our new Christmas tradition

I've been meaning to post this idea for a while now and I just didn't get around to it. I love Christmas advent calendars. I wanted to create one that would be meaningful, inexpensive and wouldn't take a lot of time. (I love to sew but I didn't want to get into a project right before Christmas)

So I searched online for some ideas and came across this idea from Martha Stewart. I changed some things here and there and I'm happy with the way it turned out.

I bought 12 pairs of baby Christmas socks, put numbers on them and hung them on a ribbon, that's it!

Aaron and I wrote things that we love about each of our kids. It worked out great because they each got 8 turns each so we had no fights there. We put all the little cards in a Christmas tin under our tree and I will put them in our Christmas journal to keep. You could put scriptures, stories, candy, activities for each day in December to do as a family...lots of ideas. You can do something different each year if you wanted to. I'm looking forward to this new Christmas tradition!

Materials I used:

-the numbers are digital brushes from Ali Edwards that you can find at designerdigitals.com.

-the ribbon is red and green polka dot May Arts ribbon

-I used those Contact hanger things from 3M so I wouldn't have nail holes

-I got the socks from Old Navy. They range in sizes from 6 months to 3-6 years. You could do a mix of kid and adult socks as well. Now that Christmas is over, you could score some good deals right now for next year.

-I thought about using mini clothespins to hang the socks but I just used some mini bulldog clips I already had. These are Tim Holtz ones I got at the scrapbook store but you can get these at Staples.

-I downloaded the "What I love about you" cards for free from Oprah.com. You could make your own in Photoshop as well, that would be really cute! I just stamped the B, P and H on there.

Merry Christmas!

Just want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!
(this picture is from last year)

Tuesday

So how’s everyone doing? It’s been a while since I’ve blogged. December gets a little crazy every year. Aaron has been in China on business and got home Sunday, I’m so happy to have him home. He brought us all back some goodies...the DVDs and knock-off designer purses are always a favorite!
The kids finished their soccer season and team parties up last week. I’m always happy when soccer season starts and I’m equally happy when the season ends. I found this gingerbread kit at Costco last week. The kids had a lot of fun decorating it (even though in the picture it looks like they're being tortured)We're looking forward to spending some time together as a family.

teacher gift idea

I was browsing all my favorite digital scrapbooking websites last night and came across a really cute Christmas gift idea for teachers. The great thing about it is you can personalize it with whatever you want and it doesn't cost a lot of money. (and come on, who doesn't love chocolate?! After dealing with our children 5 days a week, these nice people deserve a treat and then some)

You can download this for FREE here

One of B&P's favorite things to do at Christmas is to make their own handmade cards and letters for their teachers so we'll include those with the chocolate. I wonder if their teachers enjoy Diet Coke as much as I do...I need to look into that...

our Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving and I hope all of you did too! I did the same thing that I do every year, I ate way too much. We spent Thanksgiving at my brother’s house again this year. It wasn’t quite the same without Mike, Linda and Company (Linda is my mom’s older sister) but it was still good. My cousins and I could tell you stories about my relatives and our past Thanksgivings that would have you laughing and then asking, "Is that really true?"
When Jeff Foxworthy does his ‘You might be a redneck’ stand-up routine, everyone laughs because it’s funny. I laugh because I have relatives that are exactly like the people he talks about. Good times…

I posted some pictures this summer of the kids on my Dad’s tractor. He put the backhoe attachment on it and let B&P give it a try out in the garden. Braden LOVED it! He would dig the hole and then put the dirt back in and pack it down. That’s one of the things that I love about going home to Vernal. My kids get to experience and do things they don’t normally do. Paige and Heston found leaves in the back yard and enjoyed raking them up and jumping in them.

I know it's totally cheesy but I love the shape of this tree.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!

stubborn..uh, I mean strong-willed...

You can ask any of my in-laws and they will tell you that the Hammond kids (all 8 of them) are very strong-willed individuals.
Heston is truly a Hammond in this respect. He has started talking a lot more in the last few months. However, he has refused to say his own name. We have tried to get him to say Heston, but then the strong-willed Hammond gene kicks in and he gives us this look like, ‘You ain’t gettin’ nothin’!’
Today, at 2 years and 3 months old, he finally broke down and said his name for the first time.

Today, I have hope for my stubborn, uh I mean, strong-willed Hammond child.

a fun Thanksgiving craft

Thanksgiving is right around the corner! I'm so ready for my favorite Thanksgiving dish, Frog Eye Salad. (It always tastes better when my Mom makes it :)

I wanted to share a fun craft that I’m working on for the big day. I got this idea from the November issue of Parents magazine.

Instructions:
-Cut a 1-inch sliver off the bottom of a 9-inch polystyrene ball. (I found an 8 inch one in the craft section at Walmart for around $8.)

-Wrap sphere neatly in thick dark-brown yarn, covering surface completely; knot on bottom.
-Make a 4-inch ball from light-brown yarn and attach to body with a wooden craft stick.
-Create simple facial features using felt: white circles (approximately the size of a quarter, with 1/8-inch pom-poms for pupils) for eyes, yellow triangles for the beak, and long red felt teardrops as the wattle. (I'm just using googly eyes and scraps that I have on hand)
-Cut feather shapes from colored craft paper (or old scrapbook paper you’re not using anymore)and bend in half lengthwise to create seam.
-Have the kids write or draw things that they are thankful for
-Glue wooden craft stick to the bottom third of the feather and insert in a fan shape on turkey body.

stepping out of my comfort zone

This last weekend, we attended our ward campout at the Peralta Trails just outside of Apache Junction. One of our bishopric members does team building stuff for a living. We camped at this place where he does his trainings.

When we woke up refreshed and ready to go on Saturday (can you sense the sarcasm? I don't enjoy sleeping in a tent but I was a good sport) we did a couple of the high rope activities. One of them involved a set of partners where each person walks into the middle of this rope and then they help each other to get to the other side, while being suspended 15 feet in the air. Aaron and I made it through that challenge. (The whole time I kept saying to the church folk, 'I'm trying really hard not to vocalize any profanities right now'...if they only knew how hard that is for me when I'm freaked out)

The other challenge involved us climbing to the top of a 25 foot pole and standing on top. Braden was fearless!

These are the Superstition Mountains. Living here, I have a greater appreciation for how beautiful the desert is.

I love this cactus. It was so tall and the way it leaned to one side like that...I've never seen that before. A tall cactus with bad posture...it's built like me :)

Veterans Day

This is the day each year that we have to reflect on the millions of Americans who have served our country. Usually on Veterans Day, the kids write papers about what this day means to them and they send drawings and essays to my Grandpa. This will be our 1st Veterans Day without him. I'm missing him, especially today.
I have so many favorite pictures however these two are very special to me.

is it Thursday already?

This week has flown by! I finished up my "Week in the Life" project on Tuesday. I got 4 out of the 7 days done but Blogger is not letting me post them, I'll try again later. The whole week I was doing this project, one of my favorite quotes kept coming to mind:



"Enjoy the little things in life...for one day you'll look back and realize they were the big things."



As I was taking pictures and writing things down, it reminded me that life really is a series of "little things". I needed to be reminded of that. It was so fun to take pictures of everyday things that I do that I don't even stop to think about. It takes a little time but it was worth the experience.

This morning I did a digi layout from a picture I took this weekend. I love digital scrapbooking! I still love my paper but being able to just sit down for 20 minutes, knock out a page and not have to clean up...it's a good thing!

Halloween recap

My parents came down this weekend, we had so much fun! They got here Friday night so they were able to go trick-or-treating with us. Braden is dressed up as his idol Obi Wan Kenobi (Grandma Martha made the cape but I worked some magic with some fake leather and clearance fabric from Walmart) Paige is Snow White of course (remember I said I was going to make this costume? I ran out of time! And it was cheaper to buy it. I wussed out.) Heston is a cute little M&M. I was going to be the yellow peanut M&M but I think I'll save that for next year. (there's red-eye in these pictures, I hate that and I apologize...I'll fix it later)

On Saturday, we went to B&P's soccer games. I'm glad they play their games in the morning because it got up to 93 on Saturday. I didn't make P's Halloween costume but I did do my soccer mom duties and made B's team banner.

Tomorrow is the last day of my Week in the Life project. I need to go through all my pictures and notes and get the book put together.

Have a good Monday!

Facebook

My "Week in the Life" project is going great. Just taking pictures and documenting things each day, it's been fun.

I started a Facebook account months ago because my friend Jolynn invited me to join. I didn't do anything with it for months and about a week ago, I updated my profile and added some pictures. Oh my gosh, I have been having so much fun! Reconnecting with friends I haven't seen in years, seeing pictures of their growing families and hearing about their careers, where they live, what they're up to...I have missed these people.
Have a great Thursday!

A Week in the Life

I'm a fan of Ali Edwards. I really like her style and she comes up with some great projects and ideas.
A couple of weeks ago, she completed "A Week in the Life" album. I am so excited to start on this project and I thought you might want to join in with me. It's basically just documenting your every day life for a week through journaling and pictures. Your routines, errands, meals you cooked, activities, anything that you did during the week.
Here's a link to her website that explains it all:

http://aliedwards.typepad.com/_a_/2008/09/weekend-creat-3.html

I'm going to start tomorrow and end next Tuesday (election day!) I'm excited, this will be fun!
I'm off to charge my camera batteries and finish my mountain of laundry.

Monday

Yesterday we had our Primary program. We had a practice/pizza party on Saturday so we could fine tune everything. I know those kids were just sick of me by the time Sunday rolled around. They did really well. I'm so glad it's over for the year... (insert sigh of relief)

I'm a little bummed that Toni was voted off Dancing with the Stars last week. (in my earlier post, I wanted her to win) Now that she's gone, my new choice is Brooke Burke. Paige has always had a crush on Derek Hough so we'll go with them.
A couple of weeks ago after DWTS, I watched "Samantha Who?" for the first time and now I'm hooked! I rented Season 1 so now I'm all caught up.
What are some of your favorite TV shows?

goodbye binky

On Sunday, Heston said goodbye to his binky. We gathered them all up and he tossed them in the trash. (I kept this one though because I'm a sentimental sap that way.) He hasn't been sleeping well all week but I'm hoping it'll get better soon.

On Tuesday, we had a break from our after-school activities and we took the kids to the pumpkin patch. It was really nice to be able to hang out as a family on a weeknight without rushing somewhere.
Instead of carving the pumpkins, I bought these Mr. Potato Head kits at Target a couple of years ago. You just poke the little pieces in and that's it, fast and no mess.
We're in the middle of our soccer season. The weather has finally cooled down, it's so nice. Braden's team are the Vampires and Paige's team are the Inferno. She has little flames on her uniform, so cute! Soccer is so much fun, the kids love it.

some digi pages

I've been working on a few pages here and there. Just wanted to share a couple. I may have posted some of these pictures before, I apologize :)

Halloween is right around the corner, I've got to get some costume stuff finished up.

Tuesday

I've been meaning to post for a while...I'm finally getting around to it!
Wes and Ricci got married on the 4th at the beach in La Jolla. It was a really nice wedding and it was great to spend time with our families. Matt and Alisha let us stay with them and so the kids got to have a sleepover with their cousins. Thanks again Matt and Alisha! We needed to get pictures in our matching shirts for Grandma so Alisha took our pictures. She does such a great job.

For some reason, I'm having trouble posting some of the pictures I took at the wedding. These are the only ones that are working.


The kids are out of school this week for Fall Break. The weather here is so nice right now. We went to the park yesterday, just trying to entertain the kids.