Foxy's Domestic Side

Friday, December 19, 2014

More Christmas Decorations + Some Cute Pictures

Hey, hey it's Friday! What two posts in one day?! I really wanted to get that Reindeer Hot Chocolate thing posted, but I'm participating in a link up today, so there you have it, two posts, one day. It's almost the start of my vacation! I just have to work half day on Tuesday, random I know, but I need to pick up some meat for Christmas dinner and it's right by my work, so I might as well work a little bit right?

Back to the link up, some of the girls from my Style Challenge wanted to do a little more then just post about clothes, today's topic is about Christmas decorating. Although I did post a little bit about that here. Some of the decorations weren't up yet, and not quite finished. But I'm done...only 3 weeks later, haha.

My favorite part about the house is our new Christmas tree! When I first posted it, we didn't have the ribbon and I didn't have the silver bells polished...but they're done now!

Here's a close up, I think the ribbon and the silver bells really adds something even more spectacular to the tree

We have 30 of these, Mr.'s Mom bought him one every year until he was 30, it's a great addition to the tree, and I'm so glad that it worked out that we could keep using them.

My favorite part of the tree are these little white puff balls, they are awesome...how I am going to store any of this, acceptable to leave your Christmas tree out year round?

Behind our sink is these containers that usually has fruit in them, but I switch it out during Christmas.

Since it's also Baby Fox's birthday he gets a Birthday Tree...it sits on our counter and birthday gifts go under it. This years theme is Power Rangers. Usually we just go to Party City and buy the party decorations for the theme and then buy a few toys to sprinkle in too. I bought him 3 power ranger figures...speaking of which, they don't make any of the girl Power Rangers, I find that super annoying.

Those pictures back there, I want to find something Chritmasy to put back there...hmm..maybe next year I'll get some canvases printed with the kids in Christmas stuff...hey that's an idea...I wonder if they make canvas prints that size...

My first Youtube video, making these guys, aren't they cute?

I never showed you guys the kids Santa pictures. I love them.

And then she wasn't having it...and then every single time we saw Santa, this was her reaction. Gotta love the crying Santa pictures.

Here's Baby Fox's crying Santa photo

He's almost 2 here

I sort of love our Christmas card this year.

Names have been changed

Next week I'll show you the rest of our family photo shoot.

This past week Baby Fox had his first ever Christmas production. He made the cutest little Joseph there ever was. He smashed his lines (okay it was one line May Mary and I please stay at your Inn three times.)

That's all for now, Happy Friday and for those that are taking next week off, Happy week off of work! I get two weeks off, minus the few hours I'm going in on Tuesday, so excited to spend some time with the little people and see some friends.

Now go check out some of the other ladies to see what their houses look like.

Shoes to Shiraz | Two Teens and their Mama | A Lovely Little Wardrobe | R Squared

Confessions of a Frumpy Mommy | Family Love Inspiration Education

The Mishaps and Mayhem of Solitary Life | The Blondissima | Familiar Joy

Also linking up with: Erika, Andrea, and Narci for Friday Favorites, September Farm and The Farmer's Wife for Oh Hey, Friday,
April, Darci, Natasha and Christina for Five on Friday and Lauren for High Five for Friday

Hot Chocolate Reindeer Packages

I made these cute Reindeers to give to all of Baby Fox's friends at school. How cute are they? I found it on pinterest, but changed it up just a little bit. I loved how they turned out! I even made a quick video at the end, so if you don't want to see the pictures of how to do it, just scroll to the end.

This is the stuff you're going to need:

12 Inch Piping Bags
Brown Pipe Cleaners
1 Inch Red Pom Poms
16mm Wiggly Eyes
Chocolate (dutch processes preferred)
Powdered Sugar
Salt
Twisty Tie/string (not pictured)

...and some of these, I forgot to put them in the pictures...oops!

So let's get started. First let's start with the hot chocolate recipe. I tried out two actually, this one was WAY easier, so we're going to go with that. I also tried this one, and it took way more ingredients and wasn't that much better, sooo...let's go the easy route.

I bought the Wilton Piping bags, they didn't used to have the logo on it...grrr....but what can ya do? Turn it around and pretend it's not there, that's what. Add a couple of handfuls of marshmallows. Tie the top with a twisty tie/string.

Next we add the antlers...it's the same process I used for this project. Tie the pipe cleaner around the head twice

Then add the extra antlers on either side

Now comes the cute face

and you're done, how easy was that?!

Here's the video I promised you, it's not high quality, but it gets the job done...It's my first Youtube video...maybe it's the beginning to a new thing for me. Although when do people find the time to make videos? Here ya go.

Another variation I did, was I added some Spiced Pecans, or you can add Spiced Almonds, those are good too.

Crazy Eyes!

There ya go, it's super fast and simple to make these. Baby Fox is giving these to all of his friends today at school. I think it took me about 30 minutes to make all of these.

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Blogger Style Challenge Gift Exchange + A Thank You Note

When Deena suggested we do a blogger secret Santa exchange I jumped at the chance. When I signed up for the Style Challenges, I didn't realize I would be meeting a group of the most fantastic people. But more on that later. My secret Santa was Katie from The Mishaps and Mayhem of a Solitary Life. I love her, she's always so upbeat and even when she has The Boot, she still makes her outfits stylish.

She sent over this:

General Store, so cute, I don't think we have anything like that here...

Inside the bag was this, yay! I love opening gifts and can we talk about how cute that wrapping paper is?

She wrote a card, the first thing I thought, dang it, I didn't send a card with my gift! I should have though! Next time!

This is the what the card said. So cute and I love how she described how she came to get me what she got.

You know Katie I don't own any Billy Joel CD's, so this is perfect and the Hits...perfect! I'll be listening to this at work for weeks to come!

And this towel..so cute with the sea shell. Anything to make me feel closer to the ocean...although I do live about 10 miles away from one..but never go, sad I tell ya.

Looks great right? FYI: the towel on the left is the dish towel, the towel on the right is the hand drying towel...I blame my grandma on this one, she always said you need two separate towels, so when I got married she gave me two sets of towels.

Thank you Katie for the gifts! I love them.

I got Leslie from Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After, go check out what I got her...think Beach.

The ladies also suggested in this post that we write a letter to Alison, the lady that started it all.

Dear Alison,

When I started reading your blog I loved it right away. I loved your style, you seemed to have it all together, your outfits looked put together and well thought out but effortless at the same time. Then you introduced the Style Me Challenge...I was intrigued. I wasn't sure if I should do it or not. I had two babies and I felt like I had no style, I would buy random things without purpose. I was a mommy and it showed. I casually mentioned it to Mr. to see what he would think, and without hesitation he said, DO IT! It's $10 what do you have to lose? So I did, and I am SO THANKFUL that I did. I did not realize that not only was I going to get a bunch of great outfits and a closet full of clothes with purpose, I met some really fantastic people in the process. The FB group turned out to be the very best part of the whole thing. There were hundreds of other ladies out there with my same problem. I didn't feel alone any more. I felt part of something. I felt great and looked great. I was getting compliments.

I don't remember how I stumbled upon your blog, but I do know I am so thankful I did. You have seriously changed my life for the better. I am more confident, can wear my clothes better and have really stepped out of my comfort zone and in doing so have found a new comfort zone. Who knew I would be pattern mixing, wearing jean jackets and chambray shirts. I always though those were for those really stylish people on Pinterest, turns out it's not, it's for everyone, you just have to wear it with confidence. Half the battle right?

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for introducing me to a great group of ladies and giving me some confidence in what I wear.

Sincerely,

Sarah

Now go check out some other ladies and see what they got and how Alison has helped them!

An InLinkz Link-up

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Week 2 of the Winter Style Me Challenge

Back for week 2 of the Style Me Challenge: Winter Edition. Here are my Spring Style Challenge, Summer Style Challenge and the Fall Style Challenge if you want to see what else I've done. Here are last week's outfits.

Shopping my closet, I think I did pretty good this week, only a few substitutes. Here we go, be prepared for a lot of pictures.

Day 3

This day called for a poncho, but I don't own one, so I figured my bobeau wrap would have to do.

skinny jeans (Loft), Bobeau Wrap - Norstroms, Long Sleeve Tee - Target, Booties - DSW (old). Scarf - Target

and you knew there was one of these in there...

Day 4

When I came down with this outfit, Mr. said okay Mr. Lumberjack let's get this started. He might have a point, but I still love it, and it's so comfy. Comfy will win out every time.

Day 5

This outfit suggested a Fair Isle sweater, but a patterned sweater will have to do. I'm not sure if I am going to get a Fair Isle sweater, the one that I found that I really liked was $200, of course!

Day 6

This outfit called for a dressy sweater, I don't have one with jewels, but this one has sparkly thread it in, so that's close right? You can't really tell, and I should have take a picture of the diamond cut out in the back...This outfit called for grey jeans, but I thought that my grey slacks went a little better with this outfit.

Yep I'm hiding the remote clicker behind my neck in this one...haha

This necklace was made by a local teen who battle self injury for 13 years, and found an outlet through making wire jewelry and Wired for Freedom was born. She was at a fundraiser for another teen who is battling cancer, so I bought a few necklaces to help the cause. But I love it. She has no idea who I am, but I think she should be recognized for being strong and for finding something that makes her happy and helps to get her story out to let others know that they are not alone.

Day 7

Day 7 was one of our 4 dressy outfits. It called for a cable sweater...funny that I had a ton of cable sweaters back in high school, I got made fun of for wearing so many of them, I got rid of most of them at some point in college, and here they are making a come back after spending 10+ years of avoiding them. Everything comes back around I tell ya. I subbed the cable sweater for blazer since I didn't have anything else.

and I actually did my hair in a side bun...

side note: That necklace and earrings were from my prom outfit

Day 8

This outfit called for a fur scarf, but the fur scarf I bought I felt didn't really look good, so subbed it out for this crochet scarf. I love vests and I wear it at least once a week. Maybe I should get another color then I could wear them two days a week...