  "Be Merry" burlap sign

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Many Blessings,

A Host of Parties

Two weekends ago, we celebrated my son, Greyson's 2nd birthday! It was so much fun! It was also our first party in our new house! I had so much fun decorating the house and getting it ready to host. I ordered a lot of fun stuff for the party as well. 

My son LOVES trains, so of course I had to make that the theme. I really did enjoy decorating and planning for it and I was so pleased with how it all came together!

Food: Catered from Wegmans

Track #5 Desserts: Homemade mini-cupcakes/ Cake topers: by The Party Stork from Etsy

Railroad Sign cookies & Greyson's mini cake: The Cake Stand Bakery

Track #1: Extra Baggage (gifts)/chalkboard pennant sign from target & I hand lettered his name.

Track #6 Favors & Birthday Wishes/ "All Aboard" sign by: The Party Stork from Etsy

Train Whistle Favors purchased on Amazon.

'Birthday Wishes' filled out by guests. I created these cards in Keynote.

So happy! Waiting for us to sing to him!! Decorations & big balloon from Party Sparkles on Etsy.

He wasn't sure what to do, I think he got nervous for a minute, but we helped him through it!

Still in shock from everyone singing to him! He didn't know what to do, lol.

It was all around a great day! I still can't believe my baby is 2 years old already!! I don't know where the time went. Some of my favorite things from the party were:

1. The Railroad Sign cookies from the Cake Stand. They did such a good job and they tasted so good.

2. The different stations (track numbers) on the chalkboard signs for the food, gifts, & desserts.

3. The train whistle favors (with the thank-choo tags) and the birthday wish cards for his 2nd birthday book.

But the best part was hanging with our friends and family and seeing this boy really enjoy his special day!

Here are a few photos from the photo shoot we had done the Friday before his party! 

We were so pleased with how these photos came out. A special thanks to Sarah Ann Photography for capturing these moments for us!

We also hosted our first annual Friendsgiving Dinner this past weekend with our small group from church. This too, was a very special time for us, so special in fact, that I didn't remember to take any photos!! In a way, I am upset, because I love taking photos of big events, so that I have them to look back on in the future. I guess I was just having so much fun and really present in the moment, that I didn't think to take any photos. So, I guess I am ok with that! That means for you guys though, unfortunately, I don't have any photos to share of the food or decor. I do however, have the craftivity that we did, and I will share with you on how to make your own, in the next post! So be sure to check back on Friday, after Thanksgiving for that tutorial!!!

Until then, I hope you have a blessed Thanksgiving! Don't eat too much Turkey!

Many Blessings,

 

A New Way To Do Christmas!

I don't want to get ahead of myself, but before I know it, Christmas will be here. Don't get me wrong, I want to enjoy every minute of Thanksgiving, and make sure I don't rush through it, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't keeping an eye out for Christmas gifts.

A few years ago, I read about a new way of doing Christmas. I honestly don't remember where I saw this idea, but I loved it! Each family member would get four items: something they want, something they need, something to wear, and something to read. I think this is a fabulous idea. Let's be honest, now-a-days, people get so carried away with buying too many gifts and lose site of the true meaning of Christmas. I mean, I love giving gifts, but if that is the biggest thing for you at Christmas, then maybe you should re-think some things, and I mean that in the most loving way!

I thought that this would be the perfect year to cut back a little. We just bought a house and furnished the whole thing. I even thought about not buying anything this Christmas and wanted to just focus on Jesus and spending time with family and friends, but I thought since this is our first year in our new home, we should do something.

This is a fun way to buy gifts without going crazy. It allows you to give to others and celebrate the season without losing focus of what Christmas is really all about!!

I created these gift tags to put on the presents and I am offering them to you to download as well.

Check back on Monday for photos and stories from my son's 2nd birthday and our 1st annual Friendsgiving Dinner!!

Many Blessings,

Welcome & Introduction (plus a review of Whole 30)

A few things to note about this video:

1. This is my first video blog post, ever, so please be kind!!
2. I stated twice, not just once,  that my blog was on blogstop, instead of blogspot. I don't know why I reversed it both times.
3. I apologize for the overly exaggerated lip smacking noise. I will definitely work on this, but I wasn't about to record myself again!

Enjoy and please feel free to leave me any questions or comments below!





Many Blessings,