Nativity Garden Flag

The busyness of the season has made our holiday decorating plans come to a stand still...especially outside. Other than taking down the fall decor and adding a few red and green things to our front doors, the outside of our house doesn't have a whole lot of Christmas cheer going on right now...no lights, no garland, basically no decorations at all.

Since Jason is the crazy brave one who climbs up on the roof every year to hang the lights {and there was no way I was going to try that while he was out of town for work}, I decided to remedy our lack of outside decorations as much as I could by making a new Christmas themed garden flag for our yard. It was SUPER simple to make, and the whole thing was basically free because I used fabric scraps from my stash:)

Burlap and Felt Nativity Garden Flag:

I started by digging out some red and white material, red burlap, and my bag o' felt scraps.

After a couple of google searches for inspiration,  I drew a little sketch of what I wanted the design to look like...can you tell I'm not an artist!?!

I used an old garden flag as a guide and cut a double layer of the red and white fabric {folded at the bottom to make the bottom edge finished}. I added a little extra length to the top to accommodate for the hanger.

I used my pinking shears to cut the fabric so it wouldn't fray and I wouldn't have to worry about finishing the edges. I sewed around the two sides and the top with my sewing machine. You could easily make this no sew by using a hot glue gun!

I folded over the extra fabric to make the hanger, and then sewed {or hot glue} it into place.

I cut a piece of the red burlap to fit on the front of the flag.

I cut all the shapes for the Nativity scene out of felt. I laid the design out on the red burlap to make sure everything looked good, then I picked it up piece by piece and attached them with spray adhesive. After everything was in place on the red burlap, I turned the burlap over and applied a good coat of spray adhesive to it and then placed it on the flag. I also sewed around the edges of the burlap to secure it {and again you could totally use hot glue if you don't want to sew}.

With all the Santas, reindeer, and snowmen out there it can sometimes be hard to decorate for Christmas with Christ in mind, so I'm glad we have this little addition to our decor to remind us why we really celebrate this season! I'm thinking this might make a really cute kiddos shirt too...what do you think?!?

My sweet friend Richella  over at Imparting Grace is hosting a great linky party called Home for the Holy Days! A great place to share the ways you and your family keep Christ the center of your Christmas. Go over and check it out and say a quick hello to the oh so sweet Richella:)

Oral-B Stages III & Crest and Oral-B Pro-Health FOR ME Cars 2 Viewing Party!

Last week, my boys and I had the opportunity to host a really fun Cars 2 Screening Party thanks to MommyParties and Oral-B. We invited a few friends to join us on Friday afternoon right after school to watch Cars 2 and learn a little bit about some really great Oral-B and Crest products...plus we all got to go home with some free stuff too!

Before the party started, I got all the goodie bags organized. Since I live in a house full of boys, I was glad to see that the majority of our party pack included boy colored toothbrushes and some Toy Story themed items! We did have a few girls coming to the party too, so the Disney Princess toothbrushes were also nice to see. To make sure that the boys and girls each went home with the appropriate stuff {can't you just see a little boy being upset about finding a princess toothbrush in his goodie bag}, I tied the bags up with some cute pink and blue ribbon.

Before the party started, I popped a couple bags of popcorn and sat out drinks for the kiddos. I also made a big batch of Rice Krispy Treats, but for some reason I think the mom's ate more of those than the kids:) Maybe it was because they were too busy watching the movie to come get them! The kiddos hunkered down with their buckets of popcorn and watched {the majority} of the movie. 

 We had 9 kiddos at our party ranging in age from 3 years old {Eli and his little friend Jolie} all the way up to 12 years old {Grant's friend Morgan's big brother} and luckily the movie and the goodie bags were perfect for all the kids young and old!

 We took a little break from the movie to look inside our goodie bags and see what kind of fun Oral-B and Crest stuff everyone was taking home. Each kiddo got an Oral-B Stage III Brush or a Pro-Health FOR ME Brush, a big pack of Oral-B Stages Flossers or Pro-Health FOR ME Floss Picks, a full sized tube of Pro-Health FOR ME Toothpaste, and a sample of Cars II Gummy Vitamins. I also gave out three fulled sized bottles of Pro-Health FOR ME Rinse to the three moms who were there!

 My boys were most impressed with the Gummies, and lucky for us the party pack included a big bottle for the host!

And Eli LOVED the Oral-B Stages Flossers! He insisted on dumping out the entire bag so he could see all the fun colors:) And my boys have been religiously flossing their teeth since Friday when they opened their Flossers:)

We had a great time watching Cars 2, eating popcorn, and learning a little about some great Oral-B and Crest products! Thanks so much to MommyParties for the chance to PARTY!

 **I was provided a Cars 2 party pack thanks to MommyParties and Oral-B in exchange for sharing about our party experience with you! No other compensation was received and all opinions are my own.**

What's His Name?

We are still in the process of getting out all of our Christmas stuff and decorating our house. As we were unloading boxes last night I found one of the boys' favorite Christmas decorations....their Little People Nativity Set! We've had this set for quite a few years, and every year the boys love setting it up in the playroom and reenacting the story of Jesus' birth {and a few other Bible stories that they manage to throw into the mix too}.

So last night I sent Grant down to the playroom to set up the Nativity Set just like we do every year. He left, and Jason & I continued decorating the living room with garland and lights. After about ten minutes Grant came back into the room with two of the shepherds in his hand, and with the most serious face ever he asked "Which one of these is Moses?" Jason and I both started laughing:) After checking with Henry about the man's correct name, Grant remember that it was Joseph who was in the manger that night with baby Jesus and not Moses!

I think somebody may be getting some Bible Story Flash Cards in their stocking this year:)