www.thespoonfulblog.com

Hello all! Spoonful is officially moving to www.thespoonfulblog.com. Please bookmark me, follow me, and change Spoonful's web address settings on your blog roll.

Massive thanks to each and every one of you for reading, really - thank you. After all the fun part about having a blog is sharing our lives, thoughts, and ideas! You all lift my spirits and encourage me on a daily/ weekly basis!

Please continue to join me as I document our life and family at my new web address!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Sometimes, the Best Things in Life are FREE

Thank you Publix for this FREE yellow balloon we received on Wednesday. We had a blast playing with it, and it made my little boy giggle and squeal all the day long. It also made up for the fact that the Penny item was a box of 'off brand' Frosted Flakes. I'm a Cheerio gal.

And just because....a little recap of yesterday, a {kinda} lazy day:

awake at 5:30, too early
time reading
coffee, of course
milk in bed with Stephen Smalls
make Stephen Grande's lunch, send off to work
Dr. appointment, armed with dum dums
Chick-fil-a
play outside
clean kitchen, fold clothes
NAP!!!
general tidying of the house
SG home early from work
clean baby
leftovers
candle light dinner
The Office
bath
bed

Happy weekend to ya! Enjoy it!

A Family Drive to the House of Lights

For a week or so we fell off the Advent celebration bandwagon. {For those of you who don't know -  the Stephen Grande and I received an Advent calendar for Christmas last year as we planned to start the tradition of celebrating Advent as he did in his boyhood, by doing a Christmas activity every day, December 1st - 24th}

We were really on a roll and then we got busy, and a little bit sick, and down right out of the habit. But I heard a quote on the radio recently....something like "perfection is the enemy of the good enough."  And I concluded that just because we missed a few days - or an entire week - is no reason not to continue with our Advent activities. After all its our first year.

Last night our activity was "a family drive to look at the crazy house of lights." This house is a stone's throw from ours. I don't know a town that doesn't have one of these.

Soon after SG got home from work we loaded up for our little adventure. Conveniently a friend of mine dropped by as we were pulling out of the drive way and dropped off some Christmas treats. Half a can of puppy chow later I was really psyched to see some lights!

{LOOK AT THOSE CHEEKS!!!}

Stephen Small was excited too, though you would never know it by his expression.

I must mention that before we got to the house of lights we took a slight detour to put some air in one of my tires. And it was confirmed this morning that I will be getting a new set of wheels for Christmas {as in literal wheels}

Got to love being a grown up.

But that's neither here nor there. Life is good, Murphy and all {that's for you Dave Ramsey folks ;) }.


Hope you all have an AWESOME December 16th!!!
Only 9 more days!!!

Me and Stephen in the 60's

Photo taken {with the timer}. In our front yard. May 2010.
Edited using Picnik's '1960's effect.'

I have a new and unhealthy addiction to putting the 1960's effect on all my photos just to see what it looks like. I think its the coolest. I have not edited much in the past, but lately I'm lovin' it. The possibilities are endless.

Here is the original photo of the one above.

Stephen Small's hair is definitely longer on the right than on the left. How embarrassing. 

The 60's effect gives the picture a certain nostalgia. It romanticizes it.

Often Stephen Grande and I talk about what decade we would have liked to have experienced if given the choice.
He says he'd like to experience the 70's as a trucker. Don't ask.
I say the 40's as a WWII nurse.
What era {and occupation} would you pick?

Boys

As in COWBOYS. Many months back I fell in love with and bought 3 yards of the cutest cowboy fabric in the world {I think its called Barn Dance - from JoAnn's}. I've used it for multiple projects -- a diaper bag, this patch appliqued on a white t-shirt, and...

to make Stephen Small's CHRISTMAS STOCKING! Made in July and finally posting. You better believe it will be overflowing with Reese's peanut butter cups and a new set of PJ's come Christmas morn. I plan to have it monogrammed eventually. Just haven't gotten that far.

And speaking of BOYS...
How about some gingerbread boys? or rather men?

I used McCormick's recipe and I give it 2 thumbs up!

A few notes...
Dough is sticky, so be liberal with the flour when rolling out.
I found it easier to cut my dough into fourths and roll out smaller pieces instead of the whole lump.
I also discovered that cookies did best on 350 degrees for only EIGHT minutes, but mine were small. The important thing is to not overcook! 

Merry Christmas!