A Resolution Kept

Well, I did it. I kept my 2012 New Year's Resolution to do at least one craft per month. A few months I did a few projects, but here are the highlights of the year!

Jan: wishes wreath

 



Feb: Valentines

 



March: spring wreath

 



April: coin purses

 



May: notecards

 



June: travel pack

 



July: wall art

 



Aug: door initial for a friend

 



Sep: autumn yarn wreath

 



Oct: Halloween pennant

 



Nov: Thanksgiving name cards

 



Dec: Christmas pocket chart

Changes for the New Year

The other day we were putting our Christmas gifts away, making room for new things, getting rid of old stuff. We realized it was time to make an official toy organizer for Westly. We decided to re-purpose, as is the trend these days. So we turned out book case into his toy organizer.

We cleared the bookcase of all our books.

 



We bought a few canvas totes from Target, and reset the shelves.

 



Now West has a place for all his toys, both old and new.

 



I assembled this little ladder-like shelf my mom gave me awhile ago.

 



We crammed as many of our books on this little shelf.

 



It was the perfect size for the space at the top of the stairs by

our bedroom door. 

Christmas Highlights

We all agreed this was one of our favorite Christmases ever, largely in part because of Westly being old enough to enjoy it more this year.

We started our new Shaw tradition by opening stockings on Christmas Eve.

 



 

 

Christmas morning we had our own little family Christmas (our first ever)

 

 

Then we joined the rest of the Shaw-side clan at Nana and Papa's for brunch and gifts exchange

 

We ended the day with Christmas dinner at our house, complete with games and a family sing-along. This was one merry Christmas!

Livin' It Up with Auntie Lowie

This last Thursday my sister Noelle came to visit us. She's been living in Belize doing missionary work since June. She was able to fly home for two weeks this Christmas. It was so good to see her and of course we had way too much fun.

We did lots of Christmasy things, like decorate cookies



 

We also had our own Christmas time with Lowie

 

It was hard saying good bye for another five months.

We love and miss you, Auntie Lowie!

Little Town of Bethlehem

Westly got this Little People Nativity set as an early Christmas gift from a dear friend of mine. The other night we sat on the floor and he set it up.

This is as far as he got with his attention span, but at least he got the most important person in there: Baby Jesus!

Our Orcutt Christmas Outing

Today we ventured to Old Orcutt to check out the new Dollar Store and new Library there.

Of course West immediately spotted the bats and balls.

 



Many fun things caught his eye.



But he decided to shop around until deciding on what he wanted.

 



This new store is really well organized, and has tons of great stuff.

 



West was excited by all the Christmas glitz!

 



West decided on the bat and ball set and tried them out in the store.

 



Next we visited the new library that just opened up.

 



Westly loves this puzzle

 



We picked out some Christmas books to rent.

 



Even though we have this exact same bead maze at home, it seemed much more exciting to play with at the library.

 



Westly has become a pro at puzzles and had to show off a bit.

 



Hooray for the new library!