NYE runner up

And the New Year's Eve runner up is.............

What should I wear?!

Ok I can't figure out what dress I want to wear to JDub's Christmas Party in January!? I NEED your help. I am creating a nice little poll over to the right. So please take a minute to decide for me! The pics aren't the best.... but here it goes!

DRESS #1 H&M silver

This is a fabulous dress I got from H&M back in October when I attended Women of Faith! It was a steal at $7... brand new!!! It's a bit wrinkly in these pics.... but I will be sure to steam it when I wear it in public. I paired it (and all the others) with some black tights and cute black heels.

DRESS #2 Shirred LBD

This is my first attempt at a LBD... you might remember it from my previous post LBD . I haven't worn it out yet!!! So this could be a good time to finally wear it :)

DRESS #3 Peek a-boo Black

I'm saying Peek a boo Black b/c its yet another LBD... BUT this one has a sheer material across the shoulders! I took one pic with this mod shrug....if you will... and one w/o... This was a great buy at $5... from a consignment store, with the original price tag of $98 still attached! Gotta love it :)

So I need your help... I am terrible at making these decisions.... and JDub could care less. I'm pretty sure I could show up in my pj's and he wouldn't care! So what should I wear to his Christmas Party? It says dress "Holiday Style" on the invite...

PLEASE HELP ME BY VOTING ON MY POLL!!! The runner-up dress will be worn on Saturday as my New Year's Eve attire. Thanks :)

Home made Christmas presents! :)

So this year I tried to make most of my presents for people. I've been getting ALOT of inspiration from Pinterest and I was really excited to try out some ideas! So here's a few!

Oh yea... and if you're one of my IN-LAWS and haven't received your present... STOP READING (unless you want to have the surprise spoiled..... I figured you would have gotten your gift by now?!)



IIIIIIIIII'm dreeeeeaaaaming of a Whiiiiiiite Christ-mas!

Everybody sing it! I cannot believe we don't have any snow on the ground?! In mid-December... in Iowa... its crazy?! Now don't get me wrong... its kinda nice not having to worry about driving in the snow, or carrying kids around in it... and the mess that comes with it. But I'm going to be a little sad if we wake up on Christmas morning and its all green/brown... and NOT white :( Ceej was too little last Christmas to get out in the snow and I was really looking forward to seeing him walking around in his big snow suit :) And sledding too! I really hope we get some snow around here soon so I can get these boys worn out playing in it! And coming in to a nice fire and hot chocolate.... mmmmm

I already have my post ready for after Christmas! With all my home-made gifts!!! It has been so hard for me not to post it already.... but I've been trying to wait so I don't spoil the surprise..... it's been really hard.

How funny is this snowman?! Whoo ya gonna call? GHOST BUSTERS!!!

So since I am a dork and I get excited about clothes..... I get really excited about what I'm going to wear to parties/events?! JDub's Christmas party is coming up (in January) and I have a few options! I'm thinking I'll post pics of all the dresses I am thinking about... and then make you take a vote on which one I should wear?! What do you think? I mean JDub just doesn't care.... he's really no help. I need some input out there ok?! If I get a photographer I'll model them and you can tell me which one wins! Otherwise stay tuned for my special after Christmas post!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Peppermint Toes

JDub and I had the privilege of going out to a nice dinner with the couples in our small group the other night. It was sooo much fun! One of the couples lives in Anamosa and invited us out to dinner at a local restaurant and then back to their beautiful home. The food was delicious.. and the best part was it was just the adults!!! HAHA. Usually we have all of our children there running around being all crazy and trying to do a lesson of some sort... but with it being Christmas and all we got some sitters and had adult time. It was FABULOUS!

After eating way too much (the food was just too good!) we headed back to their house and had a white elephant gift exchange! Those can be so much fun! We had a $10 limit and the girls bought gifts for girls... and the guys bought gifts for the guys... I helped pick out JDub's gift (a knife) and he had those men fighting over that thing!!

I ended up with this by the end of it! (I think our host splurged and went over the $10 limit!)

I know your jealous!!! It was also fought over a few times too!!! I just love getting new nail polish! My toes were in some serious need of a pedicure....


candy cane pedicure

I am happy to say I only need to finish one more Christmas present and then I'll be done!!!! Yay! I'm in the home stretch.

Holey gray sweatpants, batman!

Ok so I forgot to take a before picture.... my bad... but if you have boys... or had "boys" at some point... you can picture what these pants looked like before (extremely holey in the knee). Boys are rough on clothes... because well... they're rough in general! Or at least my boys are. And when you go to garage sales.... and get hand-me-downs from older cousins.... clothes seem to develop holes that much quicker! These gray sweatpants were perfect for this idea I found (on Pinterest... its getting kind of embarrassing not coming up with my own ideas anymore... but I still get the credit for completing them right?!).

I figured instead of doing a usual type of patch... I'd have a cute monster mouth one! These were just scraps of fabric (Don't throw away your scraps... give them to me! ha) I had on stash... the red is from an old sweatshirt, but I flipped it and used the inside-out, to give it a different texture. The teeth are scraps from an old ribbed tank-top. The eyes are white fleece with blue puffy paint on top!

While I thought Bubba would be thrilled to wear his new Monster mouth pants... instead he ran around screaming saying he was scared of monsters........ (I blame JDub and making him watch the old-school Rudolph with the Abominable Snow Monster... which is pretty hilarious to hear him repeat.....)

On another note.... It was my father-in-law's bday over the weekend and I thought I'd get him something you can consume.... and something that was cute :)



reindeer beer

I hope you have your Christmas shopping done....I'm almost done!!

No-Sew fabric flowers

So I came across these lovey little flowers on a website I check often. She's a very craft lady!! And her pics are great. I've done a few of her projects in past.... her website is rufflesandstuff . Her specific tutorial can be found here... flower tutorial . So I won't claim to have come up with these myself..

I wanted to make a little something for my lovely ladies that are at my table at MOPS :) Here's a few ways you can use these flowers!

These were made with scraps of fabric.... fray check... a little felt... and safety pins (oh and hot glue of course)! You could easily use hair clips or some other form of clip... I just happened to have safety pins on hand. Our table at MOPS (Mother of Pre-schoolers) is yellow, so I hope they'll enjoy these :)

I may be posting this a little prematurely... but its killing me not being able to post all the projects right when I finish them!? I am NOT good at surprises.....