Christmas 2010

The girls put out cookies for Santa. Ella wanted to take a drink of his milk just to "make sure it was nice and cold." We were lucky enough to be able to get the kids everything they asked for from Santa. Eventhough the reason for the season is not to get presents and material things, we love giving the kids presents. Among other things, Ella got her coveted Lalaloopsy dolls and the Littlest Pet Shop toys she asked for; Grace got her Nintendo DS and the Littlest Pet Shop toys; and Colt got a basketball hoop and a bunch of cars and trucks. Colt aslso got a Carhart coat just like Daddy's this year from Grandma Ruthie. They look like twins in their coats and Yankees hats : )
Every year before we go to Mass, we make the girls take their picture in front of the Christmas tree. They had really cute matching jackets and skirts to wear this year. I, unfortunately, didn't get to go this year because Colt was being very grouchy and uncooperative, so he and I stayed home while Chris took the girls.

Overall, it was a great year and a great Holiday season and hopefully we'll have a wonderful New Year!

Merry Christmas from the Singletons!

Merry Christmas from the Singletons! We hope your Christmas is a blessed one and you have a safe and happy New Year! Thank you for helping to make our year wonderful and we look forward to the year to come! ~God bless and keep you!

Little Miss Muffet & The Three Pigs

Here is my first attempt at some embroidery. I chose the Three Pigs to try first. Not too bad, if I do say so myself. I decided to do the "Red" pig a lighter color since I imagined her as a "she."

Here is Little Miss Muffet. Her curls gave me a bit of a challenge, but overall, she was pretty easy. The polka dots on her dress were supposed to be French knots, but I decided to cross stitch them instead.

This is a closer look at Miss Muffet.

Little Boy Blue and the Three Bears are next...

Vintage Tea Towels

I'm in the process of embroidering some vintage looking tea towels. As I finish them, I will post the pictures here. I can cross stitch like on one's business, but these are my first attempts at embroidery. The designs are vintage kids' stories and nursery rhymes. I hope you like them!

It's Cookie Season!

This weekend I decided to make Christmas cookies. I'm not really baker, so I only do lots of cookies this time of year.

Ella decided she wanted to be the big helper today.

Colt's first time helping with cookies. I'm not sure if he stirred more than he ate : )

These are my mom's famous cut out cookies. If you've ever had them, you know how delicious they are! I finally got them right after 11 years! They would usually come out really thin and really dry, but this year they cam out perfect! I'm so excited! I just wish the peanut butter blossoms came out as good.


These are all the cookies we made today. Santa better bring his appetite! The peanut butter blossoms came out way too dry and thin. I'm not sure what I did wrong, but they definitely are not like my mom's! I'll have to ask her what secret she has : )

Colt spent all evening trying to eat the cookies. He especially liked the blossoms. He'd eat the chocoloate middle then throw the rest to the dogs. This went on for a good 10 minutes before I caught him. He's definitely the little trouble maker!

For some reason, Colt takes his pants down when he's mad at me - I guess he thinks I'm somehow affected by it - so this was his reaction to me telling him no more "kiecoos" (his way of saying cookies)

Grace's Christmas Program

Last Monday, Grace had her Christmas program at school. It was nice that the school put on a show that was just for the first graders and their guests. The place was packed and I can't imagine what it would look like if all grades were there! Grace is the angel in the middle. The other two cuties are friends from her class. She practiced so much, even Ella knows the songs : ) This was out first program and, of course, got every second on tape - she didn't have a program last year. It was refreshing to see a program filled with songs that reflect the reason for the season - Grace goes to Catholic school, so all the songs except one were Christ-oriented and there was also a Nativity skit. It was beautiful!

It's finally decorating time!

This weekend, we decided to decorate for Christmas. We get our tree from Grace's school-sponsored Boy Scout troop. This year we decided on a huge tree (nearly 10 feet!) since we have a vaulted ceiling. I decided to decorate the tree with my soft Boyd's Bears ornaments, the kids' handmade school ornaments, and old-fashioned ornaments that I bought to make it safer for Colt and to give it that "old-timey" feel.

We found a Little People nativity set that's adorable and put that out since Colt is still very handsy : )

I also put up the kids' advent calendar and I finally found some mistletoe!

For our door, I found some Christmas craft paper and wrapped it around the front door. I also bought a real balsam wreath and placed some of my wooden and metal old-fashioned ornaments around it. I also had some jingle sleigh bells and placed them on the door knob.

We don't have a fireplace, so I had to put our stockings on a bookshelf. Hopefully the next house we have will have a fireplace - wishful thinking : )

Lastly, I put my Santa Mickey in the front yard with some plastic candy canes. He's always the last thing I put out.