Oh Come Let Us Adore Him

Only 5 days until Christmas...and I'm just now posting about my Christmas decor.
I kept it simple this year. Because of our house reno I didn't have a whole lot of time to spend on decorating. But, I'm really liking the simple.
I don't like the stress that comes with the holidays, because really that's not what it's supposed to be about. So I try my best to get all my shopping done before december and my presents wrapped early, so that I can just focus on making memories, having fun, and the most important our Savior.
That's not to say that Christmas is completely stress free, because I still stress about little unimportant things, but I try my best to get most of the stress out of the way! I just want to enjoy this time. I don't want to feel rushed or lost in all the holiday craziness.
I want to be still and reflect on the glorious birth of a babe in a stable.
I'm overwhelmed by the beauty of it all. I'm humbled by the great love of our Father.

What I've been enjoying most this december is the Advent study I've been doing with She Reads Truth.

I've done a lot of studies with She Reads Truth and I've been blown away by the goodness of it all. I've learned so much and grown in character. If you are interested in doing their online studies, go check them out HERE. They are starting a new study on John in January. And trust me, it's going to be good. 

Alright, now for a look at how I decorated this year:

Our tree and Eli!

It's amazing how well the boys have done with not destroying anything on the tree. I thought for sure something would be broken within seconds. So far so good. I'm not much of a tree decorator. I don't use fancy ribbons or color schemes or anything like that (because that is a lot of work). Every year I buy an ornament for everyone to go in their stocking, so my tree is full of just a bunch of different cute random ornaments. We've got tractors and trains, and farm trucks, and horses (can you tell I'm living with boys?) I even have some ornaments that Brian made as a little kid. For me ornaments are all about the memories. I can't wait until the boys are old enough to help me decorate the tree. 

It's great when your mom has too many Christmas decorations to count and starts giving them away. These white trees are favorites. I'm surprised they are still in tact with two little boys running around.

This is the boy's favorite decor. They are intrigued by the little cabin and we've already lost a tree in the front. :) And look at those little cuties in that picture frame. It's hard to believe that was last Christmas. They love to point at the frame and say "baby"!

The manger scene and my little advent cabin. 

I just threw a couple of festive pillows on the couch and called it good.

This is what I have on the table. I love these reindeer.

And this is why I wanted little shelves in my kitchen. :) I got this snow globe this year at Lowe's. Who knew they had cute Christmas decorations? I sure didn't. I snagged this up on one of our many trips to get house supplies. 

I bought those little snow angel baby figurines last year, because they reminded me of the boys :)

And finally some wall decor:

Favorite chalkboard ever, painted by ME!

Also, one of my favorite Christmas signs. Brian made the tree and I painted it. :)

Bought from a store...sometimes you just can't make everything ;)

And I won this sign at MOPS. It just happens to be my favorite Christmas carol. This sign was handmade by some pretty cool gals from my MOPS group and they have a blog too. You should go check them out HERE!

Ok, well that's all folks! I hope you all have a very merry Christmas filled with joy, laughter, and good memories. 

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

The house renovation has slowed down a little bit due to Brian's increased hours at work. However, we are finally almost done! :)
It's been a long 2 months for me and I'm so excited to have my kitchen back soon. I don't think I ever want to eat a microwave meal again. Seriously!
Anyway, here is what we have been working on lately:

1. The Ceiling- We finally finished the entire thing and I think I'm in love!

This is a view of our living/dining room.

Close-up of our ceiling

View from the living/dining room into the kitchen

It took a lot of time to put up this ceiling, but I'm so happy we did. It was definitely worth it. In case you are interested in doing something similar to your house, here are the details.

We bought tongue and groove pine boards from Lowe's. Click HERE to see exactly what we purchased. It was $10.97 a package and each package should cover 14 sq. ft. I recommend buying a few extra packages because there were some pieces that were damaged (you can return them though). 

After we finished installing the ceiling we sealed it with this:

You could also use Polyurethane, but there were two reasons we chose this instead. 1. It has no odor. You aren't breathing in a bunch of fumes, which in my opinion is important. 2. It is water-based. Overall, it is much better for you especially if you have children. I also read online that the Polyurethane smells pretty strong for awhile. We applied one coat. You could probably do more, but we decided that we were fine with one coat (or maybe it was because our arms were really sore afterwards).

2. Our Farmhouse Sink:

This is a dream come true. I think it's beautiful and I can't wait to wash dishes in it. :)

Brian had to build a frame inside the cabinet to support it. 

The most terrifying part of it all was that Brian had to cut the cabinet in order to put the sink in. If you cut it wrong the first time, you don't get a second chance. And let me tell you, sink bases are not cheap, so it's a little scary. Thankfully Brian is skilled and was able get it right the first time. 

We have our appliances installed and our floors are completely finished. The cabinets will be finished being installed today and tomorrow we get countertops! :) We moved all our living/dining room furniture in last night and we are getting rid of our lovely pod. All we have left to do is the little stuff. We have some sheetrock work to do on the half walls surrounding the stairs. I need to finish a little painting. We need to put trim up and then we will be completely finished and it will be time for us to tackle our next big project ;)

When everything is completed, be rest assured I will be posting before and after pictures. It's quite the transformation.