When I was around 5 years old, my mother told me to clean my room. She returned a few minutes later to find me crying. She asked me what was wrong and I told her..."Mamma, I'm not a worker girl, I'm a Dreamer, a Thinker and a Player." For the next 25 years, this was one of our favorite inside jokes!
The day after Simple Elegance was the Hurst Tree Lighting! It was the 2nd Annual, and we went to the 1st Annual, so I really didn't want to miss it, even though we were all a bit tired! Last year it was SUPER cold and this year it was like in the 60's! So it was much more enjoyable! We had a blast! So glad we went! Saw lots of neighbors and church friends! We went to the petting zoo, Jonathan rode a pony, we pet Reindeer, we saw fireworks, we saw Santa and Mrs. Claus...and so much more! It was FUN! Looking forward to repeating this new tradition!
Jonathan's pony ride! He loved it!
J and B feeding a goat. I love how Ben crouches down! Jonathan is showing Ben how to feed him!
Crouching.
More Crouching. I just can't get enough!
J petting a Bunny!
Ben trying to feed the Sheep 2 small pieces of straw!
J and B with another goat! I just love this photo!
J with Donner and Blizten!
The tree, before it was lit up! And look about the middle of the photo, Santa and Mrs. Claus!
Fireworks!
Cookie Decorating!
I forgot to get a lit tree photo, so this was as we are driving off. You can kind of see it! :) The building is the new Hurst Convention Center. It is really nice!
The past couple of weeks have been BUSY, but fun! Lots of cool things going and fun pictures to share! The day after we lit the advent candle at church, was the annual Simple Elegance event at church! I co-hosted a table last year, http://dreamerthinkerplayer.blogspot.com/2012/01/simple-elegance.html, with my friend Lisa. And this year I co-hosted once again, but this time with my friend Liz! We had lots of fun planning over the past couple of months! Liz is almost "professional" crafter status! She has her own blog about the Pin's she does off Pinterest. It is an awesome site, I'll give you the link below! Anyway, Liz and I decided on a "red and white" theme. The original idea evolved over the time that we worked on it, but the end results, in our humble opinions, were pretty good!!! What is Simple Elegance? The event is for women only. You buy a $10 ticket and that money goes to Women's Missions. The Women of the church volunteer to come up and decorate these tables for an evening of desserts, that they also provide. It is all in good fun, and a tad bit of stress! I love going because it inspires me! There are so many different takes on Christmas decorations!
Me and Liz in front of our table!
Liz and her mom, Linda!
Linda let us borrow her "Depression Glass" set as our *pop* of green! It was such an awesome addition! Thanks Linda!!
The white limbs are from our tree in the back yard. A large branch had fallen, so I broke it apart and spray painted it white! I thought it had turned out pretty good!
Liz hand-sewed the red beads onto the napkins! She also made the Snowmen from scratch! They are clay that she fired in her oven and then painted them! I'm telling you, she is a professional crafter!
The view from my seat!
After they turn the lights down - our candle light view! We had tons and tons of candles, fake and real! We were the most lit up table there!
Behind the scenes! Kathryn, Lisa and Liz (and me) all having a good time before the real event starts! (Kathryn and Lisa co-hosted a table next to ours!)
Kathryn getting her Banana Pudding ready! So cute! They are in mason jars with little shortbread cookies and fresh slices of banana!
Another one of Liz and me before the doors open!
Our table after the lights turned down! From the top left, Linda, Judy (Mandy's mil), Mandy (my new neighbor!), Heather, Amanda, Sarah (my good friend and "date" for the evening), Me and Liz.
My cupcakes. Look familiar? Yes, they are very similar to what I made the year prior, but hey, if it ain't broken? This year I made Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream cheese Frosting!
I am on the stage, about to get the group photo. The tall tree, western table is Lisa and Kathryn's! Ours is to the right!
Closer look at Lisa and Kathryn's table. It is amazing with details!
Cowboy boots under the little table!
I love her plates and the western shirts over the chairs! They thought of everything!
Looking out on the room!
Love this table! I want the table cloth and glasses!!
Love the Breast Cancer theme!
I really liked this table. So simple, but so neat!
Another simple, but beautiful table!
Funky, but I love!
This was one of my favorites! I love the plates! I looked it up on Ebay and the set goes for like $500!! The lady said she has had them ever since her 8th birthday, which was 50 years ago! Very cool, another reason why I love doing this, you meet neat people and hear cool stories!
This was a science themed table! Very unique!
My boys would have gone crazy for this! They always attack the life size M&M in the store! :)
The entertainment for the eveing was a group of ladies called, "Harp Esscence". They were amazing! They played for almost an hour and it was like nothing I had heard. They played electric harps! They actually let us go up on stage and play them afterward, and of course I DID! It was awesome! I might have a new hobby!
This past Sunday was a big deal at our house. We were asked to light the first advent candle during the 11 service at our church. Jonathan was already going to be singing, so this added another layer of excitement. We were honored to be asked! We really love our church and are so happy to be welcomed by them!
The bulletin with our names in it!
Thankfully one of my good friends was sitting on the front row and snapped some pictures of us while we were up there lighting the candle!! Thanks Jill!!
Michael and I had decided prior to that he would hold Ben and stand back a little bit so Ben wouldn't reach for the candle. And Jonathan was going to "help" me light the candle. But when we got up there, Jonathan was doing his own thing and looking out in the audience, etc. We only had seconds to get it lit and get off the stage, so I did it as quick as I could.
Our lit candle of Hope.
Coming to big church is a new thing for the 4 year olds. We sat with his best friend Brady. It was fun watching them. They were really good. They were practicing writing their names here.
For the month of December I am the co-teacher for Jonathan's Sunday School class, so I was able to be there when they "lit" their advent candle.
I was excited to be there for the rehearsal!
Here is the practice song in the choir room. I'm sorry you can hear me singing at the beginning, but then I stopped when I realized that you could prob only hear me on the video, thankfully, that wasn't the case!
Here is the church preformance! Our seat wasn't the best, that's why I included the practice! Either way, our little Jonathan did such a great job! We are so proud!!!
Friday we headed over to the Day's for Thanksgiving Part 2! Amy decided to get a ham from a local restaurant, Babe's. And oh my goodness, it was amazing! We have been having delicious ham sandwiches ever since! She made the rest of the meal too...Green Bean Casserole, Harrigans Mashed Potatoes (my favorite), Watergate Salad (my parents favorite), Rolls, and Stuffing!! It was all so yummy!!! I brought Pumpkin Cheese Cake and Chocolate Ice Box Pie! The kids loved the Chocolate pie!!
The kids played, I watched them, the dad's watched football and Amy cooked...We had a great time! I didn't get a ton of pictures, but here are some of the kids playing!
