{Alternately titled: the one with 46 photographs and ALL the parentheses} On Christmas Eve, our elf was tucked under the Christmas tree with a few brightly wrapped packages and a letter to the girls. We read the note {a quick one about the real reason for the season and the big news that they could touch him briefly before bedtime} that morning, but decided to save the gifts for later in the afternoon. We celebrated with Josh's parents for lunch {and I managed to take exactly zero photographs because we were playing so hard}, but were home by 2 o'clock with a few hours to burn. We played Operation at the dining room table and I let the girls open the gifts from Scout. What transpired afterwards caused me to have a major meltdown {complete with mommy tears and stomping feet}. Can you say ...
Christmas
Insta-Holiday Recap
Christmas is over. Not that you would know that by visiting our house. I vowed every day last week to take down the tree and anything overtly Christmas-y, but it never happened. Yesterday, I went so far as to bring in a few plastic totes to pack the ornaments away, but I mostly just glared at them while I read a book, ate homemade potato soup and listened to Josh watch football. This Christmas break wasn't anything like I expected and it isn't helping me get the new year off to a great start. I'm a few days behind my self-imposed schedule, but determined to turn this thing around by mid-January. Here is a snapshot of what the last few weeks have looked like around the rock house. The Saturday before Christmas, we celebrated with Josh's extended family. We don't exchange gifts, but the ...
merry christmas
Merry Christmas from the little princess family. We hope your day is blessed beyond belief. ...
Snowman on a Stick!
When I asked Ella earlier in the week what she wanted to carry to her dance party to share with her friends, she said this. Considering I needed us to make treats a few days ahead of time, that wasn't going to work. We decided instead to make these, but I had a major Pinterest fail. I'm not sure why, but I can NOT seem to dip anything into candy melts without it falling apart. So after I stuck lollipop sticks into two cartons of Oreo's, we bailed on that project and tried something else altogether. Ella suggested making marshmallow snowmen (and of course, a quick search on Pinterest found me plenty to choose from). Fortunately we had everything we needed to make them, so we got to work after school on Tuesday. Ella pushed the marshmallows onto fresh lollipop sticks, while I worked on ...
Short and Sweet
A few weeks ago, Ella and I were out shopping and she spotted this Hello Kitty "gingerbread" house. My plan for this season had been to decorate a few waffle cones with green icing and call it a day. I thought we could make a group of trees and use them to add a little cheer in the kitchen, but she was obsessed with this pink house. I didn't buy it that day, but she didn't stop talking about it. On Friday night, the girls spent the night with Josh's parents so that we could wrap up our Christmas shopping and spend Saturday wrapping gifts and finishing up a few projects around the house, child-free. When they got home later that afternoon, they were tickled pink to see that Scout had delivered the coveted pink cookie house and we got right to work. We used what came in the box, with the ...
Christmas | Around the House
wanna know what our house looks like this week? my favorite slippers/socks & new holiday pjs from Target this year's advent calendar | our PB stockings & a cardboard tree a close up of our advent calendar from Naptime Diaries a stash of Christmas books that the girls cannot get enough of my fav paper from TOMS, washi tape & tree stickers from Paper Source more pretty packages with birch print paper from TJ Maxx glitter ribbon, polka dots and a little Roll Tide action on our tree our pretty tree, ruffle tree skirt & last year's holiday cards homemade swags from fir clippings, magnolia, boxwood & nandina Sophie's nativity scene from last week's Sunday school class our archway garland & the fiddle trees I've managed to keep alive more fresh clippings in ...
The Big Guy
Sunday after church, we drove into town to meet up with the Big Guy himself. My girls had been talking about it all week and couldn't wait to tell him all about what they wanted {Ella asked for a guitar and Sophie wants a pink bicycle}. Taz was mostly concerned about seeing Mrs. Claus. She's been asking about how old she is and if she would be there and where the North Pole is and if we could visit. She was a little bummed not to be able to "love on her", but Santa did tell us that she was back home baking him some yummy cookies and Taz seemed satisfied with that. We actually waited in line for almost two hours (thank goodness there were enough adults around to take shifts), but all three of our littles did just perfect! Of course I was sad we didn't have any screamers this year, but I'm ...
The Big Top
No, not that striped tent. The other one. For as long as I can remember (post-childhood), I've picked out a Frasier Fir tree under a striped tent on the side of the road. It's a family from North Carolina who packs up their tent and an RV and brings them down south from Thanksgiving week almost until Christmas. I'm sure there are more economical places to purchase a tree. And I know there are reasons to vote for an artificial one, but I'm just not there yet. Usually on the Friday before Thanksgiving they start building the outdoor structure and stringing lights. By Tuesday, the tent is up and the trees start appearing. The morning after Thanksgiving we are all giddy and listening to Christmas music en route. It's the first day the girls wear holiday clothes and the first official day of ...