I've been trying to remember to take a picture of Scout each day so that we could look back and see what he's been up to. The girls love racing to find him each morning and even Sophie has been far more excited about him than I expected. I'm thrilled that we abide by the "no touching" rule, so I never have to wonder where he is at bedtime. I did, unfortunately, discover what happens when you move him before your children are asleep for the night and won't be making that mistake again this year. There were many tears while we tried to convince Ella he was definitely coming back the next day! Here are the places he's been since his arrival on our breakfast table. {on top of the Advent calendar / hanging out with the shepherds in Bethlehem} {leaving messages on the bathroom mirror ...
A Breakfast Surprise
The Sunday after Thanksgiving seemed as good a day as any for Scout to make his appearance. Ella had been asking for days when he might come, but I was dreading finding something for him to do for 30 days in a row! It just so happened, that Scout didn't care anything about my concerns and made his appearance bright and early on Sunday morning. He wrote the girls a sweet note and even left them a card for a response. He was pretty industrious this year and had the dining room table all decorated for Christmas. There were sausage balls, pigs-in-a-blanket and snow-covered donuts for breakfast (he completely forgot to set out the hot chocolate and marshmallows -- oops!). The girls were so excited to see his little surprise and I decided this breakfast might be the perfect way to welcome the ...
Christmas Tree Hunting
The morning after Thanksgiving we headed off to the Christmas Tree Tent. If you've been reading awhile, then you'll remember that we decided to make memories last year and cut our on tree down with the girls. It was cold and miserable and Ella hated it. Not only was the experience lackluster (except for the awesome photographs), but the tree was a disaster and died and we later had to replace it with a fake one! We all decided that we deserved a redo and we headed back to our favorite striped tent. But first, we had our annual pancake breakfast at IHOP. Ella had 5 pancakes and Soph ate almost as much of my french toast as I did. Daddy wouldn't let us bring the big camera in and it was all I could do to get him to smile for a few Instagram pics. He is not a fan of taking photographs at a ...
Oh Christmas Tree!
Well, here she is in all her glory. After such a disaster with the tree last year, I am happy to report that we got a BEAUTY this year! We went back to our beloved tree tent and picked the prettiest Frasier Fir we could find. She is 7.5 feet of fantastic smelling, gorgeous green needles and so far the girls have stayed far enough away that the tree is alive and intact. This is a blessing, friends. I think some of my favorite parts of the tree are the star and the burlap ribbon. Last year was the first year we hung the moravian lantern above the tree and I don't know if I'll ever go back. We got that as a wedding gift almost ten years ago and it's still one of my favorite things. I just put a cup hook in the ceiling and stuffed it with a short strand of lights -- it really makes the room ...
We’ve got a Screamer!
I was smart this year. I had no desire to wait in long lines to see Santa Claus with my overly dramatic 5 year old or my squirmy, silly 19 month old. Instead, I left home at the end of the third quarter of the Iron Bowl and decided to see the big guy while everyone else was at home cheering (or scowling, depending on your team). I was nice this year. I let my hubby take BOTH tickets to the game, while I cheered from home and braved the mall with two crazy little children. Ella was really excited to talk with Santa this year and had really been practicing what she was going to ask him for. She decided that she didn't need (or have any room for) toys this year and wanted clothes, shoes and books instead. She knew she wanted to ask him for the entire Junie B. Jones collection and couldn't ...
Rivalry
I'm guessing you know there was this little game on Saturday. One that people in Alabama talk about for 365 days, only to start talking about again. Well, the fact of the matter is... we won. I didn't get to go this year, but SD did and not only did he sneak on the field after the game, but he met David Pollack and Trent Richardson and snapped a picture of his beloved Erin Andrews. All's fair in love and football, right? A few weekends ago we celebrated the birthday of our little friend Madeline. She had a pretty awesome tailgate rivalry party where all of her friends wore their Alabama/Auburn gear and partied it up at the playground. It was so fabulous, in fact, that I am totally bookmarking this idea for an Ella party in the future! ...
Kraft & Twine Advent Calendar
Affiliate links appear in the following post. Although shopping the embedded links won’t cost you any additional dollars, it might earn me a small commission on your purchase. Your support of this blog always appreciated! I've been saying for years that I was going to create an advent calendar for the girls in the days leading up to Christmas, but this is the first year I've actually made it happen. Not only do I think it's fun for them to have some little gifts to look forward to each day, but it is such a wonderful way to remind the girls of the reason we celebrate. Ella & I went shopping a few weekends ago and picked up clothespins, bakers twine and kraft paper lunch sacks. I snuck off to the dollar aisle and grabbed twenty-five days worth of tiny treats while she wasn't looking ...
Insta-Thanks
Our Thanksgiving was so wonderful and I was so busy enjoying the day with my little helpers that the camera was never by my side. Instead, I decided to give you a little recap with Instagram photos instead. I hope your holiday was as wonderful as ours! {kitchen helpers / big girl bed / early morning cartoons / sausage balls} {Macy's Thanksgiving Parade / silly girl / chocolate chewy bars / my full plate} {feeding herself / post-lunch football / plenty of leftovers / afternoon campfire} {girl time / playing outside / snuggling by the fire with mommy / impromptu family photoshoot} Believe it or not, Ella was in attendance, but she's so independent these days and spent the majority of her day outside with the big kids! ...