Bill, I and my family would like to thank you so much for your support and constant source of inspiration to us. We are not only proud of the beautiful community that we are a part of, but so humbled to be able to share in it with you everyday. We know that without your love and support we would not be able to continue to dream bigger.
We are Grateful.
We are Thankful.
We are Honored to continue to inspire.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Love the Downey's
every year our family has celebrated December with our own spin on the advent calendar...counting down the 25 days until christmas with a small fun gift hidden behind a door or cleverly wrapped for each day.
even now as they are getting older (dare i say teenagers) they still look forward to this tradition.
AND I LOVE EVERY MINUTE OF IT!
it has been really fun thinking about Christmas in the new house because i can reinvent our look for christmas.
so i decided on a burlap theme
a new 12 ft tree ( our 6 ft tree of 15 years was dwarfed, lol )
a new theme
a new way to advent!
i found this really fun, inexpensive burlap box at Hobby Lobby
and wrapped all 25 gifts in brown kraft paper and using my sewing machine, stitched the ends closed
(brown paper packages sewn up with thread?)
stamped the large numbers (1-25) using my numbers stamps
and tossed them randomly in the box.
they like rifling through them and trying to figure out what they are, but i am way smarter then them, lol!
our tradition for deciding the order for opening the gifts has always been drawing straws...the longest straw goes first and the shortest last.
they all want the longest straw because the first person to open gets the extra present on Christmas day( 25 divided by 3 is 8.1 which means the first child gets 9 gifts and the other 2 only get 8 )
this year mckenna drew the long straw.
like millions of others, we too have an elf on the shelf, his name is Zippy.
he makes his appearance every dec 1 morning.
we decided this year, now that the children are too old to believe in the traditional elf story, that the child who opens the gift has to hide Zippy.
and they have discovered Pinterest, lol!
let the Zippy games begin!
Day 1 - Zippy was found hanging over the pantry threshhold
for our Family, Christmas is about traditions, laughter, shared experiences
as the kids get older, i find myself nastalgically hoping that they will always take the spirit of our traditions with them...
being goofy
excited to unwrap the silly advent gift
hanging the stockings
fighting over who gets to put the new seasons family ornament on the tree
( which consequently this year we are marshmallows )
and genuinely making it more about the gifts of joy you can give an receive this season than just about waking up Christmas morning to the gifts stacked under the tree.
i always love this time of year and i think its kinda fun to peek into how people celebrate the season
it would be fun to share some of your favorite holiday traditions in the blog comments today
i would love to hear about how you and your families celebrate the season!
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for past advent traditions click on the year links below to see some of the variations over the most recent years
the journey from start to finish on the downey Dream home has been a long one, almost 1 year to the day.
last june, against my will i might add, bill and i entertained the idea of moving...
we looked around for a while, but nothing really won me over.
see i was a latch-key kid, only child of a single parent who worked 2 jobs to keep us off welfare (yeah, yeah who wasn't right?)
up until bill and i got married i never really lived in a house i could call my own, only rentals and apartments
when bill & i bought our first home 15 years ago, i told bill i would never move...i wanted this to be our front door forever so that when we raised our children they would always have their HOME to come back too.
but then we found this home.
we walked into the model and i remember turning to bill and saying, "we're home"
that next week we officially signed the paperwork to build our dream house with the contingency that we SELL our current house
i thought if it is meant to be, we will sell our house...if not, we were meant to be in our house forever.
our house was only on the market 24 hours before we got our first offer and we were out 30 days later.
meant to be!
however, that meant we would now be homeless...
we totally lucked out and we found a rental that allowed us to go month to month and for the past 10 months we had been "camping" in the rental...not fully unpacking, not really "living" in the new space. it was awkward, not really settling in...but we knew it was just temporary.
i think we (i) rode past the construction site everyday for 10 months (sometimes twice a day!)
during the process, each of us armed with sharpies, we wrote secret messages on the framed out walls to ourselves and to each other
we have been in the house now for 2 weeks and bill and i still cant believe we live here. we gather around the dinner table each night and are so grateful for so many blessings.
so many twists and turns that ordinary life can challenge couples/families with and we still stand together, building dreams, learning to take leaps of faith, remembering to be grateful for every moment of shared togetherness and loving each other.
many of you have been a part of our journey too...
whether we connected through the pages of scrapbooking magazines, on the blog, spending weekends together in classes, online videos, wednesdays, social media or the casual pop into the Studio this has all been a part of what has led us here.
thank you for making dreams come true.
stay tuned, this monday i will post some pictures of how i am setting up my new home studio space...
softball season that is!
(well technically we play year round so we are ALWAYS in season)
McKenna is now on Softball hyperdrive!
She has just begun her first season as a Freshman playing Varsity High School ball, that means on most days she is bouncing from her school team practices/games to her Tournament Softball team practices/games.
(ok, i may have had a little to do with the color, logo of this team...a little)
i share this today, not to brag...ok maybe a little my girl is pretty awesome, lol!
but because today i just want to give a little shout out to all the soccer, hockey, volleyball, football, basketball, dance, track, rugby, lacrosse, baseball, and every other sport lovin' moms (and dad's) out there that get up early, pack the car full of gear (and extra just in case gear), travel the ends of the earth, sit in uncomfortable bleachers, brave the cold, the heat, the rain, roll wagons filled with "stuff", carry lawn chairs, drag overstuffed coolers of snacks, to wipe away the tears, celebrate the victories, to cheer and support those little people we love so much!
i wouldnt have it any other way.
FUN FACT : my big hitter stencil is actually created from a photo of mckenna
nourish...
starting the New Year with a word has been our family's tradition for the past several years. like a clean slate or "permission to change" we can re-think and re-evaluate the path life guides us through.
each New Years eve, we share with each other our word and do our best to explain why we chose it. as each child has gotten older, this tradition has been such a blessing. the gift of hearing each child explaining their reasons for choosing their word...well as a parent, just know it brings tears of joy and love to my eyes.
this years words are: acceptance, believe, better, different and...nourish.
: to provide (someone or something) with food and other things that are needed to live, be healthy, etc.
: to cause (something) to develop or grow stronger
my word is both literal and symbolic.
nourish...my body
if i learned nothing else this year, i learned that i must take care of my health. eating right and leading by healthy example is something that not only feels good, but sends a very powerful message to my children.
nourish...my family
making the time together count, sharing our lives and communicating had made all the difference in the world this year. nourishing these relationships makes all of us better.
nourish...my art
my art is changing, i am changing...i will allow the intuitive voices to lead me and let them feed the passion for my art.
2014 was filled with its fair share of sadness and joy...but i believe going through each and every moment of ups and downs we emerge stronger. everyday we are gifted with the chance to see clearer, with less judgement, doubt and fear...this year i would like to nourish this gift, become stronger and love more deeply.
i wish this gift for each of you and hope to share this nourishment with you through my art. Art is so healing, it empowers and is gives us a vehicle to share ourselves.
together in 2015, i hope through this shared journey i am able to nourish something in you, making you stronger and nourish your own passions for art.
Christmas day with Sharpies in hand, our family went over to the new house construction and wrote messages on the framed walls. each child wrote his or her own inspirations in their rooms and as a family we wrote messages in the rest of the house.
this home is such a dream come true for us and making an indelible mark on the foundation just seems to perfect way to make it our home!
{sorry for the crappy photo, it was 7 am, lol}
the advent calendar has taken on many forms over the years...ornaments, small doors with bite sized treats, coins to recently the hanging bags with secret surprises inside.
the gifts are for the most part small, fun, sentimental and even ridiculous at times, but it is a really fun way to CELEBRATE the countdown until christmas. we are not a "religious" family per say, but in our way the advent calendar reminds us to laugh, share and to be grateful for the things that make a family and the silliness's of life special.
this year we are a bit displaced having sold our home and waiting for our new one to be built...so celebrating and decorating have felt a bit ...off maybe? so it was awesome to see my 3 kids (even my teenagers) faces light up when they saw this hanging at the foot of the stairs this morning. the kids draw straws to determine their order in opening each day. payton drew the longest and opened day 1 today, cole will open day 2 tomorrow and mckenna with the short straw will open wednesday. they will repeat this pattern until they are all opened.
they all want the long straw, because whomever opens first also gets to open Christmas morning, this has the biggest of the small gifts!!
here's to keeping joy in your hearts
and celebrating the little things!
there are so many things i have to be thankful for.
this year has been filled with twists and turns and i am so blessed for how we have been changed. although being thankful should not just be one day a year, i wanted to stop for a few minutes today to share how you ALL, knowingly and unknowingly have supported us through our journey this year.
i am thankful for our children's victories both big and small
i am thankful that our struggles this year have made all of us stronger and more compassionate. We have learned a new kind of support for one another...its selfless and unconditional. we communicate more now because we know the power of it.
i am thankful that in 24 hours we were able to sell our home of 15 years (twice) and now our dream of the building the perfect home is finally becoming a reality.
i am thankful that i have a husband that appreciates our relationship, family & business and buckles up for a bumpy ride. Even though life pushes and pulls us in the current of everyday life i know that we love each other and we are a team.
i am thankful that as a family we ran the "Soon to be Stuffed" 5K race today or i would have never had the opportunity to see my 2 girls standing at the finish cheering me on as i crossed the line...
OR been able to watch Cole and Daddy push through as they rounded the last turn, then watch as my girls spontaneously ran with their brother across the finish line in support.
so thankful for ALL of you...my family, my friends and my supporters who show up and join on this crazy ride we call life. You make each day full and bring so much truth and understanding to my everyday.
thank you!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
happy 13th birthday to my beautiful baby girl!
its been a tough year
and you are so strong, brave and such a gift!
we love you Payton!
artist
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