Christmas!...in January?

It's almost February..and I'm finally getting around to blogging about our Christmas Morning!

I shared a video already with some iPhone photos here.

I feel like this yearly full post is more for me than my readers haha...

We love looking back at past Christmas Mornings. :)

Here's our 2010 Photo Re-cap and Video Greeting and

our 2011 Photos and Video Greeting. So fun seeing the kids growing up..

Christmas morning is so magical when they are little!!

I seriously was so excited for them to wake up I barely slept. :)

I've been getting lots of e-mails from readers who start off their e-mails with "You don't know me and this might be weird but I feel like I know you!" hehe. and I LOVE it. It's not weird at all I'm so happy to have this connection and community with you all through my blog!

I know that I love seeing how others celebrate in their home..

so I'm happy to share our morning with you....sleepy face and all. :)

Here's the video we shared on Christmas Night for our Family and Friends far away. :)

I put a qr code with our Christmas Cards for people to scan with

their iPhones and be taken directly to see the video!

Christmas Day was filled with lots of dress up dance parties and shows!

(We always grab up costumes after Halloween... major discounts!)

The guitar..one of sophie's favorite toys.. we found at a flea market near us. I think it was $1? The sound works and everything. We also got sienna's cash register from their for 50 cents??

Santa was proud of himself. ;)

I LOVE the photo below of me with sienna and micah.. 

And I love that sophie put on her hat before coming out to open presents.

She insisted she wear it!! The girls are wearing their Christmas Pajamas from Carters. Grabbed those up during the Black Friday Specials.

I'm wearing my comfy pajamas that I got at Target to put in my Hospital Bag when I had Micah.

We had a bounce house inside.... and the girls flipped over it!

Grandpa Bob gave this to them.

I loved the idea of them getting all their energy out in a confined space. ;)

Micah's first Christmas.. consisted of him getting snuggled by everyone.

lots of smoochies.

One of Sienna's favorite presents was a sit n' spin ben found on craigslist for $10.

Perfect gift for a child who doesn't stop moving! She can sit and move at the same time!

Ben got me the purple north face sweater that I'm wearing below.

so comfy and I love the color.

Bahahaha...

Micah's face sums up his feelings towards sienna at this moment....

Micah: "help.. me.."

We got the girls an iPad for their 'big' present.

We found one on craigslist..great condition. and then got the

iGuy case on ebay for 6 or 9 bucks. I blogged about our Favorite Kid Apps.

We had it loaded and ready to go on Christmas morning. they loved it!

 It was a great Christmas morning.. Ignore my sleepy face below..and find sienna in the background of that photo sneaking candy. that one is silent and sneaky. ;)

Ben surprised me by getting me something I had talked about wanting a long time ago..

Bamboo splash! (for drawing designs/graphics) AND an iPhone 5.

Plus some other fun little goodies. Husband did a great job this year!

Here we are at Christmas Eve Mass. :)

sophie was boycotting photos.. sienna was hamming it up.

If you missed our Christmas Card for this year I shared it HERE.. One of the photos we sent was a little manger scene..Sophie was Mary, Sienna was an "angel" and Micah was baby Jesus. I thought it turned out pretty cute. :) I need to blog the out takes though..They LOVED dressing up and posing..but halos were flying and Mary was having a melt down over how the angels hands were folded......haha. o yes.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

even if this post is coming in February.. :)

SIck Babies

Day after Christmas was a little rough.. we had 2 sick babies in the house.

Sienna threw up ALL DAY. She couldn't keep anything down..

She slept the whole day on the couch. which is very strange because

this girl is a non stop mover. it was so sad.

And Micah has croup or the cold sienna had last week. (but no fever)

We had to take a trip to the doctor's office fast in the morning before the snow storm hit!

Luckily they weren't too worried about micah so we didn't have to go to childrens' hospital.

One of the hardest parts of being a parent is seeing your child sick!

It makes me so grateful for the healthy days.

Luckily Sienna is feeling way better today. Still out of it but not throwing up.

Via instagram I saw a lot of you are in the same boat with sick babies!

Something about this season that gets everyone sick. no fun.

Yesterday I just kept going from holding one sick baby or the other....

Thank goodness Sophie felt ok and was an ANGEL all day.

It's like she knew mom and dad needed her to be good!!

She was such a sweetie to her sick brother and sister.

Micah looked like he was feeling better yesterday evening..

but today his little coughs work him up ever so often. poor thing.

Hoping that it goes away soon so he can relax and be comfortable again.

He is such a good baby though..even when he is sick he is pretty easy to console.

 

Wishing you a happy HEALTHY week and New Year! ;)

And safe travels to anyone on their way home!

Christmas Morning 2012 VIDEO

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas Day!

Here's a video of ours.. A fun awesomely exhausting day. :)

God Bless you and your loved ones!
Hope you enjoy this video..
the beginning starts a little shaky.
I love having these videos to look back on!
The end is full of some too
adorable for words singing and dancing... hehe.
(to prevent skipping: pause and let the video load a bit before watching through)

Christmas morning

is hard work!! ;)

Our 2012 Christmas Card- Merry Christmas Eve!

Hope you are having a great Christmas Eve!!

Excited to share our Christmas card for this year!

I wanted to wait to post till everyone got them in the mail. :)

I created all of these designs in Photoshop...

Printed the year in review card and video blurb card at home..

and then printed the 3 photo prints at target! (150 cards for $22.. not bad at all!)

I was determined to get cards out...

But the only way I was able to get a shot of all 3 with Micah

so little, was to lay them on the floor and stand above on a chair haha.

My mom was there making faces and arranging for me...

I should post the outtake photos......ridiculous. ;)

The newborn photos of Micah were taken the week before.

I blogged about getting those shots at home here

I knew that a whole family photo just wasn't going to happen. 

So I made up a little card with a photo of ben and I...

and a message for our friends and family to visit my blog Christmas Night

for a video message! I added in a QR Code for people with that app to

be able to scan with their iPhones and go directly to the post! :)

I couldn't resist....we had a newborn! ;)

Sophie loved being Mary... I first had her in a blue sheet and

she told me no no mom...white. Sienna thought her halo

('dollar' bin area from joanns) was so silly...but quickly turned non angelic.

I didn't have wings..so...we photoshopped some in!

I hung up a sheet, wrapped Micah in my scarf and used an old

IKEA rug in the girls' baby doll crib...

boom. nativity scene.

Sweet micah didn't make a peep.

He was getting into the Jesus role very well.

I made up a little year in review card!

I had seen the idea on Pinterest and ran with it!

My favorite part is the girls' favorite foods. That was the order they told me..

It's funny they said cheese roll ups.. because plenty of people probably

had no clue what that was since it's kid language. haha.

(tortilla..with cheese.. rolled up.. :)

We included a Birth Announcement in the envelopes going out!

I can't get enough of this sweetie. :)

My 2012 Christmas Cookie Exchange Party!

Having a 4 yr old..2 yr old.. and almost 5 week old has

delayed this post a week or so. :) But here it is!

I really look forward to this party with friends every year.

I LOVE to bake... It's fun seeing the variety of cookies everyone brings...

and I love any excuse to get the girls together and have a party!

Here's a round up of photos from the fun night!

With a 4 week old at the time, the party details were cut to a minimum.

And with Christmas around the corner...extra budgeting is happening.

But I was happy how it all came together and

that we could have a fun girls' night!

First things first...the invite! I e-mailed it out to some of my girls.

I love having a creative project to work on....

but I also need some brain power to do DIY Projects and

my kids have currently zapped all brain power from me.

So I tried to keep it simple this year.

I feel like a walking zombie plenty of these newborn days..

A lot of things happened the couple days before with a baby strapped to me,

during naps, or while nursing (creating printables).

I had little helpers while making my sweets. :)

Here's how the set up looked like before everyone arrived and

placed some of their cookies on the taste testing table!

This year I used all my own plates from pottery barn..(wedding dishes)

and my reindeer (target couple years ago). The mini trees are from Big Lots ($6) and I put some gold ornaments on them from the dollar store. (our tree is all silver or I would have used those!)

I made a banner in Photoshop and then strung it up with some tinsel from the Dollar Store.

I got a sheet of gold sparkly card stock from JoAnns on clearance..and used my circle punch to cut out circles to place around the table for a little sparkle. :)

I also created some tented cards with numbers on them for the cookie voting.

I also had favors for the ladies.

I grabbed up a variety of mugs from our local thrift store...

50 cents each.. ran them through the dishwasher..

then used an OIL BASED Sharpie to decorate them!

Baked in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Sophie LOVED them..

so she got her own too. it says sophia on it. :)

(she is reallyyyy into hot chocolate with marshmallows right now. hehe.)

I filled up some of the extra clear bags with a marshmallow mix and marshmallows...

then tied with the gold curling ribbon from the dollar store.

The prizes this year were edible. (above are shots of work in progress)

Edible amazingness.

Oreo Truffles.

All time favorite dessert right now..... dangerous little things.

I made up some cute tags to go with them.. and packaged them

up in clear bags and dollar store curling ribbon. 

The cookie competition was fierce this year... ;)

Lots of yummy varieties to sample...

We loaded up our little plates with a taste of each... and got to voting!

 It's a tough job but someone had to do it!

 

Like previous years, I made up Ballot Cards for the voting!

I think it adds a fun activity to the night.

After the cookie sampling and voting was done...

it was time to load up the cookie trays!

I got silver dollar store trays..I thought they would be a fun alternative

to the christmas trays they had..

because the girls can use them for other occasions..

(like new years!)

I made Reese's Peanut Butter Cookies. A family favorite!

It was a fun group of girls!

I was so happy that we made this happen...

December is such a busy month.. 4 girls had to cancel last minute.

Here's some shots of the lovely ladies who came.
We all were happy to have girl talk and sample cookies... ;)
(ps. cute red straws below were from bed bath and beyond.)

Not only did the girls have the yummy oreo truffles...
but one of the girls that came sells Thirty One products, and
brought a handful of them for the winners to choose from! :)
A winner across the board was the Peppermint Candy Cane Brownies.

YUM! We all ended up with some pretty trays of cookies..
to freeze for Christmas... or to dive into right away.
we chose to dive in. ;)

If you want to check out my past cookie exchanges...

Here's from 2010 in our old rental...

and here's from 2011.

Thanks for stopping by..
Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!

Christmas is almost here!!!!
Can't wait to share our Christmas Card(s) Cutenessssss.
Today the girls and I are going to decorate sugar cookies...
and on Christmas Eve we're decorating their gingerbread houses!
I have a feeling sienna will be eating most of the decorations. :)

Christmas Tree Time!

I love having a 2 and 4 yr old.

I'm especially loving it this Christmas season!

They are so into everything.

The other day we went to pick out our Christmas Tree.

As soon as we pulled up to the nursery sophie goes..

"what is that smell!?..christmas?!"

We hunted down the perfect Tree...

It was magical to them...making their way through the trees...the christmas smell!

And tying a tree to the car?!? awesome. ;)

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend

and enjoying all the Christmas time fun!

Sophie was actually a big helper with decorating the tree.

Even though she kept putting up all her decorations

in the same general area.. ;)

I'll share our Christmas decorations soon!!

And because people asked via instagram:

--sophie's outfit--

polka dot sweater... old navy (current)

purple "soft" skinny jeans....target (current)

hat....old navy

--sienna' outfit--

polka dot sweater..target(4 years old)

yellow skinny jeans... old navy (current)