Holiday Cheer 2020 {3} - Homemade Treats!

I am not a baker. I rarely make cookies, cakes, or pies. I don't know if it's because I have to follow directions to a T or just because I am not always a "sweets" kind of girl. I love my chocolate but I can easily buy that! Also, our kitchen is a straight up hot mess so there was no way I was going to clean it to then have to wash up all the dishes we really hate having to clean - bakeware!

When I saw an Instagram post about buying a box of homemade treats, I immediately hopped on that train. I definitely wanted to have some but didn't want to bake nor did we need a lot of goodies. This was a perfect fit for us and only cost us $12! My intention was to go pick them up myself but the person I bought them from must have been in my area so was able to drop them off. Made my day AND my holiday season!

Special thanks to @kenzinthekitchen_ and @greysgoodeats for the delightful goodies! Don't they look amazing??

Holiday Cheer 2020 {2} - Homemade Decor

Let's talk decor. I've never been one to do much holiday decorating and this year is no different. In fact, we put up our tree on Christmas Eve. This has more to do with a brand new puppy who likes to chew on things but I did have an itch to do one rather big decor project. I teased about it earlier this month...

Want to know what I made???? GLITTER CHRISTMAS TREE CONES! I saw these on Pinterest and knew I needed these in my life. If you know me, I love color so these fit right in. I had hoped to find a few colors and sizes of cones already made. Sadly, I only found one. Can you guess which one that is? 

Personally, I think it's fairly obvious but I don't think I did too bad here. The taller blue cone was bought from the store and the rest I made using a similar method as The How To Mom with one big difference. Instead of buying the paint and painting plain paper, I opted to use colored paper.

If you are interested in making these yourselves, be warned. There is a ton of glitter but overall, it was a fun project. I first traced the cone shapes and cut them out. It took a bit for me to figure out the best way to roll them up because it was a thicker paper but I just taped them up (a lot!). After sorting all of my glitter and sequence, I had to spread glue all over. If you move quickly, you can smooth all of the glue and pour the sequence and glitter all over. I used a smaller/medium sequence and two sizes of glitter. The smartest thing I did was put down a piece of cardboard that I just folded up at the end. I practically had no glitter issues after that!

I'm pretty happy with the outcome and I might just leave them up all year round! I'm sure Gspice will make me put them away but for real, I think my next project will be a couple of the colorful bulb wreaths!

Did anyone else decide to make some homemade decor this year? 

Holiday Cheer 2020 {1} - North Liberty Holiday Lights

Without a lot of options to do more traditional holiday activities, this was one thing I love seeing at night. We are lucky to live on a street where people like to do fun things with their outdoor decor and their holiday lights do not disappoint. We have yet to put up any lights but Gspice has almost convinced me to use green and red bulbs for our garage door lights. I'm not quite there yet though...

A few weeks ago, we took the boys out on the town to view some fun holiday displays in North Liberty. We came across a couple we didn't have on the route but they ended up being our favorites! Of course, we went to the best light show in the town too. I wonder how much it costs them during the holiday season...

Below are a few of the houses we saw!

31 Things I am Grateful for in October 2020

1. tiktok - so much great content on so many topics. Yes, some bad but that's like all other types of social media too. it brings me so much joy but I'm also learning a lot!

2. having the energy to clean the fridge

3. taking a day trip to our old stomping grounds

4. walking the streets of Decorah

5. Mabe's Pizza and their crayons to keep the boys busy

6. spending a lovely sunny day with cousins at Pinters!

7. kiddos that love to play

8. tablets for long car rides

9. my three new beautiful rugs

10. morning walks with the boys

11. my cat for cozying up at the perfect times

12. coming up with a plan to read my books

13. rainbow colored tomatoes

14. finally watching Hamilton

15. beautiful fall weather, including days for shorts

16. falling leaves

17. Owen spending time in the garage trying to ride a bike with no training wheels

18. Owen then learning how to ride a bike in a matter of days, all by himself

19. Stratego battles with the boys

20. loose baby teeth and having brave boys who can deal with that themselves - I certainly will not pull any of them out!

21. planning out my command wall

22. having kids who love working on math!

23. Prodigy. Dreambox. Lexia.

24. discovering a teeny tiny bird's nest in our tree!

25. neighbors who have their Halloween decor on point

26. deciding to buy extra winter gear to help us as parents deal with all the uncertainty in the world but also the certainty of losing winter gear

27. I voted.

28. Watching late night comedy as a way to deal with my political anxiety

29. giving the boys a hair cut they wanted even though it only lasted a week

30. my new favorite high-rise leggings from Target

31. in-person schooling

Owen {7 Years Old!}

Owen is such a handsome young man and I'm pretty amazed by him these days. Owen struggled quite a bit in Kindergarten but he is progressing fairly well in 1st Grade (behavior-wise and academically, especially Math) and I find a lot of joy in hearing him learn to read and practice sight words. It used to be incredibly difficult for him so I'm just so happy and impressed that he's starting to get the hang of it! Gspice introduced a Pokemon video game where he makes Owen read in order to play. Good idea, Gspice! Owen has also started reading his Dog Man books before bed so I can tell his confidence is growing too.

PERSONALITY

Owen's personality is really coming to life. He loves to play with friends outside - I'm sure he'd play all day if we let him. He also got into playing Prodigy this year too, which is a math game through school, and he "battled" his friends from daycare who are a couple grades ahead of him. Owen is also very much into Stratego and Sleeping Queens so we bought a few more games for Christmas in July last year. He likes to color and draw, sing songs, tell stories, explain things, and is a strong negotiator. And even though Owen does not prefer physical touch, he DOES love our bedtime routine where we "show" love by softly tracing around his face with our finger. Owen is also a very determined young man when he wants to be - he essentially taught himself how to ride a bike by riding in our garage and holding on to the car or wall for balance. Owen now is asking to go to and from school by himself - I'm not ready for that just yet since it's a 2+ mile trek.


GROWTH

Weight: 42.8 pounds (9%), up 0.6 pounds from last year

Height: 3'10" (20%), up 2 inches from last year

Clothing size: XS, S

Shoe size: 1

# of teeth lost: 2 - bottom front

INTERVIEW

Who is your favorite person in the whole world?  John Cena and the Hawkeyes

What is your favorite color? Blue,  red, and orange, yellow

What is your favorite television show? Art Hub on youtube

What is your favorite outfit? Athletic shorts/pants, sweatshirt

What sport do you like best? Baseball and all the spors

What song do you love?  MyHouse, What Makes You Beautiful, You’ll Be Back

Who is your best friend? Chloe, Jonah, Wade, Greyson, Jack

What do you want to be when you grow up?  firefighter

What are you really good at?  Throwing a baseball, hitting a baseball

Where do you wish you go could on vacation?  Decorah to go on the big slide at the pool, Great Wolf Lodge

What would you buy if you had $1000?  Buy a skateboard, Nintendo switch, ninja clothes for Halloween, squishies, Spongebob

What vegetable do you love the most?  carrots

What fruit do you love the most?  clementine

What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? ALL OF THEM

Who is your biggest hero? Batman

What do you like to do with friends?  Play kickball, Prodigy

What do you hope you'll get to do before your next birthday? Play prodigy

What is your favorite toy?  Pokemon cards

What is your favorite stuffed animal?  Pikachu

What is your favorite thing to sleep with?  Pillow and stuffed animals

What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?  Waffles and syrup

What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?  Pizza and hamburgers

What is your favorite dessert?  Cake, mommy’s popsicle (I blend up random fruit we have)

What is your favorite drink?  Water

What do you want to eat for your birthday dinner?  Tacos, cake

What is your favorite game?  Prodigy, Sleeping Queens

What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play with my neighbors

Happy 7th Birthday, Owen! We love you so much!