Cantus Christmas Concert

Nothing like a Christmas concert, to get you into the Spirit of Christmas.Cantus Youth Choirs performed their very first concert, in December. They sang at the Cathedral of the Rockies, downtown Boise.

The cathedral was festively decorated, the choir looked sharp and the kids sounded great.... a very nice evening.

Nice job Rylee!

The Polar Express

I volunteer in Abree's class once a week. On my volunteer day, before Winter Break, it was pajama day in Kindergarten.

Abree suggested that I wear my pjs to school too, but I didn't take her up on it.

I should have.... Mrs. Matthews did!

Before recess, Mrs. Matthews read "The Polar Express" to the class.

When the kids got back from recess, the room had been set up as "The Polar Express".

They were excited!

I got to be the ticket passer-outer.

Then they got their ticket punched by Miss Ashley (high school student that comes and helps for school credit).

Next, they boarded the Polar Express and were given hot chocolate to drink.

Abree is LOVING her hot chocolate!

Choo, choo.... all aboard the Polar Express!

Post Falls Trip

My friend Krissi and I try to see each other at least twice a year... I go to her house and she comes to mine.

Southwest Airlines has helped us do that. They had a $25 deal last year and a $30 deal this year. Can't pass up a deal like that... it costs more in gas to drive!

My trip began, after I wrapped up some December craziness at home; Favorite Things Party, Ward Christmas Party, Ison FHE, and the R.S. Christmas Dinner. There were a few things that happened while I was gone and more craziness when I returned, but it was well worth it. I LOVE my time with Krissi!

Steve, Krissi's husband, has been working for an architect firm for several years now. I guess he's been considered an apprentice?... learning the skills, on-the-job-training, under licensed architects. In the recent years, he's been working hard and taking tests (I think 5 or 6 total... spending a pretty penny along the way) to become an official architect.

While I was there, he received his last and final test score saying he PASSED and that he was an official architect! This was cause for celebration. We made him a "Congratulations Smartie!" banner, decorated the house with balloons and Krissi made his favorite dinner, lasagna... with homemade noodles.

Jessica's idea of decorating with balloons is to rub her head to create static and stick them all over the ceiling. She said that her dad always does that. Perfect, for a Steve celebration. :)

Ila and I blew up all the balloons. They were tough.


The girls taped Smarties candy all over the banner and then we hung it in the front room for him to discover, when he got home from work.

"Congratulations Smartie!"

Delicious homemade lasagna.

Looking at this makes me hungry. I want some right now!

Krissi, Steve & Ila

We shared the celebratory meal with their good friends the Zane's.
Ryan & Vaughn Zane & Jessica
It was a nice evening; yummy food, good friends and an official architect. :)

This is Daniel, Krissi's youngest. He is so cute and funny. He was quite sure I had come to see HIM. Every day, many times a day, he would ask me to play with him. He wanted to play cars, Littlest Pet Shops, puzzles and games mostly. I wasn't a very good play-buddy, but that didn't detour him from asking, bringing me toys, putting them in my lap and saying, "You HAVE TO play with me!".

While there, I also....

Attended Steve's work Christmas party. It was catered with fancy foods. Yum.

Helped out with the elementary school Christmas Book Fair.

Did some shopping.... of course.

Did some crafting.... of course.

And in general, just enjoyed hanging out with the Goodmansen's.

Krissi also nursed me back to health, with a cold I had contracted on the way there.

Thanks Krissi! You're the bestest!!!

Can't wait for you to come see me next month.

Recent Craftiness.. and re-craftiness

For my birthday, my sweet friends Marianne and Jaime took me to dinner and then we went back to Jaime's house to craft. We made these holiday countdowns. One for Halloween...

and one for Christmas.

We finished the Halloween one that night, but I took the Christmas one home to finish up. Upon arriving home I started tweaking the original materials. I changed the numbers from white to green, sanded the edges, stained the edges and finally put it all together with Mod Podge.

When finished, something kept bothering me about it. I finally realized that it was the "countdown" that was bugging me. The background was burgundy and the lettering was white. It just didn't fit with the numbers and colors of the background papers. So I peeled off the old "countdown" and replaced it with a new and improved "countdown".
Here's the finished product. A true red background with a green letters.

Ahhhh, much better!

Don't say it... I already know... I can be a little... whatever you want to call it. But in my defense, I was sending it to a "Handmade Gift" swap partner and I didn't want to give her something that BUGGED me... it might BUG her too.

This was a inexpensive fun project. I bought the metal platter at the Dollar Tree, spray painted it red, then stenciled the word JOY on it. Also bought a little metal easel at the Dollar Tree to display it on.

I wasn't satisfied with the stenciled JOY because of how the paint bled under the stencil, so I purchased some vinyl and slapped it on and liked it a whole lot better.

See?! Much better, huh?

Don't say it!... we've already discussed this. It too was a gift. Can't give a gift that BUGS you. :)

I found this project here.

The instructions called for different sizes of styrofoam cones. I didn't have any or money to purchase cones (I've been told they're kind of expensive) so I got creative and used rolled up newspaper ads and duct tape. I covered them with wax paper and hoped they would work for what I needed.

Next, I soaked the jute twine in the Stiffy fabric stiffener and wrapped it around the newspaper cones. I let them dry for 24 hours and then peeled them off the wax paper.

Next step was to decorate them. Instructions called for little red berries or glittery spray paint. I opted for the "natural" look.

I think my "Stiffy" wasn't as stiff as it should have been (it was 18 years old, or so!) so my trees started to "wilt". I may try this project again with not so old "Stiffy" to see if it works better.

Here are what hers looked like... so cool!

Photo from "Chris, Erin and Jayce" blog

I found this project here.

I thought of my mother-in-law immediately and knew I HAD to make them for her for Christmas.

Instead of making the bookends, I found mine at a thrift store. I liked the beadboard look, the time savings and the price. :)

I used soup cans, wooden circles and cotton yarn to complete the spools.

I also added my own touch by creating and printing off decorative "labels" for the spools.

I think they turned out kinda cute.

Annual Ison Christmas FHE 2010

As is tradition, we had the Annual Ison Christmas FHE, the first Monday in December.

Sterling (Amber & Brinton's new baby) was fresh out of the NICU, but joined us at the family gathering. He kept his distance (as to not be "gifted" any cold/flu germs) but got a little loving in from Great-Grandma Ison.

We also did our traditional bell ringing, Christmas caroling, Christmas story from Luke 2, Santa visiting and adult (with a few older kids mixed in) white elephant gift exchange.

Funny gift Highlights; the RE-gifted "Light HER Fire" and "Light HIS Fire" cassette tapes AND a Justin Bieber poster.


PS- Have you seen Arielle's "proof" she and Justin's bangs look nothing alike?
Uh, huh.

Rylee Turns 14!

As a family, we celebrated Rylee's 14th birthday on Sunday, the day before.

I had sooo much going on before and after; Favorite Things party, Ward Christmas party, Ison FHE, R.S. Christmas dinner, going out-of-town and.... much , much more. Whew. She opened presents.

Jewelry was one of her favorite gifts.

We had a last-minute-use-what-you-have-on-hand "Dirt" cake.

Instead of OREOs I used brownies... it was ok, but I think I like the original version better.

I can't believe she's FOURTEEN!!!

I had been kind of prepping myself about having her turn 14 and being able to go to dances. But for some reason I was thrown off-guard when I realized that meant that she could go to the Stake S.N.D. THIS Saturday! What?!

I don't know exactly what I was shocked about, just couldn't believe that day was actually here I guess.

Next big milestone...... dating at 16!!! Oh boy.