Christmas lights tour - a Christmas tradition

Not far from our house is a neighborhood filled with older homes, homes with so much character and detail.

The neat thing about this neighborhood is that almost every house puts up gorgeous Christmas lights.

I feel like I should preface these pics with saying that I took them with my phone while K was driving down cobblestone roads.

I love this yard.

The house lights were pretty, but this massive tree with gigantic ornaments ... get outta here.

Holy smokes, I loved it.

This house was my favorite this year.

There is just something so perfect and clean and wonderful about white lights.

Sigh, perfection.

Yes, I know that my OCD is showing.

{Shhh, don't tell, but K and I actually try to guess at who had their lights professionally put up based on their straightness. K is not the one that EVER brings this up. Like I said, I know my OCD is showing.}

This house made me giddy with how "Christmas-y" it was.

In the words of Adison: These people have the Christmas spirit.

From the Santa with his reindeer, to the Nativity scene, the mulitcolored lights with the faux-candles in the window and the lit garland it filled my heart with such happiness.

Do you have any neighborhood's like this where you live?

Insta-Harper

Last year I got bit by the "Elf on the Shelf" bug.

Seeing all the cute pics on Instagram and blog posts sucked me right in.

As I said the other day, I asked my mom to get "me" one for Christmas.

We have been having a blast with Harper.

{I still need to get her a skirt}

This morning Abby was the first one to spot her on the curtain rod and was beyond thrilled.

These have been her hiding spots so far, the first 5 days of December.

Our elf arrived

Last year for Christmas my mom gave me an Elf of the Shelf.

Yes, I asked for it for Christmas.

I love their vintage look and the sneaky facial expression.

Plus, I love the idea of passing the buck to the Elf for keeping track of the kids behavior.

I'm not above it.

Last year the girls decided that our elf was a girl {of course} and her name is Harper.

Harper stayed with us for a few days last year and then had to head back up to the North Pole to spend the next 11 months hanging our with Santa.

This morning she showed up, sitting so mischievously at the top of our Christmas tree.

The girls all but flipped out when they spotted her.

Ainsley swore that she saw Harper blink and that she was watching her every move.

Yay, nice move Harper, nice move.

The girls are on alert, good behavior is to be had.

{pretty please!}

Someday will you promise to have a big, white beard

Ainsley 2009

This was an actual conversation that K and I had on the phone today while I was waiting for my prescription to be filled.

Hey, there's a guy driving that looks like Santa.

Oh.

Someday will you promise to have a big, white beard?

Okay, why?

Don't you remember me telling you that story from like two years ago, the one where I was at Walmart with the girls and there was a man there that looked just like Santa? The girls were in awe of him and one of them said really loudly that Santa was shopping at the store and then he gave them candy canes?

Oh yeah, I remember that.

It's one of my favorite memories so I think you should have a big, white beard when you are old.


Yes, my brain is that scattered.
But seriously, it was so sweet.
I think the man must have gotten the Santa comment a lot because he readily had candy canes on hand.
He looked EXACTLY how I imagine Santa would look.


It was such a neat memory of the magic of Christmas and a reminder that there are wonderful, fun people in the world.


What is one of your favorite Christmas memories?
Please share, I am in the Christmas spirit!

A splendid Sunday

Sunday was such a fun day.

My dad called on Saturday evening to see if Adison and I would like to see The Nutcracker with him and my niece.

I used to do ballet when I was younger and have such a sweet spot in my heart for The Nutcracker.

It was not in our fair city but the town next to ours and at a center that I had never been to before.

Adison is such a smart little cookie, she quickly figured out that the giant, cardboard things hanging from the ceiling were the constellations.

They had a giant, live Christmas tree in the foyer, it was gorgeous.

Like a dork, I of course, had to go smell it, ha!

Adison and Cameron waiting to go in.

This was the stage before the ballet started.

I couldn't get over how pretty it all was.

The orchestra was AMAZING!
It was a mandolin orchestra, they had three people playing the mandolin with the rest of the orchestra.

Hey look!

It's me!
I was so excited for it to start.

This was the beautiful logo for the ballet.

I LOVED it and couldn't get over how pretty and creative it was.

Sunday evening we went to a new event for us.

One of the local churches puts on a Christmas light show.

I had heard AMAZING things about it and could not wait to see it for myself.

The angels' wings moved and the whole facade of the building had lights on it that changed with the music.

Abby kept saying, "Look! Mama look! It's so cool! It's awesome!"

They had live music playing that you could tune into with your car radio.

In the windows were the musicians playing and they were so entertaining.

In one of the windows by us {on the bottom, second from the left} were two guys playing electric guitars.

They were amazing!

Hey Sunday, what's up?

Ainsley had been battling a cold for about four days and seemed to be on the mend.

Abby on the other hand, had just come down with it and was MISERABLE!

Friday morning, Lee seemed so much better, so I sent her on her merry way to school while the oh-so-sick-one and I stayed home and had a chill morning.

Lee hoped off the bus, had her shoes and coat off, and was on the couch within about 30 seconds of walking in the door.

Not normal.

She then started complaining of her left ear hurting.

I knew what that meant, we were going to the doctor.

For the two hours until her appointment, Lee lay on the couch with a heating pad on low on her ear complaining of an earache. 

I woke poor, sick Abby up from her nap early to head to go see Dr. C.

Upper respiratory infections for both and the beginning of an ear infection for Lee.

In one word I can explain how they both felt...miserable.

On Saturday I started feeling sick but not too awful.

Lee  was MUCH better and Abby was still about the same.

Last night after dinner K and I were talking.

There have been a lot of things going on lately and I really feel like a certain someone {Satan} is trying to steal my Christmas joy.

Last year, due to what I now know was depression, Christmas was a bit rough for me.

I enjoyed watching my children enjoy it, but for me it was a rough time.

Due to some meds, I have such a better outlook on this year {Christmas is my FAVORITE holiday} and was so looking forward to this year.

Like I said though, things just keep piling up and are threatening to completely overwhelm me.

I can feel it trying to take over and I am trying to shake it.

I am trying to ground myself in Christ and really give this all to Him because I really want to worship and celebrate this season, Christ's birth.

I ended up going to bed early last night, I just couldn't keep my eyes open, and got a wonderful night's sleep.

Today I am feeling so much better.

I think that devoting some extra time in the Word will help tremendously.

I woke up last night when K came to bed and he has caught what the girls have.

As I have mentioned before, K is a severe asthmatic.

I see breathing treatments and steriods in our future.

Would you please pray for him?
Thanks you guys!

Today, I am thinking about making some homemade pizza and trying to decide what yummy treats we should bake when it gets a bit closer to Christmas.

Decisions decisions.

These though are the fun kinds to make, ha ha!

How has your weekend gone?
What is your favorite kind of cookie?

Our Christmas must have are butter balls, yum-o!

Gobble Gooble and bringin' in the Christmas Fun

Why hello again!

How was your Thanksgiving?

We had. a. blast.

We spent Thanksgiving with K's family and let me tell ya, good times were had by all.

This was my plate post-copious-quantities-of-turkey-consumption.

If I could have bathed in the gravy I would have, delish!

The kids played with their cousins and the adults had fun chatting and watching the children's talent show.

Adison sang a couple of songs and Ainsley, YES Ainsley, got up and danced!

Friday afternoon, K and I headed out on shopping date with a food break at Chick-fil-a.

I LOVE eating there.

This picture of K cracks me up, he's such a ham!

Right after I snapped this picture of K this guy came out.

The first thought that popped into my head is that a huge, dancing Santa cow would flip my kids out!

We got *almost* all of our shopping done and I am beyond thrilled.

We picked up a few games and couldn't wait to take them back to K's parents' house to play them.

Surprisingly {or not} all of our children were freaked out by the game Operation.

Adison said it was too much for her {she's very sound sensitive}, Ainsley cried which then freaked Abby out and lead to her crying.

K eventually went into the other room to play a game with Adison and Abby while I worked on getting Lee over her fear of the buzzing noise with the bright red light from when she would hit the metal on the game.

I think with her it was a bit scary but she is also a bit of a perfectionist and not getting it right away was just too much for her.

Eventually I convinced her that the buzzing sound was kind of like music, which made her happy, and we practiced playing the game.

She was a bit too young for it, but ended up having fun.

Later that night we all got together again.

Pizza and a movie.

The children LOVE seeing each other!

{All 7 cousins}

We decided to head home Saturday, to give us some rest time and get our Christmas decorations up.

The sunset on the way home was gorgeous!

I wish the picture did it justice, but it doesn't.

Hey look, it's me!

The girls were so tired that they could barely keep their eyes open.

Well, Abby couldn't at all, she fell asleep before we were on the highway.

Lee somehow managed to stay awake, I was shocked.

Adison was completely out of it watching a movie.

We all went to bed really early Saturday evening and woke up ready to decorate.

I don't decorate too much for other holidays, but for Christmas we go all out.

I think I have 7 or so tubs of Christmas decorations, I can't help myself.

This year though, I showed some restraint and didn't put everything up, only most of it.

Ha!

Tell me about your weekend, how did it go?

It's beginning to look a bit like Christmas

We had an A-M-A-Z-I-N-G weekend.

My mom came in town on Saturday to celebrate this sweet girl's birthday.

This picture cracks. me. up.

I asked her to smile and this was the cute face that she made.

On Saturday we got together with my mom, brother, sister-in-law and niece.

It is always so much fun to get all of the kids together and watch them interact.

Abby got A LOT of Elmo stuff, she was over the moon excited.

After lunch K took the littles home to nap while Adison and I headed out with my mom.

I miss my mom so much, it was nice to spend the day with her.

Sunday was the laziest day ever.

K went to the store and picked up 3 bottles of my new favorite coffee creamer flavor, sweetest hubby ever!

We did manage to put up our little Christmas tree.

It's a little 4 ft tree that is just so much fun.

Adison and Ainsley helped decorate it and Abby was THRILLED to see it when she got up from her nap.

This morning Abby had her 2 year check up.

While we were in the waiting room, Lee and Abby were acting like silly little rascals.

Abby was running around then suddenly stopped, looked down and said, "Help Mama!"

Turns out her new pants fell off of her and were down around her knees, ha ha!

Abby is tiny y'all.

Tiny.

She is in the 10th to 25th percentile.

How did my biggest baby end up being my smallest?

Our doctor said that she looks amazing and is on track.

He also checked out Ainsley, who still has her funky cough/throat clearing thing going on and said that she look just fine.

He thinks it might be viral.

How was your weekend?
Did you do any Christmas decorating?

Project 365

This year in addition to doing my daily blogs I have decided to also take part in Project 365.

Rather than post a picture every day I am planning on posting them once or twice a week with a little caption or story with it.

 January 1: K's birthday card (from the day before). For some reason I feel the need to always buy him silly little kid cards. Why? I have no idea.

 January 2: While putting away Christmas decorations we came across the Christmas card tree. K and the girls decided it would be a great hat.

January 3: We all had a touch of a stomach bug. K and the girls were all cuddling and laughing. Making those memories!

January 4: I asked Ainsley to pick up the toys on the floor so that I could vacuum. She put all of the toys in the basket that we keep Abby's Weeble Wobbles in.

January 5: Abby was REALLY happy at dinner last night. She was smiling and talking the entire time. She kept flashing this smile at K.

January 6: Adison's new nutcracker. Every year my mom buys Adison a nutcracker for Christmas. Adison loves collecting them and I think my mom gets a kick out of picking out just the right one. This year's nutcracker has been affectionately named "Fireman Joe." He hangs out at the dining room table with us and makes sure the kids are eating all their dinner, he has also been known to crack a few jokes.



The fa la la la la season has officially ended

This morning, while the kids played and had a blast, the hubs and I packed up our yuletide decorations.

Yes, all of our Christmas belongings have been organized, packed up and ready for next year.

Poor Lee was sad to pack up little baby Jesus from our Nativity.

It felt good though to get everything organized and packed a little better for next year.

Now, our house looks like it usually does.

There are sippy cups on the table.

Stuffed animals and dress-up shoes on the floor.

The world is as it should be...or rather how I prefer it.

 

It has taken me a while to come to terms with the fact that we actually live in our house.

Shocking revelation isn't it!?!

I used to want our house to always look spotless and ready for company.

The problem with that logic though is that it is not even remotely realistic.

Do you know anyone who's home looks like a magazine all of the time?
I certainly don't.

But for some reason I felt the need for our home to be this way.

Wwwwaaaayyyy to stressful.

Finally I had the epiphany that I don't live in a magazine.

I have kids, a husband and cats.

We live in our home.

I mean L-I-V-E in our home.

At any given time there will be roller skates on the floor as well as a doll house with all the dolls in various rooms.

There will more than likely be toys under my table and blankets on the floor from the tumbling and twisting the kids have been showing us.

And you know what, I am 100% okay with it.

Don't get me wrong though, I do still clean and pick up :)

I hope everyone has a great Monday!
See you tomorrow!

A thoughtful homemade gift

I L-O-V-E homemade gifts.

In fact, I wish that I were a little more crafty so that I could make all of the gifts we give to people.

Maybe that is a bit of a reach for a goal...I wish that I could even USE my sewing machine.

I can turn it on, does that count for anything?

Back on track.

Anyways, my dear friend Clara made the cutest Christmas gifts for Adison and Ainsley.

When they opened them, they both squealed with delight.

To be honest, I squealed, too.

I admit it, they are just so darn cute!



I am so very grateful to have such an amazing and thoughtful friend!

Thank you so much Clara!

How about you, can you sew?

I really really really want to learn how to.

Maybe that is something that I can work on for the new year...

'Twas the day after Christmas and our house was freezing...

As previously stated, we visited K's family Christmas Day.

We planned on coming back the next day around 1:30 so that we could get some food prepped for a Christmas celebration at my brother's house.

We get home, get the kiddos inside and K starts unpacking the car.

All of a sudden we realize OUR HOUSE IS FREEZING.

While I prep food, hubby starts fiddling with the heater.

In the meantime, the kids are cold, teeth chattering cold.

Hubby finishes unpacking the car and I start praying.

Please dear Lord, please let this be no big deal. Please, please, please.

K goes to the basement and figures out what is wrong with the heater, the ignitor on it isn't working.

Uh oh.

We decide to worry about it when we get back.

We have space heaters and a fireplace, we will be a-okay for the night.

We get back from my brother's, hubby checks the thermostat and it says it is in the mid-to-low 50's.

Brrrrrrr.

It was time for the girls to go to bed, they were nice and toasty with space heaters humming.

K just happened to know someone out of state that fixes heaters.

He told K that he too thought that the ignitor was broken and we should be able to pick up the part and K could fix it.

The next morning, after driving all around the city he FINALLY finds the part.

K, my hubby, fixed the heater and probably saved us over $200!

Woo hoo!

A Christmas Recap

It's a Christmas recap!

Oh so exciting.

We had the most wonderful Christmas ever!

It was full of family, fun, Christ and laughter.

*************

Monday before Christmas at my Dad and Step-Mom's house

*************

We had a wonderful time hanging out together and had the yummiest tomato mac & cheese.

It was amazing.

I only got a couple of pics though, my camera decided to be oh so thoughtful and the battery died.

Adison and Papa (my Dad)


Lee was eyeing the Christmas presents, too busy to take a picture.

Abby and I, she didn't want to be in the picture.

*************

Christmas Morning

*************

Hubs and myself.

Don't you love bedhead and no make-up?

This for me is one of the best pics.

The girls were so excited and happy.

Ains sitting on her Pillow Pet.

She kept saying, "I got the yady bug!"

For our kiddos, it was the MUST HAVE GIFT.

Adison modeling her new hat.

The girls helping Abby open her present from Santa.

Abby in awe of Despicable Me.

She liked playing with the trash more than her presents.

*************

Christmas afternoon at K's parent's house

*************

We had so much fun.

The kids ran around together and played.

There was yummy food to eat, fun conversations and karaoke.

The new family photo. Smiles and everyone is looking at the camera. Score!

 Lee just had to have a picture with her "yady bug"

 All the cousins lined up in a row waiting to open their stockings.

They were amazing! They did their stocking one by one starting with the youngest.
They were so patient, there was nary a peep to be heard.

Adison and Abby .

Adison was so cute and helped Abby open her stocking.

 Abby trying to swipe something off of the table.

Ainsley opening one of her presents.

 Daddy and Abby taking pictures together.

*************

The day after Christmas

*************

We celebrated at my brother and sister-in-law's house.

My mom and step-dad came into town to celebrate.

We had so much fun and my SIL is an amazing host.

My little niece Cameron was just too cute for words!

My Mom and Step-Dad with all the granddaughters.

Adison and Ainsley not so patiently waiting to open presents.

Abby happily eating. Seriously, she was giddy.

Presents!

That's it folks.

Our Christmas extravaganza.

It was fun and I can't wait until next year!

What about you, how was your Christmas?