Turning a “Thankful Jar” Into a Christmas Ornament

Sean and I are doing our best to ensure our kids are raised understanding how blessed they are.  It is a tough thing to do with preschoolers/toddlers.  One way we are going about this is to ask them each night when we tuck them in what made them happy that day or to name one thing they were thankful for that day.  Their responses are always heartwarming or hilarious.  As I want to do with everything about them I wanted to bottle it and never forget it…and that’s exactly what I decided to do.

Because I don’t want to forget a single thing of these awesome years, starting just after Halloween, we keep a “Thankful Jar.”  If you Google image “thankful jar” you’ll find some templates to do yourself.  I printed out a bunch and set the papers and a jar on the kitchen counter to jot down the things we’re thankful for as they came up. 

                            

I didn’t want to forget a single thing so last year I came up with the idea to make a Christmas ornament out of them.  I laminated them, punched a hole in them and tied them with a green ribbon.  It was pretty awesome to read last year’s and reminisce while we decorated the tree this year.

                                

Merry Christmas!

The Elf on the Shelf

I would like to formally nominate the Elf on the Shelf for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2013.  The 2012 award was given to the European Union "for over six decades contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation".  Please.  The Elf On the Shelf has contributed to the advancement of peace in the entire world.  Ok so maybe not the prize for peace but definitely for medicine.  Elf has single handedly lowered the collective blood pressure of the entire world without drugs.  Bam.  No Obama Care needed.

Elf has also invaded Pinterest.  People are really amazing.  There are pictures of the elf in a room with pillow feathers everywhere, or trees stripped of their ornaments, all over the floor, making the kids think the elf did it.  2 things.  1) Weird, and 2) Seriously people with kids have time for this crap?  I got the Elf to make my life easier, not harder.

We “adopted” our Elf last Friday.  Can we talk about the elf…I mean…elephant in the room for a minute?  He is downright creepy looking.  The inventors couldn’t come up with anything else?  Yeah, me too kid.                                                  http://365barrington.com/2011/12/27/91-survive-christmas/

I was skeptical, figuring it was a total scam.  I figured I could put it on the counter and reference it when I needed some behavior improvements or to try and get my oldest to sleep past 6 AM.  Then he started asking questions.  Like, how does he fly back to the North Pole if he doesn’t have wings?  Uh.  Pixie Dust?  What happens if I wet my bed – am I allowed to get out of my bed then without getting into trouble with Elf?  Uh, I’ll text Santa and ask.  Yup, Santa says that is a reasonable exception.  See?  The web of lies is getting out of control.  Santa is one thing but the Elf is taking things a whole lot further.  Will this generation of children grow up and be diagnosed with “The Elf Effect,” spending hours upon hours on the couches of therapists due to this ultimate betrayal?

Oh the tangled web we weave.  Too late now, I’m in too deep.  Time to sign off.  I need to go move Elf.

Gallery Wall

Time to start tackling the 2nd floor.  This is what the upstairs hallway looked like when we were looking at this house.  This was taken about 2 minutes after I walked into the house for the first time.  In spite of the fact that the house looked like this I had already decided it was ours (bottom left hand corner -  poor Sean hasn’t even walked in the front door yet).

Fast forward 4.5 years later when we swapped the disintegrating light fixture for track lighting.

Phase 2 in this process was to turn the wall into a gallery wall.  I found the ledges I had wanted to use at Ikea but unfortunately they weren’t available in dark brown.  I hemmed and hawed.  The style, size and price were right, the finish was not.  Damn you Ikea and your blond stained particle board {shaking fist}!  I did leave with $50 worth of frames thought b/c it turns out it is physically impossible to leave that store without buying something.  Seriously why would you buy frames anywhere else? 

Off to Home Depot.  What girl doesn’t spend her Saturday nights in the lumber isle at Home Depot?  No?  Just me?  The nice guys at home depot cut 5’ and 3’ sections of 1x2, 1x3 and 1x4 maple boards for me.  Easy peasy.  $24 in materials for 2 ledges.

After I got home I quickly sanded the edges to smooth it out a bit.  Using wood conditioner, stain and poly I had from this project my maple boards were the dark brown I was going for. 

Sean assembled them for me using finished nails (they’re exposed – I like the look) during the Eagles/Cowboys game while our 18 month old hit him over the head with a whiffle ball bat.  #husbandoftheyearallwrappedup.  After one last coat of stain and Poly up on the wall they went.  They are drilled directly into studs using drywall screws.  The screws are hidden behind the frames. 

The best part?  The whole project, including the frames was under $75.  Can’t beat it.

Before & After:

Back On Track

I have done zero home improvement projects and it. has. been. awesome.  Last night Sean innocently tried to change a light bulb in this beauty:

Cue the music from the Psycho shower scene.  The thing almost disintegrated when he brought it down.

Enter Metal Gallery Spotlight Track from Pottery Barn:

I bought this fixture 2 years ago {hanging my head in shame}.  Our 18 month old wasn’t even born.  Prince William was a bachelor.  Charlie Sheen was sane.  The Jersey Shore was just a vacation spot.  Since then it has been sitting in our front hall closet.

What started out as a bulb replacing activity turned into an entire fixture replacing activity.  Sean’s a trooper.  Next up, turning the wall into a gallery wall with frames.  I’ll keep you posted!