Oh Picture Tree Oh Picture Tree

Well one of my big projects this summer (that extended into the fall, and then the winter . . .) was my picture tree. My dad bought this picture three at an auction because he though I might like it. Here is how it came to me:

I thought that I had gotten a good before picture, of what it looked like all put together, but I can't seem to find it. So you are just going to have to guess (think light wood and symmetrical branches that went straight up the tree making it look somewhat like a spider)

My first step was to paint it. I choose Esspresso Brown spray paint from Menards and I went to town (Arty was helping me out :))

Next I ordered some pictures to put in the frames and then came the hard part. Hanging it up and deciding which branches to keep. I ended up with only half of the original branches:

Now you can imagine what it used to look like. Wherever there is a branch on one side, there used to be a branch on the other. Plus two more coming out of the bottom two trunk pictures.

Once I got this up I decided that it still wasn't complete. I wanted it to look more like a tree. So I took the extra unused branches and made some of the branches longer(okay, Chris did most of this part).

That, along with the leaves from dali decals (which were really easy to put up) and I finally got a tree that I love:

And there you have it. My big project, FINALLY done! And I love it.

Christmas

Well Christmas has come to town in the Larson household, in fact, it has been here since mid-October. What can I say, I LOVE Christmas :)

Here is the village this year. I finally bought the grass and brick mats to go underneath it. And the growing "real" snow to go on top of it. The snow hasn't been watered in a while, but you get the idea :) I love the way it turned out.

And here are the annual Nephew Santa photos. this years is classic, Bayler is looking up at Santa and he looks a bit terrified :) Gotta love catching the moment!

We changed around the house and the bookshelves are now by the window. The snow globe collection is slowly growing

And then we have the tree. I am not one of those, get everything matching with bows and white lights kind of girls. I LOVE multi-colored lights and my dream is to one day have a tree filled with sentimental ornaments (everyone, including the dogs, gets a new one every year!)

And then we have the new addition to my snowman kitchen: Love this shelf full of snowman goodies!

And there we have it, Christmas at the Larsons!

MIA

I was being such a good blogger for a couple of months there, and now it has almost been 2 months since I last blogged! I would love to say that I have been super busy with school, but I haven't. Apparently I only blog when I am slammed with things to do at school and need something else to throw in there :)

I will try to be better now that school is wrapping up and I really have nothing else to do!

With that here is a list of what we have been up to the last few months:

Hanging out with some pretty awesome puppies

Celebrating one of my great friend's marriage (obviously this one is not from her wedding day, I was too busy running around playing personal attendant to take pictures then:))

Taking the newphews to the como zoo and to a day in the life of an elf

And many more fun and exciting things!