When you don’t have a mantel

Posted on January 23, 2012

I’d been wanting to share some of our Christmas decorations, but time just flew by and I never did until now. We don’t have a fireplace, so I used a shelf in our dining room as our “mantel”. I love how it turned out.

The paper flowers were there since our fall outing, I just added our stockings (we got them at Target). They came with monogrammed with sequins, but I cloned the letters out (for privacy).

I made the “trees” out of Trader Joe’s paper bags. Originally, I planned on decorating them with fabric or paper, but I liked how they looked and matched the rest of the decor. I got the awesome print here. This lady shares some beautiful prints – all for free!

So there you go. Better late than never

Lit

Posted on January 22, 2012

“I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. My soul will boast in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together.” Psalm 34: 1-3

Inspiring Fabric

Posted on January 21, 2012

I love a beautiful piece of fabric, it just gets me so inspired to create something. And lately, I have been having some fun!

I’m working on a few projects in both my bedroom and the girls’ room.

I can’t wait to show you when they’re all finished.

Dinner Tent

Posted on January 16, 2012

I had a yard sale this weekend and in my usual impulsiveness, I sold our dining room table and our two recliners. Don’t laugh. I got tired of washing them and I have also been wanting to buy a new table. What better opportunity, right? Now our house is feels super empty. Like, we hear echos when we speak too loud.

The Bundle was very sad to see the table go. “But where are we going to eat?” She asked concerned when she saw me taking the the table outside. When we faced the first meal table-less, she came up with a great idea.I love the way little minds work. It was the start of something… awesome.

“I know, we can eat in my dinner tent.”

So from then on, her “castle tent” has sat in our dining area. And you betcha we’ve eaten in there.

And danced….

Turned it into a train…

And a reading nook…

We’ve also found other places to enjoy a snack. Like the computer desk.

Having a snack while listening to toddler radio on Pandora… you should try it sometime. If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands. Clap clap.

The little one likes her snacks on the run, or while dancing.

So there you have it, who says money can’t buy happiness. Those $8 for the table, has brought us plenty of it.

Christmas Morning

Posted on January 10, 2012

Christmas felt rushed and busy this year. Mostly because it was on a Sunday and we had only about 15 minutes for “our” Christmas before getting ready for church.

As every year, we spent Christmas’ eve with my family, stayed until around midnight, drove home, went to bed and tried to wake up early enough to have some time together. Why do we do this again?

We do not get our children lavish gifts.We don’t want to teach them to be materialistic like the world is today. We want them to appreciate and truly grasp the meaning of Christmas. All without dozens of toys that will not only clutter the house but overstimulate their developing brains.

This year we got them both their own Kleen Kanteens (super cute!), a castle play tent (to share) and a little puppy that whimpers for The Pumpkin, and a magnetic dress-up doll and plastic binoculars for The Bundle.

The most exciting moments were looking at The Pumpkin’s excited face when she opened her puppy and hearing the Bundle exclaim “That is just what I wanted!” (Even though she never asked for a stainless steel water bottle )

We also did tiny stockings, The Pumpkin is too small still, so she didn’t get anything in hers- actually I think we put a piece of chocolate (quite a treasure). The Bundle’s had a few little trinkets like a jump rope and magnets for the fridge.

After church we had another round of Christmas at The Man’s family’s house. Pheww… it makes me tired just thinking about it all! I’m glad we made beautiful memories but am more glad it’s over :p

And the winner is…

Posted on January 6, 2012

When brainstorming about what I could possibly give away, I knew I wanted to do something meaningful and representative of this blog. I could have gone for a giftcard, or even bought something nice, but finally I got the idea that since this blog is mostly about my photography, I would give away my photography. I didn’t want it to seem egotistical, that was not my intention at all, rather, I wanted to share something with all you that is very special to me. My love for photography. I hope that the winner appreciates it, it was a lot of fun. I am already planning on doing another giveaway, maybe I’ll buy something nice and fun then.

I could have done it the more technical way by using one of those website randomizers, but I went the more old-fashioned way.There were six of you, who entered, “normdave” was counted as two: Norma and Dave, because Norma liked the blog on Facebook.

After cutting them all up and putting them in a jar, I called my assistant.

Then I blindfolded her, she was very excited for her mission. She shook the jar to make sure the strips stirred a little and caught me off guard when she chose one too fast.

The suspense was killing me! When she showed me it, I couldn’t read the name. But then she turned it over and asked me what it said:

and it said…..

Rebekah!

Yay! Congratulations! Choose your two photographs and send me a private message at livebiglovebigger@live.com with your mailing address!

New Year, Blogaversary and Giveaway.

Posted on January 2, 2012

Happy New Year! I wish you all a great year, full of health and happiness.

Did you make any resolutions? I am torn on the subject. I really dislike the way resolutions have become just another marketing ploy. Just turn on the television for a few minutes and I assure you, we will be bombarded with numerous commercials about losing weight (probably the number on resolution people make).

Resolutions are not evil, though. Of course not, what better time to start or improve something in your life than in the beginning of the year, with a fresh, clean slate in front of you? I like to set goals. It sounds better than the tainted word: resolution.

Some of my goals for the new year are – in no particular order:

Manage my time differently and more efficiently. More specifically the time I spent on the computer. I love learning about different subjects I find on the internet, but that can be very time-wasteful. This reason alone has taken a toll on this blog in the last few months.
Push myself in my photography. I grew so much last year in my photography, but this year I want to find a style I am comfortable with and be confident with my post processing of my images. This goal also interlaces with the previous one, because editing photos is also time-consuming.
Be more present in my children’s life. Spent more time actively playing with them, learning with them.
Self-discipline myself to be more organized and keep my house consistently clean. I have been working on this lately, but it’s something I want to become second nature, something that will come naturally.

That’s all I can think of right now, I’m sure I’ll think of more, I like to set goals every so often to keep myself renewed, refreshed.

This little blog turned two today! I never got around to posting though, just like last year From the very first post, this blog has become an endearing part of my heart. Yes, I am getting all mushy and stuff. I love having an outlet for my photography and a way to write down thoughts as well as memories to look back at in years to come.

To celebrate the second birthday of this blog I am having a giveaway! I’ve been dying to do a giveaway. I thought I would save it for a special occasion, and what is more special than a blogaversary.

The giveaway is…….

Two prints of your choice of the photographs shown in this post. The winner will have a choice of size (up to 11X14).

You can enter two ways: Post a comment to this post telling me of any new years resolutions you have made; go and ‘like’ LBLB on facebook and comment back here telling me that you liked it.

The giveaway deadline is Friday, January 6th when I will announce the winner!

Rejoice!

Posted on December 24, 2011

Suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” Luke 2: 13-14

On that silent, ordinary night when a baby was born in a stable, the world was oblivious of the glorious event happening right in their home. Imagine, though, what a beautiful celebration must have been going on in heaven.

Rejoice, Yeshua, the long awaited Messiah, has come!

Coconut Hot Chocolate

Posted on December 23, 2011

I’m a very passionate person. I tend to passionately obsess over things. And coconut hot chocolate is one of them. So I want to share it with the whole wide world — or I should say all 4 of you that read my blog — you are missing something delicious in your life.

I think I might start a new Christmas morning tradition this year. Coconut hot chocolate on Christmas morning. Yum!

Here it is.

2 cups of coconut milk

1 1/2 tablespoons of powdered cocoa

1/4 tsp. of salt

1/2 tsp. of real vanilla extract

1-2 tablespoons of honey.

Heat it all up in saucepan until right before it starts to boil, whisking like crazy. Pour in a mug and fall in love. I like to add a little bit of cold coconut milk into the girls’ cups so it’s at a drinkable temperature when I give it to them.