after some malfunctions with the garland hanging of the garland, it finally is secured and up. it still needs some finishing "fluffing" but our entry way is mostly completed. (i added a little bit more hot glue to the C on our wreath. you can never have too much hot glue when it comes to crafts!)
i thought the blog could use a little holly and jolly. and i thought the picture was a delightful blast from the past. (that is from the first Christmas we lived in NC.) barley was only 10 months old! enjoy!
you can very rarely get the perfect picture for your Christmas card without planning it. i mean, really, how often does that happen? i have a picture in mind for this year's card but i am planning to try to stage one as well. and then i know i'll at least have a back up. we have been sending out photo cards since we got married and especially since we moved. i love the personalization of photo cards. i love getting photo cards, too. i love watching families grow and change year after year.
i hate when people decorate for Christmas before Thanksgiving. usually. growing up, we would decorate Thanksgiving night or the days after but never before. i have tried to do the same... i even complained earlier this month when i was driving home and passed a house with full lights and decor out. it was the 3rd. houses were still decorated for halloween. seriously?
but this year my work schedule prevents me from having much time available for decorating this weekend. we're taking a one day trip to knoxville for Thanksgiving and then i work the entire weekend. i would rather be decorating. or napping. or, you know, not working!
so i started a little early this year. just a day, really. i made a new wreath today as last year's cute yarn wreath fell apart after the wind from one of our blizzards shook it all to pieces. i knew there was no way to get it back together so i decided to start fresh. i have also started getting the mantle decorated and even hung the stockings. but there's still a lot of work to be done.
i did get this year's (and hopefully more to come) wreath idea from another blog. you can see their picture here.
but here is what i came up with. i even made the bow- i did not get any bow-making skills from my mother. (it's most unfortunate.)
part of our most recent visit to franklin involved me helping to host a baby shower for my best friend, rachel. rachel is the "original" best friend, though, i like to call 3 of my closest friends my bests. i met rachel the summer before kindergarten. 26 years later, here we are, waiting to welcome her first baby, maggie, into this world.
these fur babies love them some sunshine. barley and dave, especially, have been so glad the seasons have changed because it means the sunlight filters in the windows again. most afternoons you can find them soaking up the rays. every now and then cotton will join in, but she mostly keeps herself to the shady parts of the room. here, you can see for yourselves...
so who knew life would get in the way of my knitting? i have been knitting a lot this summer but i must say that i forget to take pictures of what i make. so now when i give gifts i make sure that they send/post pictures of them in use.
my friend mandy recently had her 3rd baby boy. i thought she might want a blanket, but she said she has more than enough blankets. so she requested cute/crazy baby hats instead. i made sweet baby vince 3 hats. one is still too big for him (which was the plan since winter is on its way) but the other 2 fit. i stole pictures from her facebook (with her permission, of course) so you could see super cute vince in his hats i made for him.
