Our 2012 Christmas Tree

We went to the tree farm this past Saturday and picked out our 2012 Smith Family Noble Fir. Its been a tradition of ours to go to this same little family owned tree stand, right down the street from our house. Its a really cute stand. The trees are pre-cut, but its not on a parking lot in the middle of town. Its just right outside of town at a little farm and they always have beautiful trees. 

We started going there the first year we were married and have now went back every year since 2007. This year we were able to take Jackson. (Last year he was only a couple months old and I just didn't want him out in the cold.) I was excited to see how he would react to all the trees. He loved running in between them. What he didn't love, was that Santa was there. He was scared of Santa this time around for some reason. I let Santa hold him for a picture and this was what happened...

He didn't care for Santa very much. :-( 

But he was fine once Santa passed him back to me. :-)

We spent a little more time there picking out our tree.

Once we had our tree picked out, we took a few pictures with it.

After picking out our tree and getting it all tied up and in the truck, we took one last picture by the tree farm sign, and then headed home. 

We let the tree sit in a bucket of water in the garage for the rest of the day and night and then decorated the next evening. :-)

Here's our tree in the house, waiting to be decorated.

And here it is all decorated.

I had big plans for Jackson to help decorate the tree this year. I had invited my nieces, Alexis and Sophia, over to help as well. However, Jackson was really tired and crabby Sunday evening, so I put him to bed before we could even start decorating it. :-( Oh well, there's always next year. He'll probably be a lot more into it next year anyways. 

So thats our tree this year. I'll post later about some of my favorite ornaments and the rest of my Christmas decorations.


I'm linking up here:

and here:

Goodbye Christmas Decor... Hello Valentines Day Decor

I finally got all my Christmas decor put away this past weekend. (It feels so good to have the house back to normal again.)

I figured while I had my holiday decorations out, I'd go ahead and decorate my table for Valentines day. My Valentines Day decor is probably my favorite because I just love the colors. I got most of it at Target last year.

I'd really like to get something different for a centerpiece. I've been scoping out Pinterest for some ideas. I found this cute idea that I might try. It seems easy enough, however, finding the time these days with a 2 month old is the challenge.

Do you decorate for Valentines day?? I would love to see some other Valentines decorations.

2011 Christmas Decorations

I'm a little behind in posting my Christmas decorations this year, but I've been sick with a sinus infection and double ear infection for the past 2 weeks and am finally feeling better. I also started back to work this week, so its taken me a couple days to get back into the swing of things here, (another blog post on that later).

We got our tree 2 weeks ago and with being sick and taking care of the baby, it took me about a week to finish my decorating. I just did a little at a time. Here are some pictures of our house all decorated for Christmas.  :-)

Our 2011 Smith Family Noble Fir.

The Christmas Tree all decorated.

The living room all decorated for Christmas.

 A close-up of the coffee table in the living room.

A close-up of the entertainment center in the living room.

Entry table in the living room.

Our dining room table decorated for Christmas.

The bakers rack in the dining room/kitchen.

The stove, decorated for Christmas.

4th of July Decorations

As you probably already know from previous posts (Christmas, Halloween/Fall, Valentines Day and Easter), I LOVE decorating for all the different holidays. We've lived in our house for almost 4 years now and its taken me a while to get all my holiday decorations. The first year in our house, I think I only had stuff to decorate for Halloween and Christmas, then each year I've gotten more and more. This is the first year I've decorated for Fourth of July, so I had to start from scratch. Thankfully, I had gotten some Hobby Lobby and Michaels gift cards for my birthday back in April and I was able to use some of those to get some of my decorations. Of course there are still things I'd like to add for all the holidays, but I figure I'll just add a little bit more each year. :-) Here are my 4th of July decorations...

Our front door, decorated for 4th of July.

Little star decorations for my flower pots.

Garden flag. I got this last year and just love it.

A super cute wooden flag that my Mother-in-Law got for me this year.

Our dining room table. I decided to use my red chargers from Christmas and the red plates are from my Valentines Day decor. The centerpiece is the one I use for most holidays (from Partylite). I have votive holders for Easter and Christmas but ended up buying some clear ones from Michaels last night and just tied festive ribbon around them so that they would match better. I also used red and white candles from Partylite. The table runner, cloth napkins and salt and pepper shakers are from Hobby Lobby and the votive holders on the table are from Partylite. 

A close-up of my centerpiece.

A close up of the place setting. I used red raffia to tie around the napkins. 

A close up of the table.

A cute little plate I found at Michaels last night that I decided to use as a spoon rest.

I found this star shaped candy dish at the Dollar Tree last week and thought it would be cute with these patriotic mints. The candles are partylite.

A close up of the candy dish and mints.

Some 4th of July kitchen towels.

Easter Decorations 2011

I just love decorating my house for all the different holidays. I started my Easter decorations collection last year and have added a couple things this year and plan to add more as I find it in the stores. I will update this post as I add to my decor. Here are some pictures of what I have so far.

For my kitchen table, I used my white and silver dishes that I use for most holidays because they match everything. The napkins, napkin rings and table runner are from Target this year. The bunny salt and pepper shakers are from Target last year.

The egg shaped jelly bean jar I got from target. It matches the bunny salt and pepper shakers. I got the set last year. The little chick candles were a gift from my MIL a few years back. 

The little carrot house is from Partylite. I bought it several years ago and love it so much.

I got this little egg shaped dish last year at Hallmark and use it as a spoon rest.

I got this super cute welcome sign this year from Michaels using a 50% off coupon!!! I have a 40% off coupon for there to use this week. I'm hoping to find something really cute to add to my Easter decor. 

Happy Easter!!!

More Valentines Day Decorations

Hope you are all having a great weekend. Mine is going great so far. I've spent most of today getting ready for our Super Bowl party tomorrow and I have pictures of my decorations that I'll post in a minute... but while I was out shopping for party supplies and food, I found some really cute V-day decor at Target and Michaels. I just love these colors! Here are some updated pictures of my kitchen and front door.

Our dining room table all decorated for V-day. I got the table runner, napkins and red plates from Target. All the candle holders are from Partylite, the ribbon is from Michaels and the confetti is from Schnucks.

A close up of my centerpiece. The inside is filled with little heart shaped red hots! :-)

A close up of a place setting. The red charger is from Walmart which I bought at Christmas time for our New Years Eve dinner at church. The white plates and silver napkin ring holders are part of my set that I use every year for our New Years Eve dinner at church. The little red plate and the napkin are from Target.

A partylite votive holder that I tied some cute ribbon around to make it more festive.

Our bakers rack decorated for Valentines Day.

A close up of some more Partylite candles decorated for Valentines Day.

My cute Valentines Day candy dish filled with V-day peanut m&m's.

The next two pictures are of a set of dish towels I got today at Target. :-)

Sign for our front door.