Wine Bottles

This year my sisters and I agreed not to get each other presents, which is rather untypical of us. Sometimes its a free for all, other times we draw names and get a gift for one person. And then sometimes we'll draw names and a get a gift for that person, and everyone else still. Regardless, we settled on no gifting this year.

And then I found this really cute idea and could not say no! I was going to get them each a nice bottle of wine but...Nanny has how many cases left from my wedding? Kile is probably a wine connoisseur by now. Not sure if Kim and Robin are wine drinkers so I went the easy route and a purchased three Arbor Mists (all of different flavors of course!) and my mom my favorite wine - Barefoot's Pinot Grisio. Love this stuff and it goes great with pizza! Here's how they turned out!

Easiest thing to do! Get a pair of knee high sock and stick a bottle of wine in one. I tied the end in a knot and left the open end in the knot. With the other sock, I tied in into a make-shift bow. I found some inexpensive scrap booking paper and cut out name tags. I used a hemp like material to tie the tags to the bottle, but ribbon or yarn could easily be substituted. And then Ta-Da! You have a pretty little gift good for, in my case, Christmas. Also a nice hostess gift too! Why just bring a bottle of wine next time?

 Here's your cost break down:
Socks: $2.50 each at Target (Lot of fun ones there!)
            or $4.97 for a 3 pack at Wal-Mart
Wine: $3.57 for Arbor Mist (variable at your discretion)
Total: $6.07
Not bad at all!

Merry Christmas to all!

Water Turtle

We woke up today to a snowy wonderland! It was so pretty outside! At 9 degrees, a little chilly too! This is what I saw when I stepped out our front door...obviously prettier in person. And more so if it was the original pictures I took. These are pictures of pictures. They're stuck on the camera and I can't seem to upload them...along with all of our "setting up Christmas" pictures...ugh.

With that said, Christmas eve is tomorrow already! I can't wait! I am so tired of telling the boys to stop touching the tree and to stay out of the presents! Hunter has been using a present for Roxy, our dog, as a phone to call whomever he wants and opened one of JP's presents already. So frustrating. He nearly pulled the whole tree over today. I don't mean to be a Grinch, but honestly, Christmas is not one of my favorite holidays. If I had to pick one, it would probably be St. Patrick's Day. Anyways...

So tomorrow we are headed to Fairmont Hot Springs to spend Christmas eve, and part of Christmas with my family. Perry and I were a little hesitant on the idea, primarily because it's a place where people go to swim. I would go to soak in the hot tub, but I doubt that is going to happen, even once. Hunter and JP HATE water. Of all kinds, except their bath. No rivers or ponds or lakes or kiddie pools. Get too close and they scream. JP hangs on my leg for dear life. I've been able to get Hunter in the water, but only for short periods of time, ie a minute.

A few weeks back, some unfortunate guest at the hotel I work at left behind their turtle tube. Its been in the lost and found since, so I took it upon myself to retrieve it tonight. It is my hopes that they will learn to like the water...we'll see. Here's some photos of Hunter...excited already!

He wandered around the yard like this for a while....

He talks to his turtle tube like its person. He loves it and has only had it for a few hours. JP has taken to it as well...but doesn't care to wear it. Needless to say, I had to put the turtle away for the night because of too many "He's mine!".

And still on him inside while watching tv...

Also note the blanket. Neighbors Darrell and Judy gave both the boys matching blankets and Cars pjs. And a giant pop-up football tent. They enjoyed the tent for a little while, but both have been inseparable from their blankets. Kinda ridiculous. They are the exact same, but they know who's is who's.

Christmas Lights

With Christmas approaching soon, and people taking down their lights soon after, Perry and I decided we needed to take the boys out to see some Christmas lights tonight. Initially we were just going to drive around and see what we could see. However, we received a tip from some neighbors down the road that we HAD to go see the house off of Montana Street.

Boy were they ever right! We could see them from blocks away! This wasn't your typical drive by house though. It was a walk-through! The house was at the end of a dead end street so we, along with others, parked our vehicles and got out to see the display.

Hunter and Me outside of the entrance.

My boys and me checking out the Mickey Mouse display. See next picture.

Okay - So it wasn't just Mickey...Hunter loved it because Winnie was in it (of course!)

Countdown to Christmas display

This one was pretty cool! Santa was in front dancing and singing and his reindeer were dancing along with him! The snowmen were cute too! The sign the one is holding reads "Will work for freezer-space" Loved that one : ) At this display, the home owner, an older lady, came out of the garage to hand out candy canes to the young kids. The boys loved it! We were told she would wear her Mrs. Claus outfit, but didn't when we were there...ah well!

Ferris Wheel

Right next to this one was a mini version of Santa's house. You could see him laying in his bed with the fireplace going in the background. You could even SEE him sleeping. The speakers played him snoring/breathing and if you watched close enough, you could see his stomach moving up and down. Perry was in charge of pictures as I left all of my stuff at home, otherwise I'd have photo'd it. But this half of the driveway was almost like a little mini winter fair! Super cute displays!

Mommy and her boys before we left.

These pictures don't even come close to showing this display of lights! The house itself was covered in lights. There was an upstairs balcony that looked over the front lawn and had a large snowman, Santa and Mickey Mouse on display. Large like life-sized. And then from a tree hung a make-shift helicopter and the American flag hung in lights off a different tree. 

I have to wonder, where do they store all this stuff?! And how long does it take them to set it all up/ take it down! They did a wonderful job in creating a little Santa wonderland! Kudos to the people on Montana Street!

On to the less exciting but still cool.... we drove out past Big Sky HS and found the house with the yard FULL of lights that were programmed to Christmas music. Apparently you could tune into a particular radio station and see the light show with the music. We couldn't find the station. And we were parked on a downhill slope in the ditch, so Hunter kept telling dad that he needed to "not tip the car so he could see". Lots of flashy lights -would have been cool to see it with the music. They also had a massive ice sculpture in the front yard but we could see what it was. Basically, if you were to have taken a fireplace out and put it in your front yard, chimney attached, and then watered/iced it down, this is what it would have looked like. But it was also dark, so it could be cool in the day light?

After that we just drove around in the Pleasentview area to see the "regular" Christmas lights. JP really enjoyed that. He sat in the back saying nothing but "kiss-miss-ights", in a soft muted voice. (I can't decide if he could actually see them or not as it looks like he can barely see out of the window. I think he missed out on most of the houses!)

Yarn Wreath

Super excited about this! I found the idea on pinterest.com but changed it around a little bit. And let me just say, I bought a glue gun for this project and I have barely put it down. I can't believe I've gone so long without my gun!

Here's the cost breakdown:

$4.00 for the hay wreath

$3.99 for yarn (free for me though! Leftovers from a previous project!)

$.29 for each piece of felt

$1.00 for berries

Here's how to:

1. Loop your yarn around the wreath (keep the plastic on it! Less mess this way!) and tie it in a knot. Then start wrapping the yarn around the wreath. It doesn't have to be perfect! You can cover up any missed spots with flowers and such. You can also adjust the yarn when your done. This part is really time consuming but you'll eventually get into a groove. I, on the other hand, had two little boys, who will remain nameless, who found it to be lots of fun to jump in and out of "the tunnel". I made it work. 

2. I hot glued the end of yarn to the wreath once I was done. (You could also do this at the beginning if you want.)

3. Add your own touches with a hot glue gun. I made felt flowers and added some berries.

Going into this, I was planning to just make a nice looking, year-round wreath, but I was pressed for time at the store and could only find red and white felt. So a Christmas wreath it was. I'm currently in the process of knitting something to hang it with.

Fire Truck Cake

November 19, 2011

Long before Hunter turned 3 years old, he told us he wanted to be a fireman "and put out the fires!" As his birthday approached he decided (with my help of course!) that he wanted a fire truck cake for his birthday. I found the directions for this cake on bettycrocker.com as well, but changed a couple things around. He loved his cake! And yes, I already blogged about this cake on the other blog... But this was a monument cake for me, as I had never worked with fondant before. My sister Kile asked me to make a golf themed grooms cake for her wedding in May next year, so this was a good practice cake for using fondant.

Here's where I got the idea: http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/fire-engine-cake/a4c6b0d2-2347-45f2-8327-8ab7e3b328c4

Barnyard Cake

February 10, 2011

This was SO easy do! This is Jimmy's 1st birthday cake. I loved making this and love how it turned out! The only struggle I had with his cake was making the frosting red. I used a TON of cake dye. And a year later, my cutting board still has red on it... Note to self, use something different next time!  The pigs were my favorite to make! They were a little tricky, but well worth it!

Here's the link for the how-to: https://www.bettycrocker.com/videos/videolibrary/birthday-cakes/barn-cake

Bulldozer Cake

November 20, 2010

Here is Hunter's 2nd birthday cake. A bulldozer. I found the directions here: http://www.parenting.com/article/how-to-make-a-bulldozer-cake.

Looked simple enough, but before it was finished, I was yet again very frustrated. The scoop wouldn't stay on and unlike the year before, I used a chocolate bar for the windshield instead of frosting, as I thought it would be easier. Not the case. It was too heavy and wouldn't stay glued to the cake. You can see them, but there is side windows too. The graham cracker scoop got soggy from the frosting and broke in the middle. I made quite a few scoops. I should have done something like I did with the tractor cake to make it sit up higher. Ah well.