Winter Mantel Linky Party

I am in the process of updating my mantle for its winter look. This post Winter Mantel Linky Party provided the inspiration and I hope to have some luck over the next few weeks updating my mantle a little bit. I wish I was as creative as some of these ladies. They are so original with their ideas and they also take the time to make tutorials for people like me to try and follow. I love the blogging world for this very reason and the website ETSY is equally as wonderful. Happy looking:)

Christmas 2009

Here are some long time coming Christmas pictures. I posted some on Facebook right after Christmas but haven't gotten to post them on the blog yet. Christmas this past year was with Mike's family but we got to host part of it. It was so nice because the three of us who live in Dublin each took one of the meals. I had brunch on Christmas morning and this worked out perfect for our kids to get to stay in their jammies and play with their Santa gifts. I had fun decorating this year, we decorated a little more than usual since we were hosting.


Here is the whole family on Christmas morning at our house opening tons of presents.

A picture of all four cousins together on Christmas Eve. This can be a hard task so I am glad that we got physical proof that all the cousins were together for Christmas for the first time.


Here is my dining room. I didn't have table cloths for my tables and I wasn't ready to commit to buying a nice tablecloth for the holidays yet. So I found this really cool wrapping paper at Target that coordinated with the plates I was using and I used it as a runner. I think it turned out pretty cute. I also hung ornaments from the chandelier as I had seen on other blogs.


My favorite new decoration was these candles from dayspring. I really wanted people to know that Christ was the reason for the season so I placed these candles with the nativity scene on my kitchen island.

It was a great Christmas. The kids were happy with all their toys. Abby and Will both got a Zhu Zhu pet, Abby got a Barbie hair salon and a new bike. Will got more trains/tracks for his imaginetex train and a cool dragon castle from his Uncle Bri Bri. I got a lovely Cole Haan purse from Mike and Mike got some shoes that he has been wanting. We feel so blessed to have family near us for the Holidays. The only thing better would have been if my family could have been there to celebrate as well. We did have Christmas with my family on new years day and it the best gift was a Buckeye Victory.

Show us where you Live- Kitchen

Well Kelly has started something new called "Show us where you live". Today she wants to see everyone's kitchen so I thought I would join in.



This is how the kitchen looked when we moved in so I feel fortunate that the previous owners had similar tastes in regards to granite and stainless appliances.


I love these Polish pottery canisters, it is so fun to mix and match the canisters. Plus if I ever change my color scheme in the kitchen I know I can still use them.



Here is our eat in kitchen area. I love all the windows and I love my floral corkboard placemats from Pottery Barn. They wipe off and cover my not so scratch free kitchen table.

Have fun browsing all the fun kitchens out there!!!

Great Find

Mike and I have had a kid free weekend. Mike's parents graciously took the kids for a "Nona and Papa Adventure" weekend as we have come to call it. They went to the Newport Aquarium today and they had a blast. We are so grateful to have two sets of grandparents who love our kids so much and love to take them for the weekend. Well I got to go out and run some errands. I spent one hour in Hobby Lobby. Normally I do not venture to Hobby Lobby and if I do I have a very specific purpose. There are way too many breakables in this store and I usually have my kids in tow therefore it is clearly too risky. So I had so much fun looking around and then I found this scripture plaque. I have wanted to decorate my family room with something scriptural but wasn't sure what yet. I saw this wonderful plaque and put it front and center on my mantle, I enjoy looking at it as I sit here and type. Also this item was on sale, it cost me a whopping 7 dollars. Thankfully I know that the words written on the plaque are priceless because they are spoken by my heavenly father. What a great reminder for my family and I each day, especially when all the news has been so doom and gloom. Thanks Lord for your timeless words of scripture and that you share them with me freely.