the holiday bustle and flurry

did i really say something about posting twice a week? HA! i don't know what i was thinking... please disregard that. my posts throughout december will be quite sporadic. how are your holidays going? i hope they are peaceful and merry. we have had a lot of crafting going on around here.the kids have been very involved this year... which on one hand is just wonderful... and on the other hand is a bit stressful (not gonna lie here, it is). so, i'm going to make a little list to tell you a bit about the photos above.

• the elizabeth bibesco quote in the window has really been inspiring me lately. "blessed are those who can give without remembering and take without forgetting." beautiful words.
• the candies pictured above... peppermint bark and chocolate truffles... yum. there is a link to the peppermint bark recipe i used in my sidebar. i highly recommend it. it is amazing. it is very important to use the real white chocolate with cocoa butter though. very very important.
• until a few weeks ago i did not know that there was real white chocolate. i thought it was all just made from sugar. no idea that there was supposed to be cocoa butter in there. i thought that i hated white chocolate. i was really missing out. if you are also missing out... i am really glad you know the truth now.
• the little one (10 1/2 months now!!!) is suddenly growing up fast. sitting up, crawling, feeding herself, cutting new teeth like crazy, imitating all sorts of words... fun. i knew she would catch up but i didn't realize it would happen quite so fast.
• the ornaments are our textured clay ornaments... link in the sidebar. they are a lot of fun and turn out so beautifully. sometime soon i need to post a more thorough tutorial.
• the little tins contain peppermint lip balm (once again... link in my sidebar). this is a very simple and fun gift to make. one quick batch fills a dozen tins. the ingredients are coconut oil, honey, peppermint essential oil, and bees wax. it feels so wonderful on the lips. yes.... that's right.... i stole one for myself... trust me you would do the same.
• and finally... after searching and searching for the doll i was hoping to find for eislee and not finding anything remotely close. i (last minute) decided to make one for her. now, i don't know why i do this to myself. i have been thinking about making the doll in that book for over a year now and kept putting it off. then a week and a half before christmas i decide to go for it? i know... enough said. wish me luck! (i am really gonna need it).
• oh and so you don't get any sort of crazy idea in your head the i am capable of "doing it all." i want you to know that i'm not. my house is a disaster. did you notice how most of my pictures are close-ups? that's because i'm cropping out the mess. just so you know.

so that's what has been going on in this house lately. the last day of school is today and i am really hoping for a calm and peaceful week of christmas... and i am wishing the same for you.