She's 7...

Sophie, the princess, turned 7 on Saturday.  She was such a great little lady.  She had a tea party for her friends and it was a fairy themed tea party at that. 

And I might be biased but they are a cute bunch of fairies. 

 They all learned the proper way to drink tea even though they had pink lemonade in their tea pots.  They had little finger sandwiches of turkey and cheese and peanut butter and nanas.  

 Here they are being taught by Miss Christina of Afternoon Tea - the nuances of a proper tea.  (Notice that pretty chalkboard- yep I made it. )

 It's that time..Time to turn 7.  

 She had a great day with lots of family, friends and wonderful gifts.

How did she grow so fast?  This little girl now - from this little baby then. 

Happy Birthday my little princess.  I love you more than you will ever know.  You bring me sunshine every day and I thank the Lord for you all the time.  

What a gift I got with you- Good things certainly did come to me while waiting.  I got you. 

love you much, mommy

Merry Christmas.

Have a wonderful Christmas and enjoy all your family time.  

Please remember all the military members who aren't home this season so that we can all have the time with our families. 

Won't be posting again until after the 27th..

Going to be spending time with the family.

I can say the blog will go back to full posts as this page break is not working for me.  I thought I'd like it and it does make the page load faster but I just don't like it.

Until then- 

peace.

tammy

{boys- enough said}

Thanksgiving.

The time for family and being together.

Josh came home from college to spend it with us.

And what did his younger brother want to do to welcome him home?

yeah that's right

Go out in the backyard and wrestle.

  

Boys are such dorks.

{place cards by sophie}

For the past couple of years we have tried to make place cards for the big family dinners.  

One year I made them for Thanksgiving and my sister said- thanks set the bar high.

She then made adorable ones for that Christmas.

This year Sophie made them.  They had done some at school and she asked her teacher for a copy of the pattern.  She did them all for our meal.
   

She is very serious when concentrating. And can't do a thing without that tongue out.

  

So THANKFUL for that little stinker.

{cookie time}

Well we had to bake cookies for that Holiday open house so I got the kids involved.

You know - why not make it messier and more fun?

  

Yes, Jack is a future tv host. 

  

She has the method of one on the cookie- one in my mouth.

do you bake with the kids?

{ my helper }

The Carolina Artists' Colony had a Christmas Open house and of course I volunteered to do too much.  

It was the evening of the day Liz went home - so I was a bit bummed but we had to get it all there and set up.

My little helper and partner in crime- Sophie came to help.

She got bored once it was all set up so one of the artists - Taylar painted her face for her.

  

She wanted a butterfly. 

  

I think she likes it.  Don't you?

  

{eat in area Christmas decor}

I had big plans on getting a lot decorated this year but then with the booth and kids - well that all changed. 

I decided to do "less is more".  

And I have to say I am enjoying the small displays that just shine on their own without any over the top, elaborate scheme.

Our small eat-in area off the kitchen has so much light that I just wanted something small and simple.

I thought just a stick in my champagne bucket and put something on it...hmmm what?

Then I received the most amazing gift in the mail from my Canadian friend Heather from Inspire Me Heather. We met on the Cottage Living boards that then switched over to Cottages and Bungalows boards. We have sent gifts and surprises to each other for a couple of years.  This year she sent me a bag of miniature vintage mercury glass ornaments.  

LOVE THEM.  

And they are just what my little stick needed.

 Aren't they just adorable? 

Thanks Heather so much- I love them.

Now the stick, limb, twig whatever you call it- was from a dead dogwood.  

I just sprayed it with some white paint to lighten it up.  

Stuffed it in a piece of Styrofoam and covered it with some burlap.

All and all - simple.

Just what I was going for.

Are you decorating simple this year?

tammy