Bailey’s 2nd Birthday!

Today is Bailey’s 2nd birthday (check out pictures from her 1st birthday party here)!  It’s so hard to believe that my sweet girl is already this age!  We celebrated her birthday with friends and family yesterday by throwing an ice cream party (to see the party invitations I made click here).

Everyone enjoyed the ice cream cone cupcakes and the make-your-own ice cream sundaes!

And, of course, the kids all loved the presents being opened because that meant that when Bailey was done they could all play!

I was so busy running around after Bailey and talking with everyone that we didn’t get many pictures.  So, all pictures are courtesy of Spangler Photography!  Misty, you rock!

A Christmas Mantel

I’ve finally decorated our mantel for Christmas!  Last year I did a few lights and ornaments and that was about it.  But this year I decided to step it up a notch!

I started with 3 thrifted mirrors—a pair of octagonal mirrors purchased for $2 at the Eastman Flea Market a couple of months back and an ornate mirror purchased for $10 at goodwill.

Next I added a strand of fake pine garland and a strand of icicle lights. 

Then I added in our elk statue (from our trip to Jackson, Wyoming a few years back), an old red hurricane lantern, vases of ornaments, and some extra greenery (picked up during our trip to Roan Valley Tree Farm) to fill things out a bit more.

And here are the end results!  This is definitely the most decorated our mantel has ever been for the holidays! 

I love how the lights reflect off of the mirrors and give the entire room a golden glow!  It really adds a lot of warmth to and coziness to our living room!  And I love how the fresh greenery added in with the fake stuff really beefs things up!  Simply beautiful!

Speedway In Lights!

Last night we took Bailey to the Bristol Motor Speedway for their annual Speedway in Lights event.  We had been a few years back, but were excited to be able to share the experience with Bailey since she’s finally old enough to begin to understand what Christmas is all about!

Bailey got to ride on my lap in the front seat once we got inside the gates.  She absolutely loved looking at all of the lights!

She especially loved looking at the dinosaur lights and volcano.

My personal favorite was the camper with Santa chilling next to his cooler while an elf flipped burgers on the grill.  I thought it was very appropriate seeing as we were at the Bristol Motor Speedway.

Then we traveled through a tunnel that took us inside the speedway and onto the track…

…where Craig got to drive a lap before pulling into the Christmas Village on the infield.

What a fun evening with the family!  I’m sure we’ll be doing it again next year!

Trimming the Tree!

We’ve finally got our tree up and decorated!  Once again this year we went with a ‘choose and cut’ Fraser Fir from Roan Valley Tree Farm.  And thanks to our wall removal/renovation project, we can also enjoy the tree from the kitchen this year!

Which is really nice at night when cooking or cleaning up the dishes!  You can just look up and enjoy the warm glow from the tree!

And that’s enough to put anyone into the holiday spirit!

Christmas Traditions

It was a tradition in Craig’s house growing up to go out and ‘ choose and cut’ a Christmas tree each year.  In my house growing up it was always a tradition to leave our tree up until Epiphany on January 6th (which marks the 12th day of Christmas).  Obviously, this meant that we would wait until closer to Christmas to go pick out our Christmas tree. 

Since moving to Tennessee, Craig and I have combined our two family traditions.  We always wait until about 2 weeks before Christmas to get our tree.  And when we do get our tree we always go to local Christmas tree farms and ‘choose and cut’ our own. 

This year we went back to Roan Valley Tree Farm in Johnson City where we eventually found the perfect tree!

After cutting down the tree and loading it into the truck we decided to try out the Ole Barn Restaurant that’s located on the tree farm.  Last year when we visited Roan Valley Tree Farm the restaurant was not yet completed, so we were very interested to see it all finished.

The food was delicious (and there certainly was plenty of it!).  The atmosphere was great.   And the people were so nice!

What a fun way to spend a day as a family!  I think visiting Roan Valley Tree Farm and eating at the Ole Barn Restaurant may just become our family’s newest Christmas tradition!

A HUGE Steal!

I found this massive mirror (measuring 36 1/2” x 51” and weighing around 40 lbs.) at the annual Eastman Flea Market a couple of months ago for only $10.00!  At that price it was definitely a steal, so I snatched it up as quick as I possibly could! 

The mirror has a heavy wooden frame and beveled glass… definitely worth more than $10.00.  The only problem was that it had been painted several times and the paint was in horrible condition (chipping, peeling, cracking).

So, I pulled out our trusty stripping brush and gave the entire frame a good rub-down.  I was amazed to see at least 4 layers of paint uncovered as I brushed (brown, green, yellow, and gold).

Once all of the peeling paint was removed I cleaned the frame and placed a large square of masking tape around the edges of the mirror (to protect the mirror from the impending paint job).

Then I taped down a thick layer of newspaper to cover the remainder of the mirror surface.

After doing that I had Craig help me move the frame into the grass, where I placed it down on top of a large sheet of cardboard.

We decided to hang the finished mirror in the dining room, so we chose a more traditional color (than what I normally do) for the paint job… Oil Rubbed Bronze.  The specific brand we chose was Rust-Oleum Universal Paint & Primer In One.  We landed on this because we figured it would save us the step of priming the frame separately.  I gave the frame two even coats of the paint-plus-primer, letting it dry for several hours between coats.

Then I removed the newspaper and masking tape.  There were a few areas where some paint snuck onto the mirror, so I used a razor blade to carefully scrape it from the glass.  The new finish is beautiful… so much better than the chipped, cracked finish when I bought it!

Then we hung it in the dining room, being sure to mount it directly into the studs (since it is SO heavy).

The only problem now is that the mirror is larger than the old dresser that we we’ve been using as a make-shift buffet for the last 5 years.  But on the up side… I guess this means it’s finally time to upgrade the dining room furniture!

Pom Poms and Paper Stars

There must be a birthday party coming up soon in our house, because I’ve been busy making Pom Poms…

…and Paper Bag Flowers/Stars!

Who would have thought some plain-Jane tissue paper and colorful paper bags could turn into such fun decorations?!?

(Pom Pom Tutorial found here... Paper Bag Flower/Star tutorial found here.)