Christmas 2011

So my thought was "just do one post about all our Christmases"...because I have/will have soooo many pics I will sit down and edit them and make a collage of my favs and do a quick recap of our holidays, and because we Christmas it straight through the new year down at the river. Well two things changed that: one being that my camera blurred almost everyone of my Christmas pics :( SUPER SAD about that and the other being that i forgot my camera when we left for the river. So I sit here while it's peace and quiet at the river and upset about little to no Christmas pics from this year. But I do have amazing memories with my family and I was thankfully able to salvage some pics by editing them, and most of them I am still working on.

But until I get those finished I thought I would share two of my favs. I hope you had a very merry Christmas and I hope to get all my pics edited and a full recap on Monday :)

Merry Christmas y'all!

It's 5:00 am and im the only one awake...except for hubby because he couldn't sleep because I couldnt sleep.

But look...the jolly old man came last night! And Santa brought lots to lil man and baby girl!

We sent last night with hubby family after Christmas at his gmas. So that's were Santa came. ***please note no offense to anyone*** me and hubby CANNOT WAIT for next year to have our Christmas with our family at our home!!!!!!!! That my friends is excitement whole heartedly and in no way is intended to be rude or ungrateful.

So far we have opened presents at 2 places and have two to go and it has been so much fun because lil man is finally old enough to get the owning art and baby girl just thinks it's so awesome that we allow her to tear something up. The disappointment is they both get so excited about what they got they play with it and don't care to open anymore lol!

So I just wanted to pop in and say Merry Christmas and show you my babies were on the nice list and got some pretty awesome stuff...now will they hurry up and wake up already I wanna open presents!

I got real crafty!

So I really did think katie taughte how to draw. So I found the merry christmas tree online and thought.id give it a shot. It really didnt turn out too bad! I still like santa better. 

My tip to you: use katies sharpie method do not paint it. I painted this one and it was much more difficult!!

Im loving them both and cannot wait to make more bower power inspired things for our new home!

P.S. Its a short week yall!! Them the jolly man comes and im sooo dang excited! :)

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Mr. Clause

I followe Ms. Katie Bower over at bowerpowerblog.com and she has got one personality on her, and I love it! Its funny because I read all these blogs and totally feel like I know these peeps. See katie has a baby boy the same age as little man and I will read some of her stories about what he has done and I totally get this "omg our boys have got to play together". But then I remember she has no idea I even exist...oh well.  My point is she is like this celebrity blogger and me and her made the same ornaments this year, the thread balls.  Funny thing is our posts about them were posted the same day...i have to admit I got a little giddy thinking about her amazing decor ideas and how amazing her home looks then we make the same ornaments!! Ahhh!!

So she also made the pottery barn knock off santa, you can see the original in my previous post. I had to make this post into three diff ones because im posting from my phone...sorry yall!!

When I get to decorating my new home, I want to mock katies...its just perfect! So I thought I would get busy by making her pottery barn knock off santa! So who did I call? Ghost busters!! ;) no, my bff. And we PLANNED to making them together however someones sharpie got carried away and we ended up doing them somewhat separate. ;) its ok though because I still got some time with her and she helped coach me thru my santa. Thanks tam!! :)

So here he goes, what ya think!? My mema said "thats one of them paint by numbers". I know I cant draw yall but thanks to katie I now cant paint or draw anything I want...hehe its on like donkey kong!

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Images I knocked off! :)

I follow

Question Answered :)

One of my friends, who commented on my post about the house, asked how we got it sold?   I left out that amazing juicy part, honestly thinking no one really cared.  HA!!  I'm so glad you do though Jessica.

I know you have heard of "flippers", you know people that buy homes super cheap and update them, then turn around and sell them for a profit.  Basically that's what happened.  But it sounds SOOOO much easier than it really was.

For starters it was extremely difficult to find someone that would buy a un-repaired sinkhole home in Tallahassee.  Sinkholes are very common in Florida, and if you are anyway affilated with real estate you will know that for the past 3-4 years the legislature and insurance industry have been in fights about sinkhole claims in our state.  Apparently, people will see a crack in their wall and report it to the insurance company as a "sinkhole".  But to actually deem your home as a sinkhole home, there are tests that have to be done (that cost well over $10k)...so insurance companies have gotten really tight on sinkhole claims because the testing alone cost them a good penny.  BUT that being said, if you really do have a sinkhole it makes your life a living you know what because they are so tight with sinkhole claims.

Anyway, back to my story, sinkholes in North Florida are not that common so it took me calling multiple attorneys to find one that could represent us and to find a buyer.  Most buyers will only buy in south Florida because they know they will get a better return on their investment, apparently the market in Tally is doing pretty good!!! :)  So I called several people that I found on Google and finally found a guy from South Florida that was interested in buying our home up here.

He flew up, took a look at our place, and decided he wanted it...that was as easy as I made it sound!! He was an answer to our prayers for almost two years!  I'm excited to ride by the place over the next several months and see what he does with it and how fast it will sell! :)

Hope that answered your question Jessica!!

2011 Ornament Craft

I love having a craft project for every holiday, or just for fun.  But lately, with everything that has been going on I failed to have a Thanksgiving craft :( and honestly I rather have like 12 days of crafting before Christmas, but that will come next year hopefully.  I did however get to making two ornaments.

The first is inspired from a Pinterest project I used to make twine balls for a wedding shower I hosted in October.  After I made the balls I thought they would look awesome with white string as ornaments, but the problem I found was what to use to make small balls.  I went to hobby lobby and picked up my supplies

Basically all I used was balloons, white string, mid podge, gold and red ribbons, and spray glitter.  First thing I did was take the balloons and barely blow them up, I wanted my balls to be about the size of normal glass ball ornaments.  You can make yours whatever size you feel like.

 It looks like a pile of snow balls!!! Except it was probably 79 outside and they are not made of snow...lol!

I dipped my fingers in the mod podge and rubbed it on the string, making sure it was nice and saturated.  Then I wrapped the string around the balloon in several different directions.  That really sounds so much easier than it actually was.  You have to make sure the string, all of it, stays pretty wet so you have to re-dip your fingers often. After you get the string like you want it, let it dry over night.  The next day you can take the spray glitter and spray it to the strong while the string is still on the balloon.  This is a close up picture of what the glitter looks like with the string still on the balloon.

Then you can pop your balloon and gently pull it out of one of the larger openings in your string.  Ta Da, this is what you get!  I fell in love, I thought it would look really pretty with a tree full of these...next year I cannot wait to add these to our tree.  But I will probably have to make new ones next year, two reasons: one being that the mod podge make not make it through the storage in the attic heat over the FL summer and two being that my parents added them to their angel tree and they actually look good on there!

The second ornament I made was also Pinterest inspired but it will be my gift tags this year.  They are initial ornaments, so simple, cheap and super cute!

 I took the glass and used that as my guide to draw circles on the cardboard and cut them out.  Then I used my cricut and cut circles out of scrapbook paper in the same size...note that was much harder than it sounds!  Then I glued the scrapbook paper circles to the cardboard circles.

I glued different scrapbook paper to the back.  The "D" ornament below was different paper I used from the one above, I promise the back really did match!  Then I used my cricut again and cut initials out of my black vinyl and mod podged over the entire ornament twice and sealed the edges with a glue gun so you could not tell it was cardboard.

I think they turned out super cute and will look awesome on our gifts this year!

The Time is Finally Here!!!

**Note: LOOONG blog post ahead, and sorry no pics YET**

Most of you reading this blog are aware of our "story" but only a few of you know the details about what my family has been through in the past *almost* two years.  This post has been in the back of my mind for two years, I have written it several times in my mind and now that I am sitting down to actually write it...it is going much differently than I imagined.

In March of 2010 my hubby and I walked outside to find a rather large hole in our front yard.  This hole, which was large enough to swallow two vehicles was deemed a sink hole.  At the time it happened, I never would have imagined to go through the next two years like we have.  Like I said, I imagined this post to focus on all the details of what my family has gone through...every single detail...while they are fresh in my mind...and that's not to "air my family's dirty laundry" but to document these details while they are still fresh to have something to go back to in years to come.  But now that I sit here writing this post, I have decided to focus on the aftermath and not the battle. So, VERY long story short: a sink hole opened in our front yard, we moved us and our baby out and into my parents' home, we have lived with them almost two years, had a second baby, and finally today signed the papers on the sell of our sink hole home.  

This is honestly the best feeling I have felt in a long time, besides having our two babies this feels like the best day of the last two years.  The stress, the worry, the fear, the depression, gone...I finally feel like a person again.  I feel like myself, I feel like I have no worries (although I know that wont last long), it is truly AMAZING!! 

What makes me even more excited is we have already begun looking for our next home, selected one, entered into a contract and are set to close!  I am so excited to be able to FINALLY blog about my house, begin working on diy projects again, and enjoy raising my family in OUR home.  Don't get me wrong, we are SOOOO thankful for my family allowing us to live with them, scratch that TAKE OVER, their home. We will never thank them enough for all they have done for us. 

So the new house, I know you are all on edge DyInG to know about it.  Where did we find one, what does it look like, when was it built, how many bedrooms, how many bath, what's the yard like...I get it...but honestly its not that impressive right now but my most favorite part about this home is me and hubby went into it thinking this is NOT the perfect house for us, but it IS the perfect house for us to turn into OUR HOME!!! We already have a DIY list a mile long, I have paint colors chosen, decorations I have been making, furniture ideas picked out, and the pantry organized!  I know I'm a little anxious but come on people I haven't had a house in TWO YEARS!!!! I feel like a kid on Christmas morning, I cannot sleep at night dreaming up ideas and picturing my sofa in the living room and the picture I'm gonna hang on the back wall of the living room...ooooohhhhhh mmmmyyyy gooosssshhhhh I'm excited!!!

I cannot wait to post our journey in getting in the new house, projects, and document us beginning our life again.  It's like we are newly weds all over again, but this time we have two babies....YESSSSS!!!!!!! :)  Life is GREAT yall and I am sooo thrilled to get it started :) 

Turkey Day 2011 !!!

Turkey day was so special this year, as is every year, because I got to EAT!! Most of you know that I love food therefore I LOVE turkey day!  This year we got to see the whole fam, all greats, grands, great grands, etc.  It was very busy going from one feast to the next, but thankfully I got to get a few snap shots in before we had to rush to the next grub! 

My mom's side of the family all met at her house.  It was fun watching my babies play with their cousins, or so we call them...they are actually my cousin's babies...would that make them their second cousins!?!?! I'm really not sure, but I call them cousins and it works.  Anyway...moving on...I had a blast watching them all play, just wish we could have stayed longer and wish they got to see each other more often. But I am thankful they got some visiting time in on Turkey Day.

This is the girls, two of my cousins' little girls and baby girl.  It's funny because my cousins SWEAR they did not intend for them to match...poor baby girl got left out of the memo :( but she's smiling to make up for her non-matching outfit.

 All the babies...yay YOU try getting six babies ALL under 3 years old to look at the same camera and smile...I can promise you it will not happen :)

After we ate, my Mema and Pepa wanted some family snap shots. It was perfect weather outside which make my favorite pictures anyway.

 This is my Mema and Pepa, Mema's momma (Nana) and ALL (except one) of my mom's brother's family...including spouses and children...that's a big family right there ;)

 This is Mema, Pepa, Nana and my mom's side of the family (plus Cha-cha, my cousin)...mom's side isn't as big.

 All the single ladies...or not single but all the ladies in the fam right here!!  Count them, there are FIVE generations in this picture.  We are so blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives.  Hubby and I talk about all the time how some children do not have neither of their grandparents to enjoy, get to know, and spend time with but right here is FIVE generations...I'm so proud!  It's my Great-grandmother (Nana,) my Mema (grandmother), my mom, me and baby girl!!

 We also go to celebrate this little man's birthday...he is three already...I cannot believe that!! It is true what they say time flies fast the older you get.

 He loved his cake.

 Though, he wasn't really sure what he was going to do with that whole cake all to himself!

 I love this cowboy pose...aint he too cute!?

 I'm a bad cousin...second cousin...or whatever I technically am...I cannot tell the twins apart, but nonetheless this is one of the adorable twins and she was having her the best time in the sandbox all by herself!

 Eating his cake.

 Ignore the mother in the foreground, but the other twin was playing in the car and got grass on the side and had to have it wiped off...soooo funny!

 Here she is trying to figure out how to get out.

 This is my dad's mom and our family...it's always so special to have her with us on Thanksgiving!

 So after my side of the family's turkey day events we headed to Q-town, however we missed the feast and showed up to a house of full bellies.  After everyone left we got to hang out with Nana and PaPaw, and tried (key word there is try) to take some pictures.  Nana is by far NOT a model...it's ok we love her anyway and proceed to take multiple pics regardless. :)

 These are three handsome country boys...and I wouldn't trade any of them for nothing!

 Can't hold those two babies still very long...and that little man is trying to talk his PaPaw into taking him for another ride...that is all he wants to do!

 So PaPaw gave in :)

 Turkey day was especially special this year because baby girl said her first word "Da-da" aaahhhh we got a pic of it too!

 This is the pic where Daddy heard his baby girl say "da-da" so sweet and she was proud see that smile on both of their faces!!!

 This is her actually saying "da-da"...she had that tongue going like crazy!!

Saturday morning started by watching Elf on the Shelf the movie which we recorded several nights ago in anticipation of adopting our Elf.  So today we went to town for a very special lady's wedding and on our way there we stopped by Target and adopted our family's Elf.  If you are not familiar with Elf on the Shelf and have children (or not), I strongly encourage you to hop over to their website and read about Santa's little helpers! You can do that Here.  So we picked up our Elf and I could not wait to get home and wake him up, give him a name, and activate his Christmas magic.  We were beyond tired and as little man took the box from me he accidently hit baby girl in the face...therefore resulting in a not so fabulous Elf naming pic!

 She was telling her Daddy about him hitting her in the face...but look at that smile on little man's face he could not wait to open the box and put our little Elf to work on special Dawkins family assignment ;)

 Little man got to be the first one to touch the Elf, because babies are not allowed to touch him once he receives his Christmas magic or he will loose it and not be able to fly home (aka the North Pole) each night and report to Santa how the babies were...which would be so bad!

That's him!!! I know for the first few years mommy and daddy will probably have the most fun with the Elf, but I am so excited to start with this tradition for our family!!!  Although, I have to say little man is very much aware of the Elf, and that if he is bad the Elf will tell Santa about it.  He also knows the Elf's name...we named him for the babies because they are too little to name him.  So what is his name...before I tell you I have to say I came up with it, hubby liked it, little man agreed and so it stuck....Bocephus it is!!! ;) I will leave ya on that note.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!!!

Phump XXL

Things lately around the Dawkins family have been on OVERLOAD BUSY!  I have SOOOO many exciting and wonderful things to share....however I am waiting until the time is juuust right before doing so ;) I know, I know, I'm killing ya smalls!!  Anyway, that is my "excuse" of why poor ole blogger hasn't been updated in...what is it...like...a week...or longer!  So to catch ya up real fast on our pics here we go....

First few pics are from the farm.  Little man and baby girl went to stay the night out there about a week or so ago and PaPaw put everyone to work pickin' pecans.  Little man didn't care, heck that got him outside and we all know as long as he is outside he is happy! 

 He LOVES this lady and her "truck" as he calls it!

Helping with the pecans, he was actually taking them out of PaPaw's pocket and putting them in the bucket.

 Then he started taking them out of the bucket and carrying them around.

 Ok, not a farm pic.  But last weekend I was in the garden with Gammy and saw this DEAD bee, had to snap a few shots...FYI if you didn't know, my favorite setting on my camera is MACRO! :)

 Chilling in the garden drinking her some milk :) Life is Good!

 Check out the stinger on that bad boy....OUCH

 Mom's...I dont remember what fruit/veggie this is but I thought it was pretty with the light from the sun.

 The next series are pics of babygirl using my macro!

 Just eat your heart out ;)

 I think Tyra besta be on the look out....the next ANTM right here ladies! ;)

 See the pose there!?  Like "mom this is my good side"....HAHAH!

 More Macro fun, I was trying to get the sun through that tiny hole...yea didn't work!

 Just thought it was a pretty contrast between the bird house and the sky!

 These things are AWESOME to take pics of.  I don't remember what the veggie is that grows in it....something like a tomato...but it leaves this shell and it was EVERYwhere so naturally I had to play around with it!

 Ok, so the next few shots are little man riding his "YeeHaw" (what he calls a horse) and the horse was actually his Papa's when he was little.  He LOVES it!

 My cowboy in action :)

 I had some good pecan picking pics that somehow got put down here at the bottom...I dont want to fight with blogger to move them to the top...

That's it for the Phump.  I hope you all have a safe and happy thanksgiving.  I cannot wait to EAT...and visit with all my family ;)