More Christmas DIY

Cardboard, twine, wrapping paper, hole puncher, cards. That's all you need for these cute little booklets to store all your cards!!!! :) If I had spare fabric I would have definitely wrapped the front and back "covers" in that! But I didn't right now so xmas wrapping paper will do! :) So easy! I'm going to be making these for each Christmas and I have HUNDREDS of birthday cards thrown in a box that I plan to do this to as well! I also made a few batches of my apple zucchini bread for people and everyone LOVED it...apple zuccini bread with a coconut oat topping...yummy!!!!

Zucchini apple loaf is a top secret recipe of mine ;)



DIY...X-MAS!

This past month we've been SHOWERED with tons of xmas cards in the mail! I hated them sitting on our mantle because it looked messy and you couldn't really see them...soooo I came up with this idea! It's perfect! As long as I don't receive anymore cards because it's full...but I guess if I do, I will just move it. I have wooden clothes pins to replace the paper clips hanging them.

Mom's not so "surprise" party

This year my dad decided that he wanted to throw a party for my mom (WHOA!)...and try to keep it a surprise (YEA RIGHT...a surprise? For my mom? good luck!)...WELL, haha, I think we were unsuccesful...He had a great idea, and planned it very well, but my mom is just too much! haha. She decided that on the same day as her surprise birthday party she wanted to throw a Christmas get together!!!! LOL so she started inviting pretty much all the same exact people that we had already invited over for her party. Ay yi yi! She is such a pain in the butt. I swear she knew about the party and did this on purpose. Either way, it turned out lovely! Everyone came and  brought a dish, my dad did all the meat, and we all had a wonderful time with good food, good drinks, and great friends! Next year is the  big one...the big 6-0! So we have a year to plan a surprise...we can do it!

I really can't believe a week from today is Christmas...I have done absolutely ZERO Christmas shopping...ok well, maybe I've gotten ONE thing haha...ONE item for Danny's stocking...but that's it...YIKES!!!! I work all week so I'm hoping to find the motivation to go after work one day...and to top it off, I don't even know what I'm getting people! That could potentially make it easier because then I won't be going on wild hunts for particular items! ahhhhh! Nothing like last minute! Next year, I swear I'm going to start early...uh huh...just like I said I would this year...

'Tis the season...

FOR GIVING!

This year our school has adopted a family. They actually do every year, but this is my first year here so it's my first year being a part of this. My mom has adopted families in the past and boy is it an eye opener! Kids don't ask for ipods, laptops, and cell phones.  They are asking for shoes, coats, food, baby dolls, or toy cars. Parents are asking for food, jackets, carseats, shoes, and clothes. Reading their "wish lists" and thinking about the things I *want* makes me feel selfish. Growing up we got everything we wanted and then some...and we are blessed to be able to still have this with my parents. I can't lie, growing up, I never thought about other families who maybe weren't as lucky as us...until my mom began adopting families with her coworkers...then reality struck.  When I first read one of their wish lists, my heart sunk...a pair of shoes, sure, I've asked for shoes...$200 dollars shoes...a coat...sure, I've asked for a coat as well...$150 dollar coat...clothes...yea I've asked for those too...designer clothes...but they don't care if their shoes are $20 dollars or $200 dollars...they just want shoes...no, they NEED shoes. Same goes for all the other stuff. They NEED it. I WANT it. There is a difference. People often think "I can't adopt a family, I can barely afford to buy for my own during this time of year". This may be true, but if groups of people come together to adopt one family and they all contribute, it can be done. If we all give one less gift to ourselves, or our children and put that gift towards a family in need, it can be done. Also, donating just $5 to charities goes a long way. Danny's favorite is St. Jude's, I loved this when I met him because I too, have donated to St. Judes. Think of it as "I can donate $20 dollars to this charity and I just won't eat out or go to the movies this month". It all evens out in the end for you, but for that charity, it is a HUGE donation to help them. I also feel that families with children are the best candidates for being a part of stuff like this. It teaches your children that the holidays aren't only about receiving but also about giving.

Blog blog blog...I need to blog...

So keeping up with this blogging thing has been harder than I imagined...I can't say there's too much exciting stuff going on in our lives right now. I am still loving my job, and Danny is still so so about his. It's not so much that he hates being in the Coast Guard, he just doesn't enjoy working a desk job. He enjoys being out on the water. On the bright side for him though, Josh is getting stationed in SF in July so Danny will have someone to hang out with on a regular basis. I am so happy and so is he. This is going to make his job much more enjoyable. Josh is stationed on a 378 but the boat is only out for a week or so at a time, at max a month, so he will be docked more often than not. This also means that Jess and Alyssa will be returning to Cali as well. I have a few parents at my school that are Lawyers and one in particular works in immigration services which is exactly what Jess wants to do. She is currently working at a law office, so I talked to the parent of one of my kids and she gave me a list of law offices in the Sacramento and Bay areas for Jess to contact to look for a possible position! She said she would have offered a job at her place but they are non-profit and many of the people working there are on grants. But that is ok! Fingers crossed she finds something and can move back soon.

We have also been slacking on the Christmas shopping! Christmas has come upon us much faster than we anticipated. We still have time, but we better get on it! This year we will be spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my family and heading down to LA on Dec 26th through New Years to spend the rest of the holiday break with Danny's family. We will be missing the annual Christmas bash with Danny's moms side but I guess that's what happens when there's two families involved now! :) Looks like someone is going to have to fill in as Santa this year too since Danny won't make it down.

I also decided to redesign my wedding page which I am much happier with now! I have always had something against my other page and couldn't figure out just what it was. Oh well! Now I am fine with it and Danny has finally decided to do his part and enter his stories on his best men :) FINALLY! I think once he realized I made it public and that everyone could see he hadn't done his part he decided to get on it! I finally have all my maids in line too. Last weekend I asked Becca to be my bridesmaid and I still have to make Missy, Jess, and Meg's gifts and give them to them...I also made one for Kayla even though I send her cookies and a card back in May. Becca was so surprised, and so happy...and I am so happy that she is excited about it! I feel like this wedding is going to be upon us before we know it! Kayla has already pretty much figured out my Bach party and discussed it with the girls as well as shower details...it's getting REAL! I know once January 1st comes it will definitely be more realistic because it will be 2012! http://www.dominguez.projectwedding.com/ is the page if you are interested.

This week has been a very long week. It was my first week with 3 kids in my group again at work and I have loved how busy it has kept me.  This week the flu also struck our school. Kids and teachers were dropping left and right. I received texts all week at 6am asking me to come in early because someone else has the flu. I have worked 10 hour shifts almost everyday! 10 hours with a room of 18 kids...you'd think I'd be ready to scream, but surprisingly, the days flew by and I didn't even realize how long I had really been there. 9 years at Misty's really helped my patience and tolerance for chaos :) I guess I don't really mind being there all day. Plus, the overtime pay is quite nice :] I am enjoying my new little guys, and of course, my Gillian still as well! We are also doing a secret santa gift exchange at work which I am excited about as well! I LOVE secrets and these are so much fun! We've been working on Winter art projects as well with the kids and they are just having so much fun with the paint and crayons and all the fun stuff. Last night was our Winter Festival where all the kids came and decorated cookies, made ornaments, there was a musician there, played games, and much more! They enjoyed it a lot! I absolutely positively could not be happier with the job I ended up with right now. I really got lucky.

Christmas time...

Christmas is approaching rapidly and I hate that the magical feeling of this holiday is just not there for me anymore...I always thought that things would get better as time passed but it doesn't. It seems to be getting worse with each year. I love Christmas, and I love decorating, and being with family and celebrating, but this year has been especially hard. My mom brought me 36 of my grandmas gold ornaments to hang on our tree and a lot of her decorations. I am so honored and blessed to have these to decorate our home with, but it's so hard to look at them and know why I have them. She was truly the Christmas spirit for us. It's really not the same without her. I find myself thinking "I just want to get through Christmas already" and I never ever ever thought that way before about the Holidays. I miss the see's candy galore, the baked yummies, the lavish family dinners, the Christmas board tradition, her crying every single year when she opened a new piece of jewelry from my grandpa, and so much more. It's still really hard to believe she is not here...but, I do have her in spirit, hanging on our tree...decorating our home...and I am grateful for all of this...but, she is truly missed...and Christmas will never be the same without her. <3

***However, I must add...I am SO amazingly grateful for everything I have in my life. During this time of year I am especially grateful. I have two amazing families that we get to spend the Holidays with and I honestly couldn't imagine things any differently. We are very fortunate to have been stationed so close to home...as much as Danny hates his job, it's times like this that we forget about how much we don't like certain things and appreciate the fact that everything happens for a reason...We are both very much family people...being close allows us to spend a lot of time with them. I will always miss my grandma, but I will always feel blessed and so lucky to have the rest of both of our families to be with.**

Christmas Decorating

So today we went to Silveyville Farms in Dixon to get our Christmas tree. It was a pretty cool place! They had sleigh rides, pony rides, lunch, coffee, a fire pit, a huge tree, and tons of other fun stuff for kids. You can also cut your own tree down which was initially the reason we came here. However, we decided that cutting our own down could be potentially disastrous and the last time I ever did it I was a kid and my parents took over and did it so we headed toward the precut trees. Usually we get Douglas firs because those are the kind that Danny likes and I am more of a Noble fir person but I could go either way so we usually just settle on a douglas fir (plus, they're much cheaper!) But this year was my year to pick the tree and of course, I picked a noble fir. A huge noble fir! Our biggest one yet I think and well so big it wouldn't fit into our old tree stand...oops! We didn't figure this out until we got home and went to put the tree up! Needless to say, Danny was irritated! haha! We had to go to target in HOPES that they made larger tree stands and of course, they did! So now, our tree is up, and our living room is complete. Well, sort of! I realized yesterday when decorating that our living room here is much bigger than our old one! I have our dining room table centerpiece and place mats and all our other decorations but I need more! So I'll be adding to it slowly over this month and then my mom said I can have some of her stuff because she buys new stuff every year and doesn't end up using it all. Also, this year I am very excited to be able to hang my grandmas ornaments on our tree! My mom has all of her 24K gold ones...yes! REAL gold...my gma did things right! and my mom doesn't want to use them all so she is passing some our way...I am so excited to be able to have a part of her on our tree! Also, I have a VERY special ornament on our tree this year as well. A pretty gold sparkly star that was Linda Creed's. Christmas was her favorite and I'm honored to be able to hang one of her ornaments on our tree! Christmas has arrived in the Dominguez household!