Happy Horton Holidays!

Well, we survived the holidays. Whew. We had our hands full hosting both sides of the family this year! Lots of dishes and FOOD!

We started Christmas Eve with the Payne side. Lots of goodies were to be had by all!

New Cowboys and Indians to play with...

MORE Erector Set pieces....

And a REALLY cool projector!
Kendyl got a really cool Sit-n-spin! I remember Jared playing with his by the hour when he was little!
After everyone left...the new Christmas PJ's came out, along with new Christmas books! Always the serious one....

And Mr. Neon Reindeer himself....SO cute!
I had fun making these this year...lots of work, but I love cozy flannel jams...nothing better!
We had to make sure and throw out the reindeer food before bed...
Christmas Day brought presents EARLY (the ONLY day all year that Justin willingly gets out of bed EARLY) and then Horton family for lunch, THEN Grammy's house that evening. LONG day! But, lots of fun.
Some highlights were new Lego's, a new Nintendo DS, OSU blankets for all, books, camping gear and new toy dirt bikes.


I am SO going to miss the excitement of them being young enough to get so excited over new gifts! It's my favorite part.

We hope your holidays were very bright and merry, and that you got to celebrate the real reason for the season...Happy Birthday Jesus!

It is finished...FINALLY!

Well, I have only been meaning to get this post done for um...let's see....about 8 days. Sheesh. Can I get just a FEW more hours in the day...PLEASE?!?!? Things have been crazy busy since December 1st hit, and I am starting to freak out.

Anyhoo, just wanted to share this little project that I made with everyone. I saw this idea last year, but never got around to making it. So, I decided that this year, I was going to accomplish it! I was assuming that it would be super fast, and actually had plans to make a few more to give as gifts...BUT...it took ALOT longer than I thought!

It isn't hard by any means, but all the little pieces of the project are a little time consuming!

It turned out to be one VERY long Advent calendar! Yes, 25 little pockets took awhile! I printed off the template and cut them all out, then stiched them into little pockets and sewed a button on each one. The part that took the longest was stiching all those little numbers on! Wow!

I am really happy with the way it turned out though, and I found a really neat Advent activity to do with the kids..we are a few days behind, but it is fun. There is a little treasure that goes in each pocket, and a scripture reference that goes with it. A fun way to count down the days until Christmas, while remembering the reason for the season.

So, back to freaking out and running around like a wild woman trying to get it all done. Why? I really need to start sooner...BUT...I say that EVERY year. Tis' the season I guess.

Happy wrapping!