Advent Adventures - The Truth in the Tinsel

 It is exciting to relive

all that we have done over the last few months.

But I am seriously tired of talking about it.

I am ready to talk about more recent things!

Then why don't you?

You ask?

Well,

this has really turned into more of a 

scrapbook/family yearbook

of sorts

than anything else.

One of these days I am going to figure out how to print

this think in a book format

and I hope to have it

for years to come as to what we did

and what we were up to...

So...

bare with me

and let's continue our journey,

back in 2013.

(hopefully we will make it into 2014 before the 

end of April!!)

This past Advent season, 

I wanted to make sure my kids

understood what we were celebrating.

I tell my guys every year that it is 

Jesus' birthday is the reason for the celebration.

We give/get presents just like we do on

OUR birthdays.

This is our way of showing love for each other.

So where does the jolly red guy come into play?

We still believe in Santa.

But I do my best to make sure he

takes at back seat to the whole reason

we have the day to celebrate anyway!

I found a very neat program that 

a wonderfully talented lady put together called 

Truth in the Tinsel

It is really similar to the premise of an 

Advent Calendar.

You read a couple of verses a day,

then discuss what they are about,

then do a craft that represents

what you have read.

A SIMPLE craft!

With mostly household items.

No need in having to hit the craft store,

every day,

for odd things.

If you have kids

and are at home with them,

you will have MOST of the materials

required for these crafts.

If not,

IMPROVISE!!!

(we did!!)

My guys really looked forward to this every day.

I had a hard time sitting them down

and doing it every day

(my fault not theirs).

We actually took the entire month of 

December off from school because I had

SO.MUCH.TO.DO!

So sitting everyone down for an organized

craft activity...

didn't always happen.

I am EXTREMELY thankful

that my older 2 are old enough to 

do a lot of things on their own

and

could even help me with the littles.

It wasn't 4 on 1

for everything.

 Here they are painting toilet paper tubes
that have been cut into the shape of a crown.

 And because mommy couldn't always slow down to do it
during the day.
We got dad involved a few times after dinner.

The two older boys

spent every waking moment with 

santa hats on last year,

so the hubs bought these beauties for them this year.

Not mama's favorite.

Rico is showing off his angel representing Gabriel.

Then my guys got to use water colors,

which we don't do enough of!

In order to make Elizabeth and Mary.

I LOVED how those turned out!!!
 (yep, totally laundry day too)

Here they are decorating CDs.

Huh?

Yep!

They suggested using old CDs,

I didn't have any old ones

I wanted to get rid of.

So we used one of the MANY

new unused ones we have literally moved

all over the place for the past 10+ years.

The CDs were to represent

Mary's Song.

These were Mary.

I did have to buy the wooden clothes pins

and the felt.

But totally could have used construction paper

for the clothes

and the people!

As far as displaying these 

Truth in the Tinsel

ornaments...

that was the hard part!!!

There are many ways to display them!

MANY!!!

But with us having 4 of each

and my desire to keep them in order, 

to help my younger guys "tell the story".

I wanted something other than randomly on a tree.

I looked,

hunted,

searched,

envisioned...

and finally came up with an idea to hang them 

either from garland,

or like garland,

in somewhat of an advent calendar style.

We have a huge bay window in our kitchen

and I wanted to display them there.

So we did!

I was honestly not wanting to put the money into

4 strands of garland.

So for this year,

I just strung 4 strands of yarn from one side of the window

frame to the other.

Then each child got their own strand of yarn

to hang their ornaments from.

While I liked this idea a LOT,

next year I would like to use garland

just to give it a more "finished" and sophisticated look.

I realized that this was the ONLY picture I had of the display!

You will just have to look past the heads 

and concentrate on the stuff hanging in the window.

Sorry.

Big fail on the picture taking for illustration purposes here.

Advent Adventures - Horse Drawn Carriage Ride

I really enjoyed the small town feel of

Christmas this year.

One of the neat things our town did 

was offer free horse drawn carriage rides 

through downtown.

They were only available a couple of nights,

so they were quite popular.

I really wanted to go

and figured that it wouldn't be that crowded 

in our small town.

BOY was I

WRONG!

It is really hard to see, 

but this is the line we had to stand in.

With 4 kids,

and it was chilly.

The hubs tried talking me into leaving

a couple of times,

but I wanted to stay.

I wanted to stay so at least we could say 

we had done it.

We finally made it up to the front of the line.

The wagon/carriage/sleigh set up

was adorable!

I loved that part of it!

But we stood in line for well over 30 minutes

(might have been pushing an hour actually)

for a whole 10 minute ride.

Oh well, 

at least we have done it

and 

we don't have to do it again.

Advent Adventures - Gingerbread Houses

Phew - this is a busy family!

No wonder I don't have time to keep

up with my blog postings...

there is ALWAYS something going on!!

Hopefully I will finish up the holiday postings

and 

we won't be talking about 

Christmas in July.

(haha)

For a couple of years now,
this family has been doing
individual graham cracker
houses,
instead of the big gingerbread house kits.

This is:
more fun,
cheaper,
smaller,
and
individual!!

And it is a family event!

I hit up the Dollar Store (again)
for the decorations.
I tried to get things that come in the kits usually.
And then things that I thought my kids would enjoy.

My sous chef is helping me get set up.

Then with buttercream icing,

not royal,

put in piping bags with twist tyes at the top...

we started decorating.

This guy is pretty good at working the piping bag!

Mr. T was careful to put the little candies just right...

Ms. Priss was too!

Rico was making sure

to put the candies he likes most on there,

because they get to eat off of their 

houses for as long as they survive!

More piping bag magic from the master sous chef.

More intricate design work from the littlest Martinez.

The sous chef is watching over daddy to make 

sure he is doing it right. (ha!)

Now posing with their masterpieces:

Now...
we eat!

Here is our "gingerbread" village!

Upward End Of Season Event

Yes,

we took time out from our

 Advent Adventures

to spend a little

extra time with

Upward.

After the Christmas Parade,

we were invited to participate

in the Upward End Of Season Ceremony.

They do it right!

This is not a simple handing out of awards.

Nope!

It is a show,

passing out of awards,

sometimes dinner too!

Upward does it up!

I was graciously allowed to be a part
of the ceremony
and got a THRILL
from seeing all of my photos up on the
big screen.
I loved loved loved hearing all of the kids
getting so excited about seeing themselves
and their friends up on the screen!

Then, we handed our awards
and
got ready for the entertainment.

We were treated to a short show
from a ventriloquist.



It was a cute show.

At one point during the show,
he called my husband, by name,
out of the audience and asked him to
join him on stage.
Huh??

My brain was going a mile a minute:
What is going on?
Did he know about this?
What in the world is he going to do?
I am not involved, am I?
Oh gosh, what is he going to do???

He was introduced,
and thanked for "volunteering"...

Then the fun began:

My intelligent, very educated husband,

right then and there,

before my very eyes...

became a dummy.

(our oldest was not happy about that 

and shouted from the crowd that he wasn't a dummy,

he was the smartest man he knew)

The performer had a little fun with him,

and even said something about 

his beautiful wife, Jessica (me, of course)

and again,

brain was going a mile a minute...

Is he in on this?

What are they doing???

Then the real fun began!

Thankfully my husband was a good sport

and played along...

I was in too much shock to 

record all of it,

but thankfully I got the best part.

Enjoy!!!

The video is too large to put on the blog.

So you have to head over to 

YouTube to watch it.

Forgive the quality,

and the lighting...

it was from my phone

in a dark auditorium.

Click on the link below to watch:

"Daddy, the Puppet"

Love you daddy!!

New Venture - Jessica's Vineyard

I think we all have a little 

entrepreneurship bone in us.

Each of us.

I have earned my own money 

since I was 13,

when I started babysitting.

I started working part-time,

by choice,

at the age of 15 at the local

mexican restaruant chain,

(foreshadowing my future??) ,

Chi-Chi's

*which during my search for a link,

I discovered are hard to find now

because of a bad food poisoning outbreak in the chain.

Yikes!!

Anyways,

my first job was working as a hostess,

wearing the little senorita outfit

and it was really quite cute.

I enjoyed it.

And really worked in restaurants

the rest of my 

"part-time" career

(through college).

Then I got real jobs,

corporate jobs based on my 

mechanical engineering degree 

from NC State.

Then I gave all of that up,

to raise all these babies

I wanted to have.

Which as you can imagine,

was quite a shock to the pocketbook!

Thankfully, I married a very driven man,

and we are doing just fine.

I have always wanted some way to contribute financially

to the family.

I have tried (not really *tried*) many of the party things

(its not "me")

(until I found Thirty One - LOVE THEIR STUFF!!

but that is a different story!)

We have owned our own business,

as a couple,

I love that!

**Loved working with my husband.

I thought we would never be able to work together,

because we both like being in charge...

but we "knew our roles" 

and had no problems.  

We work well together,

in and out of the home!**

The hubs has dabbled in 

MANY

COUNTLESS

little side jobs,

things that always dealt with 

his current hobby.

Which was fine,

because it wound up helping pay for the hobby.  

After years of trying to keep up

with the little pocket cameras

and constantly 

"misplacing them" AFTER I had

pictures on them!

I decided what I needed was a bigger camera.

One that I wouldn't lose!

So after lots of research,

we bit the bullet and settled on a 

super nice (by my standards)

DSLR Canon t3i.

LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!!

Within the first few weeks,

I was taking Christmas card

pictures for our friends down the street!

Hmmmmmm....

This is interesting.

Fast forward 9 months,

and I am walking around with my camera

at the Upward Flag Football games.

The director asked me to make

sure I sent him the pictures 

for the end of year ceremony.

I happily agreed,

then decided to start taking pictures

of other children too.

Then, he asked me 

if I would be interested in taking the team

pictures!!!!

What?

Me??

Are you sure??

So I happily agreed.

But, being one to "do it right".

I researched and googled

and decided to offer my pictures

on-line to my customers as well as print.

I also didn't want to just send them up to

the chain photo printing places 

(Wal-Mart, Walgreens)

mainly because I wanted something special.

Each year when my kids do sports,

we get the collage picture

that has the team and the individual on it.

So I hunted for a place that would print those!

I finally found it.

And found a hosting site.

So I started my own little photography business.

So I started 

"Jessica's Vineyard"

This particular entity is

"Photos by Jessica's Vineyard"

I know these are a dime a dozen now.

And that is ok.

I am kinda sticking with the sports niche right now,

I would like to do other portraits,

but this is just a hobby,

and I will follow it where it leads.

This will be the name of 

all of my little ventures to come!

Cakes by Jessica's Vineyard

Thirty One through Jessica's Vineyard

and eventually,

maybe,

hopefully,

(not sure how realistic)

but I would love to own a vineyard,

in the mountains of NC...

on a lake

with a bed and breakfast (maybe)

And it will be called:

Jessica's Vineyard

Also,
I mentioned above...
that I am not much of a party pyramid
sales thing type of person...
I am not.

I have tried:
*Avon, gave it a decent go.
*Pampered Chef,
no scratch that - I signed up for it,
got the stuff,
intended to sell it,
never had a party,
never sold a thing.
*Looked into and considered others
KNOWING that these things were NOT me!

Then I discovered Thirty One!
These bags are great!!
I use a lot of these things
(cheaper version)
frequently.
And they fall apart!

I love Thirty One stuff!

Haven't had a party yet...
I feel bad asking people to host one.
Especially people I know!
Haha!
And I feel like my area is
saturated with ladies selling this stuff.
But hopefully I can make a decent go of it...
if I ever decide to start asking people
to host parties...
sigh...

Advent Adventures - Christmas Parade 2013

This year,

we were blessed with the opportunity to participate

in our city's Christmas Parade.

I have been in quite a few in my younger years,

but never as an adult

and 

my kids had never been in one.

We walked with the Upward float 

from the church we do

Upward Flag Football

and

Upward Cheer 

through.

We got there early enough to help set up.

Then the littles and I 

ran up to the beginning of the parade

so we could see the floats before ours.

(look we are getting use out of all that 

winter gear we just organized!!!)

These little semis were my

absolute 

FAVORITE

part!!!!

Here comes our float!!!

The football players walked

beside the float,

while the cheerleaders got to ride

and 

wave!

 They graciously agreed to let us jump on.

Here is the view down one of the streets from our float.

My big boys down on the ground...

pounding the pavement

and

giving out candy.

The littles and I perched cozily in the back of the truck

making funny faces.

Afterward,

we hit up Andy's Highway 55

for a quick dinner.

I love how my guys (except the littlest) are all 

dressed the same.

Representing our 

Upward Sports

program.

Love it!!!

Creative Cakes - Car Shaped Cookie Cake

Along with decorations for the party,

I was nominated to make the

birthday boy's cake.

He is totally into racing

(not the Nascar kind, 

but the him behind the wheel kind).

He is also not a huge

fan of cake...

Funfetti is his favorite,

but 

only if he has to pick a cake.

So at the encouragement of his mom,

I decided to do a cookie cake

in the shape of a car.

EEEEEK!!

I have done quite a few interesting cakes

over the past 9 years

of making my kids cakes.

But NEVER a shaped cookie cake!!!

I purchased a roll of cookie dough.

This was going to be challenging enough

I was not fighting with homemade cookie dough.

I cut down a piece of parchment (sort of)

to fit onto my cookie sheet.

Then rolled out the dough to roughly the size of the pan...

and did something I don't do!

I free-hand cut out the shape of a car.

I can't free-hand

ANYTHING!

I forgot to take a picture before I threw it in the oven,

so here is what it looked like IN the oven!

I made little lines in the cookie where I thought 

the doors, windows and wheels would go.

I had NO idea how long to bake it.

I didn't want it too crunchy nor too soft.

I pulled it out when it looked and smelled

like a cooked cookie.

(no idea how long or what temp I cooked it on either-

not much of a "recipe" is it??)

Removing it from the pan was the hard part.

As you can see, if you look closely,

it cracked a little.

Then came the decorating part.

What to do???

I consulted my master cake friend.

She had a couple of great ideas,

but I was worried about

"messing it up".

I thought about covering the entire cookie in icing.

I thought about lots of colors and design work.

I thought about messing it up...

So I settled on the basic outline,

his name,

and age.

Not the best presentation, I know.

I wasn't willing to move it again,

nor take it off of the parchment paper.

So I made due with what I had,

and I had to transport it over an hour away.

I was happy with how it turned out.