4 more days

Can you believe Christmas is on Friday? My kids are on Christmas break, and luckily we've finished almost all of our shopping, we still need to pick up a couple gifts, but nothing that will warrant us having to enter a toy store:) The presents are wrapped, our Santa letters e-mailed, our paper fireplace is in place (I'll be posting pics of this later) and we're just about ready to hang our stockings and bake our cookies as we await Santa's arrival. I have a lot to be thankful for this year: three happy and healthy kiddos, a fabulous (although sometimes annoying) husband, wonderful family and friends, and a little business that is thriving. Yes we've had our ups and downs, as well as numerous obstacles to overcome, but the good has definitely outweighed the bad. Right now the older kids are playing while the mini papercut sleeps. Three happy kids...there's nothing better than this:)

one mattress with a box spring on the side please

Image by Eugenio Recuenco

Yes, we finally received our beautiful white leather tufted bed frame. And the day it arrived I was truly excited. The delivery guys were late, but they still managed to deliver it and set it up without incidence. However, in all the chaos it slipped our minds that our king size mattress was not going to fit in our new queen sized bed frame! OOPS!! Well up until last Saturday my hubby and I were sleeping on a foam mattress pad on the floor next to the actual bed (I need to be in the room because of the mini papercut). And when our new mattress arrived I was so happy, until I realized that we had possibly purchased a box spring we didn't need.

After spending a week looking at my new bed frame sans mattress, I came to the conclusion that a mattress by itself would be too low, and a regular sized box spring would be way too high. The solution...a low profile box spring that is roughly half the size of a regular one. So when we went to LOOK at mattresses, I hadn't anticipated purchasing that day and had not measured anything at home. You can imagine my surprise when my DH put me on the spot and asked me to pick, and of course everything seemed so low in the showroom, that I automatically agreed to the low profile box. But when everything was delivered and put in place, the bed seemed way too high. My hubby's answer to our new problem was to take out the box spring and only use the mattress, which would have been fine if he hadn't decided to 'store' the box spring standing up against the window. Now what would you rather, a high bed or a big black rectangle blocking 2/3 of the window? So I casually mention to him that I'd like to try the box spring again ( we had only tried it before for a total of 10 minutes), to which he replied a resounding NO?!?! Really? I thought he was joking but was quickly informed that he liked it low and if it had been up to him we wouldn't have even bought a bed frame and we'd be sleeping on our mattress on the floor. Um, WHAT!?!?!??! Yeah, this is not over by a long shot! I guarantee that by Christmas we'll be sleeping on a nice high GROWN-UP bed;)

are you finished yet?

With Christmas right around the corner, it's been a crazy few weeks! The kids have 1 more week of school before they go on Christmas break, so I've been trying to get all the Christmas shopping done...it's much easier to take just the mini papercut along than drag all 3 kiddos through a toy store! I had made a mental note back in September that I wanted to have all of the presents wrapped and under the tree by the first week of December, in anticipation of how hectic things would be around here with a new baby. And I have to say, although I had not kept to schedule, things seemed to be running smoothly ( I was able to purchase almost all of the kids' presents, we have roughly 20 kids to buy for :o, in 1 day with my 2 youngest in tow!), but I've now found myself with only a few days to buy all the other gifts! Factor in a few doctor's appointments, baby eczema, hives and sleep deprivation, and you've got a recipe for disaster!

So over the last week the mini papercut has not been sleeping at night AT ALL!!!! Yes, that's right. I've been functioning on roughly 4 hours of sleep over the past 3 days...that's 4 hours TOTAL! My ability to focus on the task of shopping for others is extremely blurred at the moment, and yes, I know I'm supposed to sleep when she does, but realistically if she's sleeping while I'm at the grocery store and running errands I can't just pull the car over and take a nap. So I soldier through the weariness in an effort to finish up all the Christmas shopping, not to mention the continuous pile of laundry, meals to be made and attemps to keep a relatively clean house, or at least the illusion that we have one;) All of this only to have my husband ask me at the end of the day, "Aren't you finished the Christmas shopping yet?"

baby it's cold outside

Happy December everyone!

a new bed

As many of you know I had a baby in October, and with this new addition my husband and I are now sharing our master bedroom with the mini papercut. Now that the 'nursery' side of the bedroom is complete, we are slowly moving forward on the completion of the 'grown-up' side of the room. I've been looking for furniture for quite some time now (read since May) and a few weeks before having my little one, we finally purchased a bed (white leather, very similar to the one in the picture), which I am happy to say is being delivered TODAY!!! This has been a very long process for me, and I'm quite anxious to have it all finished. Since the bed is the last large furniture piece going into the room, it will be fun to be able to pick out all of the other accessories. We still need a new mattress ( we downsized from a king to a queen), bedside tables, lamps and bed linens, but I would like to have the whole room pulled together by Christmas...not too ambitious, but with the kids going on Christmas break in 3 weeks it'll be interesting:) Here's hoping that my finished room looks something like the one in the picture! Wish me luck!

birthday love

Here at the Little Papercuts house birthday season starts in November and doesn't end until the end of January, with Christmas falling smack dab in the middle of it all. With the addition of the mini papercut, party season now begins in October. With that said, and coming of the heels of my eldest daughter's 8th birthday party, I've been thinking about birthdays gone by. One of my favourites was inspired by Alice in Wonderland.






















Our invitations, made in the likeness of Alison as Alice in Wonderland, were shaped like teapots, and we encouraged all the little girls to dress up as their favourite princesses and join us in Alison's Wonderland for a Mad Hatter Tea Party.
























The table was set with mismatched tea pots, pastel coloured cake stands and serving dishes filled with finger sandwiches, veggies and dip, pizza, popcorn, chips, cookies, cupcakes, lots of cake and tea (pink lemonade and apple juice)! Polka dotted and striped mini tea cups and saucers (that were really espresso cups that came in a set of 4), held mini cupcake shaped lip glosses, hair clips, nail polish and candy and did double duty as place settings and favours. The paper lanterns scattered overhead and gigantic paper flowers added to the whimsical atmosphere of the room as did the life-sized characters found throughout.


















































We were joined by the Knave of Hearts, the Cheshire Cat, the Queen of Hearts, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, and a curious card attempting to paint some of the roses red :) The White Rabbit also made an appearance with a game of 'Pin the clock on the White Rabbit'.



















A beading station, where the girls make necklaces and bracelets, provided tons of entertainment and more goodies to add to their loot bags. The afternoon was topped off with a slice of topsy turvy birthday cake (a gift from a generous aunt), and it definitely did not disappoint! I'd have to say this party was sweet and fun, just like the little girl it was for:)

































Our party was the featured party on Ohdeedoh. You can see it here.

one month

Yesterday my eldest daughter turned 8 years old, and today my youngest is one month old! How time flies :)