The Toy Box Years: Winter Decorating

The Creators of the Toy Box Years

The creators of the Toy Box Years are my two beautiful daughters and wonderful, handsome soldier husband.

"Nani" (our oldest) is a 11 year old 6th grader who loves Taylor Swift, ballet, books, fashion designing and sewing. Ask her what she wants to be when she grows up and it changes daily to anything from "an artist" to "a teacher" to "a singer/dancer". Nani is also currently fighting a battle against brain cancer -- recently diagnosed in June 2016.

"Nudgie" (our youngest) is a very smiley, very happy, very giggly, very spirited 8 year old 3rd Grader who's favorite toys are anything that gives mommy an anxiety attack - ladders, stepstools, the climbing wall at the playground. Like her sister, she has a love of reading and coloring, loves gymnastics and still provides mommy lots of snuggle time!

"My Marine" is my high school sweetheart. We've been married over 20 years and met when we were 17. (You do the math....) His favorite toys are Blackhawk helicopters, the lawnmower, our steam cleaner, and microbrew beer bottles. My husband is also my hero in that he proudly serves his country as a Blackhawk crew chief (hence his favorite toy!). And need I say that there is nothing hotter than my man in uniform!

All About Me......

Once upon a time I had a career and worked in the corporate world. Once upon a time, I dreamed about leaving that all behind to follow my true calling -- being a wife and mommy.

The first part of my calling was fulfilled in 1995 when I married my Marine (now soldier) and my love. Little did I know that being a military wife would change me in so many ways and that because of that, I would have an extended family all over the world from Japan, to California, to North Carolina.

The second part of my calling took a little doing, but I finally achieved that dream in 2004 with the birth of our first child, followed 4 years later by her baby sister.

So now, when someone asks me what I do for a living - I simply smile and say proudly that I'm following my calling - I'm a mommy and a wife -- and I couldn't be HAPPIER -- I'm living in the Toy Box Years!!

Winter Decorating

>> Saturday, January 8, 2011

We finally took down the last of our Christmas decorations and got them packed away in the attic. I always have a touch of the blues as the decorations come down. What to do between Christmas and Valentine's Day? I thought that I'd keep some of the Christmas decorations out -- specifically anything with snowmen or snowflakes.

And I'm gradually creating a little winter wonderland in our home.....especially since we haven't had much snow here in the Denver area lately. A fact which makes me very sad.

We kept Nani's Christmas tree up and this afternoon the girls decorated it with some snowflake ornaments and garland. They each colored an ornament to decorate the tree too.

Nani made a snowflake tree topper by making coffee filter snowflakes glued to a toilet paper roll.

Add a few snowfriends and some snowflake fabric as a tree skirt and we have our finished Winter/Snowflake Tree!

Linking Up At:

6 comments:

Semalee January 9, 2011 at 7:18 AM: Very cute! You're always so creative with the girls :)

Semalee @ Nailing Jello to a Tree
April January 9, 2011 at 9:06 AM: hi, i'm following from the meet & follow blog hop :) i'd love if you could stop by my blog and follow back!

your girls are so cute, it looks like they had a lot of fun making decorations :)

best,
april

www.marineparents-blog.com
MaryAnne January 10, 2011 at 3:07 PM: What a great way to keep some of the Christmas spirit alive!

We haven't had much snow in Massachusetts this year, either - so strange!
RedTedArt January 12, 2011 at 6:48 AM: How sweet is that little tree? And lovely that they get to decorate it!!!

Very cute!

Maggy
(Thanks for linking up)
Anonymous January 12, 2011 at 9:13 AM: Hi I'm visiting from Red Ted Art's Get Crafty linky. What a lovely idea this is keeping a little piece of Christmas! I have fairy lights up in my kitchen all year round now because I cannot bear the dark decending!The decorations your girls made look lovely!
Christie - Childhood 101 January 17, 2011 at 4:13 AM: What a lovely way to create a little winter themed play area, my toddler would love this!

Thank you for linking to We Play this week :)