Ambrosia Creative

The days left till Christmas is winding down, but the craziness certainly isn’t! Between chores, two high-energy boys, and a baby that wants to be held all the time, there is no time for peace and to pee (alone). But Ryan’s brother flies in tonight and his parents tomorrow, so despite all the busy, it’ll be nice to have a change of pace and feel some CA love. We live fairly close to the NASCAR Speedway, so we plan on viewing their Christmas spectacular and live nativity where you can hear Mary, Joseph, and Roman centurions say their lines with a southern drawwwwl.

And I’d like to say thank you for reading this blog and for your supportive and friendly comments. It’s been nice getting to know some of you online and making new friends, IRL even. It’s meant a great deal to me since I’m still in mourning over our move and missing my besties back in Ventura. But if I could sit down and enjoy a hot cup of cocoa with you (unless you’re a killer or kidnapper), I would. The closest thing would be to share our simple hot cocoa recipe:

Hope you enjoy the season with all of its gingerbread-baking, gift-wrapping, spending-time-with-family goodness! And I try to remind myself that I’m too blessed to be stressed.

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Congrats to Kendall, comment #84. She is the winner of the JetPens giveaway.

My latest project for Bloesem Kids can be found here.
An easy project using things you may already have on hand;
tin foil, permanent markers, cardboard or foam core, and glue.

Some Instagram pics from the past few weeks or so. I’m always forgetting to bring my real camera, so my phone has been handy. Seriously, what would I do without my phone? I’d get lost around town, couldn’t call anyone (even my own husband!), be without any novels…the dependence on my phone is intense.

Ryan’s parents and brother are flying in from California next week and we’re really looking forward to that. It has crossed my mind to ask them to bring some In-N-Out, but then the thought crossed right back out for obvious reasons.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend! If you’re like me, you will be gift wrapping, sending out packages, and prepping the house for visitors. And lastly, enter the giveaway for a JetPens certificate if you’d like to shop for some Japanese pens and stationery!

When I was younger, I lived for the days when my aunt took me to the Japanese bookstore — the stationery section was where I spent my time. So I’m happy to share with you online retailer JetPens who specializes in Japanese pens and stationery!

JetPens is giving away a $35 gift certificate to one lucky reader. To enter giveaway, please visit JetPens, and in the comments section below, mention an item you’d be interested in.

Feel free to leave a second comment for yourself if you ‘Like’ JetPens on Facebook.

And add a third comment if you follow JetPens on Twitter.

Good luck! Giveaway ends next Wednesday the 21st, midnight EST.

I’m almost certain you’ve already seen this amazing photo backdrop by Matthew Parker. As fate would have it, I soon after stumbled onto this DIY project complete with instructions and templates (hooray!) created by the ladies at Blow Up!

Since I have a strange fascination with glitter right now (that I think we’ll all regret late 2012), I slightly modified the project using glittered scrapbook paper. After printing and trimming out the template, I flipped it around so that the printed side was down, and traced around it onto the white backside of the glitter paper.

Following the original instructions, I then scored, folded, and hot glued the sides and panels together. I finished it off with a ribbon loop for hanging on the tree, and tassels cut from tissue paper.

If you like symmetry and think folding paper is fun, this project is for you.
Visit Blow Up! for templates and instructions.

This will sound really dense, but wow newborns sleep a lot! I’m being reminded of so many things I’ve forgotten when it comes to having a baby. After all, it has been four years since we’ve had a newborn in the house. I’ve been trying to get some awake pics of her, but she’ll be up for maybe 5 minutes before she’s crying to eat/go back to sleep/have her diaper changed, so sleepy pics it is (and a few yawning ones, too).

She’s also going through that phase where she needs to be held all the time. A long time ago, my arms were getting really cut (Michelle Obama was my shoulders hero) so maybe I’m headed in that direction again with our snuggly Mara.

Completely unrelated, but the other day, Kai said that Mara has stinky breath — so not true!!! Lately, the boys have been on this weird crusade to declare outloud any offensive smells (mostly made up I’m sure), and lay blame on anyone but themselves. It’s been driving me kind of crazy. Hoping this phase is one of those brotherly things I won’t have to worry about with our girl.