Away, But Wanted To Share This Sweet Moment

Taking her tric out for a spin....for the first time.

Not Since 1883

Here is what we got on Christmas Day. Big deal for Hot'Lanta, considering the last snow accumulation on Christmas Day was in 1883.

All things homemade

With a pretty tight budget this year, I have tried very hard to make my own Christmas gifts, decorations, kids clothes and treats. I have had a lot of fun planning and coming up with ideas. I have shared a few of them with you already. Cookie cutter ornaments, paper trees, snow covered pine cones and a snow capped bird house. I wanted to share a few more before Christmas Day passes us by.

Each year I give both Mr. H and K a special ornament that represents something significant from their year. This year, Mr. H took a spur of the moment road trip. That is pretty significant! He went from GA to NM and back, seeing some cool sights along the way. I wanted to find something to represent his trip, but have had trouble finding an ornament that did not cost $15.00 or more. So, I ended up making his this year. I like how it turned out. He loves maps and he loves to drive, so this is perfect for him.

Trying it on for size.

Homemade chocolate chip cookies packaged and ready to deliver. Delicious!

I had plenty of iron on decorations left from last season. I very quickly made this shirt for K to wear to see Santa and to her Christmas party at school. It cost me nothing.

I painted this cute winter scene at my MOPS group for K to hang in her room all season. She thinks it is the best painting ever. She is my biggest fan.

I created a new tradition this year for our advent calendar. I bought 24 mini stockings in November and numbered them 1-24 with red glitter. Each night, K hides a stocking for her little Elf, Thomas to find. If he can find it, he puts a tiny surprise in it for her. Hershey kisses are most appreciated. After she enjoys her treat, she hangs the stocking on the tree.

I'm A Winner

Yesterday I received word that I won a prize! Ever heard of Tea Collection? They sell really cool kids clothes at an affordable price. Well, I am a fan of theirs on facebook and every Tuesday, they hold a contest called Tote Tuesday. This week the prize was a Tea Tote AND a free 6 month subscription to Little Passports. Little Passports is a really cool program where you sign your child up and pay a low monthly fee to receive packages from a new country every month! Letters, stickers, souvenirs and photos are included. It helps you to teach your child about the wide world around them. Well, lucky me! We get this for free! Just heard today that our first package arrives on Christmas Eve! Woo Hoo! I love being a winner! Mom, I'm a winner! I am on a roll because earlier this month I won a new scarf at a raffle. Jealous?

What I Want for Christmas

I know all of you are dying to know what I want this year for Christmas. I wanted to share my wish list with you. I finally gave it to D yesterday after denying all month that I don't really want anything. I was trying to save money and not ask for anything, but D would not go for it, so I easily came up with a few items that I would enjoy.

What's not to love? House shoes.

I have kept a journal since the 7th grade. I need a new one. I must have spiral bound. It is such a pain to write in otherwise and the words on the left side of book always look all messed up.

2 years ago I got an iphone. I wanted this case. I have put it on my wish list each year and still have not gotten it. I hope I get it this year. At least it is cheaper this go round, it used to be $30.00 (which is why I didn't get it, I am sure).

Last week while K was at "school" I found myself sitting in Books A Million crying my eyes out as I read the first chapter of this book. I was sniffing and rubbing my nose and all that yucky stuff. I want to read it. I want to hear how she has dealt with the tragic loss of her baby girl. I want to get a little bit of that faith.

This book allows transracially adopted people to share their stories. I want to hear them.

I have stated before that I struggle with what to wear on a daily basis. I am stuck between wanting to be comfortable but still look nice. I think this looks really comfortable and really cute too. This cowl neck scarf can be found here.


So, there it is. What about you? Want to share your wish list? Leave a comment!

Cookie Party

I had the pleasure of hosting a cookie decorating party for my friends. It was so much fun! The kids played so well together, all 7 of them. The Moms got some good talk time in and enjoyed chocolate chip scones, whoopie pies and coffee. We all enjoyed decorating the cookies ( and eating them). My little K was so excited to have all her friends there. She is quite the little hostess, except when she pushes kids down and locks babies in dark closets. We are working on that. I ended up using Martha Stewart's sugar cookie recipe. It worked perfectly for cutting out the cookies. Each guest went home with a Chinese take out box filled with cookies and a cookie cutter ornament for their tree. I wish I had taken more pictures of the set up before we got started, but I was super busy. Thankfully, I had arranged for my Mom and my Aunt to arrive early and help me finish last minute things, they were a big help.



Guest J, very happily decorating cookies.

The calm after the party.

Craft Wednesday

Today's craft. Build and decorate a gingerbread house with my 2 year old. I had big intentions to have a fun time doing something Christmasy with my daughter. I put on Christmas music, put on our cute little aprons and got out the mixer to make the icing. Well, it started off great, we mixed the ingredients for icing, which she loves. Once the icing was made, it was time to assemble the house. So, I let her lick the mixing sticks, or whatever you call those things while I assembled the house. Sweetly, she asked if she could lick my mixing stick when she was all finished with hers. Because I was still assembling the house, I sweetly replied, "sure!" So, only 30 minutes in and she had already eaten a lot of icing. Next, came time to decorate the house. I put each candy in its own dish and expected her to not eat it. Yeah right. She had no interest in decorating, only eating. Even "accidently" bumping her finger into a glob of icing and saying, "oops! it's okay, I'll just lick it off!" (she did that about 20 times) As time passed, I grew more and more frustrated with her eating so much and sneaking bites, she was disobeying me over and over and I was so annoyed. By the time the house was complete, she had eaten a pound of candy and icing. I was covered in sticky, thick icing and could only think about cleaning up my messy table and counters. Looking back on it, I am proud that I did not loose my temper and end up putting her in time out or worse. I mean, my expectations were clearly too high. If you put a plate of warm chocolate chip cookies in front of me and expect me not to eat them only just stare at them, I would probably sneak a few bites myself. I have to remember she is only 2. Candy is still a novelty in her world. Nevertheless, we have a somewhat pretty gingerbread house to enjoy the this Christmas season. My advice is not to do this project with your 2 year old, unless you don't care if they eat everything in sight!

Now that is cozy.

Craft Wednesday On Thursday

Here is a simple, craft idea that can also double as ornaments or party favors. I made them to give as party favors to all the little kids who are coming to the cookie party next week. They are so simple, you probably don't even need instructions! Here is just a helpful hint, tie the thread onto the cookie cutter before you hot glue the paper on the back. I wish money grew on trees, I have so many cute ideas for the party, but I just cannot do them all because it would cost way to much money for a simple cookie decorating party.

Christmas Crafts

My family traveled to Kansas City for Thanksgiving, which meant two 15 hour road trips. I am lucky to have a husband who works in the magazine industry and supplies me with lots of free magazines! So, while not entertaining our 2 year old, I read through all the magazines that he gave me. I came across some of the cutest craft ideas, cookie ideas and decorating ideas. I could not wait to get home and put some of them into practice. My first attempt are these Christmas trees. They were super simple. You just need scrapbook paper, scissors, glue and a wooden dowel, or in my case chop sticks. I had trouble getting my trees to stand up on their own so I ended up hot gluing them into these little white bowls. If I had floral foam, I would have used that. You simply cut out three graduating circles, fold them in half four times and clip a tiny hole on the tip to thread the dowel through. For the topper, I made two circles and glued them together, allowing space for the top of the the dowel (chopstick) to go through. So cute, right!

Trial Run

I still consider myself new to the world of baking. I enjoy baking, so that is why I keep doing it. Plus, K is more than eager to help and it is a fun and easy way to get some good quality time in with her. Next month I am hosting my first cookie decorating party and I am excited about that. I have all kinds of ideas stirring around in my head! This morning, I thought I would do a trial run cookie baking experience. Good thing I did because the sugar cookie recipe that I chose was not that great for cookie cutters. It was too sticky and the cookies would rip while moving them onto the cookie sheet. But, they still tasted pretty yummy. I decided to package a few to take to my Mom and then the rest are going to MOPS club meeting tomorrow. Last week I did not feel like cooking one night, so we ordered take-out Chinese, I saved the containers because they are really nice and I knew I could use them for gifts this season, so that is what the cookies are packaged in. (I add that because so often I see people post pictures of their baked goods in super cute packaging and wonder where they got their containers.) Hey, if you have a good sugar cookie recipe to share please do!

Generations

Last night I was washing my face and loathing the fact that I still get zits on a regular basis. I have fought them all my life and I am SO SICK of it. I was doing my twice a day, daily regime and just wallowed in my despair for a few minutes. Then today we went to CVS to get a few things and I needed to get some M&M's for a cookie decorating party next month. I knew that if I brought home chocolate, I would most likely eat some. Just another familiar battle for most people. The daily struggle with how you look. So, then this afternoon I check my mail box and the new InStyle came. I looked through it a little during lunch, but decided to put it away. Like most Mom's with daughters, I want to protect and empower her to look past all the ads that tell us we are not enough. It is a struggle that I do not want to pass on. What are you doing to teach your daughter? Please share. I came across these very familiar Dove Campaign videos that are so powerful. I hope they encourage you too.

Dove Campaign Videos

Again....a Christmas Scene

I put my tree up tonight. Mainly because we are going out of town on Friday for a week and I will have enough to do when I get back, so I decided that having a cozy, decorated home to come to would be, well, cozy! I also attempted another drawing. This one is okay in my eyes, not as sweet as the first. Mostly because I stink at drawing faces. Nevertheless, it was fun.

Christmas Scene

I drew this other day while looking online at Christmas scenes. I am going to try to draw it again but make the little girl look more like my little girl. I think it captures the joy and non-stop movement of little kids. Do you like it? I may try and use it for my cards this year. Really make a homemade card.

Craft Wednesday

This week's project was homemade play dough. It was not a kid friendly process, but defintiely a kid friendly result.
Cooked Playdough (flour and salt)
3 cups flour
1.5 cups salt
6 tsp cream of tarter
3 tbsp oil
3 cups water
Dissolve salt in the water.
Pour all ingredients into a large pot.
Stir constantly over medium heat until a ball forms by pulling away from the sides.
Knead the dough mixture until the texture matches playdough (1-2 minutes).
Store in plastic container. Should last for at least 3 months.

**I added food coloring to make colored play dough.

Making Music

Last night I was playing around with Garage Band. My purpose was to try and record a song that I wrote with my Mom and Doug. That was unsuccessful, however I did come up with this fun little tune and was pretty excited about it. I wanted to find a way to put it on the blog. The only way I could do that was to make some kind of slideshow or movie and add it as background music. I am going to a Girls Movie Night tonight with some friends and we are supposed to bring a snack to share. I just went shopping yesterday and did not want to go out and buy anything, so this morning I decided to make pumpkin cookies. I asked K to help me. She was happy to help. Then I decided to film us as we were making cookies. We made a lot of cookies! I ended up put some in a jar to send to work with D tomorrow to give to the nice ladies who always send little toys home with him for K. Remember, this is really about the song. Tell me if you like it! It's my first composition.

Cookies and Music from Samantha Harris on Vimeo.

What A Steal!

Yesterday we bought a new floor lamp for the family room. It used up three of our light bulbs. So, I needed to get some more. I clipped my coupons today for the second Sunday in a row. I found a coupon for $1.00 off the GE Energy Savers light bulb, so I clipped it. Then, I saw in the CVS flyer that the same light bulb, which is regularly $6.19 was on sell for $2.99. So, I decided to go to CVS for the light bulb and a few other things on sale. I scanned my CVS card and what would you know, a coupon came out for $1.00 of that same light bulb! After two coupons and a sale price, I paid $0.99 for a light bulb that will last me SIX YEARS PEOPLE! Now, that is a deal!

This Makes Me Happy

Fashion

I enjoy fashion. I would not say that I love it, but I do like to keep up with the trends and be "in style". Like most people, I also like that comfortable yet fashionable look. I don't wear high heels everyday and skinny jeans don't look good (on me) or feel good to me. A few times a week, I look at this blog. She put together a few looks for the Fall that I like. See below



The looks are practical and I like them. I could see myself wearing them. But, most days, I find myself wearing something more like this.

It's cozy, right?

I'm Famous

I was happily surprised when I opened my mailbox today and saw the most recent edition of Adoptive Families Magazine. I was even more happily surprised when I sat down to read it and saw that I had been quoted! Okay, okay, you can have my autograph.

Autumn Breakfast

I look forward to getting out of bed when I know this awaits me. No, really, I do!

(steel cut oats, brown sugar, raisins, milk and honey. coffee :)

First True Couponing Attempt

After clipping, comparing and planning on Sunday afternoon, I went shopping today. Between CVS and Kroger I spent $56.54 and saved $17.80. Not too bad for my first time.

Wall Painting

Earlier this month, my friend got married. Hurray! For her bachelorette party we had a wild night out at Cocktails and Canvas. We brought yummy desserts and drank wine and each left with our very own Fall inspired painting. It was a lot of fun! Thanks A for getting married.

I have hung my painting above our buffet table in the dining room. I have high hopes of re-creating this painted scene with each new season. So, this month I will paint the landscape in the dead of winter, snow filled branches, low moon, you get the idea. I will then do a painting for spring and summer of the same landscape. Like I said, I have high hopes. This is my attempt at celebrating the changing of the seasons all year long. Stay tuned!

Craft Wednesday

A few weeks ago my family and I spent 4 days at our cabin on Lake Rabun in North Georgia. It was a cozy four days filled with little kids, coffee, boat rides, bonfires, good food, games and long nights!


While we were there, I introduced DecoArt Snow-Tex to my family. We gathered pine cones throughout the week and one afternoon we painted the snow-tex onto the pine cones and they turned out lovely! It is so quick and easy. You just apply the product with a sponge brush and then let it dry for 2-3 hours. You get a surplus of a popular store bought item for around $3.00!


My at home display