Celebrating Christmas in KC

Union Station had FREE admission to a Holiday Train and a visit with Santa.



About ready to board the holiday train.



One of the train cars had a huge model train and town set up for Christmas. So cute.






Renae loved the train.



Goober.



We ended the evening at Noodles and Company. Yummmy.



Maybe someday we'll take one in NYC when Jesse takes me on my dream trip.



Cheeser.



Flirt.

Merry Christmas.

Handmade Holiday Hoopla

This is what my fingers have been up to this weekend. At the bottom of the post you can see what even littler fingers have been up to. She's a great helper!


More felt food for Renae's kitchen collection.



Every kitchen needs a full gallon of milk!



Chex mix with felt ornament for Renae's Sunday school teacher.
(Ornament and top are based off of Redeemer Kids-kids program @ church)



Sammy finally gets a stocking this year.



The S is for Sammy in case you were wondering . . .



Renae needs an apron for all that cooking she'll be doing!



Velcro straps so she can "tie" it herself.



Pocket and top trim is from one of my old shirts. Cut. Glue. So pretty.



There are some girl cousins who are getting some recycled crayons from Renae!



Divide the colors . . .



Insert in oven . .



Melted beauty.



Didn't I tell you those little fingers are cute?

I actually have another post for this week to show you! Can you tell the semester is over and I actually have some more time for blogging picture updates? It helps that I have interesting stuff to blog about . . .

Semester's Over!!

Hey oh! Jesse is finally done with the first semester of seminary. Thank freakin' goodness. We have learned some good lessons. I'm sure there are many more to come. Hopefully next semester will see us with calmer schedules and routines. Jesse's only working 1 job, I'm only working 1 job and teaching only Spanish class of just a few kids. Sigh of relief. It feels good to know we are coming out of this particular valley and looking ahead to a change of scenery. Moving on . . .



Aunt Kari gave Renae a little trim a few weeks ago when they were in town!



She stood so still. And no ears were chopped off.



Have you met our chubby baby?



He's living large still . . .



And Uncle Trey is still Renae's BFF. Go figure.


I'm sure lots of you saw these on Facebook, but here are my Christmas presents for the kids! Renae is getting a play kitchen for her gift and I wanted her to have some food to go with it. We found a really cheap kitchen at Hy-Vee of all places. I had to put every single piece together after snapping it off of a plastic grid. It's nothing fancy, but who cares. We'll probably sell it at a garage sale in a few years anyways.


Breakfast food out of felt was so easy to make. Seriously.



Sammy's tool box.



You can see the tool is the famed "S" brand. Very upscale.



I had visions of doing more tools, but I'm running out of days to get these done.

What I loved about making Sammy's gift was I could work on it while Sammy played at my feet. It's still not wrapped and in plain sight. Sammy has even played with them a few times! You gotta love how cheap, easy, and simple gifts are for 1 year olds.

Anyone else doing some fun crafty Christmas presents? I'd love to hear about them!

New Blog Title, New Blog Expectations

OK. I'm a wee bit blogged out, and I'm sure you've noticed . . . I really don't post much anymore.

Life has been harder than usual since moving to seminary land. Reverse culture shock comes in many different forms, and apparently can creep in almost a year after arrival back in the States!

Time for blogging doesn't really exist. Inspiration does . . I mean, my kids ARE still super cute! But again . . . the time factor.

So feel free to keep reading about our lives here, but you will need to seriously lower your expectations of how frequent I'll be updating. I can't promise more pics will be up on Facebook either . . .

So here is the quickest Masson family update I can think of:

Jesse-UPS. 3AM. Office Depot. Almost done working at Office Depot. Yes! Promoted to a supervisor at UPS. Woot woot! (after only 3 months of working there!) Full time school. Stressed. Finals this week and next. Stressed. Good looking and sexy.

Julie-The Mom Life. Teaching Spanish. Cutting out classes for next semester. Working about 10 hours a week. Needs some friends. Still couponing. Felt. Christmas presents. Needs some friends. Needs a gym. The Mom Life.

Renae-Sings. All the time. Extrovert. Loves Spanish class. Top in her class. Almost night potty trained! Such a fun 3 year old.

Sammy-All boy. Loud. Getting into everything. Bad sleeper. Took out morning nap. Now a great sleeper. Dang it. Loud. Getting into everything. Loud. So funny. Signs please. Loud. Almost walking by himself.

Need Christmas Cards?

Have you heard about this great new card company yet? You will love it if . . .

• You're a hippy. Their cards are all eco-friendly!
• You're passionate about loving orphans. 10% of all proceeds go to World Orphans.
• You love to travel. Many of the beautiful original photographs come from exotic places around the world.
• You're sick of cheesy Christian cards that only speak Christian-ese.

Sound like you? Then you need to check out the Red Letter Paper Company in time to get those Christmas cards purchased!

They are also doing a giveaway contest. Become a fan on Facebook, do a Tweet about them, or share a link on your blog. Then leave a comment letting them know you did it and your name is entered to win. Click here for more details.

And here is my list of people most likely to love this company and pass it on to their friends . . .

Mandi, Jenny, and Jess I know you all too well! :)

Gettin' My Craft On

Sometimes I have the urge to be crafty. These urges usually come after I spend time mentally mocking other women who talk about how much fun it is to create things with their hands. Really, it's just a coping mechanism for denying my inner craftiness. After all, you all know I never want to be "one of those" types of women. One of these days I'll grow up and realize being "one of those" is exactly who I really am.

Last weekend when my parents were in town, Renae and I headed to Barnes and Noble with my Mom so we could all enjoy the atmosphere of a bookstore. I have to admit I felt like Meg Ryan in "You've Got Mail" when she entered the mega-bookstore only to realize it does have a nice feel to it. There is just something about the smell of 1000's of mass produced books combined with the aroma of coffee and the sound of soft music piping through the speakers. Renae and Nana enjoyed browsing through the kid's section while I found myself in the craft section for the first time ever.


And there is where I found my inspiration!

I flipped through the book, "Fa la la la Felt" for quite awhile mentally making a list of all of the things I could make using the felt I'd purchased the day before. This book has so many fun ideas! Although a purchase of the book was not in my budget, I went home and found tons more ideas on craft blogs, Etsy and other sources. Here is a list of the things I hope to eventually make using felt:

• Christmas ornaments-Can double as "bows" or name tags for gifts and the receiver gets a new ornament too!
• Gift tags-Someone in our family already has a personalized felt gift tag with his initial on it.
• Hair clips-I have 4 nieces and a daughter. Can't wait to attempt these for cute Christmas gifts!
• Play Food Sets-Click here to see what some people are selling on Etsy! This stuff is amazing!
• Napkin Rings-See below. I plan on taking this with me for Thanksgiving with Jesse's family. They turned out all right!
  

So that is what I'm enjoying while I have a little bit of down time each day. Anyone else up to some fun holiday (or non-holiday for that matter) crafting? I'd love to hear your ideas! Jenny . . . how I wish we could spend an entire weekend watching girl movies and making fun crafts together!

Click here to see some pictures of the book and click below to buy the book.

The Masson's First Halloween

It all began with a pumpkin . . .



It's been 3 years since we've been able to have some Halloween fun.



And 3 years ago Renae was only 2 months old so . . .



. . . we didn't really get to experience the joy of watching our child trick or treat.



But this year we got to watch this cute little flamenco girl eat Halloween up!


Literally! (What a cute little Spanish girl she is.)



And have you met our new puppy?



He likes to crawl away from us as much as possible.



Looking for a doggie treat.



Instead Mom made him pose for a picture!



Renae and her friend "Rowie." Inseparable on Halloween night.



The puppies had it nice . . .



"Do you see my loot Daddy?"



A cowboy always needs a flamenco dancer by his side.



Waiting her turn for some of the goods . . .



A cowboy, flamenco dancer, "pirate," and adorable puppy.



In love.