I hosted another craft exchange last week and it was another hit! I need a bigger house though haha! I forgot to take a photo of everyone’s crafts but there were so many great ones! Some wooden plaques (one wood burned, some with chalkboard paint), advent calendars, Christmas bulb magnets, peppermint sugar scrubs, homemade cards, Christmas potpourri, peppermint mason jar candles, and more!
I didn’t get a great photo of the craft I made this time, but here’s a duplicate version I made for myself below. I cut out pieces of felt and sewed them together (using a fancy stitch on my sewing machine, which is a first for me!). It was super easy but turned out really cute, I think. Thanks to Sarah S. for this awesome idea! I saw it on your instagram and had to make one for myself.
Thanks everyone for coming! Can’t wait for next year’s! Or maybe we should do an Easter exchange 😉 !
I just love this season so much and am grateful for the Spirit it brings into our home. We have watched a bunch of Christmas movies already and also several Christmas specials. My favorite special so far was Vocal Point’s. You can watch the whole thing here. It’s such a great show!
https://katiederrick.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/logo.png00Katiehttps://katiederrick.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/logo.pngKatie2016-12-14 09:00:042016-12-12 21:02:43Christmas with Vocal Point
I posted this on Facebook already, so sorry if it’s a duplicate post for you. Just have to document it on the blog!
One month ago I saw that Jim Gaffigan, one of my favorite comedians, was coming to the Vivint Arena. I told TJ to email his HR person to see if he could get cheap or free tickets (he works for Vivint and occasionally gets free tickets to the arena for Jazz games and such). Well, he didn’t hear back. We made other plans, a friend offered us tickets this week but we already had stuff going on and couldn’t spend too much on tickets anyway. I was pretty disappointed it didn’t work out BUT THEN TJ found out the afternoon of the show that they had two extra tickets to the Vivint Suite, and they were ours if we wanted them for free! Uh, yes! We canceled our previous plans, found a babysitter, and got to spend the evening laughing the night away and being spoiled in the suite with dinner and dessert! Great night! Thank you, TJ, for working hard so we can play hard (and enjoy all the perks of your job)!
I told you all earlier, I pull out our tree pretty much as early as possible. I listen to Christmas music right after Halloween. I plan out about fifty activities in my calendar for the season. So, when my kids were sick for a solid week, I was kind of devastated. We missed the Alpine Live Nativity, which I had gotten tickets for as soon as they went on sale and was heartbroken we didn’t get to do that. We missed the Nativity, which was a new tradition we started with my friend and her daughter. We also missed this other sing-in thing while they were sick. So needless to say, last week I decided we needed to STEP UP OUR GAME to get caught up!
We celebrated St. Nick, where St. Nick comes in the night to put chocolate in your shoes if you’ve been good!
We drove around the neighborhood one night with Christmas music on and looked at all the lights. This is always a favorite activity of mine since the kids are nice and warm, and it’s free! We will probably go out and do this again another night.
We started our #12outfits of Christmas with Danica!
For every one good picture, there are about thirty awful/hilarious ones.
We decorated Gingerbread houses (and then ate it as soon as we finished).
Between the kids getting sick and TJ taking the car to work quite often, we have been at home a lot recently. It actually has grown on me. As you know, I’m definitely the type of person who loves to get out everyday and go on new adventures with the kids as much as possible, so at first it seemed so hard to be stuck at home ALL.DAY.LONG. The days still seem long at times, but with play dates, lots of crafts, and a little creativity, we are getting used to it!
One late afternoon, Finn was napping, so I took Eva outside and we played in the snow together. She found ice pieces and could have played with them all night long-she pretended they were pieces of a castle. It’s so fun to see her creative mind at work.
I searched long and hard for a new winter coat. I had several specifications. It needed to be in my budget and if it was too much, it had to be PERFECT. It needed a hood, needed to go to my knees, needed to cinch at the waist so I don’t look like a balloon, needed to be warm and soft, and needed to be a gray (or something other than black). I seriously went to about fifty stores and didn’t find one that I loved. Columbia had one but it was over my budget and wasn’t the warmest kind they had, so I just couldn’t let myself spend so much money! I was SO incredibly frustrated and figured I’d just wear my old Hollister coat I’ve had for nearly ten years for another season. Then I went to Target, you know… where I go 80 times a week, and lo and behold… I found this coat and it was on sale for $40! It’s not quite as warm as I had hoped, since I wanted a down one, but for $40, I can just wear a fleece underneath if I really need to. I love it! Here’s a photo with my sidekick, she loves jumping around in that big Target bag!
My kids started playing together this month a lot and I LOVE IT! They are so cute. This is why people have more kids!
I took this on the night before Eva turned five. I told her it would be the last day she would ever be four years old. She and I almost started crying! She said she would miss being four. I’ll miss you being four too, Eva Kay!
We went to music class for the first time in a long time last week. Finn didn’t sit still at all, but really did enjoy being with all those kids and dancing along to the music.
Here’s my cutie on his motorcycle, his ultimate favorite toy. He’s started standing on the seat, and tries to let go. What a daredevil. Eva was never like that! Boys… #amiright?!
We made a felt tree to stick on the wall with felt ornaments for the kids to play with. Finn’s idea of “playing” with the ornaments is ripping everything down. One day we were really bored and so we made clothes out of paper bags, colored them, and then did a fashion show. It was so funny!
Here’s my cute girl all ready to play in the snow!
She has always loved making snow angels. This is the face of pure joy!
https://katiederrick.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/logo.png00Katiehttps://katiederrick.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/logo.pngKatie2016-12-12 20:38:442016-12-12 20:38:44Life at Home
Eva turned five today! It kind of blows my mind that I have a five year old, but I’m excited for all the adventures that lay ahead! She is so spunky, loving, and full of excitement for life. I’ll write an official post dedicated to her soon, but I wanted to share her birthday party today!
On Saturday, she had her cousins and a buddy over in the morning for a Beanie Boo adoption party! Each guest got a Beanie Boo to take home, gave their animal a name on the adoption paper, decorated their little crate, and made a collar with a bell, name tag, and leash. I saw that my friend had a tower of donuts instead of a birthday cake for her little girl and Eva loved that idea! So did I because 1. I love donuts especially the ones from Lehi Bakery and 2. that meant I didn’t need to make a cake! The sparkler candles on top made the kids laugh because they kept turning back on. We also served a few snacks that were all animal themed, like goldfish, Scooby Snack graham crackers, animal crackers, and Life of Pet fruit snacks.
The kids played “pin the creepy eyes on the Beanie Boo” which hopefully did not lead to a pink eye apocalypse (we realized at the end of the party Eva had pink eye… I’M SO SORRY EVERYONE!!!). Eva opened gifts and then we ended the party with the kids coloring Beanie Boo pages. It turned out really well, except for the horrible pink eye stuff and Finn throwing up all over me in the middle of it. Once again… SORRY if you guys get sick or get pink eye. I seriously feel so so so bad!
https://katiederrick.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/logo.png00Katiehttps://katiederrick.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/logo.pngKatie2016-12-07 15:00:592016-12-04 21:06:58Just a Normal Wednesday
My friend threw such a cute Gilmore Girls viewing party! Even the invites were adorable. It was fun to watch the first episode together, even though I probably commented way too much… sorry, guys! Sometimes I just can’t control my commentary! Thanks for hosting, Kelsie! And just in case you missed my thoughts on the new episodes, you can find them here!
https://katiederrick.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/logo.png00Katiehttps://katiederrick.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/logo.pngKatie2016-12-07 09:00:552016-12-04 20:57:24I'm 99% certain I'm a Gilmore Girl!
We had a really great Thanksgiving. I usually don’t care too much about the holiday, it’s not that I don’t like it… I enjoy being with family, watching the parade, eating some pumpkin pie, thinking about our blessings… but it’s not like on the level of Halloween or Christmas, you know? But this year, it really was!
The days leading up to Thanksgiving were nice, we did a bunch of crafts, including the ones seen below (thanks, Mom for sending those!). And I also got to help in Eva’s class with her Thanksgiving Feast. I’m so grateful I’m in the position where I can help in her school!
On Thanksgiving Day, I started off the morning by going to an early morning High class, I pushed through even though I had a bad cold! We spent the morning cuddling with the kids on the couch, watching the parade, and Facetiming my parents. We then went to TJ’s parents’-the men went to the restaurant to get in line (who would have thought there’d be an hour line for a Thanksgiving buffet?) and then we met them when it was time. A lot of TJ’s extended family-like aunts and uncles on his dad’s side-joined us which was fun to see them! TJ’s aunt ever made these adorable little napkin holders with everyone’s face on a pilgrim’s body. Too funny!
After lunch, we headed to the movie theater to see Moana (we got tickets like three weeks in advance!) and my sister-in-law graciously offered to watch Finn for us, which was so nice not to have to bring him into the theater. The movie was incredible. If you haven’t seen it, go! We bought the soundtrack as soon as we left the theater!
We went back to TJ’s parents’ house where we played games together and enjoyed one another’s company. My mother-on-law prepared a Bingo game for the kids, which they loved. We even got Pie Face out for the first time, which didn’t disappoint!
We were driving home after the great day and I saw my cute kids in the back, TJ and I were singing Christmas songs, and we just said to each other how great of a day it had been! The only thing that could have made it better is if my parents and siblings got to be with us too! I sure miss you all, but we were fortunate enough to see my brother and my sister-in-law the next day since they were in town! We went bowling on Friday and stayed up late talking. I’m grateful for my family-far and near-and grateful for our strong relationships, even if we don’t get to see each other as much as we’d like!
