Merry Christmas!!

Santa came, Santa came!!

I am taking a blogging break for a couple days, but will be back soon to post all about our fabulous Christmas! I only took 500 or so pictures, so you've been warned :)

25 Days of Christmas (19) - Teacher Gifts

Let's talk teacher gifts!!

This year was the first year we have had teachers to buy for, so I didn't really know what to do - so off to Pinterest I went. I adore their teachers and they adore my kiddos as well. In the end, I decided on a DIY plant along with a Visa giftcard.

I bought a clay pot at Hobby Lobby, and spray-painted each pot using chalkboard paint. Then wrote a cute message and voila!

Cute teacher gift :)

25 Days of Christmas (18) - Our 2012 Christmas List

We decided we weren't going to do too much this year. I have a suggestion that everyone should move houses in November, right before Christmas. I had no.idea. my kids had so much stuff. We still have boxes of toys that haven't been unpacked. Whew. So, first off, I am going to donate their unused books and toys to a shelter or to their daycare, and then replace with a few new things this year. You can read what we got them last year here. The only things not on that list were the Fisher Price loving family dollhouse and A Little Tikes basketball goal that were birthday presents from us. Also on that list from last year?  The Leappads - which I HATE and cannot un-recommend enough to any of my readers!! We sold them on Craigslist a couple of months ago.

So...here we go.

First off, I will say what the babes have actually "asked" for.

Jules: Suckers, Barbies, Princesses. It was suckers only for months. Thought we were getting off easy. Don't know where barbies and princesses came into the equation.

Josh: Rainboots and Toys. Bless him. I got Jules these super cute Missoni rainboots and she is obsessed with them. Josh, poor thing used to have a pair of Cars rainboots last year, but they are like 4 sizes ago, and we only now have one, because we lost the other. However, he knows where the "one" is. And he wants Santa to bring him "one rainboot". Isn't that hysterical??? Poor guy is of course, getting TWO rainboots.

***I am also prefacing this to say that we probably won't give ALL this for Christmas. Their birthday is January 8th, so we will probably keep a couple presents for birthday***

Also, I am patting myself on the back because I ended up getting some of this off of Craigslist. I decided I can still do this for at least the next couple of years, since they don't take care of stuff very well yet.

Jules

Land of Nod doll furniture. I went the cheap route last year, and got all plastic stuff, which is, of course, now destroyed all but the stroller. So, we took it up a notch for her to use with her Bitty Baby twin doll

Green Toys Tea Set. I did alot of research on this. I wanted to get a nice one that she would have for a while and you could use real liquid in if you wanted to, and that is BPA free and all that jazz.

Polaroid Kid-Tough Camera. This girls loves taking pictures with my phone. And while, the megapixels aren't the greatest, it's super easy to use and you can drop it like 1000 times and it won't break.

Random Princess Figurines. I got her a bunch of little dolls she can pop-on the clothes and play dress up with.

Ball glove. (Daddy idea, lol)


Josh

Golf Clubs. Not sure about brand on this one, this one was also a Jake decision.

Also Ball Glove. Mizzuno I think were the brands.

Cars Bat and Baseball set.

Doctor Kit. They both like playing make-believe, but Josh really likes "Dr Leeper" and is so good at the doctor.

Rainboots. Bless him.

Shake and Go Racetrack. This one is really neat! There are no controls involved, which is perfect for toddler hands. They work on kinetic energy, so you just shake them and release on the track. They more you shake, the longer they will go.

Thats pretty much it. I had high hopes of doing a big dress-up trunk for them with thrifted dress up items, costumes, etc, but I just haven't had time. That might be a birthday thing. We also got the Candyland game, but that might be a birthday thing too.

Again, just want to reiterate that I am beyond thankful for my blessings and know there are so many families who don't have a child to give presents to this Christmas, and it just breaks my heart.

I hope my kids will enjoy these this year and love them and I know I will love playing with them! I think I got some stuff they can (hopefully) share, but I also wanted to do some independent stuff for them this year due to their different personalities.

25 Days of Christmas -(17) School Christmas Party

Um, Josh picked out his outfit to wear. Bowtie and all. He thought he looked like Brobee from Yo gabba Gabba. Hehe

Crack me up

Their little school.

They are getting used to this! (I guess after the 15th time)

A rare one of me and my big babies!

They little classes. Note the guy with his elbow propped up on Santa's knee, like a boss.

25 Days of Christmas (16) - Tragedy and Sadness

I wanted to take a minute and send prayers, thoughts and hugs to the family and friends of Sandy Hook Elementary. I am in schools every day. Mostly elementary schools though my job with the AHA. That, being with the fact that I am a mother, has beyond devastated me. I can't stop thinking about it, and can't hug my babies hard enough.

Regardless of your political views, I hope you can agree that SOMETHING needs to change. We trust that we are sending out kids to a safe enviornment, and I know that we are sending them to wonderful teachers and administrators, (who don't get paid near enough, in my opinion).

I will continue to pray for the children who are now celebrating in Heaven, the teachers who continue to hug and teach our kids every day, and the families of those that have lost loved ones due to this senseless violence.

I wanted to share with you Saturday Night Live's opening on Saturday following the shooting. It was moving, sacred, and appropriate.

25 Days of Christmas (15) - Santa through the years

 

 

Their very first meeting - 11 months old.

Meeting 2 - 11 months - Santa looks SUPER happy. Bald babies.

23 Months old - Jules wanted nothing to do with him.

Ghetto Santa - folding chair, New Balance, water bottle...seriously??? 23 Months old.

Probably my favorite - 23 months old - linking up wih Blonde Mom Blog

We got it this year!!! almost 3.

25 Days of Christmas (14) - The Christmas Card Reveal!!!!!

It's that time of year!!! I LOVE doing our Christmas card every year. And I always have the hardest time deciding what I want to do. I have pretty much decided I am that person that prefers do a "yearly update" card. Mostly because I hate making decisions, and there are soooo many pictures to choose from!!

So, before the grand reveal, I wanted to go back in time and take a look at our previous years' cards:
I can't find any before 2009, but we usually had the kitties on them. You'll notice that they have missed the cut since 2009. lol.

2009: pre-kids, but got preggo.

2010:

 





 

2011 Card: This one we started doing some text on what we've been up to this year. 

 



DRUM ROOOOOOOLLLLLLLL:

2012! This year we did a frist-ever double sided card. And, I outsourced the printing this year. Holy Moly, why I have never done that before?? $50 from vistaprint.com for 100 color. Yes, please!



Front

Back

25 Days of Christmas (13) - Dickens of a Christmas in Franklin, TN

This last weekend, since I'm ALL OBSESSED with Christmas this year, we ventured out to "Dickens of a Christmas"  in historic downtown Franklin, TN. It’s a "27-year holiday tradition to travel back in time about 150 years to a Main Street from the time of Charles Dickens". It was so much fun!! And the weather was so great and it was a perfect little couple of hours of Christmas Fun.

From their website on all that was there:

Horse-drawn carriage rides around the Public Square for $2 per person.

A holiday bazaar arts & crafts area encircles Franklin’s charming Public Square.

Dancers and street musicians on Main Street throughout the event. Violinists, hand bell choirs, harpists, carolers and even a water harmonica player all add to the entertaining street scene.

Costumed characters from Dickens’ stories interacting with visitors on the street. Scrooge bellows his “Bah! Humbug” while the Cratchit Family parades the streets with Tiny Tim. Ghosts of Christmas Past and Future make regular appearances. Urchins under the direction of the nefarious Fagin from Dicken’s Oliver pester English Bobbies (who are actually Franklin Police Officers on duty in costume). Father and Mother Christmas delight children.

Victorian treats abound, from authentic fish ‘n’ chips to turkey legs, roasted nuts, kettle corn, roasted corn, roasted pork, sausages and sugar plums.

***Warning - picture overload ahead, and I only took a million of them on the pony!!***

They were obsessed with these ducks!

We had to work while we were there.

Such a pretty curly-headed girl

Its fun how you can get great pics of them when they are having silly fun.

Isn't he just the most precious thing?

Me and Jules

Pony Ride!

beautiful

Family pic that they neither wanted to be a part of, clearly.

shoulder rides!!