Tree Hunting

Over Thanksgiving break, we went into the mountains to cut down our Christmas tree. 

It was a beautiful day, we all had so much fun, and we found the tree within 30 minutes. It was a much better experience this year. (Last year it was cold, one of the kids was sick, and being "newbies", it took us over an hour to find the perfect tree.)

My oldest is taking pictures below. Actually, she and I spent most of the time taking pictures. My husband found the tree. I've created a picture taking monster. :)

We spent the evening decorating the tree. We have a few more touches to put on it, but here it is so far:

The pictures were all taken with the iphone, so they are a little blurry without great lighting. I love our "Charlie Brown" tree with all its imperfections! I am considering giving away our large artificial tree we have in storage. 

Right now, I have boxes and bins everywhere, but when I am finished decorating, I will show you more!

Fun

I took a picture of my kids on top of a hill while waiting for our soccer game to start a few months ago. Using my other photographs and layers later, I came up with this:

I'm having a 12x12 print made of it; it will make me smile every time I see it. I'll remember how silly they were being on top of that hill!

Autumn Mantle

A couple of weeks ago, inspired by the changing colors outside, I painted a new painting for the mantle:

I dug out my orange velvet pillows out of storage, and, instant coziness! (I'm noticing that these lanterns need to be adjusted.) 

Now, I'm thinking of the Winter look, so I'll probably change it up again soon. :)

Have a great weekend!

Indian Summer

We are having a beautiful Fall day here. I went out to capture the last of the leaves with my camera and iphone. 

Most of the leaves are on the ground, but these last few are hanging on!