Childhood dresser

This is my childhood dresser which was handed down to me from my mother who also used it as a child. 

I'm pretty sure this dresser was painted just about once a year when I was growing up, seeing just about every color and never was sanded down, only having paint piled on. 

This paint job shows how far along I have come from four years ago. This was the last paint job I did on it when I first moved to North Carolina and had just started wanting to refurbishing furniture. 

I felt it now needed one bad makeover and with all the paint already thrown on it the drawers bearly shut. I knew what needed to be done and it would be a lot of work. With this last week being in the 60's it was the only time I had before spring to get down and dirty. And my itching hands needed to complete a big project.

It was time to see the bare wood that was dying to see light again. 

I learned on my last project even though I wish to use all organic products when it comes to stripping paint you have to use the nasty stuff to get the job done. And tuff strip does an awesome job of it. It had at least two generations of paint to strip away.

First I had to remove the knobs 

Then I poured the paint stripper on and used a paint brush to spread it around and after a couple minutes I scrapped it off, 

And scrapped.....

With each layer I felt like I was time traveling remembering each phase of life and moments that my dresser saw as I grew up in front of it. 

Finally I got to my moms childhood layers and giggled as I saw some of the colors she had growing up learning more about her. Crazy what color can tell you about people. 

Then I finally began to see the wood stain! Time for the sanding. 

And more sanding...

After a couple days of sanding it was finally ready to stain. I choose a red mahogany stain. 

Almost done!!!!

And here is the beautiful dresser! Back in her original state.

 I replaced the knobs with new ones I bought from hobby lobby. 

I am so excited how it turned out. 

-Kristina 

Elf on a shelf

Yes the Carlisle family joined in the oh so popular craze Elf On The Shelf. No I didn't get over the top creative but Emma enjoyed it and I think daddy had the most fun helping. Here are some pictures of our elf sparkles!

Sparkles read some of our year of memories in a jar 

The neighbor made sparkles a skirt and bow

Playing daddy's video games 

Sparkles was swoon by love letters daddy sent mommy while on deployments. 

Sparkles enjoyed looking at pictures 

Eating marshmallows 

Sparkles was driving around in the neighbors Barbie car.

Bubble bath!!! 

Sparkles had to look good for Santa 

Sparkles was reading our favorite nursery rhythm.  

-Kristina 

Christmas traditions

I'm sitting here watching Emma play with all her new toys thinking this has been one blessed Christmas. As we start a new chapter in our lives the one thing that can stay the same is our traditions and that has become something very important for me. 

Emma will remember being in 10 different homes for Christmas but the thing that she will remember most is how we celebrated those Christmas. And not all Christmas will be the same since sometimes daddy wont be able to be here, but this year we are very blessed that he is able to be here and we took full advantage of that. 

So here are to the Carlisle traditions. 

Sister Emily helped me set up our Christmas village. Once a year we buy a new piece for the village. This year we bought a firehouse  (sorry for the blurry picture)

Watching It's A Wonderful Life is a tradition my mom and I had growing up and it's one that I carry on. 

We started a new tradition this year now that Emma is old enough to enjoy Christmas lights. We had so much fun driving around. 

Last year we started a tradition of Emma making an ornament. Emma loves the moon and stars this year so we made that our theme. 

Placing the moon in there was very hard. I took a q-tip and dabbed yellow in there then took glitter and mixed it with blue and we shook the bulbs to make the stars and galaxy. 

Of course we had to listen to Christmas music while doing our craft! 

Daddy started a new tradition that mommy enjoyed very much by making us Christmas Eve dinner. As long as he's home I hope this continues lol. 

Another Christmas Eve tradition that we carried on from my childhood was we get to open two presents. One was Christmas pajamas and the other was whatever we choose. You have to have cute pajamas for Christmas morning pictures!

And the last one I love that is my favorite was daddy putting Emma to bed reading her a Christmas book. This tradition is one that is very special to us and isn't taken for granted in this family. 

Merry Christmas!!!! 

-Kristina 

I'm not a (complete) health nut, but I am trying to be more conscious of what's in my food.

While trying to lose weight, I don't want to starve or diet myself to the point of stress and worrying about every calorie.  What I do want is to eat clean.  This process has lead me to looking into all the things I buy at the store, what's really in them, and how I can do it better.

I have lots of new ways of cooking and making things, but today I'm super excited about this one so I thought I'd share!

Store bought peanut butter is nasty. 

I just didn't know it until today. 

Well, I always knew that it, like most things on grocery shelves, contained ingredients that probably shouldn't be there. 

Crusing the internet, I came across this homemade peanut butter.

It's like, the easiest thing in the world. 

This is all you need, peanuts and honey.  You don't even need the honey, I just threw it in at the last second!

Grab a food processor, a blender, whatever you've got.

Pour some peanuts in.  It doesn't matter what kind, but I used honey roasted.

I blended it for maybe a minute.  The natural oils in the peanuts will release as they break down.  

I added some honey as well (again, not even necessary) and there you have it!

I swear, this stuff tastes so good it's not going to last the week!  It's so incredibly easy, and with none of THIS STUFF:

Seriously, give this a try.  Your taste buds will thank you!

*Kailey