{2011 blog recap}

With 2012 right around the corner I thought I would do a little recap of the most popular, and my favorite posts on This Girl's Life for 2011. It is amazing to me how much more traffic I haven gotten this year, and I'm so honored and thankful for all of my readers and blog friends. 

Without a doubt, the most popular post from 2011 was my DIY t-shirt scarf. This post, thanks to Pinterest and Craftgawker, has received over 15,000 pageviews since I posted it in August! 

The second most popular post of the year, and definitely one of my tops faves as well, was my recap of the boys' Despicable Three birthday party. It has had over 5,600 views since I posted it on May 29th. 

And coming in third is my post about prettying up our fireplace mantel with a DIY chalkboard. It is amazing how much attention just a little bit of chalkboard paint can get! 

  

And now for my faves...

#1 without a doubt is my interview with Project Runway's Christopher Straub and my maurices giveaway. This was definitely the highlight of my blogging year!

 

Here is the interview again if you missed it...

 

I also really loved my DIY artwork for my son Ben's room...

And our super easy kitchen island project...

  

And finally I was very excited to share our little office space makeover...

It has been a fun and exciting year for this little blog of mine, and I can't wait to see what 2012 has in store. One of my resolutions is to complete a lot more home decorating and organizing projects this year, so stay tuned, and thanks for coming along for the ride!

 

{a little Christmas recap}

Who am I kidding...this will probably not be a little recap due to the 100+ photos I snapped between Christmas Eve and Christmas day and the three different present opening extravaganzas we had with the boys. To sum it up in a nutshell though...we had a truly wonderful and blessed Christmas. I feel like the word blessed can sound so cheesy but it is the only word I can think of to describe how I feel. Lots of family, more than enough love, and a plethora of presents and food surrounded us.

So here are just a few of my fave photos...I will try to edit...really I will. :)

Uncle John reading to Ben...

Spiderman!

Landon looking so grown up...

Back at home on Christmas Eve...the boys were looking up the fireplace for Santa...

Of course we had to leave him a little snack...

Took this one around midnight...all the presents finally wrapped and waiting!

I was actually a tad bit domestic on Christmas morning and made this yummy cheese danish that I found on Pinterest...

It turned out great!

Once the boys got up we went straight into unwrapping their presents. Ben's favorite was his Batman that he had been obsessing over for weeks...

And of course new trains!

And Nerf guns! {although I think the hubby might be having more fun with those ;) }

My Grandma got the boys snuggies and they are already loving them...

My Mom with her new monogrammed pashmina...

My parents got the boys a really cool barn playset...

 

Dan and I opening a sweet gift from my parents...

Later on Christmas day we headed back to my Mom #2's house to do the rest of our gifts and enjoy time together...including a super fun game of Apples to Apples.

My sister-in-law and nephew...

Candy Land!

And more trains of course...

My hubby makes the cutest psychotic faces ;)

Mom #2 and I...

And then when we finally got home around 12:30 {pm!!}we all crashed.

Hope everyone had an equally wonderful Christmas!

{and a Happy New Year!}

Hope your holidays are filled with wonderful memories with family and friends!

And for a little fun...here are the outtakes from our Christmas card photo session. Ben's expressions crack me up...he is such a little actor!

 

 

 

{a new tradition}

The holidays are SO much more fun with children and my favorite part is creating new traditions with the boys. This year we added another one to the list, thanks to my parents. They brought over a gingerbread house kit the other night and we had so much fun putting it together and watching the boys decorate it. It was actually the first time any of us had made one!

Here are a few pics from our gingerbread adventure...

Ben sneaking some candy... :)

And my Dad too...see his hand? LOL :)

Nana helping the boys decorate...

Sneaking more candy...

 
Ta da! It turned out so cute!

I'm so excited to make this a yearly tradition. Maybe when the boys get a bit older we will attempt making our own gingerbread. What is your favorite Christmas tradition?

{little chefs}

Sunday night the hubby made homemade pizza dough and we thought it would be fun to let the boys make their own pizza. They loved it!

From the flour everywhere...

To rolling out the dough...

Spreading the sauce....

And adding the cheese...

Here were their finished pizzas...
 
{Can you tell which boy likes to line things up?}

 

Which by the way they wouldn't eat. 

Gotta love picky toddlers! Oh well...the process was still super fun and a great memory. What do you like to cook with your kids?