Christmas Card Memory Book {or It's Over}

Hello from the land of HOLIDAY DREAMS!!!

Oh, how I have enjoyed it!
Not only have I spent more time with the "immediate Squirrels", I was able to spend some time with "distant Squirrels".

Ok, so they aren't really THAT distant. In fact, they all live in town and one of them lives next door.
BUT I did get to spend the holiday in a much different way than I ever have before. And it was because of what I DIDN'T do vs. what I DID do.

This year, the Squirrels hosted the FIRST ANNUAL NOTHING!!!

It was Heaven kind of nice. We didn't have to deep clean prep the house. We didn't have to cook at all prepare any large meals. We didn't have to make nice and pretend that we weren't about to fall over dead because we were ready for everyone to leave wait on guests.

This was our first time to do things a little differently. So we didn't host anything. We traveled to my sister's (she lives next door), had some snacks, exchanged with them and my parents, and we were back home by 9:00pm!

And Christmas morning- We didn't go anywhere either!!!
We exchanged with each other and we saw what Santa had for us. Then we made a huge breakfast, played with toys, watched movies and went out for Christmas dinner. It truly was beautiful!

Not that we are trying to be unsocial squirrels-- on the contrary we are very social. "We" are also tired.
****Disclaimer- I just want to be sure that the reader knows that all "we"s aforementioned in this post actually means "ME". *****

Cause I am the one who prepares for guests and cooks and preps the house.
Who knows, maybe next year we will be on the party circuit again....but I am kinda doubting it. At least, "we" have no plans to host :)

Now that it is over though, we did have to do some big cleaning. And they were involved in that one!!!

One of the things we had to do was take down the Christmas Cards.
I love getting them in the mail! Like seriously, the whole family does. When we get home in the afternoon we are like Charlie Brown on Valentine's Day! Constantly checking the mailbox.
I love to see who sends one. I love to see how the kiddos have changed. The type of card that is sent. I love all of it- so much so that I can't bear to get rid of them.
I mean, someone took the time to write it out or take that picture or drive to the post office- i just feel like throwing it out into the trash is mean and "Un"christmas-like!
So this is what I do! I took pictures- and posted a flipagram on the fanpage earlier.

I had already take a few down before I thought to share this with you.

I stack them up- doesn't matter the size- they all just have to be opening in the same direction.

And then I bust out my 2 hole staple from the 60s !HA! And right in the middle of the "spines" I punch the holes.

I thread a yarn needle with some pretty ribbon.

And I go through all the holes. Starting from the front- that way I have ribbon to tie at the end.

When I get to the end I come back through- and I take each side and go through again- that way if it comes untied at any point it is still safe.

After I have going through twice, I tie it off into a pretty bow! And I always put our family card on top because it has the year on it !

And now I have a nice little Christmas Card book to go through. I store them with my decorations, and when next year comes I can compare pics and really see how my friends and family have grown and changed.

Here's me flipping through this year's, rereading one from My "Boo".
I {puffy heart} Boo.

Before I started doing this, in the past I would cut the fronts off of the cards and use them in the classroom for Christmas crafts and for them to use to make cards.
This was all before I realized all the love that comes in a card. Also before I realized how much freakin effort goes into getting them photographed, printed, addressed, stamped, and mailed. Now they are considered Christmas Gold!


So yes, the making of a Christmas Card Memory Book means that it's over. It means the decorations are on their way back into the attic. Goodbye Little Squirrels! Calm down! They are just ornaments.
Ornaments! Ornaments!

You didn't think I was putting MY Squirrels in the attic ? :)

Ha! Ha!
Hope you have had fabulous celebrations- whether you were guest or host!

I would love to hear what you do with your Christmas Cards once the season is over- tell us in the comments below!

Five for Friday {Dec 6}

Happy Snow Day!! 

What!?! You didn't have a snow day- well then I apologize for bringing it up- doesn't mean I didn't love my day any less though!!

It wasn't even really a "snow day" - it was an "inclement weather" day.

The roads were going to be too treacherous to be on- okay.

I'll take that. As long as I don't have to drive on it, it could be covered in meatballs or sushi or pudding- don't care!

Just call it a "----- day" and I'll turn my alarm off and enjoy the freebie!! 

It was warm and cozy inside. I kept busy by cooking and a little cleaning-but mostly EATING!! 

Like really, all day. I am pretty sure I exceeded the number of calories I should have TIMES 3!!!

I had Mac and cheese - the whole box, a bunch of boiled eggs, chicken Alfredo, a few slices of cinnamon toast, an ice cream sandwich, half a dozen cake cookies and more. I will make an incredible football player with all the bulking up I'm doing!!! 

I did some browsing online between snacks (and during) and I found these little lovelies in Etsy. Don't tell Chickadee, but I'm thinking we need these matching squirrel necklaces!! My little squirrel-girl!

I figured I would direct The Mr. to a few wishlists online...

....

I also found this one. He should spare no cost when it comes to showing his Squirrel Love! Wow!

I guess I will have to wait until Christmas morning to see what little gem of squirrewerly I might be receiving.

One piece that I have recently added is this sweet little Charm a Day Advent calendar that my mother in law sent to me! The bracelet itself is day 1 and then after that I get a new charm to add to it everyday until Christmas!! 

There are two days left to my weekend and there's a good chance that I'm gonna be stuck in the house for most of it .  Booooooo!! 

I hope wherever you are, you are warm and toasty (and you have access to yummy snacks )!!!

Cyber Monday {and Tuesday} Sale!

I am pretty sure that the scream "heard 'round the world" is coming from my house right now!
Can you hear it?
It's the scream that accompanies the overwhelming sorrow that Thanksgiving break is over!!!
So back to  the grind we go...

I know that I will be super overwhelmed tomorrow and Tuesday preparing for an event at school, so tonight I am setting up my Tpt cart! That way all I have to do in the morning is click submit!!

 If you have a similar plan, here are a few items that you will want to make sure you don't forget to add! Especially if you are working on fluency and "parts" of numbers!

These Super Hero Themed games for Fluency are great in tubs and small groups!
I made these Super Facts early on in the year and I loved watching them "play' these games and learn!

 

 These Fry Phrase Rings have been a hit for awhile- It's fun to listen to them decided who gets to carry it  and who is charge of holding up the phrases! It's great to hear them Whisper Yell while reading vs. NOT WHISPERING and JUST YELLING in the hall !! :)

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Fry-Phrase-Word-Rings-1st-2nd-and-3rd-100

Don't stay up too late shopping tonight!
I have to set a bedtime for the whole Squirrel Crew- or it WILL be NUTS around here in the morning! :)

Five for Friday {Nov 29}

I cannot believe it's Friday!!  

Although we have done a ton of stuff in just a few days- including E.A.T!

All that walking I have done has only prepared me for the grub fest I had yesterday and today!

We did walk a little of it off when we went to the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum. Very interesting. 

While we were there we learned the Cherokee word for squirrel. 

We also saw some beautiful woodland stained glass- 

(See the squirrel?)

Afterwards we stopped by to stock up on some more Benton's bacon- if you have never had it- you are missing out!! 

You can smell it for miles! I can also smell it in the Littles!! Littlest Little just happened to be wearing his Benton's bacon shirt- yes- he wore the band shirt to the concert! 

Chickadee got one for herself - it seriously takes like a year of washing it to get the bacon smell out. But we are 10lbs of bacon richer - so who cares if your children smell like a smokehouse, right???

Afterwards, we ditched the boys and headed to the antique stores in the downtown district.

Take a look at these finds- I WAS DESTINED TO SHOP TODAY!!!

Is he not adorable???? That was one shop.

Here's another!!! Are you kidding me??? Amazing!! 

I told the Mr I will eventually need a special cabinet for all my squirrel salt and pepper shakers.

And my one last fabulous find: 

In L.O.V.E.!!! As soon as I saw it, I thought of my FAVORITE sweet-cheeked girl!! Her Auntie Squirrels will be sending it to her soon!! ❤️❤️❤️

After reading the tag/business card from the woman who made it, I found her Etsy shop. It's called Birdie Mae Boutique. (I will link once I get home to my computer) . It's a good thing I don't have a little pint- sized squirrel girl of my own anymore-I would be broke!!

So it was a day filled with my favorite things- 

Squirrels and bacon.

Oh, yeah and 

Family and food!! 

Hope your Black Friday was a bright one!! 

Happy Thanksgiving and What's By Your Wallet?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Are you sweating next to the oven right now or are you crammed in a car on your way to the madness? 

Maybe you have just awakened to head down the stairs and watch the parade? 

I wanted to watch the parade this am- but I only caught glimpses as I rushed past the tv to add things to a travel bag:(

I love the parade!! All the floats and balloons and the bands!! Man I love the bands! 

And I especially love it when a group stops right in front of the Macys door to perform and they do one of those arial shots ! And all the sparkly stuff makes designs..... Gosh I love a parade!!!! Maybe next year I can plan to take all the Littles to NY to stand there and watch it in person! Wowee wow wow! I could only imagine what that must be like....

It has to be very different than what I am doing today! 

We finished our packing and I heard the words that I always hear before we get in the van to leave:

"Mom, can I just put this in your purse?"

ACKKKK!!!

I hate that my purse catches everyone else's crap all the time!! It never fails! 

I took a picture of my purse before they started bringing stuff to me: 

My purse is relatively neat and empty when I don't have it filled with their junk. See, just the essentials- Squirrel wallet ,soda money, some Squirrel Bling, and my prescription of "mommy-takes-this-so -she-doesn't-hurt-people" meds. Ha ha!! 

Now look what they have done to it: 

They have added three phone chargers, there's a phone in a ziploc, germx in case  we eat in the van, and I added the bottle of aspirin just in case the other bottle doesn't kick in on time!! And now that I am looking, the dollar is missing!!! 

Little thieves!! 

The Mr. has pretty big pockets, I am going to start having them load him down  with crap!

We are now about two hours from our destination and 2/3 of the Littles are asleep. Whew! That's a successful voyage for us! 

I hope everyone has an amazing day today, filled with lots o turkey and pie- but mostly with lots of love! 

love,

Squirrels

(Heads up!! For Black Friday Shoppers!)