I was standing next to a bin of $1 gloves at JoAnn's and they were in cute Christmas colors, and I thought, "What a cute way to make a banner!"
After pondering for a while about what kind of letters to use, Mom suggested felt, but I don't trust my own scissoring skills enough and all the felt letters on Etsy were like $3 each. Then Roger walked in holding the felt fox that Rachel made for Quincy and lightning struck my brain.
Rachel made me these adorable perfect letters.
I hung them with clothes pins on a cheap pearl string.
And it looks so fantastic! Although it's heavier than most other banners I've made.
Also, Evan's quite excited that we just got the deer hung that he shot last year. Now the goat has a friend in the corner.
You can tell Roger's very excited about it. (The stockings were made by my sister-in-law Rachelle.)
I've been working on lots of little projects lately. Some of them I can't reveal until after Christmas, but here are some that I can show you NOW!
MY RED BEDROOM MINI TREE
I got this tree right after Halloween at Michael's for $20 with a coupon! It's sitting on a high-function, low-form shelf (it's super ugly, even for utility shelving). So it's draped with some curtains I got at an estate sale for $2 each.
The theme for decorating is red... like love. The oblong ornaments I got on sale and I made the rest!
These are wood picture frames you can get for $1. I painted one side red and one side copper.
These are bells and small balls that I hung on twine.
These are the leftover balls in a milk bottle I got at a garage sale.
These are the ill-fated ornaments I was trying to make. I found some woven brocade pillow shams at DI and tried to Mod-Podge them onto some 3x3 wood chips. It completely soaked through and looked horrible. This is attempt #2. I used a thin layer of silicone based adhesive because I thought a non-waterbased glue would soak in less. I was correct, but I still had some dark soaked spots like on the top right one. I don't think I'll keep them. Frustrating.
Just have to brag a little about my son Weston. He's a freshman this year at Freedom High School and at my urging, auditioned for marching band at the end of last school year and was accepted to play the baritone this year.
For those of you who have been in marching band, you know the grueling hours you have to put in. Freedom marching band is VERY good. For the first two weeks of band camp they tried to kill my son. They practiced outside in August from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. with only a 2-hour dinner break. Then for a week of 6 hour days. Most of that time was spent doing burpees, pushups, throwups and Roxannes (ask Weston about it sometime) in order to get them physically ready for the what they had to accomplish. The football team didn't even practice as much as the marching band (could be why they only won one game this season???).
The band has 150 members (probably not as big as AF band) and once school started he had practice for 2 hours three days a week. He attended 7 competitions from West Virginia all the way to a national competition at MetLife Giants stadium in NJ last weekend.
At the regional competition at University of Maryland they won first place and performed amazingly in POURING RAIN. And at MetLife they performed at 10:30pm in 20℉ temps. Freedom has an impressive pit--one of the biggest at the competition--I know because I was a chaperone and got to drag the bass drum on and off the field at the appropriate time. They took 4th place there but won the Cadet's Choice Award. The Cadets are an elite student band and gave their award to their favorite marching band.
We are so proud of his hard work, team spirit, and marching band soul. (He frequently marches in square formations in the kitchen and walks backwards and sideways like he's still on the field.) He is already excited about next year and hopes to be drum major as a senior.
Here is a youtube link of their whole performance. You will see their program this year titled "Rain Forest." Watch for the "haka" dance--which Chancie loves to do in the kitchen too. Weston is the handsome one in the black and white uniform playing the baritone.
Just wanted to let you know about a book my uncle wrote. My sister did the illustrations and my dad did the graphic design. It's on amazon.com. Pretty neat!
For Halloween we dressed as Oreos: Double Stuff, Thin, and Mini. We used a gallon-milk jug for Josie's candy bucket. We took Oreos and candy to the trunk-or-treat and kids got to choose "cookie or candy". The smart kids chose cookies because our candy was not that good.
Josie got her first birthday card from Grandma in England! She loved playing with the card and we'll stash that $2 in her college investment fund. In 18 years, that $2 could grow to almost $9!
We were able to attend Grant's funeral on Friday in Salt Lake. It was great to be with extended family again. We had some hugs, tears, and lots of laughs. I learned a lot about Grant, and I felt that the Lord is pleased with a life well-lived no matter how humble. Grant left a legacy of hard work, integrity, love, and generosity.
Before we headed south again we got to spend some time with the Judds and Craigs, and it was wonderful. Just like old times.
We loaded up the van again and went south, dropping off Rachel and spending a night at a hotel in St. George. The kids loved the pool, big beds, and breakfast. Then we raced through the desert back home again.
