i laughed until i puked...

literally.
AKA- our small group Christmas party.

Background information:
Every Sunday night, we meet with 10 other people for bible study, fellowship and prayer.  It's a great thing, really.  If you haven't found a small group in your church, you should.  Anyway, last night was our Christmas party.  We all gathered at the Fites house with snacks and $10 gift cards for dirty santa. 

Here's the story:
After eating our weight in little piggies, sausage balls and other yummy snacks, we moved on to the other room for games.  There's a couple of games that we play everywhere we go, and one of those is the bowl game.  Everyone puts in 3 things and then you have 3 rounds of having your team guess them. 

It was my team's turn and Dustin was giving us clues.  He said a chocolate dessert, I said pudding... some more people yelled things and then time was up.  The word was actually "malt" and so we were laughing.  I took a drink of coffee right as Mallory asked "so, what was the deal with pudding?" 

I started to laugh, with a mouthful of coffee and tried to stop and swallow and breathe at the same time... I ended up running into the kitchen, where I proceeded to start gagging, gasping and seriously could. not. breathe.  I started to get scared because I couldn't catch my breath...

All of a sudden, I threw up. 
With all my friends in the other room.
And Jacie offering to do the Heimlich on me... 
Definitely in my top 10 most embarrassing moments of all time.

After I threw up, I was fine.  My breathing went back to normal and my heart rate slowed back down... I drank some water and went back to the bowl game.

Moral of the story- don't drink and play the bowl game.  Bad things will happen. 

The Christmas Chain

Every year, our church does an amazing Christmas production. 
Every year, I think how cool it would be to be a part of it.
Every year, I chicken out and don't to do it...

But this was the year!  Several of the girls from the office decided that we should audition for choreography, and since John Mark is finally old enough to be a part of it, I thought I would give it a shot.

Now, I'm not much for dancing.  I've never taken a class, and I've never really had much coordination, so this was DEFINITELY a step out of my comfort zone... but it was so much fun!  I danced in one song- "Hot Chocolate" from the polar express, and was an angel in another song.  Fortunately, that song only required standing still.

John Mark also made his dancing debut as a peppermint.  He was lucky enough to get to dance with Lindsey and I'm pretty sure that's the only thing that got him to the performances every night. 

It was so much fun to be a part of something so BIG.  I met a lot of new people and even learned a dance step or two (Charleston, anyone?).  But most of all, it was amazing to see a story come together and watch as over 6,000 people got to hear the gospel. 

I think I'm ready for next year.

But maybe I'll stick to singing in the choir...

That's a little more my speed!

Cute Chalkboard

I'm telling you, I have become quite the crafty in my old age... maybe it's some of my perfectionism finally wearing off... or maybe it's the onslaught of crafty friends I have in my life these ways... I'm not sure what it is, but I am certain that I like it! 

Anyway, this is a SUPER cute, cheap and easy craft that you can whip out in a couple hours on a cold, windy afternoon.  I know, because I did.  So let's take a little trip down crafting lane, shall we?

Step 1- grab your crafty best friend and head to your local thrift store.  If you're as lucky as we are, your store has half-price Saturday.  That's when you can pick up 7 frames for $1.89.  Seriously- what a steal!  Once you get your stack of frames home, take them apart and give them a good cleaning.  You don't want any funky stuff left on the final product!

 

Step 2- Grab your freshly washed glass handy dandy Chalkboard spray and head outside.  At this point, ask your husband if it's okay to paint in the grass... he will say yes, only hours later to say he really meant more of the BACKYARD than the front.  "oops" Lay out the glass and spray the heck out of them. 

Step 3- take goofy photos of yourselves while the paint dries. (optional)

Please note the chalkboard paint on my chin... yeah, I still don't know how that got there.  I blame sissy bird. 

Step 4- Set to work making your burned ribbon flowers.  These are SO cute and so easy to throw together.  All you need is some wide ribbon (I found mine in the floral section), scissors and a lighter.  Cut out various sizes of circles from your ribbon.  Hold the ribbon right above the lighter let the edges start to singe a little.  The ribbon will curl and your house will begin to smell.

Step 5- go back outside and spray another coat of chalkboard paint on your glass.  Pick out the grass bits that have dried in your first coat.  Take a photo with your friends camera...

Step 6- Pull out your trusty hot glue gun and start assembling the flowers.  Just stack a few of the "petals" on top of each other until you have the flowery look you want.  Add fun beads or a button to the middle.  The flower by itself is ridiculously cute and makes a great pin for your sweater or scarf.

Step 7- go back outside and spray another coat of chalkboard paint on your glass.  You'll want at least 3 coats to make it easy to write on!

Step 8- Once your frame and chalkboards are dry, put them back together.  Add the flower to a corner with some hot glue and there you have it!  Packaged with a couple pieces of white chalk, you have an adorable chalkboard for cheap!

a crafty little Christmas

I've always admired people who were crafty... Unfortunately, that hasn't always been one of my strong suits.  This Christmas, armed with inspiration from some very creative blogs and my super artistic friends, I set out to make some of my Christmas presents and decorations.  It is with great pride that I reveal to you my newfound craftiness.  (I'm linking back to the original post where I saw a tutorial if you want to see how to make your own!)

Mod-Podge Clothespin Wreath

This was a super easy and fun wreath!  All it took was a couple packs of clothespins, scrapbook paper, hot glue and an embroidery hoop.  The night we made this wreath, I ended up with a 103 fever... so that should tell you how easy this wreath is to complete!

Mini-Muffin Tin Advent Calendar
(I don't remember exactly where I saw these, but if you google it, you'll come up with a ton of tutorials!)

I saw these one day and knew that I had to make these for the three ladies I work with.  Squares of cardstock and scrapbook paper, stickers and some magnets made this cute calendar come to life.  Inside each muffin tin, I put a scripture passage for them to read each day with their families.  I absolutely LOVED how these turned out!!

Fabric-flower Grapevine Wreath

This is my favorite, favorite, FAVORITE thing that I've made so far.  AND- it cost less than $5!!  All it took was a wreath form, scrap fabric, hot glue and a couple of berry wreath picks.  Lesley and I spent about an hour on Saturday twisting fabric into little flowers, then she positioned and glued everything down.  Seriously- this was so easy and it turned out perfect!

I've got a few more crafts up my sleeve, but those are yet to be revealed to their recipients, so you'll just have to wait... But for now, don't be afraid.  If I can do it, anyone can!