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Christmas Decor for Cheap

I love to decorate our house for Christmas but it can get very expensive. Since I am a "tight wad" and don't like to spend a lot on decorations that are only up for a month or so I came up with these fun ideas which work great. I think I only spent about $20 total to decorate my house.

Go to Dollar Stores. My favorite one is the Dollar Tree by Wal Mart. They have a lot of cool stuff and everything is still a buck! I bought a couple things of garland and berries from there and it has gone a long way in my house! It works great on shelves.


I buy a lot of berries from Michaels which are usually super cheap and just add them to random places like the bathroom. The color pops and it makes a big difference.


Use what you already have and embellish it...I have several basic things in my house that change with each season. For example candles...I buy ribbon for each season and use a glue gun to add the ribbon.

Vases: I added ornaments to a few clear vases and then berries.

This year was a bit trickier trying to decorate with a very curious one year old in the house so I used some of the safe decorations and put them in a basket where she can reach and is allowed to play with them.

Hope this gives some cheap ideas for decorating!

One Year!

Kyla Joy,

Today you are one year old. I can't believe how fast this year has gone. I still can vividly remember your birth and all the details of that amazing day.

You were a surprise to mommy and daddy and by far the best surprise we have ever experienced. You have brought more joy than we could ever imagine. There had been a longing in my life for something and I could never put my finger on it until you were born. It was as though I was put on this earth to be a mom and when you arrived I finally felt like I found my place.

You have been such a good baby from day one: you ate like a champ, were sleeping through the night at 8 weeks and have always had such a sweet and happy demeanor. It is impossible for me to have a bad day when I see your little "cheeser" smile.

Today you are walking and so curious about the world around you. I love to see your face light up when you discover something new. I love how you belly laugh when daddy gets wild and crazy with you. I love that you say mama and dada when you just want to love on us. I love how you torment the dogs with your little shopping cart. I love that you dance every time music comes on. And most of all I just love you and all the JOY you bring to our lives.

Daddy and I pray you grow healthy and strong and continue to have the zest for life that you have now. We pray that you learn to love Jesus and follow in his footsteps. We pray than when hard things come your way that you lean on faith and family to get you through them. We pray that you always find happiness in all things as you do now.

One Week from Today...

One Year Ago Today...

Walkin

Kyla is walking all over now and loving her new found Independence! She loves to "launch" herself off the fireplace step and walk across the room to the slider door...she'll do this over and over which is so cute to watch. Here she is showing off her skill and you can see she is beginning to learn daddy's dance skills too...

Big Decisions...

Eric and I are currently trying to make a decision which has been a hard one for me. I have the option to pick up another day at work. Right now I work 3 days a week and I LOVE my schedule. I am home every other day but also able to use my degree that I am STILL paying for as well as have time for just me. This past summer I took on another dimension to my job which was to monitor funding for stimulus money that supports our Early On Program. This grant money has a 2 year time span and we are already 6 months in so it would basically add another day for a year in a half so it would be short term.

I am so torn...I want to be home with my daughter as much as I can be. I have always wanted to be a mom and it brings me more joy than I could ever have imagined. On the other hand, the extra money can help pay off some school loans which would allow me to hopefully stay home full time once we have more kids. I am fortunate to have found a great daycare that Kyla loves and thrives at. She can hardly wait to get out of my arms to go play with her friends.

Eric recently got a promotion at work and his job is now much more secure than it has been in the past couple years so that is no longer a concern. One issue is insurance..after I went down to part time I lost my insurance at the ISD which was top notch. Now we have a Health Savings Plan through Eric's work which works but not very well. We paid over $350 for Kyla's ER visit last month. If I add another day we can go back on my insurance.

We are also looking at building a house. I love our house we are currently in but we don't have much room to expand our family there so we need to begin thinking about where we are headed in the next few years. If we can pay off some debt then we can begin our house plans.

So with all that said..do I take on another day and sacrifice this time with Kyla? She is only young once and I don't want to regret that I worked too much during this time. Or I can work an extra day to look ahead to the future and be more available to her down the road. Any thoughts or advice?

Oh Baby!

This past weekend we celebrated my good friend and college roommate Lori's baby shower at Crazy Horse. It was great to see all the Hope girls and celebrate this precious gift of life that we can't wait to meet!

Lori isn't the only one expecting...four other close friends are all due within a few weeks of eachother...must have been a cold spring in 2009! :) Look at those bellies...

Although I was feeling slightly left out since I was the only one not currently "with child," I am glad to be able to enjoy my skinny feet for the time being and can't wait to meet all these bundles of JOY!

The night before I had the girls over just so we could hang out and catch up. With all our kids under three, dinner out really isn't an "enjoyable" option anymore. So we let them run wild while we chatted...