Christmas Presents for the kids...

I love to shop for my kids! But months after Christmas I get so sick to my stomach when I see all the money we spent & they never play with anything! Last year I found "Victorian Christmas" online. It is when you buy only 4 gifts for your children: something they WANT, NEED, WEAR, & READ. I never thought I'd be able to just stick to that! So last year I didn't do it... I didn't even try!

Well... if you want motivation to stick to a strict budget like that, let me tell you, just clean out the toy room before you go shopping! All the toys we threw away and gave away... and even still - they don't hardly play with what is left, sheesh!

I expanded the version for us a little bit! I also added in "one present from Santa" (even though my children don't believe, we still pretend), as well as having fun filling the stockings (and NO! I did not fill the stockings with $50 WII games, lol...), or candy! They did get 1 chocolate marshmellow santa each, and will get a few peanut butter cups, they got a few small toys (amy a thomas pull back train, and alex some star wars guys), new toothbrushes, a new ornament, combs, things like that!

I stamped cute tags for them that Alex will have fun reading and passing out on Christmas day. Here is what they are getting:

Alex:
want - webkins
need - alarm clock
wear - nike sweatshirt
read - magic tree house books
from santa - a magic set!

Amy:
want - marble run
need - baby bumblebee dvd (helps w/ talking as she's in speech therapy now)
wear - outfit
read - a collection of biscuit books
from santa - candy land castle game!

I'm very excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait for Christmas morning :) And our biggest goal of the day, to make it to church! We never do for the "convenience" factor - but that really IS the most important reason, to celebrate the birth of Jesus & remember why He was born in the first place. To save us ALL from our sins. Thank you Lord, for sending us Your Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not die, but have everlasting life!

Christmas Card Holder

I made a few Christmas Card Holders after seeing this super cute memo board on one of my favorite blogs written by The Nester. (trying to learn to enter a link here to her blog...)

((Hmmm, I cannot figure out HOW to enter a link so you can just click on it! Her blog is www.nestingplacenc.blogspot.com ))

I'll try to show you what I did to make it...

First I had my woodworking hubby cut me squares! I said "I don't care how big, I don't care what kind of wood" - 15 minutes later he brought me these 14" square pieces of plywood! He asked me how many, I said I didn't care, lol~! These are for gifts, for no one in particular (yet)!

First thing you do is scatter your supplies all over your living room:


Next... you get your measuring stick (or in my case Amy's DVD & a box of screws... I'm not so precise! The Nester ALWAYS says "It doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful"!! And you decide where you want to have the screws go. I marked my spots with a sharpi... everyone needs a sharpi (or 10)! I then put wire around the screws to make this easy to hang (but you could also just rest it up against the wall)




Ok, then I used 1 layer of quilt batting, stapled it all the way around the wood. Then I stapled a layer of burlap (I think that's what it's called)


Add ribbon...


And then you are done! I totally need to take a pic of this before I put the cards on it... it's super cute! And you can't really tell when it's all hidden w/ cards, lol! Still cute though! This was SUPER easy and quick to make! You can make them any size, any color!!!!

Our Christmas Tree

Every year we go hunting for the perfect tree on our property. We either get it by our future house site or by the power lines - those are trees that would have to come down eventually anyway! This year, Kraig cut down a huge one that was missing it's middle, right by the power lines. The kids enjoyed watching it fall down. They had a lot of fun putting the ornaments all over too... enjoy the pics :)

"Guy... Guy... "

When my sister was visiting a few weeks ago she asked me if I ever made Aunt Margaret's raggedy ann dolls for my kids. Aunt Margaret made these funny tuna fish sandwiches for us when we were kids - I can't remember exactly how she did it, I think black olives for eyes, shredded carrots for hair... anyway, my kids don't like tuna (I loooooooove tuna)!! So here is my own version I made for little miss Amy last week. She loved it! She called Kraig on the phone & said "guy... guy..." - it was so cute :)

Our guy had bread, cheese, & ham all cut in circles for the head. Ranch ears, pretzel hair, a pickle nose, raisin eyes, & an apple slice for a mouth!

I'm A Celebrity~!!!


Last Saturday there was an article in the paper about Yooper Yard Sale, the "online garage sale" website/group that my friend Heather started. I was in a small pic on the front page of the paper & then two larger pics on the inside! I went to craft shows that day & EVERYONE I knew (which was quite a few people) said "ohhhh, saw your pic in the paper" - I was so embarassed~! Especially because I hadn't seen the pictures yet.... they didn't turn out too bad though. Then at church the next day I heard the same thing from everyone there, lol~! Too funny!!!!!!!!!

So if you have items you'd like to get rid of, or if you are looking to find a deal on anything, check out the website at www.yooperyardsale.net

Winter is HERE~!

And there is no denying it.... I think it's here to stay this time! Alex always wondered why I never enjoyed winter! He got his first taste of it this morning! He did NOT want to get all bundled up in his snowpants, big ol' jacket, gloves, hat, scarf, & boots! HA! I said... "See Alex, THIS is why I don't like winter"~!!!!

He looked so cute though, I was calling him the abomidable snowman - too bad I have NO CLUE how to spell it, hahahahahaha!

My craft show went awesome on Saturday! I swear I had the busiest booth! Everyone was loving Wildtree! I raked in over $300.00 - !!!!!!! I also found 6 people to do parties & 1 lady very interested in the business... so interested we penciled her launch party in for November 25th! And another one interested, but for her daughter, so I'll see what that brings. I'd love to do another show before Christmas!

Speaking of Christmas - why do I have this nagging desire to decorate NOW??? I usually wait until December 10-15th to put everything up because I hate having it up so long... but yesterday, I swear if my house was clean I would have totally been decorating for Christmas <3

Well, I'm off for now! Have a great Monday.... I need to go throw in some laundry :)

~Michelle

Brotherly / Sisterly LOVE~!!!!!!!! <3<3<3

11 days...

since my last post - opps! well, my sister was here visiting & i've been busy planning my craft show. which is going to be a HUGE hit!!!!!!!!!!

interesting facts - or maybe not so interesting, lol....

we are having spaghetti today

kraig has been gone since 8:30 this morning installing a fire wood shed that he built - it's 4:00 now, i'm getting a tad worried!

alex is doing so awesome in school~!

amy is learning new words like everyday i think!

the VP of sales @ wildtree called me today because the month isn't even half over & i'm doing so well~! i saw her name on the caller id & freaked, lol.... it was neat though anyway :) i'm not even trying - really! i can't even imagine how well i'd be doing if i was trying!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i mopped my kitchen floor today - it really needed it! but my house still feels "messy" - even though it's really not, just need to put all this STUFF away!

a friend from my childhood found me last night!!!!!!!!!!!! tiffany wendt!!! i am so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i had looked for her online before... it is going to be fun catching up with her!

tonight i am meeting brandy in houghton so we can do some craft show things, hang out, and get some dessert @ perkins, yum :)

i dunno what else to say, lol..... hope you enjoyed my interesting and not so interesting facts :)- i really only think like 2 people read this, so i'm probably just typing for the 3 of us, HAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i will leave you with this site - it's kraig's friend: www.therulextreme.com (i think that's it, i might be back to edit this link, lol)

with love,
michelle

New things!!

Saturday Amy learned 2 new words :)

The first one was "Ella"... & the 2nd one, well, I'd rather not share, lol! But I will anyway... Yes... my 2 year old said "freak" as clear as anything! We may not be needing speech therapy afterall, lol~!

Today, Alex asked me how I "write my name like that" when he saw me signing his read at home folder. So I taught him cursive! This was his FIRST attempt at his own name?!?!?! Can you believe it??!!??!! We have a genius on our hands here :)

It's so fun when kids learn new things.... even if it is how to say 'freak'!!!!!!!!!!!

Our Halloween was fun

Today was so fun! Amy was very excited to get to go to Alex's school for the party! I made the cutest cupcakes (thanks for the cool candies mom)! The 1st graders had a little parade & Amy was quite scared of some of the masks, lol!!! After school Alex could hardly wait for 5:00! We drove to a town about 10 minutes away to trick or treat at a few different houses owned by some of our church members! They all loved seeing the kids :) I could not believe how much candy they got!!!

Alex could hardly wait to get back to Mohawk! He didn't like getting in and out of the car at every stop in Laurium, lol~! So we hit a few houses in Mohawk. I couldn't believe the weather! And, it was very nice that the clocks weren't turned back like normal, so it stayed lighter outside! This is the first Halloween since we lived up here where we didn't need coats, lol~!

Then we got home & I taught the kids about "trading" candy, they had so much fun doing that! At the last house we went to, Alex said "Man, this is like shopping at a free store where everything is free" LOLOLOL~!!!!!! My kids love Halloween, that's for sure :)

A Picture Post :)

Enjoy!!!!!!!

Do you read this?

Comment here if you are reading my blog :) Wondering if I'm typing to just myself or not, LOL

Pumpkin Patch & Fire Station

We visited Nana & Toya last weekend & we went to the Garden City Fire Station Open House and to a pumpkin patch!

Alex loved using the fire hose - that was his favorite part!

They both loved searching for the perfect pumpkin! We carved those & left them at Nana's house. We'll get our own pumpkins this week.

NEXT Thursday we are making mini cupcakes for Alex's harvest party at school. Amy is SO excited about being able to go to Alex's party at school! Then Friday is the big party! Alex is a red power ranger again and Amy is a cute lion :) Pics will be posted later for those... for now, enjoy these :)

Iron River... LWML...

Today I went to Iron River, MI (about 2.25 hours away) for a planning meeting! The North Wisconsin District LWML (lutheran women in mission group) is planning the 2010 district convention at Michigan Tech (Yes! We are part of the N. WI district, lol)!

For the most part it was fun :) I am the chair of the Food committee! My "team" gets to decide what we are eating there! And also plan snacks/drinks! It should be fun!

The convention is the first weekend in June in 2010, so yes, we have a while yet, lol~! But mark your calendars! Even I'm going to be staying at the dorms that weekend!!! The last convention I went to was in June of 2006 in Green Bay w/ the same group of ladies. It was a blast! The convention before that was 10 years prior!! I was in my senior year in high school & our youth went to the convention in San Antonio, TX! That was soooo much fun! So this is basically that... but with a much older group, lol!

I am the youngest in the planning meetings! Some women are in their 80's! It's fun being the youngest ;)

Our theme is "Refined by God". I can't remember the bible verses we picked as I was out of the room then. But.... they picked MY logo!!! My logo design is going to be made into pins & printed on like everything!!! I can't believe it! :) :) I'm no artist, so my idea is going to be drawn by a real artist, lol - but it was my idea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait to see the final version & to see it everywhere at the convention!!

Anyway!!!!!!!!!!!! Have a great night! G'nite!

Wildtree

For those of you that may not know, lol... I am one of the very few Wildtree representatives in Michigan!! Please check out my website at http://www.michellem.mywildtree.com/

How can you be involved?? Well.... you can host a party, hold a book show if you live far away, order directly from my site, sign up to sell Wildtree yourself, or sign up for our 20% off Culinary Club - which is now a lifetime membership!!! When was the last time you went to the grocery store & the cashier said "You save 20% on everything today!" -??
I'm guessing... never! Well, when you sign up for the CCM (culinary club membership), it's only $25 & it's a lifetime membership - you save 20% every time you shop with Wildtree from your own CCM website! How cool is that? (and, when you decide to become a rep yourself, you take $25 off the kit price!!!)

Wildtree is a line of all natural culinary products! Everything has been so delicious! Some of our favorites are: The roasted garlic grapeseed oil, the Scampi Blend, The Taco Seasoning Blend (it make 7-9 tacos 4 times)!! The Sloppy Joe Blend is yummy too, Garlic & Herb, Beer Bread, Alfredo, and the Hearty Spaghetti Sauce blend! What I loooove about the spaghetti sauce blend is that you use it several times, but all you do is add 1 TBS to a 28 oz. can of tomatoes! It's so simple! We also add the tomato paste because we prefer a thick sauce, it's sooo cheap & very healthy!

Thanks for letting me plug my business - wait... this is my blog! I can do whatever I want with it, bwahahahahahahahaaaaaa

My first entry...

I have decided to start a blog! I think it might be kinda fun - eh?!

It is going to be a great way for our far away family to check in on us once in a while!! I hope to update it at minimum once a week, but hopefully a few times each week!

This blog will be about our life... way up in the U.P. of Michigan! It's going to be a little about Michelle & Kraig, and a whole lot about Alex & Amy!! I'm gonna post tips, tricks, pics, & more!

I hope you all enjoy reading it :)

Our Family 9/1/08

Shel, Kraig, Alex, & Amy