Winter Essentials!!

Here are a few things that I love to have for Winter!

Yummy warm drinks (in super cute cups of course)! I got the gold mug during our National Lampoon, I mean, family Christmas Vacation ;) & my/D's cousin found the Alice & Olivia tumbler I was looking for!

I love a good manicure! Here are some of my favorite polish colors of the moment: Essie-Power Clutch & Essie-Beyond Cozie. I recently found Revlon's scented nail polish line. I'm such a sucker for fun new products! I bought it in the color/fragrance Spun Sugar (the gold color). I can't wait to try it! Nail polish is a great way to add some color & vibrancy to life during the more dreary days.

I'm loving some faux fur!! My parents got me this vest for Christmas.

I also love lots of faux jewels to go with my furs (& all my winter coats for that matter). The beauties above are from ellandemm.com

Another great winter thing is a beach trip. It's not really a "must," but it's great to have some sunshine time thrown into the winter cold monotony. I've been fortunate enough to have 2 small beach trips this season. 

We got a tin of gourmet popcorn during Christmas & the cheddar popcorn is my go-to snack of choice. (My men love the plain & caramel, so it works for us.) I might order some more as a treat after the Daniel Fast.

I just love a warm, crackling fire on a cold night (& a warm, snuggly husband)! D got me a fire pit for Christmas for the backyard. I LOVE it!! We have a fireplace, but the boys are loving playing outside in the cold & the fire pit makes the great outdoors a little more bearable for me. :) 

Finally...a planner is absolutely an essential! I think I say that every year. I like the handiness of my phone calendar, but nothing beats a good paper calendar! For the fourth year in a row, I have an Erin Condren planner. I wanted to try out something new, but nothing compared. Plus, I picked the collage cover for this years' planner & put some of my favorite pictures on the front & back of it. You can't beat that! It has almost EVERYTHING that I need to manage my household.  I also keep a small planner in my purse. This year I got the small planner from JCrew during a Christmas sale. I love pretending to plan out my year! (For God to completely change my plans :))

What are some things you love or can't do without during these cold months?

Kringle's Last Thingles of 2013 & Dunn December Fun Part 3!

Kringle came to church the Sunday before Christmas. It just happened to be the same Sunday as PreacherHubs' sermon: Self on the Shelf, so PH was able to use K for his sermon illustration!! ;)

K in the pew where I sit.

K having fun in D's office.

When we got home from our Christmas trip, Kringle was waiting on the boys with new calendars! He also left the boys a note reminding them to contine to make much of Jesus every day of this new year!

_______________

On Christmas Day, we drove to New Orleans to stay with my family & celebrate Christmas with them!

We arrived late Christmas night. We ate yummy food Mom made & exchanged gifts. My phone was dead, so I have no pictures of that night.

We had a fun, relaxing vacation! We went & played at City Park. Everyone had fun! (young & old :))

Some of my favorite people. Love my men.

John was showing us how to REALLY vacay!! [He is obsessed with wearing his "boos" (boots). Don't even think about taking them off!]

Every night's a Pajama Partayyy!!!

I got a fire pit from D for Christmas & Jax talked him into making a fire. So, of course, we had to have s'mores!

What a wonderful Christmas! What a fantastic month! Thankful for my overflowing blessings!

May we celebrate Jesus everyday!!

Krazy Kringle & Kringle Thingles 25 -Opening Gifts

These are the rest of the crazy things K has been up to. He will need to go back to the North Pole soon, but I have a feeling he will make an appearance or two before then. ;)

Kringle reminded John to take his medicine. (Ear infection & busted head)

He wanted to do some baking with us!

He needed some coffee.

He left antlers & a reindeer nose for our car!

He got in the craft cabinet & wanted to do some Christmas crafts.

He helped us address Christmas cards & write thank-yous. (We probably should have sent those by now...)

He reminded the boys to do their chores.

He wanted to watch a Christmas movie.

& this morning he had Christmas Eve breakfast ready for us!

__________________

I have enjoyed going through Truth in the Tinsel with my boys so much. It's been so interesting & I've learned many things! Like I said in the beginning, I did the lessons as life allowed, so I did not cover all of them in the book. (Lots to look forward to next Christmas!) I highly recommend the book to all friends-children, or no children! The author is Lisa Welchel. It's also available as an ebook.

The boys found Kringle in the midst of torn up wrapping paper. He had opened up a present! You know what that means!! We get to talk about opening presents!!

The traditions of opening gifts varies all over the world. Some open on Christmas Eve, some wait until Christmas Day, but none of that really matters. One of the important things about a gift is that you open it. Period.

How would you feel if you sacrificed time & money to find the perfect gift for someone you loved very much-just to give it to them & they set the package on a shelf & look at it & talk about how that was so sweet & how you're the best, but they never open the gift?

God gave us the greatest gift ever by sending His son to Earth to be born of a virgin, live a sinless life, die for us, be buried, & then come back to life. This is the greatest gift that could ever be given, but like all other gifts that are given, it must be opened!

Have you opened your heart to receive Him as Savior? If not, let today be the day!*

Merry Christmas, friends!!

*Please email me if you would like to talk about this, or if you have any questions. I'd love to hear from you & discuss!

jennilenni@aol.com

Dunn December Fun!! Part 2

Our December has been (& continues to be) very fun-FILLED! I had to share a couple million of the bajillion pictures I have taken! :)

This was our first Mississippi Christmas. It was very different being away from our family, but the Lord has blessed us tremendously with a very loving church family. We have had a wonderful Christmas!

This was not a fun thing, but definitely an adventure. John, at age 1.5, fell & busted his head & had to get staples. This boy is fearless! He's definitely going to keep us hopping!

We went to Lewis Lights with friends. (A walk-through Christmas light extravaganza!) Afterwards, we had a yummy dinner at Cracker Barrel. :)

Last week, we went back to close on our Vivian home. While we were there we went to visit Mammaw. We had fun & she's doing really well.

Later that day, we went to see PawPaw & spend some fun time with him. The boys played with the toys at his house & got lots of cuddles.

The next day we had Christmas with the rest of D's family. I took this pic & my phone was abt to die, so I'll have more pics when his family sends me some. We took lots of good ones that day!

Afterward, we headed home. We decided to stop by the Duck Commander shop on the way home.

Fun with friends at a coffee shop while Mom plans a girl-trip with friends!

I could eat him up! I think I'll always want a baby in the house! :D John is wearing Jax's baby boxers.

Christmas Eve night dinner! D grilled some steaks he got for his bday from church friends & I made homemade mashed potatoes. It was awesome. Hubs can grill a steak!!

Here are the boys goofing off after bath time. (That's not for dirty clothes; that's for hide-&-seek!)

Right before bed we threw out some reindeer feed into the yard.

& we put out cookies for Santa & an assortment of beverage options. :)

After that, Santa called! (D's Dad) D had his Dad's phone pic set as Santa, so when he called it showed that Santa was calling. Jax talked to Santa for like 5 minutes! When he got off the phone, he was ELATED! He was jumping up & down & rushing us to go to bed! "Santa" calls every year, but Jax has never reacted like this. It was so fun.

For our family worship time we read the Christmas Story, of course. But we read it using the YouVersion Kids Bible App. Sooo fun. The boys jumped on the bed & we all sang Christmas/worship songs. Then we all prayed & the boys were asleep in record time! Jax said, "We gotta hurry & go to sleep! No movies!" We didn't recognize the kid!

While the boys were falling asleep, I tracked Santa (I'm just that cool). Jax told us to turn off our phones so Santa would come! 

Santa left some fun stuff. The most fun was a scooter for Jax & a tricycle for John.

I love it!

:)

Late Christmas Day, we got in our reindeermobile & drove to New Orleans to meet my family for Christmas fun.

& we Dunns are still havin fun!!! :)