family, turkey, clearance racks

We're back from Mississippi. Thanksgiving with my family is always super special. My mom had lots of fun activities for the kids to do.

We ate and ate and laughed and ate. My sisters and I went shopping at 10pm on Thanksgiving night and stayed out until the next day. PS... Banana Republic practically gives clothes away at 10pm on Thanksgiving night... valuable bit of information.

Favorite moment from Thanksgiving 2011... PeePaw's vest. This black satin piece paired perfectly with his flannel shirt and stone-washed jeans. He worked it. Here is PeePaw posing like Mr. November...

the hunter and the two turkeys

Once upon a time there were two beautiful turkeys.

The turkeys were very sneaky and they always got away from hunters with stick guns.

However, one day a very good hunter saw the two turkeys. The turkeys were afraid.

The hunter said, "You'll make a fine Thanksgiving feast for my family." Then he got the turkeys with his powerful stick gun.

The end. Happy Thanksgiving!

shack update!

If you don't follow us on twitter (@snowshacky), you probably haven't seen the shack in a while. The outside is done except for a little trim painting. The inside is nowhere near finished, but it's slowly coming along.

I love it. I get really excited when I think about all the different kinds of people will walk up to that door and order delicious treats. Hope your Friday is full of painting and sewing and pumpkin spice soy coffee creamer!

promises in my head

Raise your right hand an repeat after me...

I...

promise with all my heart...

not to put up any Christmas decorations...

or dress up the kids in Christmas clothes and take any more pictures...

until all of my unfinished projects are finished...

Glad we got that cleared up. Project finishing underway!

buffy's guide to christmas music

I start listening to Christmas music on November 1st. Call me a fanatic. Whatever... I don't care. I like Christmas music. I used to start on Thanksgiving day, but I needed more. Four weeks is not enough for a true Christmas music lover like me. However, there is a science to not getting tired of all the festive jingling music before the big day. Here are my rules...

Don't listen to all your Christmas music in early November! You'll never make it until December 25th by cramming it all in at once. Take a deep breath. Chose one or two Christmas CD's and listen to them only in the car. The WOW Christmas CD's or a Starbuck's mixed CD is perfect for this phase.  Don't over do it and remember... it's o.k. to turn on the non-Christmas radio every now and then if you're just starting out.

Phase 2 starts on Thanksgiving day. I like to mix up the kinds of Christmas music that I'm listening to during this phase. I have three different Christmas playlists on iTunes. One list is only Christmas songs about Jesus. I love Jesus so the old Christmas hymns are my favorite. The second list is "old classic" holiday music. The third list is new Christmas songs or funky renditions of old ones. I listen to Handel's Messiah on Sundays and while we are driving home to Mississippi for Thanksgiving. I always watch White Christmas while I'm putting up my Christmas tree. You get it...Mix it up.

Most important rule! Just because your local "all Christmas" radio station is playing Feliz Navidad or Blue Christmas by Elmer Fudd does NOT mean you have to listen to it. Have a CD or iPod nearby incase of this kind of situation. Only during phase three (the week before Christmas) is it even a little bit o.k. to listen to stupid Christmas songs just because they are Christmas songs. Also, don't be a loser and keep listening to holiday music after Christmas. Be better than that. Put it up and save it for next year.

Happy toe tapping!

cardboard and duct tape

Charlie got his hands on a few enormous pieces of cardboard over the weekend. So of course we gathered all our various colored rolls of duct tape and started assembling the coolest clubhouse EVER! It is really the coolest... and the biggest. It pretty much takes up half of little Dean's bedroom. That's all boys need in their room... a bed and a clubhouse... and a plastic container full of legos right? Right.

We put his little t.v. inside and a rug to make it cozy. All three kids slept in the clubhouse Saturday night. So much fun. Hope your kids get to play in a cardboard box someday... it's what all the cool kids do.