post holiday update {in pics}: baby news, being tired, and my favorite Christmas gifts

The last few weeks of this year were wonderful and, if I can be honest, they were exhausting too.

I love the holidays, but it kind of felt like I was running a marathon, and my body and mind were so very tired by the end.

After it was over, I just felt so thankful for all of the work to finally be done. I know every season won't be this way, and this is just life now with a house to run, homeschooling to do, 5 kids to love, babies to kiss and nurse and change, parties to go to, guests to prepare for, classes to teach, a blog to write, presents to shop for and wrap, food to buy and make...

It was all a good work, I think. It was a good tired to be.

I so enjoyed the little break I had from everything after Christmas- I didn't blog or teach classes for the most part. I needed to recover, and it took me nearly a week to feel somewhat normal again. I'm even more thankful for a cold January now to stay in the house, read books, and find a good routine for the new year. 

I have lots of fun things to share in the next few weeks {Lord-willing}, but I wanted to catch up with a few pictures {okay, lots of pictures...hahaha!} of our last month:

1. The baby is {as we say in Texas} growing like a weed!! He has outgrown all of his 9 month outfits and is now into 12-18 month sleepers! He loves his sisters and brothers:

 2. He rolled over from back to front for the first time last week {a feat in itself since we never actually put him down... ;)}:

3. We had a wonderful {beautiful} Christmas Eve with my in-laws:

Everyone is growing up! It's happy and sad all at the same time.

4. It goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway: this baby has been one of the most joyful blessings we have ever received. I am so thankful he is part of our lives. :) And this is one of my favorite pictures of all time: 

5. I think I might have fallen even more in love with being a mama this year. Is it possible to give a baby too many kisses? {the answer is probably yes, I found out after accidentally inhaling Zane slobber...always remember to wipe the baby off before you kiss him, Mandy...}. 

5. We almost never buy toys for the kids {the grandparents love to give them}, but this year, we gave the girls these cozy coupe shopping carts, and they were over the moon. :D

6. Shoes were the present of the day for the grown-ups:

If ankles could talk, they would be smiling thanks to these new Brooks running shoes:

7. But the best present of all was seeing our family. My brother Josh and my sister-in-law Cayse drove 7 hours to stay with us. We MISS them like crazy. Don't tell, but I secretly tried to use Zane cuteness as leverage to make them move back: 

He's got her in his grip... I'll let you know if it worked. ;)

8. They gave Noah a magic trick set, and his amateur skills had us rolling and in tears: 

9. Rob gave me this book for Christmas, and I devoured it over the break. It was so good, I want to read it again this month.

10. 2014 means that these boys will turn 9 and 11. They're getting so big already. Make it stop.

7-8 more years? This isn't possible. 

I really want to make 2014 last a little longer. Rob and I set goals for the new year, and one of them is turning our focus to doing more fun things with the bigger kids like overnight camping and game nights. I want to soak up this sweet season of young ones as much as I can before it changes.

How do you plan to enjoy the season that you're in this year?

HE HAS COME!! merry christmas 2013

John 6:

38For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

Oh, merry, MERRY Christmas sweet friends!!

What a sweet day it was all those many years ago. We have been given such a gift to be able to know about that baby born in Bethlehem. I can't believe the KING of the universe came down from Heaven to save us. And we will meet Him on the last day. Words don't do it justice.

Christmas Eve, 2013

What a true gift. ahhh.

It's incredible.

Our light of the world has come!! :D

Sooooo wonderful. :DDDD

I am so thankful for 2013- it has been a blessed and challenging year with lots of changes. I'm planning to take the next week and a half off from blogging like I do every year to spend time with my family and Jesus and enjoy a little break away from regular life. :) I've been feeling pretty weary this month, so I'm hoping it will help me come into the new year refreshed and ready to start again.

I am so thankful for you! Thank you for walking beside me in this journey this year. You are a blessing to me!! I wish you the loveliest end of the year, friends.

easy {free} printable christmas gift sack

Do you ever make cookies or give little gifts at Christmas? I do, and I have the hardest time finding cute sacks that are frugal in a large quantities. When you make 65+ Christmas packages, even 50 cent sacks start to add up! :) And plain lunch bags just don't seem appropriate, so I found a way to make them cute in large quantities by printing right on them! :D

I've never done anything like this before, but honestly, this is now one of my very favorite printables!! It's so useful for us! But it's one of those projects that may or may not work for you and your printer {a.k.a. this is a do-at-your-own-risk sort of printable. :P}, so I've made a few different options for you to choose from.

It may take some trial and error with your settings, or if it doesn't work and gets caught in the printer, you could just print and use the labels I give you below to glue on the sacks. :)

I bought 100 brown lunch sacks at Target for a couple of dollars, and my laser b+w printer prints directly onto the sacks. I also would love to see this printable printed on a white lunch sack. I'm going to try to run by the store today and see how it looks tonight! :)

Here's how you do it:

1. First, download your choice of printable below. They are full 8.5 x11 prints so you don't have to change any settings.

2. Load the lunch sack in your printer. Mine didn't need anything special- I moved the guards and put the top of the sack in first, and the bottom facing up, but this will depend on your individual printer settings. You might have to put the bottom facing down.

Since my printer uses a drum, it rolled it in perfectly. If your printer won't feed the sack, you could try this with painter's tape:

3. Print as usual. The pdf is a full sheet of paper, so like I said- it depends on your printer individually as to whether it rolls through or gets stuck. :) Here's how mine came out, with a hole punched and added twine.

4. If all else fails, you can always cut and glue a label on! :)

And that's it! If it works for you, let me know! I will be making more of these in the very near future, and I will post them here if you can use them!  :)

What's your favorite frugal way to give gifts in large quantities? 

I'm so not a wrapper these days. I'm only a gift-sacker. :P

Do you like wrapping?

I used to LOVE it when I was young!

Download the printables here:

gift sack #1:

download here

gift sack #2:

download here

printable labels for cutting:

download here

free Christmas printables and projects

Emily from Jones Design Company {one of my very favorite bloggers!} is offering all of her Christmas tutorials in one place this year. If you haven't been to her site, you should see it! She's amazingly talented.

Over and over I find myself inspired by her style {in fact, my newly remodeled kitchen was subconsciously inspired by hers- I kept making these design choices and thinking this looks so familiar! And then I figured out where I'd seen it before! heehee. Her kitchen is so pretty!!}

Hop on over to download her awesome tutorials and printables for free:

Free Music for Advent and Christmas

.
The wonderful kids who make up L'Angelus are offering some FREE Advent and Christmas music. I've listened to every track, and, brother, this is some good listenin'. You'll be surprised and impressed and you'll give glory to God!

Click the link to get to their download page and laissez les bon temps roulet!

If you like what you hear, you'll want to check out their store (where you can listen to free previews before you buy).

P.S. - They have more free music at their Facebook Page.

A Cajun Ave Maria?!?

Yup. A Cajun version of the Ave Maria. It's pretty darn good, too! Give it (and several other tracks) a listen and, if that's the one you choose, get the MP3 for free -- all you need is an e-mail address for them to send it to.

Get the goods!

Via Faith & Family.

The 3 Irish Priests -- Free Christmas Music

Vanessa wrote in with the following:

Good morning!!
I would like to share with you that the 3 Irish Priests (a new vocal holiday sensation) are streaming their Christmas album for free on this website: http://www.iheartmusic.com/cc-common/mfeatures/thepriestsOD

Please enjoy and share for the holiday season! :)
Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Thanks, Vanessa! Back at ya'!

Because this is what I think most Christmas music sounds like

...and because I think it's really funny. I don't know anything about the hosting folks, but I do know that this is intentionally bad...so don't feel bad laughing at how horrible it is. Without further ado:

The most popular article in Burnside history is “The Abominable ‘O Holy Night’”, in which I speculated on the origins of an internet sensation. What you’re about to hear is a rendition of the great Christmas hymn so immaculate in its broken beauty as to render any listener helpless. I first heard this recording through The Sneeze, the best blog on the world wide web.

O Holy Night

A few weeks ago, I was mysteriously contacted by Steve M. (last name withheld for privacy’s sake). Steve M. claimed he was the composer and singer behind the track. [Read the rest here.]

Christmas Novena

Here's a novena from the Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis, MO. As a side note, Archbishop Raymond Burke, who gives Night 9 of this series, is one of my modern-day heroes of the faith and a treasure of the Church.



From 2007:

12/12/07	2007 Christmas Novena - Night 9 (The Most Reverend Raymond L. Burke)	00:19:12
12/11/07	2007 Christmas Novena - Night 8 (Reverend Mr. Michael Houser)	00:12:33
12/10/07	2007 Christmas Novena - Night 7 (Reverend John Gangnepain, C.M.)	00:05:55
12/9/07	2007 Christmas Novena - Night 6 (Reverend Roger Fleming)	00:14:32
12/8/07	2007 Christmas Novena - Night 5 (Reverend Thomas McDermott, O.P.)	00:12:59
12/7/07	2007 Christmas Novena - Night 4 (Reverend Lawrence Brennan)	00:20:18
12/5/07	2007 Christmas Novena - Night 2 (Reverend Timothy Cronin)	00:15:13
12/4/07	2007 Christmas Novena - Night 1 (Monsignor Ted Wojcicki)	00:12:11

From 2006:

12/12/06	Seminary Christmas Novena - Night 9 (Reverend Randy Soto)	00:26:01
12/11/06	Seminary Christmas Novena - Night 8 (Reverend Dan Harris, CM)	00:12:23
12/10/06	Seminary Christmas Novena - Night 7 (Monsignor Ted Wojcicki)	00:12:34
12/09/06	Seminary Christmas Novena - Night 6 (Reverend William Hennecke, Jr.)	00:14:32
12/08/06	Seminary Christmas Novena - Night 5 (Reverend Timothy Cronin)	00:16:16
12/07/06	Seminary Christmas Novena - Night 4 (Reverend John Borcic)	00:12:55
12/06/06	Seminary Christmas Novena - Night 3 (Reverend Michael Monshau, OP)	00:14:36
12/05/06	Seminary Christmas Novena - Night 2 (Monsignor John Shamleffer)	00:15:18
12/04/06	Seminary Christmas Novena - Night 1 (Reverend Chris Martin)	00:09:16