Lainey and Jack's "Merry Christmas Party"

Jack and his friend Lainey hosted a little Christmas party today at our house.  (That will either make you laugh, like it does me...or roll your eyes...one of the two.)  Lainey's an old pro after hosting a Halloween party of her own, so Jack and I recruited Lainey and her mom, Theresa, to join us.  (We did  steal their idea after all.  Plus, Theresa makes super cute treats!)  We had a full house  for snacks, chatting, and playing.

I failed to take more than a couple pictures, so you'll have to imagine cute kids and cute reindeer treats, etc. cause this is all there is.  I didn't even get a picture of the host and hostess together! :P

Party favors

Having snacks with his buddies Larae and Beckham.

Checking out his toy inventory after his guests left.

(OR: getting a little time to himself after the craziness!)

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

Duck report from the deck.

Somebody's got an itchy trigger finger!

DADDY'S BOY

A few of his faces...

A Little Look into the Future

After posting those last pictures, I looked out the window and couldn't help but see the sorry state of our future Christmas trees.

Next year...

(at least it resembles a triangle)

The next year...

(not sure of any redeeming qualities here)

And the next year...

HA!

Ummmm.....we might be going to the tree farm! :)

I told you I chose the best one!

Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

We have a handful of very sad looking pine trees on our property that never really had a good shot, as they are under some big walnut trees where they get almost no sun.  We'd talked about needing to take a few of the really bad ones out when I decided we might as well take advantage of having a mini, and quite pathetic, "tree farm" right here.  So Ryan went out in the yard with a hack saw on Saturday and cut down the tree I'd 'selected' in less than a minute flat.  (It's only going down hill [quickly] from here--this was the best it gets!)  It may look a little sorry, but as long as I think of it as our "Little House in the Big Woods" tree, I love it!  Bring on the tin cup with a peppermint stick and a penny! :)

Decorating the tree with "Jack's help"

Our little star is a bit heavy for the teeny little top of the tree, as you can see by the slight forward tilt!

"New" Dresser

My latest project was redoing a dresser that was left in the shed by the previous owners.  My mom gave me an eye for seeing the potential in old furniture, however Ryan was a bit skeptical!

BUT...

$8 later...

(a couple cans of spray paint and rolls of drawer liner)

it was approved to be brought into the house. :)

Perfect Setting

Something we didn't even think about when we bought this house was the perfect view we would have of some amazing sunsets from our front porch.  We get a good view of the sunrise from the back deck too, but the sunsets are what have been pretty amazing lately.

And for those of you who are really only interested in seeing Jack...