I am all about easy, colorful projects with things I have already have around the house, so these fit the bill wonderfully. We have a few more Christmas crafting DIYs to do and share soon! Do you have a favorite Christmas craft or recipe you do at this time of year?

It was Ben’s birthday this past Sunday. He turned 37. The first birthday I ever celebrated with him was when he turned 27! Seriously, time really goes much too fast. I was 20 and he was 27 and I thought that was old back then. It really isn’t, in fact, it is quite young! For his birthday this year, we decided to make a little book, inspired by this Eric Carle book, that would tell him of how we were going to celebrate his special day…

Ben loved the book so much and I had fun making it. I used a blank board book for the book base. I painted a ton of paper with lots of different colors and textures (I had a list of the colors I needed for the book), so that I could get the Eric Carle look. Each picture was cut out of different pieces of paper and glued onto the page. The faces took the longest to make, as each color you see is its own cut out piece and all glued together. I was super excited to be able to shower him with lots of love!

So just as the book dicated, he got breakfast in bed and I made him a ginormous omelet. Then, some presents, which was the book and a lunchbox, then off to church we went. After, we came home and had a cooking party where we made this recipe that we always wanted to try and these white chocolate oatmeal cookies. The best part of all, we all just spent time together, eating, relaxing, watching movies and getting cozy by the fireplace. I think that made Ben a very happy birthday boy!

My guy is a simple guy and his favorite things are handmade gifts and being with his girls! He’s got five of them after all!!! Benny, all your girls love you so, so much!!! You are the handsomest, sweetest, bestest husband and father ever! Well, not better than God of course (as True would say).

For the past several years, we have never used a tree topper because I could never find one I liked. We go very simple on our tree just stringing garland and this simple tree topper is what I have always been looking for. The handmade feel of it is just too irresistibly sweet!

We may be making smaller versions of it to hang some little stars around the house. Also, the fabric strips I used were from this ribbon spool. I saw it when I went to Anthropologie recently and it was just too fun and colorful to not buy just because, but then it came in handy for this little project!

So tell me, what do you use to top your Christmas tree?

True had her last day of school for this year and still her theatre teacher tells me she doesn’t talk much. True tells me she is really shy in theatre because it is the first class of the day, but as the day goes on, she is less shy. This idea will get tested because next semester, her theatre class is at the end of the day, so we will see.

I really love the charter school we go through because this one day a week school deal is such a good thing for her. I can’t wait until Brave joins next year! Also because that means when they are both at school, it gives me more of a break having just two kids at home. School officially goes on break next week, but I think we will continue doing a bit of school here and there. Love the homeschooling flexibility!

And you all know we love Misha Lulu and you can get great deals this week on their lovely goods through Mini Social. Check it out here!

p.s. that smile of hers, melts my heart!

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Good news!!! I won the HOUZZ holiday contest!!! Thank you all for your support!!! HOUZZ will be randomly drawing one of your names (of those who commented), so one of you will be getting a $250 gift certificate very soon! So keep checking back for the announcement. Thank you again so, so much!!!

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It is such a pretty, serene, little scene and was so easy for us to make! It could even be made bigger with mason jars or you could use some little bottle brush trees if you have them. Or even make tiny houses, put in some tiny deers and the list could go on and on…

Stay tuned for another little Christmas project tomorrow!!!

That’s right. This is all six of us. Six! I still can’t believe it. Ben and I became a big family, really fast! We were married a little less than seven years ago and now we have four kids. Yes, we think we are crazy and there is a lot of yelling in our house, but there is also a lot of good times. I am sure one day we will look back and laugh at all the yelling and craziness we felt, but I am sure we will miss those times too. Here’s to trying to treasure moments amidst the craziness of having 4 children super close in age!