~Christmas~

I don't know why it takes me a whole week to get my pictures up and sorted through but here of late, it does. Better late than never I guess right? (I probably won't post about new years til next week.) We had a lovely Christmas. Not a whole lot going on but our usual morning at home as a family and then to my moms for dinner and presents with the whole gang. It was fun! I love watching my girls get excited about the littlest things.

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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was a tradition when I was a kid to set up all our Christmas presents in a nice pile and then my mom would take a picture of us sitting with all our stuff and so I wanted to do that with Noni. BUT my Noni girl would not cooperate. So here is her stuff but not her. :) Maybe next year she will cooperate.

Christmas is not done yet... in just 4 and a half days we will be celebrating again with Peters side of the family. Yay!! Can't wait!

Holiday fun!

We had our annual family cookie baking extravaganza!! Which means a bunch of us got together and made cookies, and talked, and drank coffee, and ate yummy food! I don't get to see my cousins as often as I would like, so it was so nice to see them. Noni is getting old enough now that she can be very helpful and she did a really great job with the cut outs. Evey wandered around my moms house and ate snacks all morning playing with random things (usually not toys) and was completely content. We are actually doing more cookie baking tonight with my cousin-in-laws!

Last week our local town does this holiday event that is so fun. A lot of the local businesses participate and give kids a craft to do or snack. There is a scavenger hunt where you have to get stickers at every place you go and then you get raffle tickets. Theres a gingerbread house contest, face painting, cookie decorating and of course Santa which we don't do in our house but Noni sat on his lap and told him what she wanted. It is so neat and so much fun for the kids and a great thing to do as a family. I wouldn't have even known about it if my sister-in-law hadn't told me (thanks SH) and I am so glad she did. Then Daddy and Evey went home for a nap and Noni and I got to go see the Nutcracker. Last year we couldn't sit through the whole thing but this year we did. We had a blast.

Last but not least here is my fun and festive Christmas banner handmade by Me!! I love it and will be hung up every year!

Hope you are all enjoying your holiday season, I sure am!!

Oh Christmas Tree

I love Christmas! Its such a fun time of year. I love shopping for people, I love the lights, I love the tree and decorations. And everything is sooo much funner with kids. We put our tree up as soon as we could. My dad sells live Christmas trees so we of course got one from him and as a family we decorated it. It was more chaotic than I envisioned it going ya know with a super excited three year old taking everything out of the box and then a one year old checking everything out and either putting it in her mouth or throwing it, what did I expect right. We lost track of how many balls we broke but oh well. Daddy took Evey girl to the other room after a while so Noni and I could finish up. Then when everyone else was in bed I added some ribbon and maybe rearranged a few. (shhh;)) But it was fun! We are doing an advent calendar for the first time this year. Which is going to be a fun tradition to look forward to every year. Every day Noni says "can I open the door?" she loves surprises just like her mama! We put our lights up outside which is also a first this year and a highlight of our day. We baked gluten free cut outs, gluten free and regular kiffles this week and there is more to come. I am almost done shopping. I have a few more people to get for but I am well on my way. We are thoroughly enjoying our holiday season!

Thanksgiving in Tennessee

We spent our Thanksgiving in Tennessee with my in laws. The whole gang drove down to surprise my mother in law for the holiday. And she was definitely surprised! The 12 hour drive went surprisingly well. Since we drove through the night the girls slept off and on the whole trip and were happy when they were awake. We hiked, visited, ate, went in the hot tub and relaxed. I got quite the break because my Noni girl wanted nothing to do with me and would follow Nee-Nee and Poppy around all day! She has so much fun with them! It was strange for me being away over a holiday and it did not feel like Thanksgiving at all to me but the whole trip was very enjoyable! Only a few more months til we see them again for Christmas!