My FINAL advent calendar

Okay,  I know you are all sick of seeing this, but this took hours and hours of my life so I want to show more pictures to brag, okay? Feel free to indulge me with comments of admiration and jealousy. ;)

Yes, the background is a little wild for most people, but I love it.  A lot.  And I love each of the little ornaments.  They make me happy.  I actually redid a few because they turned out ugly and if I'm keeping this forever, I want it to be perfect!  I kind of want to keep it up year round.  Alas, it is already tucked away.  See you in December 2012! Unless the world ends before then.  DUN DUN DUUUUUUN....

You can see my other progress post here.

I originally started making the tree to look like the one my family had growing up, but then I got more inspiration from where else these days, but pinterest.  This tree and this tree is what I was going for.

Festival of Trees

On December 23 we went to downtown Durham to see the Festival of Trees.  Fifty or so organizations decorated trees, mostly themed around their organization.  It was nice to just get out of the house.  Plus (not pictured) we ran into two other families from church! Great minds think alike.

We found Snoopy and a Charlie Brown tree.

The tree on the left was powered by Ryan's hard-working pedaling skills and my recorder skills did nothing for the tree on the right.

Yes, thanks to my Luke genes that keep me growing into my 20's I'm now taller than Ryan.  He likes it.  I like him, so I'm getting used to it. :)

Fitness FAIL

So remember when I was in elementary school and I was THAT GIRL who could do more pull-ups than all of the girls and most of the boys?  

Or how about in middle school when I remember cranking out 45 push-ups like it was no big deal?

Today? I just did a whole 3/4 of a pull up and 10 push ups. Yep, FAIL.  I bought Ryan P90X for Christmas so we can work out together and it might have been a bad idea.

At least one thing has remained consistent over the past 20 years - I'm one of the least flexible people alive.  Even Ryan and his little T-Rex arms can get closer to touching his toes.

Heaven help me. This is going to be interesting.

Sweeney Christmas Card

Oh my heck, we mailed out over 100 Christmas cards this year, so I'm sorry if you still weren't part of that ridiculous number.  With my large family and Ryan's family bush there were a lot of people that haven't heard from us since we got married.  If you missed out, envision this printed on the inside of blank Christmas cards.   Enjoy and Merry Christmas a few days late!

 

DC

Most of you would not even know or care if I didn't post these pictures, but it is difficult for me to write a new post knowing that I skipped something that went on.  Especially if pictures were taken! So before I get to Christmas, here are some pictures from our trip to DC a few weeks ago.  Luckily we did not hit have to stop for traffic, freeze too much in the cold, or sleep too little due to a crying baby. 

We all bought groupons and got discounted tickets to the International Spy Museum.  It was actually really fun to see how real spies have operated throughout history.

When evening fell, Whit and Dave took P home and I wanted to see the monuments at night.  It was amazing to see the sun set behind the Lincoln Memorial! However, the reflecting pool was nothing but puddles of muddy construction. What a shame.  And it was cold and a long walk to Mr. Lincoln but I'd never been so I figure I better suck it up and go.  And by cold it was probably low 40's, upper 30's.  I've acclimated to NC, alright? Don't judge.

P was as cute as ever but I didn't take hardly any pictures of her until her mom requested bath time photos.  She just loves to suck on those rags of hers.

On Sunday night we grabbed our friend, Becky, and headed to the Washington DC LDS Temple to see all the Christmas lights.  Again, cold but so worth it!  I LOVE this picture of Ryan and I.

We also hit up Ikea on our way home because Ryan had never been.  If only we had a house...

THE END.

That was DC. Christmas to come soon (I hope).

For Hannah

My sweet friend, Necia, has three just as sweet daughters - Ellen, Hannah, and Mia.
They all love Ryno (who doesn't) and Hannah was sweet enough to give him a bone for Christmas.  

She could not see him open it, so here it is.   He loves it!!  He didn't stop chewing on it all night.

Thank you, Hannah and the Gooch family!!

Almost.....there.....

So remember how my last post I said I never had time for projects? And if you're facebook friends with me remember my advent I've been working on since AUGUST?  Yep, it's now Dec. 22 and it's not done.

Wanna know why? I work full time and Ryan's out of school.  Which means I get to spend lots of time with him in the evenings and no time with my beloved felt tree.  BUT, I love Ryan and the time we've had.  I love him even more for allowing me to craft the past two nights.  I even stayed up until 1:00 a.m. last night.  Yes, you read that correctly.  Two hours past 11:00 p.m. which is when I normally crash!!

Since my last facebook picture, I embroidered each of the numbers on the little pockets and sewed them to the backing (they would NOT stay straight dagnabbit), sewed on the felt tree and then added batting and a back because I want it to be quilt-esque.  Last night I machine quilted it and hand stitched each of the 25 stupid buttons and added the string to hang the ornaments.  Welcome 1:00 a.m. and I can barely see straight but still can beat Ryan in a game of Soliatire on our iPhones (our new addiction).

When it is all finished (probably after Christmas, sadly) I will take more up close pictures of the ornaments.  I just love them!

Mr. Penguin and Mr. Snowman are still waiting to be hung, along with Ryan's favorite - the train, and finally the star on Christmas Day.

This project is a good reminder that I am an over-achiever but not a perfectionist.  I keep adding and adding little things to make it look better and better but it doesn't have to be perfect.  My pockets are crooked, machine quilting is mediocre and the back fabric is nowhere near straight but those are things I don't care about.  Thank goodness, or I might develop an ulcer or two from projects like this!