10 on 10 :: December 2015

10 pictures on the 10th day of the month!

{Document a snapshot of your life & find beauty among the ordinary things in your day!}

Yesterday was a busy December day!

Here is a peak of what we were up to:

Fall has arrived in California...in December :)

My school campus is covered with trees & the beautiful leaves. We had rain yesterday, so the leaves were all falling. 

Breakfast of champions....I have some sort of bar for breakfast Monday through Friday.

In class, we did a Math Lib Review & I had stations. It was a fun activity & gets the students up & moving around.

 Thursdays are my favorite day to teach because I am done at 11:15. So, when I got home (Luke was still with my mother in law at Bible Study) I decided to do some touch up paint in his room. We got rid of his crib a couple weeks ago & I rearranged his room (and we took down his awesome rain gutter bookshelf (see it HERE) since that is where his bed was going) so I had to paint where I patched up some holes.

 There was a break in the rain so I decided to go on my 3 mile run. This was my last run before my half marathon....which is tomorrow!!! AHHHHH!!!! 

If you feel so inclined to donate to my run, HERE is the link. I am running with Team World Vision & all donations are made right to World Vision & they are 100% tax deductible.

Thank you for your support!

I love our running trail...it's so pretty this time of year!

 

I put this pic on Instagram, but wanted to share it here also with some words of encouragement:

Progress, not perfection. Less than 5 months ago I started running again after a 10 year running hiatus. The top rectangle shows my distance & time my first time running. The middle one shows the same run 3 months later (I ran that 2 days before I ran the Nike Women's Half. The bottom is today, my final run for my half marathon training.  My race is in on Saturday.  I wanted to share these because it is fun to see how my times have improved. I didn't run for 10 years because I was scared that I wasn't going to be as good of a runner as I used to be. I am so glad I swallowed my pride and started running again. I am stronger & feel so much better about myself. I made every excuse to not run.....too busy, too out of shape, too much going on with 3 kids, etc. Are you making excuses also? I was that person. So glad stopped making excuses. I only run 3-4 times a week. It doesn't take that much time out of my day. I am a busy working mom of 3, if I can make time, so can you!

Lunchtime after my run...getting in lots of protein. Fried eggs, avacado & chalula. Obsessed!

 

Then, Luke and I went to pick up Claire from school. One of our kids favorite things to do is climb the Japenesse Maple. Can you find Claire?!? So glad I snapped this photo....this morning all the leaves had blown off the tree because of the rain & wind last night :(

Happy Mail Day! These beauties got delivered...I ordered them as Christmas gifts for the girls on my Rodan + Fields Team.

 If you have been on the fence about joining my team, let's chat. We have some amazing sign up specials for the month of December! Send me an email for more info! melissa_larson17(at)yahoo.com

Kate doing math homework....have you heard of the website Sum Dog? My girls love it! I also love that Kate randomly put on a Santa hat to do homework. Kids are fun...especially this time of year.

The never ending laundry pile....ugh. Luke was in bed, Kevin & the girls were at their Father/Daughter Adventure Guides Christmas party, so I folded laundry & watched a Hallmark movie

Hope you had a good 10th & Happy Friday!!!

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Just a reminder: If you want to order the Microderm Paste and/or Sunless Tanner at my discounted price, send me an email!

Microdermabrasion Paste-$68
Foaming Tanner- $20
I will pay the tax & shipping.

melissa_larson17@yahoo.com

And, if you haven't entered my $250 Target Giftcard Giveaway, make sure you enter {HERE}

 Giveaway ends this weekend!

Our Halls are Decked + Our Elf is back!

I don't know about you, but decorating my house for Christmas is something I look forward to every year. I just love the way that our home feels during December....twinkling lights, Christmas music playing 24/7, baking cookies, the smell of the Christmas tree...it's just a magical time.

Growing up, the day after Thanksgiving, our family would load up in the car and head to the Santa Cruz mountains to cut down our Christmas tree. It was one of my favorite traditions.

Kevin and I did this the first 5 years of our marriage (before we had kids) And we have have done it about 3 times since having kids. There is nothing like going into the mountains & chopping down your tree. So fun. 

We hadn't gone since 2010, but because of the California drought (and dry trees) and we are still in a drought this year (it's an even bigger drought) so we decided to postpone again (nothing worse than cutting down a tree that sheds tons and tons of pine needles)

When we don't go to the mountains to cut down a tree, we would go to Home Depot (ugh) but 2 years ago, we ended up getting a tree at Lucky (which is a grocery store) It was an awesome tree, so we went there again last year and again this year.

I can't tell you how much it pains me that we got our tree from a grocery store parking lot.

But, it is a huge, full, beautiful tree, so I ignore the fact that it is from a grocery store parking lot.

Next year (if we get some rain!) I am hoping to head back to the Santa Cruz mountains and cut down a tree!

Last year, I gave up "control" and let the girls decorate the entire tree by themselves.

Kevin and I put the lights on, but let the girls to all the ornaments.

They did a great job! The spacing of the ornaments are all clumped together & the top of the tree is a a little sparce, but it looks great. It feels good to "let it go" and just let them decorate how they want to. I remember my mom let my sisters and I decorate the tree how we wanted when we were kids.

So, here is a little tour of how our house looks decorated for the holidays!

(I love it so much more now that our little remodel is done! You can see Before + Afters HERE)

Christmas cards displayed on the window by our dining room table. I love seeing all my friends beautiful families!

 

 As you can tell, I love using ornaments as decorations :)

One of my favorite decorations is our Willow Tree Nativity Set that we got for a wedding gift 13 years ago. I love it.

For the kids, we have the Little People Nativity Set. They love playing with it!

Kevin's mom made this Advent Calendar for us when Kate was born. It is all handmade with felt & burlap. All the Larson kids/cousins had these growing up.

  Nighttime views....because Christmas decorations are so much prettier at night.

This family photo is 3 years old, I just ordered a new canvas from this years photo shoot...can't wait to get it!

Our staircase:

 Other Decorations around our house (I like to keep things very simple because I don't like a lot of clutter!)

In our family room, I just have a glass Christmas tree on a side table: 

 And some JOY letters above our TV:

In our kitchen, I have a Merry Christmas banner hanging up:

I have some ornaments on the kitchen table:

 I have a wreath on the kitchen window:

 Very simple decorations in the kitchen:

It's a fresh wreath, so it smells good. I added some lights to it so that it twinkles:

Front Porch:

 And, of course another main decoration we have in our house during Christmas is our Elf on the Shelf, named Candle.

Candle arrives every year the first Sunday of Advent.
That would have meant that he should have arrived over a week ago on November 29.  That was a really busy weekend for us, so for the first time ever, our elf didn't arrive that day.
The kids were SHOCKED. And, freaking out.  Kevin and I decided that this year, our Elf would come the first Sunday of December. One less week of moving the Elf? Yes, please! LOL!
The girls were scared that our Elf wasn't going to show up. All week they were panic mode. HA!
Kevin the great idea that we should leave a note saying that Candle was at an Elf Training Program.
So, on Thursday, I wrote this letter & left it for the kids to find:

 

 When the girls saw it in the morning, they got tears in their eyes because they were :
1) so excited that our elf would be returning to our house this year
2) so proud that our Elf was selected to train another elf.
It's so fun being a parent & creating holiday moments like this for your kids.

(A little background: Marshmallow the Elf is Candle's "sister". A few years ago, Claire wanted us to have a girl elf instead of a boy elf, so I bought an elf skirt at Target. One of the mornings that the Elf arrived, the Elf had the skirt on & a note saying that Candle was sick, but Marshmallow (his sister) would be filling in for a few days. So, since then, Marshmallow makes an appearance 1 or 2 times each December) 

So, this past Sunday, Candle the Elf arrived by the time we get home from church & he is always in the same spot on day 1....in the bowl of ornaments on the coffee table in the living room.   

Hi Candle!

 Candle brought their new Christmas jammies & a special treat..Christmas Crunch cereal! We don't buy sugar cereal in this house...good thing they have an Elf to bring it to them :)

Loving their new pj's! She is out of stock of the ones I ordered, but has these ones.

Candle also brought them a present...a new Family Advent Book {HERE}

Candle also brought our 24 Christmas books of Advent all wrapped up...1 to read each night (we will have to double up some nights because we started late!)

The kids were so excited to see that Candle had finally arrived!

Our elf  also brings the kids a note reminding them about the true reason for the season.

 We do Elf on the Shelf slightly different in our house. Our elf does not "watch" the girls and report back to Santa. That is just not our style. Our Elf just likes to move around each night & the girls look forward to finding his new hiding spots. It is the first thing they do each morning.

 And, I don't really do elaborate Elf ideas. Most of the places our Elf hides are simple. Maybe 1-2 times a week I will do something more elaborate, like a snow angel with flour, fill the sink with marshmallows in their bathroom like the Elf is taking a bath, but mostly we just move him around.

And, because I have forgotten to move him in years past, last year I started setting an alarm on my phone...anyone else have an alarm for their elf? Every night at 10:00 it goes off :)

Hope you liked the tour :)

++++++++

Just a reminder: If you want to order the Microderm Paste and/or Sunless Tanner at my discounted price, send me an email!

Microdermabrasion Paste-$68
Foaming Tanner- $20
I will pay the tax & shipping.

melissa_larson17@yahoo.com

And, if you haven't entered my $250 Target Giftcard Giveaway, make sure you enter {HERE}

 Giveaway ends this weekend!