Christmas in Retail

December,

In Retail this month is anything but calm and reflective. I go to work and I see so much stuff and I think I should get that or this. What a deal - maybe we should have 2 or 3 as a matter of fact. No time to use it but hey at least we will own it. :) I pray and I usually see that I do not need any of it.

This is the first December that we have both worked and I am thinking it is not my favorite thing. I am so Thankful for my job and His but I miss the baking and the crafting and the sleeping in and the staying up late. This is the place God has me and I will walk in this place and I will be Thankful for my beautiful Children and my amazing Husband and my job.  I will try to be wise with what money we have and not desire more, I will try to care for the things he has given us including our marriage and children even when I am tired and crabby.

We celebrated our 13th Anniversary on the 17th and I am so happy to say I Love my Justin. 13 years and a million moments later and the Love God has given us for each other is amazing. Such a gift to know that even when we disagree, argue, crab, and annoy we LOVE each other with the Lords help.

So this Christmas week we will remember Christ and his Birth and his Death, we will Love family and friends, we will be content with what we do have and not covet more, and we will reflect on everything the Lord has done for us. Which of course is EVERYTHING



Here is a pic of our sweet neighbor Taylor paying us a visit the other day as her Dad and Mom ran an errand. Pretty sure she could not possibly have had more attention paid to her. :)

Thrifty Lego ornaments :)

The boys saw these in the Lego magazine we get for free in the mail. http://shop.lego.com/en-US/Holiday-Ornament-with-Green-Bricks-853346


I thought they would be cute on the tree they always have in there room but was no way going to spend 8$ for them. So I grabbed some plastic bulbs at Michaels for about 50 cents each on sale and we dug through the boys Legos to fill them. It's a win, win situation. We get some fun new ornaments for a bargain price and until Christmas the boys will have a few less Legos to clutter the floor with. hehehehe

Ballenger Family Nov 2011

So here we are, November already. Life has been busy and full in a blessed way. I have not been able to post as much as I intended too.
Justin is still prayerfully seeking employment. I am working part time at Michaels craft store.
Justin is covering homeschooling on the mornings that I work, often all 5 days. This has been a bit of a crazy adjustment but we are settling into it pretty well.
Thanksgiving is next week and this year has been so full of an overabundance of things to be Thankful for. God is so good to us.

I am Thankful for my Husband and the Love for the Lord that I see growing in him more and more each day.
I am Thankful for my children who grow more beautiful and teach me new things each day.
I am Thankful for amazing family and friends.
I am Thankful for coffee on cold mornings and Sweaters.
I am Thankful that no matter what happens Gods provision is so much more than we need.
I am Thankful that I get to work at a craft store. (Love crafts)
I am Thankful for our small group and the encouragement we share each week.
I am Thankful for MOPS and the opportunities it has given me to come out of my shell and share my love of crafting with others.

Happy Thanksgiving

Independence Day Shirts

4th of July is coming soooo fast. I had picked up these red T-shirts at the Dollar Tree at least a month ago with plans to make shirts for the kidlets to wear.

I gathered all of the red white blueish fabrics I had pieces of and traced these stars from Family Fun on them. Star Pattern

Then I cut them all out

Using my trusty glue sticks again I lightly glued them on the shirts. Some layered.

Stitched them closeish to the edge with a straight stitch

Trimmed the threads and Tadah!!!! I will grab a pic of all the kids on Independence Day if I my brain reminds me that I should. :)

Easter Sunday 2011

Easter Sunday

Learning how to play Chinese Checkers with Mom and Dad!

Pinata time (It was the stone that was rolled away. :)

Egg hunt in the back yard - We had a bit of break from the rain but it was still very muddy for little feet.

Cousins enjoying lunch around the table

Waking up Easter morning to find the caterpillar transformed into a butterfly. "It is rised up just like Jesus" Caleb says.

Timothy, Evangeline, and I made these fun butterfly snacks for all the kids to take home.

The boys waking up to there new car carpet.

Valentines for hair

I have seen all kinds of valentine felt hearts this week on blogs. Pins, Garlands, ect... Then Shae sent me an Etsy link to some cute hair clip flowers. So these are my interpretation of a combo of both. :) I think they turned out cute and can't wait to see my nieces and my Girly sporting them for Valentines Day. :)

First I cut out 3 pieces for each heart. One large piece of felt (Just the cheap stuff from WalMart) and 2 smaller hearts of cotton.

Then I glue sticked them together so they wouldn't move while I stitched them.

I stitched around each heart. Middle heart straight stitch inside and out with a zigzag. They are kind of small so go slow and make sure your needle is in the down position when you stop to maneuver corners.

After stitching I trimmed those crazy excess threads and dug through my buttons for some small enough and cute enough to coordinate with the hearts.

Then I sat and stitched all the buttons on.

Next I grabbed my glue gun. It is low temp but seems to be holding fine. If I had the choice I would use high temp so the hold would be stronger. Evangeline had these hair clips she never wears so we used them to put the hearts onto. You could use any small hair clips or even a safety pin and just wear them on your shirt.

My Beauty sporting her new Heart. :)

Christmas Joy 18-25

So Christmas has come and gone and here I am ready to finally post a few more pics. Next year I will have to remember to charge the camera battery the day before Christmas, thus we don't have so many morning with Dad and Mom pics.


Caleb did so good at the Christmas program at Church Sunday. After turning into a goof ball during practice I was happy to see him go up and do it for real.

 Timmy Loves to sing but he gets pretty shy when he is up front

 Evangeline got to sing with the big girls this year. :(

 It was great to have Layla here this year for Christmas. Here she is giving sissy a ride. :)

 Haven and his new Buzz Lightyear!

 Evangeline trying out her Drawn 2 Life game

 The coffee my hubby made me Christmas morning. Yes I needed it. :)

 Merry Christmas Oso, one year that we have owned him now.

 My nephew and me!

 Caleb was attempting to attack Anna here I think

 Justin and the kids went Christmas Caroling with the Church

Christmas Joy Day 7 - 17

Okay so I was on a good roll and then poof life got in the way. So much for my pic a day.

Here is a few pics from the last 10 days.

My Haven and I

A Playdough Christmas

 Ryan and Shae came for a too short visit. :)

 The kids put on a "play" in the loosest sense of the term. I am pretty sure it involved a baby Jesus.

 Grandma Sherry came to the build and grow clinic with us last Saturday

 Thank you Shae for the twirly ribbons and Evangelines pretty new hat. :)

 I sewed up a bunch of Java Jackets for my sister to give away to her coworkers and then a few for Christmas presents.

Christmas Joy - Day 5

Okay okay so much for picture a day. Lets just call it "at least a picture a day" :)


Working back through the day I will start you off with the finished product. Our lovely Christmas tree. The very most beautifulest we have ever had according to Timmy. :)

A little help decorating from my girl

A little help putting on lights from my littlest boy

Timmy putting together the tree stand which he figured out all on his own. :)

At the tree farm where the gentleman used this awesome machine on our tree. (But he did not break it as Haven was a bit concerned he might)

A daddy can never have a big enough audience. Now if only he could get some help. hehehe

The first tree Caleb saw of course it is the one he wanted. So we took it home in picture form instead and he was happy with that.

Oh and the nice lady gave us candy, what could be better?