The year-in-review post is one of my favorite things of the entire year. I always love going back through all of our pictures and posts from the previous twelve months and seeing everything we were up to. Let's dive right in!January is always fun. It's the start to a brand year and everything is fresh and new. On the blog, we finally recapped Christmas, I had my wisdom teeth pulled and we enjoyed our annual trip to the circus courtesy of my in-laws. We had a head start on our Valentine's Day treats and I shared free printables and tutorials for these ring pop Valentines and some super cute ballet themed ones, too. In February, I finally got to share a super sweet project we worked on with Celebrate! Magazine. Sophie got to host a tea party in her bedroom several months before and the ...
Merry Christmas
His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6 ...
Pesky Little Elf
On November 30, my girls went to sleep with no complaints and a smile on their face. They suspected that our elf, Scout, would show up the next morning and they were so excited. When I went into their room that morning, they immediately asked me if I had seen him. I hadn't even looked for him yet, so we talked about where he might be. I thought I heard something, but the girls didn't and so we went about getting ready for school. A few minutes later, Josh yelled out that the doorbell was ringing. Ella gasped and launched herself out of bed. It didn't take her long to realize there was no one at the door, but she did find this brown paper package (this was a huge win for Scout, but it did prompt all sorts of questions about the hour of delivery, timely doorbell ring and the lack of a postal ...
The North Pole
I know I boasted about the amazing Santa setup we found last year, but I somehow managed not to secure an appointment this year and they didn't have a walk-in option. To say I was bummed is an understatement. The ability to take your own photos, have an appointment AND a beautifully decorated venue was some sort of Christmas trifecta! We heard there was another local option and were able to get an after-church appointment on Sunday afternoon, so we gave it a try. This "North Pole" did not disappoint. K and I were both anticipating crocodile tears from this kid, so we were pleasantly surprised when he walked right up to Santa, gave him a big hello and climbed up in his lap. He promptly displayed his muscles and informed the big guy that he is a "stronger boy now." It was pretty much all ...
Glory to God
It's hard to believe that it's been five years since Ella learned to recite the Christmas story from Luke 2, but it is easily my favorite video of all time. What do you say we revisit it today? "And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be registered. The census first took place when Quirinius was governing Syria. So everyone went to be registered; everyone to his own city... Now in this same country, there were shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night. And behold the angel of the LORD stood before them and the glory of the LORD shone all around them and they were greatly afraid. The angel said to them, Do not be afraid. I came to bring you good news of great joy that will be for all ...
DIY Printable Holiday Gift Tags
Ummm, there are only nine days until Christmas and if you are anything like me, you might need a little help getting everything together before the big day?! I'm thrilled to be joining these girls again this month to bring you all sorts of holiday inspiration. I've said many times before that birthday parties are my love language, but wrapping gifts is a close second. I collect fun papers and washi tapes and ribbon all year in anticipation of those first few weeks of December. My husband gets irritated because I always select a few rolls of paper for all the gifts and I hide everything else so he won't use them. I love seeing coordinating papers under the tree and figuring out how to make each of the gifts look different is so much fun! I knew I wanted to design some printable tags ...
Stay at Home (in the Morning) Mom
I am not a stay at home mom. There were a (very few) days when I thought that life might be for me, but maternity leave corrected my thinking. All I ever wanted to be growing up was a mother and since my own mom spent most of her days at home with us, I never questioned that I would end up in that very same role. Once I entered the working world, however, I realized how much I thrive on adult interaction. I was made for the work force. I love projects and organization and troubleshooting. I like getting dressed up and commuting and grabbing a quick lunch with friends. I used to joke with Josh that I would love to be a stay at home mom, after my kids were all in elementary school. I got a few side-eyes when I said that in public, so I started to think I was doing something wrong. The ...
November Rewind
Here we are a week into December and I have a hundred photos from Thanksgiving weekend that I still haven't shared. Let's just rewind a few weeks and recap all the fun things we had going on over here! The weekend before Thanksgiving, my parents hosted a rehearsal dinner for my cousin in the barn. It was seriously gorgeous (I'll share some photos at some point) and since it was still festive with tables everywhere, my mom decided that Thanksgiving dinner should be in the barn, too. We were blessed with amazing weather for the holiday weekend with highs in the mid-seventies and all the sunshine. We had about fifty people for lunch and stayed until well after dark. My dad even had the forethought to move the television out to the barn so the men could stand around and watch football... ...