Young Wifey’s 25 Days of Christmas – Book Edition

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25 Days of Christmas, children, family, reading

For about a decade, the Christmas season in many homes starts when parents read The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition to their kids. Many children continue the holiday spirit by watching ABC Family’s 25 Days of Christmas. However, what if our 25 Days of Christmas revolved around families reading together?

When Pumpkin was younger, we’d lie under the Christmas tree, look up at the lights, and read a Christmas story together. Sweet moments like this are often the best gift of the season.

What are you waiting for? Dig out your favorite Christmas books, head to the library, or down load these books and read.

What is your favorite Christmas story?

XOXO,
Young Wifey

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Meet Opal

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cats, family, furbabies, pets

We moved into our home 3 1/2 years ago, and a short-haired muted calico kitty sat on our back deck and looked in through our back door. She would often sit under the oak tree behind our house and watch for signs of our family. As I weeded my garden beds, she would lie down on the mulch and keep me company. I would pet her and scratch her chin. Outdoor kitty loved Hubster, she would even stay near him when we was using the loud weedwhacker. Since she slept under our back deck and kept the mice and chipmunks at bay, we kept fresh water available for her. On some rainy and cold days, she would sneak into our garage.

For years, outdoor kitty tugged at our heart-strings. We considered bringing her inside the house, but thought that Rory (our over-protective guard maine coon) would never get along with another feline furbaby.

The week of Halloween, we heard a tiny cry. precariously perched, on a high tree limb hanging over the steep back, was our outdoor kitty. She looked at Hubster and me and cried for help. After a few hours, she climbed down the tree, ran up over the bank, and jumped into Hubster’s arms.

It was finalized. She had adopted us! Her name is Opal. ❤

We kept her in the basement until we could get her checked out by the vet and vaccinated. Then we moved her upstairs to her own room and slowly introduced her to Belle & Rory (our other furbabies).

Meet Opal Furbaby 3

Two months later…
Opal’s meows and chirps are so demur compared to Rory’s howls. She taught Rory what to do with cat nip. Rory and Opal aren’t fighting, but they’re not cuddling with one another. They are definitely curious about one another and have started to play. Opal is sweet and cuddly. She loves to lick my fingertips. She sleeps between my feet. She is no longer a skinny stray cat. ❤

XOXO,
Young Wifey

Graduation Gift

Tags

afghan, blanket, family, gift, gift giving, graduate, niece

I became an aunt very young in life. I remember making presents for my eldest niece at summer camp and in art class. She graduated from high school last month, and we’re extremely proud of her. Her graduation present was an afghan that I crocheted for her. I used Monet colored yarn and a double crochet stitch.

I’ve been working on her blanket for several years. I’m in trouble since next year we’ll have two more nieces graduate!

XOXO,
Young Wifey

Wedding Guest Book

Tags

acrylic paint, family, guest book, love, painting, sisters, tree, Weddings

In November 2012, I went to Scotland to visit my sister and her wife. They were celebrating their marriage with a wedding (and today they got married in the US!). As a wedding present, I painted a large oak and with Distlefink love birds on a canvas to use as their guest book. I’ve been waiting for them to finish arranging the leaves before blogging about it. So I’ll just reblog her post. Make sure you click on the link to her post to see the finished pictures!

XOXO,
Young Wifey

Riotflower's Realm

My sister made our guest book for our wedding. After she consulted with us, she painted this beautiful canvas with a large oak and Distlefink love birds for a Pennsylvanian element. When she transported it over for our wedding, she cut the wooden frame and rolled the canvas. We pinned it back onto the frame roughly to display at the wedding.

Prior to the wedding, Honey and I couldn’t source oak leaf hole punchers, so we went with maple. The wedding tables were decorated with paper leaves in various colours and we asked guests to write something that we should always remember to be thankful for (and their name) on at least one leaf.
Guests wrote thoughtful, touching, simple, and funny things on these beautiful little records of a joyful day. After the wedding, we had these leaves sitting in a container in the spare room while the painting…

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Nephew Camp: Day 3

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children, children's craft, craft, family, summer

Dear Mom & Dad,

Last night, I slept through another loud thunderstorm! I’m really glad that they come at night and not during the day!

I played Mario Kart for a few minutes while Aunt R- made my oatmeal and chocolate milk. It was raining, so we stayed indoors. Then she set up our science experiment! We tried to make bouncy balls, but none of the recipes worked perfectly. It was still very cool! After we played with our bouncy ball stuff, it was time to paint again. This was so cool! I can’t wait to show you!

Bouncy Ball Fail

After lunch, we started our pizza dough! I continued painting and I made something special for L- and S- too! I can’t wait to show them! They’re dot silhouette shirts!

Our Painting Projects

At dinner time, we finished our pizza dough. I made the cat shaped pizza that I’ve wanted to make for months! It was delicious!

Cat Face Pizza – Before Baking & Before Ears

Cat Face Pizza

After dinner, we played some board games. Aunt R- won at Blokus, but I won at Candy Land. During Candy Land, I was near the finish line, and I had to move backward so I started to scream cry. Then, Aunt R- drew the next card, and she had to go further back than me! She threw a temper tantrum too, it was really funny.

I wish the fireflies were outside so we could catch them. Now it’s time to get into the shower, read, and then go to bed. I’m looking forward to seeing you guys and going to Knoebel’s tomorrow! I told Aunt R- that I’d probably come stay with her again soon.

I love you,
J-

PS- Mom, you really need to learn to make sardines for me (he still means quesadillas).

Nephew Camp: Day 1
Nephew Camp: Day 2

Nephew Camp: Day 2

Tags

craft, family, summer, vacation

Day two of our quality time continues!

Dear Mom & Dad,

Last night, I had so much fun at the playground. After playing for a while, I got tired and went home (He was running around and then stopped still for a few minutes).

Swinging High

Running Amok

I took a shower and went to bed really early. Aunt R- says I slept through another loud thunderstorm!

Early this morning, we went swimming in the pool! Then we got ready to go to a Chinese restaurant for lunch (He was so well behaved).

We met Aunt R-‘s friends at the restaurant. S- has two kids, and they came over to play. It started raining, so we played inside with giant building blocks. The sun started shining, and we went swimming for a while. When we dried off, we had a dance party (playing several Just Dance games)! We also played frisbee with Belle. Then, we played basketball. It was a really fun day! I was so exhausted, I took a nap after they left (My goodness, is he hard to wake up! I even tickled him to wake him).

Aunt R- let me play Mario Kart while she made dinner. After dinner, I made pet monster rocks! They are awesome!

Making Monster Rocks

Pet Monster Rocks

When it was time to brush my teeth, I had to go through a red laser maze first!

Red Laser Maze

Fun Laser Maze

Now it’s time to read a few books before bed. I can’t wait for tomorrow!

I love & miss you,
J-

Nephew Camp: Day 1
Nephew Camp: Day 3

 

 

Nephew Camp: Day 1

Tags

family, Kids, summer, vacation

This week, my one nephew and I are spending some quality one-on-one time together.

Dear Mom & Dad,

Last night, we wrote our schedule of all the fun thing we were going to do today. Aunt R- said I fell asleep right away and slept through a loud thunder-storm last night.

This morning, I ate oatmeal for breakfast, and then we went berry picking. It was hot outside, and I ate a few strawberries as we were picking (He also danced around the strawberry field and serenaded nearby pickers). We picked 10.5 lbs. (Aunt R- picked 10 lbs…)! 

Strawberry Picking

 

10.5 lbs. of Strawberries!

Today for lunch, I made my own chicken & cheese sardines! (He means quesadillas!) It was yummy! I love sardines! After lunch, we had quiet time. I fell asleep for a few minutes, but Aunt R- woke me up.

This afternoon, we made green, blue, and red gummi candy. Then we went swimming for a little while, but then it started thundering and had to get out of the pool.

Then, we chopped up our strawberries and made ice cream. It was yummy! Aunt R- even let me have a little before dinner.

Mixing The Ice Cream

I helped make turkey meatballs for dinner. We ate spaghetti, meatballs, and broccoli. We ate a bowl of strawberry ice cream and sat down to write you a letter.

Soon, we’re going to walk down to the park and play at the playground. Then it’s time to come home, read a few books and go to bed. I’m having fun!

I love you,
J-

Nephew Camp: Day 2
Nephew Camp: Day 3