So Far in December...

Here's a few pictures of the house decorated for Christmas. I did a new theme for the tree this year. A couple of years ago I bought the ribbon on clearance after Christmas and I love it. It's just a really traditional Christmas plaid with green, red, and a bit of gold. I liked it so much I decided I wanted to do a whole tree based on it. I already had several ornments that matched and throughout this past year I've picked up several more for cheap from thrift stores and yard sales. I got the star topper at Goodwill for $3. I really like how it turned out.


The red and white quilt on the rocking chair is over 100 years old. One of my favorites! It was a birthday present last year. The stuffed rocking horse was made by my Grandma Delamarter many years ago and it's something else that's very special to me.

I was finally able to find battery operated light strands for my Nativity set. I've been looking for them for 3 years. It looked really pretty while they lasted, but they were really cheaply made and the batteries were worn down after only a few hours of using them. : (

We're going to get the old radio refurbished. It was my Great Grandfather's. We checked into it and it won't cost nearly as much as we thought it would, so I can't wait to have it done. We found the exact same one, fully restored, for sale online for $700!

The lower white figurine of Mary, Joseph, and the donkey was made by me in the 4th grade and it's very special to me.

I found this little tree and the ornaments at a yard sale for $2. Since it's my year to decorate the tree (and use white lights) I figured Robert could have this little tree with colored lights. : )

I love using Brazilian Pepper berries in my Christmas decorating. They add such a nice splash of color to all the greenery, and the best part is they're FREE!

I made this wreath with leftover clippings from our tree and some leftover ribbon and ornaments. After this picture, I ended up taking off the shiny balls and left just the dull ones for a more simplistic look. Like it much better.

Halie in her pretty new dress and shoes from Nana on the 1st Sunday of December. The cute purse is from Great Aunt Ruth.

Our new puppy. We're not sure of her age, I think maybe 8-9 weeks. She's a mixed breed and will become a cow dog when she's older. Her paws are huge so she's gonna be big! But she sure is a sweetheart and she loves Halie to death! She follows her around everywhere and just loves to knock her down and then cover her with slobbery kisses! We named her Rita.

2nd Sunday of December - pretty dress from Meemaw and Papaw Cantrell.

Stay tuned for more updates from December!

November in a Nutshell

Herein lies the month of November condensed by pictures.


For those of you who think Halie is just a sweet, calm, quiet little girl, here are pictures to prove otherwise. She's as crazy as the day is long and loves to make everyone laugh. This particular evening she was entertaining us with her crazy faces.

My first attempt at french braiding her hair. I've never braided anyone's hair but my own, so it's going to take some practice to get it right.

One of my great shopping trips this month. All of these groceries for only $52!

I saved around $112, plus got $3 off of my next Winn-Dixie purchase!

My birthday usually falls somewhere around Thanksgiving time and Robert had some vacation time coming up so we planned the vacation for that week. We made plans for Halie to stay with the grandparents and we planned a little weekend trip to Mt. Dora. On Saturday we went to an antique extravaganza at the Reninnger's Antique Mall and boy was it ever an extravaganza!! It took us 6 hours to walk the whole thing!

This watch was my birthday present from Robert. I got a new Crockpot from Robert's parents, but it had a defect and I had to return it so I didn't get a picture of it yet. I'm waiting on Target to get some more in. My parents got me the parallel Bible I wanted. I love it!

This is the historic Lakeside Inn where we stayed. It was built in 1883 and was a neat change from staying in the typical hotel. This was one of the 4 buildings that make up the Inn. It sits right on the lake and had beautiful lake views, and was also right in the middle of downtown so we could just walk everywhere.

We really enjoyed walking the town and going into all the little shops. Such a change from what we're used to.

So Sunday we went to a little community church and then walked all through the town visiting the shops afterwards. Monday we drove down to Orlando and did a few things down there like mini golf, mall shopping, and went to see a movie (which we hadn't been able to do in months and months!) Then Tuesday, on the way home, we stopped in at the Gaylord Palms Resort and visited th ICE exhibit. Everything is carved out of ice and they keep it a chilly 9 degrees in there. They provide parkas so that made it nice. It was really beautiful, but my pictures don't nearly do it justice.

This was a carousel that was completely made of ice. I couldn't get back far enough to get the whole thing in the picture. Even the colored parts like the poinsettas are ice also.

The colored statues and figures were nice, but I didn't find them nearly as beautiful as the ones that were just clear ice. These looked more like wax than they did ice.

Sitting on ice Santa's lap.

They had slides that were completely made of ice as well. We joined in with the kids and took a couple of turns going down. It was fun! I was so absorbed in the slide itself that I forgot to take a picture of all th reindeer that were in the room also. They were really amazing.

(For those of you who it would matter to, I haven't changed to wearing pants all the time. I still feel led to wear skirts, but in this situation I wanted to stay warm and I knew I wanted to go down the ice slide and I didn't figure that I could do it very modestly in a skirt. Just thought I would explain so as not to be a stumbling block to anyone).

I thought the angel and candleabras were just gorgeous!

The final exhibit/piece was the entire Nativity and it was stunning! So much detail it was just amazing. They also had the Biblical version of the Christmas story playing over the loud speakers. I was impressed and pleased!

Halie spent the first 2 days with Meemaw and Papaw Cantrell, and then the last day and a half with Nana and Papaw DeLamarter. She did very well from what they tell me, but by day 3 she started getting really homesick for mommy and daddy. She was a trooper though and hung in there until we got back.

Here she is helping Meemaw make a cake for Thanksgiving dinner. Such a cute picture!

Thanksgiving was at my mom and dad's house this year. Mom had the dining room decorated so pretty! (Ack! As I'm writing this I realized I somehow left out the picture of the dining room table! I don't know how to add in a picture to the middle of the blog, or if you even can. That stinks, it was so pretty!)

I made Pumkin Cornbread and Spinach Balls. The cornbread was a new recipe and turned out pretty good. Spinach balls are an old faithful and for me it just wouldn't be Thanksgiving without them.

Mmmmmm....loads of yummy desserts! Caramel Apple Pie, Cherry pie, Pumpkin pie, a custard pie, pumpkin cheesecake, and an Oreo cake. Don't stare for too long or you'll gain 5lbs!

Everyone gathered 'round.

The girls had their own little table set up in the kitchen. They were so busy having fun entertaining each other they forgot to eat!

Halie stealing bites of Daddy's "happy dirtday cake." (She calls all cake happy birthday cake)

Grandpa and Grandma DeLamarter, Dad, and Aunt Ruth

Dad, Mom, and my grandparents

Martin, Dee Dee, and Emma Lovejoy

Our little family. This was before Robert trimmed his beard a lot shorter like it needed to be. But as of now, he's shaved it into a gotee (or however that's spelled).

The Cantrell Family - Bob, Gina, Robert, Stephanie, and Halie. I had a picture of Emma and Halie with Papaw D. but I accidentally deleted it and once again I'm unsure how to add it back in. Does anyone know how to do that?

After dinner and cleanup we headed outside for a few games of Cornhole before it got too dark. Halie likes to play her own version of it.

The girls had so much fun playing together.

I whipped up this game Thanksgiving morning and played it with Halie before dinner and then with her and Emma afterwards when they were wanting to play cornhole and starting to get in the way. We played it as a memory game, and also as a Thanksgiving version of an Easter Egg hunt where I hid the pictures around the yard and they hunted for them. They seemed to enjoy it.

After we got home from our little mini vacation we had several eggs waiting on us and this is the most we've ever had at one time.

I had to take a picture because I found these little shoes on clearance at Old Navy and just had to buy them. They are so stinkin' cute!

Well, that pretty well sums up the month for us. On to December and the magic of Christmas!