MIniature Christmas Village

Victorian Christmas Village

These miniature buildings are collected from various places some are cherished inheritances from my grandmother who used to put them on top of her piano after Thanksgiving. I always had fun helping with that.

Some I bought new from Target's Dollar Spot, which I think is actually called Bullseye's Playground now. They are the white ceramic houses.

Some of the houses came from Goodwill, Salvation Army, and yardsales. There is a little yarn tree that I made from an online tutorial for bottle brush trees.

And the Eiffel Tower is all the way from Paris, France.

Christmas gift ideas 2018

Here are some of the things my family and I are wishing for this year! LEGO Dimensions starter pack and figures.




This is perfect because my older kids love LEGO and video games.
Some of the figures they (and other kids might) want are Sonic the Hedgehog or this fun set pictured below


There are some less expensive figures available as well such as this set of Powerpuff Girls or Homer Simpson or Unikitty. Speaking of Unikitty these make AWESOME stocking stuffers. That's a blind bag which are the biggest thing for my 5 and 7 year old. There are tricks to making sure you don't get doubles, you can find those tips my searching on youtube.

If you happen to be shopping for younger children you might like to check our Fat Brain toys. I love this one.


Doesn't that look like fun? I can see my older boys teaching our toddler how to do it and having a blast too.
Remember fidget spinners that were huge for a few months?

This is another type of fidget toy that looks like fun and safe for children one year and older.
This set looks fun for older toddlers and younger big kids.

I hope these  ideas help you get a start on your holiday shopping! It's the most wonderful time of the year!

homemade purple paper

I've been trying to make a lot of paper this summer. This latest batch of many shades of violet started out like this.

It's a mixture of red, white, blue and magenta tissue paper and white copy paper. 

Here's what it looks like mashed up in my mom's old blender. 

This is a sheet laid out to dry. This batch has more of the red and violet colored paper in it. 

The batch this sheet came from was made the next day when I added used white copy paper to the leftover violet water, so it's got the barest tint of color to it. 

blue paper

homemade green paper

Old Mill in Sciota, PA

June 9 was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, the sky was blue with beautiful white clouds. So we went on a family picnic for lunch.  It was our first time to pack a lunch and take a blanket and sit out in nature to eat a meal.

The location I chose was Old Mill in Sciota, PA in Hamilton Township. We had the place to ourselves which was nice because the grassy field wasn't very big. After reading the description on this site I wish we had tried to go in the building, but we didn't.

I also wish I had taken a picture of the bridge we crossed.

photo theme of the day: kids running away from the camera

Here is a map of the location where we were. I highly recommend it as a picnic spot because it was so cute and peaceful.

baby prep

With a third boy on the way a lot of people have been asking me what I need. I've saved everything that is worth saving from my older two boys so luckily my response is not a whole lot. The few things I need are items that typically aren't provided by people outside of family. So like for instance, a lady from church doesn't have any interest in buying us a crib mattress, and I don't blame her one bit! So here are a few things you might find yourself having to purchase when you have your own little one on the way.

Here is the crib mattress I picked out. It's got an average of 4 stars out of 5 from 920 reviewers so I consider that a pretty reliable product. I'm intrigued by the fact that is has spring coils. We've had two other baby mattresses that didn't have coils so I can't wait to see if I notice a difference.

I'm currently loving this bag from Target. With my older two songs I had a shoulder bag that a detachable long strap. It was fine and I loved it at the time, but now that I have more experience I know that a backpack will be so much better in those days when you are carrying a baby everywhere. I especially love the wipes pocket on the side.

The other things we absolutely need before new baby comes is a stroller and car seat combo. We used to have the Chicco Keyfit 30. The car seat part was completely shot and we had to get rid of it. But it lasted for two babies so I feel like we got good use out of it. This time around I've been looking at more economical options. Because I don't need to spend $200 just for a car seat. I found this option at Amazon.


In the past couple weeks I've been in target running errands as you do. On two separate trips I found these items that I absolutely had to have for my babe. That llama lamp provides the perfect amount of soft glowing light for those mid-night feedings and diaper changes. And every baby deserves his/her own soft lovey.

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