In 2011 I will...

New Year Resolutions. 

You've all made them at one point or another. So, what are we going to work on in 2011? Some of the usual like I will spend more time with family and friends, I will lose weight, I will spend more time reading, I will exercise everyday. Yeah yeah yeah, those are all well and good, but how much time have you added reading? spending time with fam? losing weight? You know how we played "let's take a good look at what we are thankful for" at Thanksgiving? We are going to do a New Year's version! Get ready. I am about to get down and figure out what I will really be resolving this year.

This year I will not have bangs. The cowlick inspired horn I had when I was a bangs head and three years old was obviously not enough to scare me away from the fringe forever. I experimented with the bangs (and the horn) again this year. Bad decisions all around. 2011 will be a bangs free year. Period.

This year I will smile more. Now, don't let this resolution fool you--it may sound like the usual default resolution, but it is not. I don't mean smile in the "I smile in the cheesy 24/7 no matter what happens" kind of way. Trust me, I've been on stage many times I know how tiring smiling can get. Ahh, the memories of achy, shaky cheeks or Vaseline on my teeth... But I am going to take my normal facial stance of mouth open/blank stare and make it more of an open mouth smile. That'll work, right?

This year I will learn how to prepare fondue. We got a fondue set for Christmas. Poor Russell had no idea what fondue was. After thoroughly explaining it to him he exclaimed, "Oh, so it's a snack?!" I have to make fondue so that I can give my father proper knowledge and culture.

This year I will run a 5k. And I really will, I've already registered and gotten all ready(ish) for my first 5k in February. So, even if I don't feel ready and I end up walking/jogging it, it is going to sneak up on me and I will do it. Santa brought me some nice running shoes :) He is such a helpful, resolution enforcing man.

Speaking of Santa, he also brought me this whole notepad of meal planning each week of the year. YES PLEASE. This year I will eat at home more and cook for my family. (They will eat healthier and looove all my cooking, of course). Minus Ann, she doesn't count for this one. Time to go use that new Williams and Sonoma gift card. And crack open that new cookbook. What goodies will we be eating?!

This year I will go to Disney. Shocking, I know. Disney is the best vacation of all and I'm sure I'll be needing the some of the best vacations this year. Obviously this resolution is code for I WILL VISIT MY LOVELY BROTHER LOTS BECAUSE I MISS HIM DEARLY.

There are lots of more things I hope to accomplish this year. This is the just the beginning of the list to bring me over into the beginning of the new year. The "older" I get (I am so old, chut up) the faster time seems to fly. I know just about everyone says this as they get older, but now I have realized how much truth is in that saying! 2010 was a busy year full of unexpected surprises, some good and some not so good. Was it a bad year? No way! (Especially because I survived, imagine that...) How can a year be bad when it is full of love from family, support from friends, ballet classes (and bruised toenails), pilates classes (iiiit's teaser time), drum lessons (a.k.a- therapy sessions), and babysitting and spending time with lots of precious little kiddies. That's right, the answer is it can't be bad and lawd knows it was far from it.

So, here's to a new year! Full of some new things, some old, some good, some bad, but I can't wait to start my new (bangs free, smiling, fondue eating, 5k running, meal planning, Disney going) year!

**HAPPY 2011**

On the twelfth day of Christmas...

MY TRUE LOVES GAVE TO ME:

a Gingerbread house

Oh my lawd, we made it. We made it to the twelfth day of Christmas (crafting). We have learned lots of things: how to make ridiculously cute garlands, fun fusions are more fun than Lego's, and that Martha Stewart crafts are a no-go. Sorry Martha, I'm just being real. Today's craft was no breeze, but we called in the trusty Uncle John to help us complete our gbread house. His skills extend to fixing broken toilets/sinks/light fixtures, lighting Christmas trees, fixing leaky roofs, AND building gingerbread houses. When I say building, I mean legit building. The only thing we did not have to do was bake the gingerbread. Other than that, it was up to our architectural abilities to successfully build the house. 

When I say "we" built it, I mean Uncle John, of course.

The directions said to wait an hour before attaching roof. 30 minutes sounded better to us.

We love candaaaay!

We are (UJ is) so artistic.

Caroline helps (by eating candy...) so we don't have to work as hard putting it on the house.

We (UJ) did it! Yummy yummy gingerbread housey.

I must give a shout out to Uncle John who, even when the walls continuously cave in, doesn't give up. Maybe he'll get an extra Christmas present tomorrow ;)

Ok, let's review our past 12 days of super duper amazing great Christmas fun-ness. Ready? Sing with me! 

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true loves gave to me,

Not 12, but 1 gingerbread house!

Not 11, but 2 Martha Stewart (gr) coasterish things!

Martha Stewart (gr) glittered snowflakes!

a hand painted sun catcher!

8 (even though there all aren't in the picture) fun fusion ornaments!

6 (even though there are only 3 here) felt ornaments!

Picture frame ornaments (don't fret, Ann's is done now).

a Saaaanta (slight crooked) boooooblehead

Reindeer headbands (and cute faces)

yummy (fun) sprinkled brownies

wooden colored (and glitterfied) ornaments

AND A MERRY CHRISTMAS ADORBS GARLAND.

Good singing everyone. Now it is time to go leave Santa some cookies and milk and go to bed!

Merry(Happy) Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!

On the eleventh day of Christmas...

my true Moore loves gave to me...

Martha Stewart felt coasters

I think you should try these. Click me.

After last nights glitter disaster, I gave Martha one more try. Martha, Martha, Martha, why do you torture us so? How do you make everything work when we normal human beings cannot? I thought, "Felt? Hole punch? Coasters? EASY." Martha fooled us again. Do not fret, there is some good news that comes from this tale...

Russell joined the Christmas crafting party.

Whose manly hands could these be?

It only took 11 days, but we did it. We got Russ Moore to help. However, even Russ was no match to Martha. She won fair and square. The felt was incredibly uncooperative and did not like being punched with the hole puncher. Our interfacing was not the correct fusible wrapping Martha wanted, therefore the coasters did not stick together. And finally, Mom's true strength was too strong for Martha's hole punch. One squeeze from MC's muscles and that hole punch was a goner. There was such excitement tonight! However, I may have to give up on my Martha (MARTHA, as it is called) crafts and stick to some crafts that normal earthlings can accomplish.

Tracing super straight(ish) lines.

 

Punching holes; pre-breaking hole puncher and pre-Russ having to come save the day

Ironing away, trying to figure out Martha got two sided coasters when we got one sided coasters...

And we have coasterish things.

I guess the plus side is that coasters are usually mostly covered by the drinks that sit on them. If Martha was Martha Moore she could participate in our 12 Days of Christmas and come tell us how to do these crazy things. Ah well, life goes on and guess what?! We have ONE day left! How did these days fly by so quickly?

Before you set you alarm to read my blog before bedtime tomorrow, let me fill you in on some important information. Your true loves are taking a vaca for a few days to visit the wonderful Walt Disney World. (Law knows we need a break from MARTHA crafts...). This means that your last day of Christmas will be on Christmas Eve! How perfect?! Also, Uncle John has completed every possible fun fusion Christmas ornament so he won't be sneaking up to the house and updating my blog with more fun fusion pictures :) 

See y'all on Day 12! Christmas Eve! The Night Before Christmas!

On the tenth day of Christmas...

my family of true loves gave to me...

glitterfied snowflake ornaments

Today was once again a family affair. (minus Russ who was channel surfing far away from the rest of us). Also, I should clarify. Mom, Ann, and I were doing the snowflake ornaments while Uncle John was busy continuing to ride on the fun fusion train from day eight. He was at our house less than five minutes before he was asking where the fun fusions were. Oh goodness, sounds like we have found something cooler than Legos and GI Joes.

Now, this kit was Martha Stewart. If you remember from day seven (?) we loved us some Martha crafts. Martha crafts are like the icing on the cake of all the other crafts. I have never found a Martha craft that I didn't like..except for this one. 

Uncle John was having a major fun overload moment. Should he make the remaining two fun fusions OR rub glue allllll over the snowflakes with his hands?! Luckily, he was able to multitask and the fun officially began. 

La la la, glittering the snowflakes. Carefree and ignorant.

This was a true example of how looks can be deceiving. The instant we lifted the snowflakes to shake off the excess glitter, the majority of the glitter decided it wanted to fall off as well! Fun times! Our snowflakes (especially mine for some reason...) ended up looking like a few preschoolers went crazy with lots of glue and very little glitter. 

Whaaaat?

Oh well Martha, you can't always be the best, right? Sometimes Oprah or Dr. Phil have to win over you (if only they made crafts...). However, we finished the glittery, sparkly, pretty (?) ornaments and kept a smile on our faces throughout the whole ordeal. Although, I think Uncle John had a smile on his face because he was doing fun fusions.

It is officially one week until Christmas! YAYAY!! Let the party begin!

Only two days left of our 12 days of Christmas crafting. What will happen next?! Will Russ join in on the fun? (hahaha)

Oh yes, and Happy Birthday Dad!

On the ninth day of Christmas...

my true tired lavahs gave to me:

a Christmas stained glass sun catcher

(stained plastic...)

 Our stained glass (plastic) will look just like this, I'm sure

I am barely making the midnight mark for today. Ahh, day nine almost ran into day ten....gasp! Nutcracker performances are this weekend which is hindering our crafting time. Tsk tsk. No worries, Mom, Ann, and I stayed up late just for y'all, my avid blog readers.

I'm not going to lie, day nine's craft was not so much fun. You're supposed to paint this plastic thing and the paint doesn't drip like it's supposed to and it says to use toothpicks but that doesn't work and Ann and I aren't good at it but Mom is but she was busy doing other things and...phew. World's longest run-on sentence. HOWEVER, I'm sure the final result will be all worth it, and day ten will be back to fun and jolly times had by all. 

 Phase 1: pretty ornaments and star. Slightly annoyed MC, MLE, and Ann

Phase 2: completed tree(s). MC and MLE have almost given up...

Phase 3: Ann finishes the sun catcher! Way to pull through, Ann. :)

Good thing this has turned into a family affair, because otherwise I may not have not finished today's craft. That would have been no good! The song is not the 8 days of Christmas! Shout out to Ann for "painting" (spreading, dipping, whatever it was...) away. Girl, you are the BEST true love.

Uncle John and Dad were hiding somewhere today. I guess sun catchers aren't has fun as funfusion ornaments. (obviously, since it isn't called a funsun catcher, just a sun catcher...boooring).

Now, all we have to do is wait as our Christmas sun catcher dries overnight. Don't stay up waiting for a completed (and dried picture). Go on to bed and we'll see you tomorrow :)

p.s.- one minute to spare. Woo!

On the eighth day of Christmas...

these two (four) really great people whom i know and love gave to me:

8 (more like 7) fun fusion ornaments

I would say Mom has officially joined the 12 days of Christmas bandwagon. Between the three of us, we made some pretty cute fun fusion ornaments today. These were so cool when I was younger. Poor Ann had never done them before (oh to be born in the 90's). However, after ironing the first one (and having great difficulties), Mom and I realized why we stopped doing fun fusiony irony things...

Let's make some goodies

Making these is not as easy as one would expect. The tiny pieces (beads?) don't like to cooperate with hands larger than a 2 or 3 year old's hands. Since all of us are well over that age, meticulously sticking the pieces on became a chore. However, Mom and I were moving right along.

Oooo, what will these turn out to be?!

Ann, the one with the smallest hands and tiniest fingers, had the most difficulty.

See?

Ann eventually got the hang of it (and surpassed me in fun fusion skillz). However, there is one person that Ann skills could not surpass. Uncle John came over (when we were not there) and sat right down and started fusioning it up. I came home to two new fun fusion ornaments, courtesy of Retired Master Sergeant John F. Caldwell III. Apparently Parris Island teaches you MANY skills, not only how to be rough and tough and ooorahy.This means that the bigger your hands and fingers are, the better you are at making such tiny fun things.

Here are our completed 8 (or 6)!

Whoever can guess who did what ornament will get a...reindeer headband!! So, guess away! 

P.S.- Uncle John is upstairs completing two (or ten) more fun fusions. Therefore, I am not really lying when I say there are eight. Yay for family crafting Christmasy time on day eight. Russ Moore, you will be next to join...

On the seventh day of Christmas...

my truest lavahs gave to me:

Seven swans a-swimming 

I mean...

Martha Stewart felt ornaments

Good ole Martha. Where would we be in our lives without her? Probably sitting around bored as ever because we don't have clever crafts and recipes to try. Luckily, we don't have to know a life without Martha--tonight's crafting was a family effort (Minus Russell, although I wish he had because that would have been ever so precious and picture worthy). We were definitely the opposite of bored as we merrily sat around sticking felt to more felt and creating fun designs.

Why yes Martha, I would love to make your felt ornaments.

Mom worked on the two complicated ones. Yes, sticking felt together CAN be complicated when it involves lots of tiny tiny pieces. I worked on three of the easier ones. And Ann, dear sweet Anny-Poo, worked on one, the present. They all look quite adorbs. Snaps and claps for Mom and Ann (she has no choice, my 12 days of Christmas partner in crime) for helping out and being all jolly with me.

Oh hai, we are so cute and want to hang on your tree!

The seventh day of Christmas also brought along several other things. 1)Lots of ice. Go away, ice. I prefer to play in piles of snow than to slip and fall on sheets of ice. 2)Cookies. Ann came home from school with cookies. Why does this not happen on a weekly basis? 3)Gnocchi. Say it with me, KNOW-CHI. Dear ole Dad went to Maggiano's without me, BUT I was able to eat his left over KNOW-CHI for lunch. Scrumptious. 

We will definitely be passing on the milkin' maids tomorrow. I don't do cows. (Ann does, but shh not on this blog).

On the sixth day of Christmas...

my true, amazing, wonderful, spectacular loves gave to me:

two Christmas foam frame ornaments

Actually, more like 1.5, but who's counting. Let's look and see how funsies today's gift was.

I am all about the ease and the cheese for these 12 days. Ann is all about these things too, but that goes without saying. (LOVE you, Ann) Also, I just love frame ornaments. I think my parents should have a tree filled with frame ornaments of my face. Just kidding. (mostly)

Ann and I have gotten really good at sticking things on other things and voila we have something new.

Now, the final step was a tad tricky. The last time I printed pictures was when I was going to college as a first year. 3.5 - 4 year old pictures would just be false advertising nowadays. Little Ann has grown up and now looks older than me, while I have the Benjamin Button case and am slowly resorting back to my adolescent years. However, I finally found an acceptable picture for my frame...

This is me in my true state: fatty fatty no friends with a Varsity hat on my head. Okay, maybe my true state 3 years ago. Now I would have chocolate all over my face while scolding others for their poor eating habits. (Chocolate doesn't count, right?)

So, we have one completed ornament. The other ornament (half) will be completed at a later date. Being that my pictures were old and Ann is all grown and old now, she did not want to put this amazing picture in the frame...

I think this is PRECIOUS. Little witchy Ann. With 3D glasses and a scarf/turban...

I want to revisit a few Christmas days past. Remember the wooden ornaments? We added glitter!

Yay glitter!

Remember the reindeer headbands? Cello decided she wanted to dress up as a reindeer. 

Yay, Cello!

Also, shout out to Ruth and her gingerbread house. She secretly knew I wanted to make a gingerbread house today.

Yay for 12 days of Christmas crafts in Kansas!

 

Well folks, we've made it halfway through this entirely thrilling and exciting journey. See you tomorrow when we go swimming with some swans.

On the fifth day of Christmas...

Emily and Ann (your true loves) gave to you...

a bobble Santa centerpiece

Who doesn't need a bobbling Santa in the center of their tables? The answer is everyone needs one. Unfortunately, I only had one kit which makes one Santa. So, that means the Moore household dining room table will be looking tres cutee for the rest of the season. 

Do you think this craft was easy or hard? I will just start quizzing y'all everyday. Hint: the answer rhymes with weezy. I sat down with the space heater at my feet and voila! 3 minutes later I had a bobbling (slightly crooked) Santa.

  Ah, Santa's naked. Don't look.

Ho Ho Ho! I look good.

Now, I know some girls/women out there would much prefer the five golden rings. Shh, just don't tell Santa. He might stop bobbling around and being all cheery.

Tomorrow marks the halfway mark (that is, only with my janky counting of the 12 days of Christmas)---get ready!