The Idaho Botanical Gardens: Winter Gardens aGlow

We were invited by my brother and his girlfriend to go up to the Idaho Botanical Gardens: Winter aGlow this weekend.  We've never been to the Botanical Gardens (even though we were married right next door), let alone for the Christmas lights display.  What a show!  It was really neat - they had vendors, a reindeer, and Santa was even there!  (Carter still didn't want anything to do with him)  Accordin to the website, there were over 250,000 lights.  Amazing!  Here are some shots of our adventure.

A Visit: Monkey Bizness and Santa!!!

Last night, Santa was at Monkey Bizness, so we packed up the kids and went on over!  Last year when I did this, I was there on the dot and let me tell you, there was a massive line.  This year, we had to wait an extra hour at home so Kendall could finish her evening nap.  And that's the way to go!  By the time we got to Monkey Bizness, everyone had already seen Santa, so there was ZERO line.  Excellent!  The play rooms, however, were totally packed.  One side had all of the out of control, older kids, who were basically running wild, knocking over little kids, etc.  So we stuck to the side that was less populated and more family-oriented as far as playing went.

 Kendall and I stayed in the toddler play area, even though she's clearly not a toddler.  She did take control of this little circle mat, and she totally loved it!

 Carter stayed with the biiiiiiiig slide, of course.

 This was so cute!  She stayed on the little ducky for quite a while, rocking back and forth.

 Eric decided to put her up on the slide at one point, which really made me nervous.

 But let me tell you, this kid, just like her brother, is totally fearless.  I'm surprised she didn't pick this point in time to start talking, because I can guarantee, she would have looked over at me and said "mom, chill out, I got this!"

 She was squealing the entire time - so cute!

 And when it was time to see Santa, she did very well.....until she looked up at him.  Then she started crying and screaming.  She was NOT pleased with this man.  He is very nice, I do have to say.  He's the same Santa that was there last year, and his beard is real, and Mrs. Claus was even there this year!  She was giving it her best effort, trying to distract Kendall with bells and toys, but Kendall just wasn't having it. 

 And Carter wouldn't go near Santa either.  He would go give him knuckles and hi-fives, but then run off.  So when it came time for pictures, it was clear that the kids weren't going to sit by themselves, or together, for any sort of decent photo.  So a lady offered to take a picture of all of us, and while I was nervous about handing the camera over to her, it was the only way a photo was going to be taken this year.  So, here is what we got!

Merry Christmas to all!!

Project 2011: Through His Eyes, Part 49

Here are Carter's pictures!

Christmas Project #3 - FINISHED

This really WAS a project....as any mom with kids will tell you, coordinating for photos is.....an ordeal. And even more so when you are the one taking the photos!  Here are some Christmas photos of my kids that I snapped this morning.

Christmas Project #2 - FINISHED

I've told a few people about this project, but here's a full description of what I did:

Last weekend, I attended several Holiday Bazaars with Eric's family.  We had a great time hopping around to various places, finding treasures.  One item I stumbled upon was an old window.  Judging by the wood and the paint and the glass used for the windows, I would say this is from a very old house.  I decided that I wanted this window for my house - for decoration.  It's old.  It's rustic.  I figured I could find the perfect place in my house for it.  So I bought it.....and then Eric's grandma got mad at me because she had planned on sneaking the purchase when I wasn't looking (she knew I had my eye on it) for a Christmas present.  So we tore up my check and she wrote a new one, and the window was still mine.  ;) 

So I brought the window home and decided it needed to go up above the fireplace.  Perfect location.  So We hung it up and instantly decided it did NOT go there.  Or, at least painted as it was.  It was a light cream color, as are my walls in the living room.  It totally blended right in and I wanted it to POP.  So it came back down and we happened to have some paint out in the garage.  So the project began.

Here is the original window (which, by this point, I had determined it was actually half of a door....but I needed it to be a window, so it's a window) with the paint it had on it when I made the purchase.

 Took it out to the garage where I sanded it down.

 The paint we had in the garage was brown, so I decided to just go with that instead of spending money on a new can.  Plus, brown would go well with the cream colored walls and carpet.

 I'm not a big painter, so I don't know the rules on painting this way or that, or how many layers, or how thick of layers to do.  So I just slapped some on and called it good.  It was going to have a rustic look anyway, so perfect painting was far from my mind.  In fact, the more imperfections, the better!

Once the entire thing was painted, I had to let it dry.  Once it was dry, it was time to distress it all over again.  So I took the sandpaper off of the sander and started sanding away, by hand, adding emphasis in some areas.

 Here is the finished product - please excuse the reflection of the Christmas tree!

 I put it back above the fireplace, though it's sort of outdone right now by all of the Christmas decorations that are up. 

 Some detail shots.

Overall, I love it.  I think once all the Christmas stuff is taken down, I will try to find some other items that can go up there with it, to give it sort of a mood or theme.