December Bits

I'm loving December this year.

I have the whole month penciled in with amazing family activities, traditions, and memories to share.

I also checked off two projects I've been meaning to do for the past 3+ years.

I made my sweeties Christmas pillowcases (Maylie is using my old one and it was in the wash when I took this picture...)

With the help of my mother-in-law, I was able to sew and embellish our family's first beautiful stockings. {Can you guess whose are whose?}

Two Sundays ago I was privileged to attend our tabernacle's 100th birthday celebration.

I can't even say how tearful this made me.

We are so blessed to attend church every single week in this magnificent building.

The stained glass windows, the old doors and brick....The speakers talked of how this great building came to be and all the treasured memories it has seen over the past 100 years.

There was a time several years ago when we almost lost the building in favor of a newer, more updated building...but because of the prayers and faith of the people, the Lord allowed miracles to renovate this glorious structure and continue as a meetinghouse for our stake.

The Spirit was so incredibly strong during the meeting and during the last song, when I stood up with all the youth leaders and youth from our stake to sing the last verse of The Spirit of God, I couldn't keep the tears from spilling out everywhere.

Oh how I love this glorious tabernacle. It is a dedicated house of the Lord and I love it with my whole heart.

Here are some yummy FHE treats we whipped up one day {and I am proud to say that they are almost entirely organic. They were delicious!!}

Maylie insisted on wearing her party dress and scarf one day and danced the day away.

On Thanksgiving I was blessed to make an apple pie. This picture is so special to me as it represents my heritage--{Do you see my mother's painstakingly handwritten recipe there?} Everything about this dessert brings back beloved memories to me.

The day after Thanksgiving we went on our annual Christmas tree excursion...

And lastly, our last day of the month home teaching and visiting teaching treats we delivered last Sunday. These little gingerbread snowflakes were so time-consuming but turned out darling I think!

The Finished Playroom.

I have been so extremely excited for this project since I first dreamed it up a few months ago.  I was so tired of having their bedrooms double as play areas--they're just too small!  And since we are several years away from finishing our basement, I thought the only alternative was to shrink our upstairs theater just a bit and create a playroom in half of the room.  My goal was to be done by Christmas, so we worked like crazy to build the shelves and paint, and get the right baskets, and make the wall hangings, and everything!

Saturday we plunged into the final phase of development and finished it up before we left to our Johnson Family Christmas party that afternoon.

Then last night after church I put all of the toys lovingly in the baskets and brought the boys and Maylie in to see the surprise.

I'll never forget the looks on their faces as they wandered around stupefied.  They immediately gravitated to the chalkboard table and after spending a few minutes experimenting there, they started finding all of their toys in their new homes and pulling them out.  It was dinnertime and I suggested they finish playing after dinner, but none of them wanted dinner.  Easton said he wanted to stay up there forever and play forever.

We finally convinced them to come downstairs for our dinner, and they have being playing upstairs ever since.

I am so so so so happy with how everything turned out and am SO grateful my children finally have a dedicated, darling place to play!

{P.S. Ignore the horrible low-lighting in these pictures.  I wanted to hurry and just snap some with my camera before the littles came in and it was already dark...but even despite the pictures, you can still get a feel for the whole coziness and charmingness of this special little loft.}

Maylie's Very First Birthday Party.

I wanted to wait til we were all moved into our new home before celebrating May's party since her birthday arrived two days before we moved.

So we planned for Saturday, December 8th.  Nana and Papa came to celebrate with us and when they got there, Mom reminded me that it was Grandma Ruth's birthday.  And since Maylie is named after her in part, I thought it was such a tender mercy her party fell on this day.  

Grandma and Grandpa Johnson weren't able to make it since they were helping Molly and Chris move into their new house.  We'll celebrate with them hopefully soon.

And now, for the party:

5 beautiful pink balloons

With Papa--

A Kiss from Daddy--

And a Kiss from Maylie--

Fascination.

Opening Presents...with big brothers enjoying it even more than Miss Muffin.

With Mommy--

The finished cake...I asked my Mom to help me make a ruffle cake, but as we started, it was evident (as always) that she is a much better decorator than me so I just turned the cake while she frosted. :)

And then while we snapping photos, Little May decided to {accidentally} stick her toes right in her cake...

So we let her lick it off--

Oh, but I did frost her name...

Hesitant at first....

...but not for long--

Then our silly girl started biting the table--

...and her plate--


And then, when it was all gone {and all over the floor}, she decided it would be more proper to use a spoon--

And now for the window decorations. I had so much fun making these! {I had to wait until nighttime to snap pictures since it was too bright during the day}

The End.