Christmas Mantel 2012

Posted on December 3, 2012 by Liza

Advent is here.

December is a month to celebrate. One of our first traditions is to change our mantel. For the past few years we have been choosing a “theme” for Christmas.

Our theme this year is . . .

We wanted to have a woodsy mantel, so we chose to bring in some greens, pine cones, and cut logs

And then inspired by Pinterest and curious to see if we could make our own chalkboard, we headed to the White Elephant Outlet, a local shop when unwanted antiques and knick knacks go. We found a big painting with the frame. Everything is half off. We purchased it. Andrew painted the gold frame white and then painted the glass with chalkboard paint.

It was my turn.

I took inspiration from the above printable. And designed our chalkboard. I meticulously copied the letters and then found a snowflake on line that I liked and did my best to pretend to be an artist.

And here we have our Christmas mantel.

What are ways we incorporate the “theme”?

We chose an advent reading called, “All is Calm, All is Bright”
Our Christmas cards have the saying “All is Calm, All is Bright” on them and we are wishing our friends and family a season that includes moments of calm and moments that are bright
We choose presents around the theme, our family will receive presents that are “calm” and/or “bright”
We will include it in our annual Christmas Movie
We wrap our presents in this theme
We give our co-workers fudge with tags from our theme.

Last year our theme was “Joy to the World”

Christmas Mantel 2011

Here is our 2011 Mantel
Here is our 2011 Christmas Card
Here is our 2011 Christmas Movie

May your winter season be filled with the peace and calm

And may your celebrations be merry and bright!

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Linking up to . . .

Summer 2012 Week 1 {Birthday Week} – Reflection

Posted on July 1, 2012 by Liza

We had a great birthday week. We enjoy celebrating (when I turned 40 I made a whole month of it). We were intentional throughout the week and there are some things we did not blog about.

Things We Did Not Blog About

We gave Colton a sandbox for his birthday. Andrew built it and Colton adores it and is asking all the time to play in it.
We both went into Cole’s room his birthday morning carrying 3 balloons and singing. It was a celebration to start the day (no pics).
We went to two other wonderful birthday parties leading up to Cole’s birthday so he was prepped (3a was cousin Oliver’s “Animal Tracking Party” and 3b was Christopher’s “Lightening McQueen Party).
We actually had two birthday parties for Cole on his birthday: 1 for toddlers and the other for friends and family. We prepared for four, we thought the first was going to be inside, then it was nice out. We prepared the second one for outside and then it poured. The first party was all about Colton and his friends, the second was more laid back and a time to appreciate the adults that have supported our little guy (4a the guests made a page in a smash book for Cole about where they thought he should visit, 4b he got lots of wonderful presents from wonderful people).
We had a surprise visitor between the two parties! The Music Man saw balloons at our house and came to play Cole a happy birthday song. Cole is smitten with the guitar, and this master of it. It was amazing – a big thanks to Brian Doser!
At the 5:00 pm start of party # 2 a torrential downpour let loose, soaking our guests followed by the electricity going out. Everyone was amazingly flexible, we are so grateful.
We took out 5 books from the library on planes. I thought I might blog about them, none of them were very good. We have books at home about airplanes that we like better.

Things We Wish We Had Thought of . . .

After most things Andrew and I debrief, reflect on what we would change and what we did well. Thought I would share that here, and that way it is writing for us to refer back to . . . .

I wish that we had budgeted. Andrew and I have been budgeting monthly, we pay all of our bills before the first of the month. But we did not specifically have a budget for Cole’s birthday. My old mindset feels if I put a budget on things, that I will feel restricted. But what I recognized this time is that I just felt terribly whenever I spent money. There is a joy in having a budget, and spending that money that was set aside already for just that.
I wish we had a list of pictures that we wanted to take and made sure that that happened. I am finding that this is something that I want to get into the habit of doing. The truth is that my list would not be very long and it would get done if I were more intentional. The two pictures that I wish we had are the three of us the day of the party and one of the cupcakes. And with three years of birthday parites, this has been an issue every year. Thank goodness for friends who said that we should pose together year one . . . but since then we have not been intentional and the dessert does not get it’s due – the past parties we got pictures of the cake and cupcakes in the box, but never displayed. In addition, I do wish we were more intentional about getting pictures of every person at the party. The photo booth was great, but more candids would be on my list too.
Lastly, we skipped a step we usually do when we host . . . listing out the food we are serving. It has been helpful in the past, and poor Andrew was setting out all the food while I was with our guests (each adult guest had put a page in a book for Cole about where they think he should travel to). And the pasta salad nor the potato salad made it to the table (though we had two easy go-tos for the rest of the week).

Things We are Glad We Did . . .

We did a little each day leading up to the party, that meant we put up clouds and Cole was thrilled, we hung paper airplanes and he enjoyed those each morning. Decorating a bit leading up to the party meant less to do right before and it meant that we felt festive throughout the week.
We set aside a specific place for things we were going to use for the party. I actually used some plastic drawers and labeled them with what was in them. It took very little time and it meant that leading up to the day of the party I could grab a drawer, work on a project, and then put it away. The day before the project I cleared all the drawers and we were ready to go.
We asked for help. I have learned that when I have more than half a dozen people over, I feel as if I am taking care of details instead of actually being present with our guests. So when my friend Lisa offered to help, I accepted. And inspired, I also asked on of my students for help, Olivia. They were amazing, taking care of the details, putting together lunch trays, wrangling toddlers. I did get to talk with our guests, and be with our little guy, and it was wonderful.

So our first week of summer is complete . . . We are well on our way to 10 intentional weeks of summer.

During Birthday Week We . . .

Visited Halibut Point – Went to a special place where we go every year near Cole’s birthday
Celebrated a Traditional Birthday Morning – Went to our favorite breakfast place and to the beach
Showed off our Party Decor – for our Airplane themed birthday party
Shared our Toddler’s Activities – at our Airplane themed birthday party
Noted our Handmade Party Projects – for our Airplane themed birthday party
Interviewed Cole – for our first annual birthday interview

Summer 2012 Week 1 {Birthday Week}: Birthday Morning Traditions

Posted on June 26, 2012 by Liza

One reason we love the North Shore of Massachusetts is because there are dozens of sweet and sacred spaces to be enjoyed. We can drive to a nearby town and feel like we are on a beach vacation. One of those places is Manchester-by-the-Sea.

And one of my favorite places to eat is the Beach Street Cafe

I have been eating grilled blueberry muffins here since college. I came here the morning of my wedding day, with my entire family. And last year we began the tradition of eating here the morning of Cole’s Birthday.

Cole has joined me in enjoying grilled blueberry muffins, and he received a little birthday present from us, a “little gorilla” as a memory of a recent trip to the zoo where Cole fell in love with a little gorilla . . . He loved it.

Then we headed up on a most beautiful day to the Singing Sands of Singing Beach . . . As Cole walked upon them he told us they were singing Happy Birthday to him.

It was a great morning of adventure. Shells were found, the ocean was played in, discoveries were made.

And I love the moments of family that hold our adventures together . . .

The tradition of eating out on Cole’s birthday is wonderful. We all just get out of the house and allow someone else to do the cooking and cleaning, so we can concentrate on playing and exploring. We are home early, to start the day, so it can happen any day of the week.

It has put the emphasis in all the right spots. And has been a tremendous week.