The Makings of a Christmas Tree

A few weeks ago I attended the Nutcracker Market. While at the Market, I purchased deco mesh, ribbon, and more to make this year's tree the prettiest yet! In my head I envisioned a music note theme that would compliment the blue hues of our home. It would be elegant, tasteful, and worthy of the cover of a Pottery Barn magazine. I had plenty of beautiful globe ornaments in navy, gold, and silver, and knew that I would not be putting up very many of my novelty ornaments that had been collected over the years, because they wouldn't all fit and they wouldn't match my theme!

As I unwrapped each ornament this year for our tree trying to decide what would make the cut, I was filled with sentiment, emotions, gratitude! Before I was born my mother began a tradition for our family that continues to this day- every year she picked out an ornament for each of us that would be ours to have forever. It was certainly appreciated our first Christmas when we had more ornaments than our little 2 foot tree could hold! Looking at each ornament, I was filled with so many memories.

Of course THESE ornaments would have to go on the tree- My first ornament and Peyton's first:

 




Can't forget my Beauty and the Beast years:

     

Or my NASA years:

    

My Choir years with Mrs. Wynne:

  

Ornaments from my travels around the World:

 

And of course this Texas gal can't forget her Texas Capital ornaments! My parents have given me on every year since they began making them more than a decade ago!

 
 

And special ornaments that have been given to me over the years that include a sweet sticker covered stocking from my niece, Clifford from Gretchen, TCA ornament, an ornament for my second year teaching, and even the missing monkey that my mom sneaked on my tree one year HAVE to be on the tree:

Marriage brought in a new collection of His & Hers ornaments, as well as a few from Daniel's childhood! I love the addition of MUSIC to our tree, that truly represents not just Daniel's talent, but the effect it has had on our home:

  

I of course want to carry on this tradition with Peyton, so I HAD to hang up her ornament we picked out this year (the little "pea" its holding says "Sweet Pea"):

Before I knew it, EVERY "novelty" ornament made the cut, and the tree was full! The pretty globe ornaments are still in their boxes, and wont make it on the tree this year. My Pottery Barn dream was nice, but this tree is so full of memories, and that is SO much better. As I look at our tree, I am thankful for each memory the ornaments represent. From the handmade Choir ornaments, to the silly Clifford inside joke ornaments, to the "our firsts" and "baby's firsts", I love our tree. I especially love this years addition- a baby gate!

I'll end on this thought- It is SO easy to get wrapped in everything that Christmas really is not- the decor, the gifts, the food, the stress all this can cause- it is not about ANY of those things, but about love. Not just the love of family and friends, but the kind of love it takes to send your One and ONLY Son to Earth, to be born to die. To die for you, to die for me, to nail our sins to not a Christmas tree, but a Cross, so that we can all find true forgiveness and freedom from our bondage. Let us get wrapped up in that freedom. 

Merry CHRISTmas!

the making of Peyton

Well... once again it has been a while, and I thought today would be the perfect time to sit and share our baby story. I'll be honest, this is mostly for Peyton. I know one day it will be special for her to read this. My last post was about painting our kitchen. It is fun to look at those pictures because little did I know I was already pregnant!

Finding out we were expecting
What many do not know is that it took Daniel and I many months to get pregnant. While I know many struggle for years, and others never are able, those 9 months of "infertility" were so hard for me. Emotionally I felt like a failure. After about 9 months I went back to the doctor and she decided I was the "perfect candidate" for fertility medicine. She did some lab work, gave me lots of instructions, and wrote me two different prescriptions. On my way out of the office, she came running after me and said, "Hannah! Don't fill those prescriptions!" I looked at her with confusion, she smiled and hugged me. "You're pregnant!" I remember feeling SO shocked that I needed to sit down. I was shaking, crying, I was over-joyed and terrified all at the same time!

Daniel and I both had commitments that evening, but I knew I could not wait to tell him. I decided that in the few minutes we had together after work and before the next thing I would share this miracle with him. About  year earlier we had found cute University of Houston onsies, so I wrapped them up and just in case he didn't understand, I also included a pregnancy test stick! He of course said, "We already have these..." haha but then saw the stick. He looked at me at said a few times "really?.... really?.... are you sure???" It was a lot to take in. Yes, we had wanted this for so long, but now that it was actually here it was overwhelming. And wonderful.

1st & 2nd Trimester
I am SO thankful for my MK business and that it has allowed me to stay at home, for I can NOT imagine teaching with the morning sickness I had. Make that all-hours-of-the-day sickness. It's funny, because I remember thinking at the time "This will never end! I don't think I can do this anymore!" and now, months later, I can't even really remember it. I KNOW it was hard (and I lost a TON of weight), but I survived and I know I could do it again. The nausea lasted from about 7 weeks to 25ish. At about 22 weeks it was no longer all day, but just once or twice a day, and then one day I realized, "OH! I haven't felt sick in a few days!" My sisters always refer to the 2nd trimester as "bliss" and while I didn't exactly experience the bliss, I am thankful that the nausea DID come to an end. I will admit that it was a great diet! By the time I reached my 3rd trimester I was almost 20 pounds below my starting weight! Wahoo!

The Name:
Daniel and I decided before we found out the gender that we would name our child Payton Stephen (Daniel's middle name) if if was a boy or Peyton Elizabeth (my middle name) if it was a girl. We both loved the name, and considering there were not too many names we agreed on, it was an easy sell! ;)

Finding out we would be having a girl:
We both knew we would be thrilled regardless of the gender, but we will admit that Daniel secretly wanted a boy, and I secretly wanted a girl. There we were, looking at a tiny baby on the screen, moving around, sucking her thumb, and the sonographer said, "Oh she is beautiful!" Immediately I asked, "SHE?!" and then started crying. A lot. I was so overjoyed. Don't worry. Daniel was not at all disappointed, but already thinking about all the fun he will have raising a little girl. It was so fun calling my family because I am the only one so far to have a girl first. Kristy was especially over joyed!

3rd Trimester:
I remember waking up one morning and thinking, "When did my belly get so big?!" It was like it grew over night! My little butterfly flutters became full gymnastics in my womb! We filled our 3rd tri with working in the nursery, visiting family, and lot's of dates. It was fun spending Thanksgiving with my family. It amazes me how real it is for my niece and nephews. When I would see them they would hug my belly and kiss it, saying hello to Peyton. Little Josh was especially affectionate. He would cuddle with my belly, bring it toys, and say the sweetest things.

We were SO blessed with our baby showers. I still can't believe all the wonderful gifts we received. God has blessed us with great family and great friends.

So. Here I am. 2 1/2 weeks from our due date. Feet swollen, back aching, and going absolutely CRAZY waiting for this baby! I just can't wait to hold her. It will be here before I know it, and the past 9 months will have seemed like a blink of an eye.

Kitchen so far

I've gotten around to this finally, and figure I'll put up a few pics. I've only done the walls so far. Just didn't have the "umph" do to more than that. Cabinets will get done this summer when Daniel is off. 

BEFORE PICS (Daniel took these)

 DURING PICS (Also Daniel)

I did TWO coats of primer.... blah!

What's that you may ask? PAINTABLE WALL PAPER!!!!! LOVED THIS! It went up super easy, and I used less than a whole roll from Lowes.

AFTER (I took these pics):

I went with a fresh, light gray for the walls

And metallic dark gray for the wall paper. I was very pleased with how it turned out.

24 hours?

I've learned that no matter how much I pray that the Lord will add an additional hour or two to my day, it will never happen. I need to learn how to use all 24 hours of my day. I am terrible and managing my time, and when you work from home this can be VERY challenging, and can hurt your business. This is what my day normally looks like:

5:30am Wake up and work out
6:30am Shower, then eat a healthy breakfast of oatmeal or eggs
7:30am Jesus time
8:15ish Office time- read email, reply, etc
9:30am time for phone calls
10:30am Run errands
12:00pm Healthy lunch such as a salad
12:30pm Clean one room of the house
2:00pm Attend any appointments I may have for work
4:30pm Begin preparing a healthy, hearty dinner for my sweet hubby
5:30pm Dinner
6:00pm Play a game with Daniel, go on a walk, or watch news together
8:00pm Read a good book or do a craft
10:00pm Good night :)

I'm sure your day looks just like that, right? Ha. Who am I kidding. Normally my day consists of waking up when the dogs are ready to go outside (which Sam alerts me by licking my face), eating a bowl of sugar cereal, reading for a few minutes in my Bible, head upstairs to my very messy and unorganized office intending to reply to emails and make phone calls, but instead get distracted by a recent post on Pinterest, and the next thing I know Daniel is home and hungry. OH NO! What happened with my day?! I don't even know what I did all day, but I DO know that I did not clean, cook, work, or eat lunch...

It's time for a time management reality check. If I can't instill some sort of daily routine now, I certainly won't be able to when I have kids. I know myself well enough to know that this can not happen over night. It must require BABY STEPS! So. Step 1? Start planning my day out ON PAPER. I have never been good with keeping up with planners, but I do enjoy having a single sheet of paper that shows my whole week, and each day broken down. I put my creative side to work and made this to help me out.

Planning my day out will also require waking up at a certain time... guess it's time to figure out how to set my alarm clock!

Well, we shall see how Step 1 works out for me this week! Any suggestions from your time management extraordinaires on what Step 2 should be?

Planned renovation... and how I plan on paying for it!

WHAT: A TOTAL DIY kitchen makeover!!! Yes. I am braving the task of doing it myself!

WHEN: ASAP (goal date to begin is March 1!)

HOW MUCH WILL IT COST: I have researched, and researched some more. I have shopped around for everything I want and (while Daniel does NOT think it is possible) I believe I can give my kitchen a makeover for under $1000! Don't believe me? Stay tuned for future blogs of proof!

WHAT I NEED: well... $1000! Daniel told me I could take on this project if it was FULLY funded through my Mary Kay business! I can CERTAINLY accomplish that! And you can help! I need to sell $2000 in products by February 28th to have $1000 in profits to cover the makeover. Next time you are tempted at Wal-Mart to try a new shade of eye shadow, run out of mascara, or need some face wash rush over to www.marykay.com/hannahjones to help yourself and myself out!

WHY: When I think back to my childhood, so much of our time was spent in the kitchen! It was the central room  in the house, opened up to the living room and entry... and where we often found ourselves sitting on bar stools, leaning on the counter, talking to mom as she made dinner. My mother has always had a knack for making every room of the house feel like a home. Her kitchen had cherry red walls, with collectable cans displayed around the ceiling (she now has a country white kitchen that is just as cozy!). I LOVED gathering in that kitchen, and I want to create a kitchen that will hold many memories to come, but I want to have it done BEFORE I have kids! Here are the before pictures and what I plan to do!

Cabinets will be painted WHITE! So fresh!

Counter tops will be replaced with a java color that has flecks of green and cream in it. Bye Bye butcher board!

Walls will be painted a light grey and base boards will be given a fresh coat of paint!

Table may or may not get a paint job. Depends on how it looks with the kitchen once that is done.

A proper feeding station will be designed for our pups!

And the ONLY thing the budget will not cover? Our pink tile. Oh well. I can live with it for a while longer. That is ONE task I will not do myself!

I am really excited to start this project! Help by purchasing your skin care and cosmetics from me in the month of February, host a party, take a sample basket to work, advertise my website on your Facebook... I sure would appreciate it as every dollar spent will bring me that much closer to my renovation!!! WAHOO!!!!!!

My Kids.

Our babies have brought us SO much joy and laughter. Just look at how cute they are!

On lazy days they like to lay on the couch with Daniel. 

Our sweet Charley

They LOVE these Kong balls! Unfortunately Sam got a hold of Charley's and chewed it up... which allowed Charley to finish it off. She can't get it started on her own. She needs his big dog teeth! Thankfully Sam's is SO big he can't chew his own to pieces like he did to Charley's...

She is a snuggle bug!

Our boy Sam

He and Charley like to play tug-o-war with that rope sometimes. He is even sweet enough to let Charley win!

Look at those sweet, brown eyes! I was a goner when I saw him in the shelter last October!

Don't let their cuteness fool you though! Daniel left the pantry open... and look what we came home too! 

After Daniel cleaned up their mess I left the door to the utility room open... they found the trash bag... I guess I'll clean this one up!

They are worth it though!