Christmas 2015

I hope you all had a beautiful, wonderful, relaxing Christmas.  The holidays are my favorite time of year - especially now, with two children.  It's more exciting with kids.. seeing their faces Christmas morning and doing all the fun holidays crafts.  I'm always a bit sad when it's all over with, but I'm looking forward to a new year and a new start.  I know it's been quiet around here, but I have lots of plans for 2016 - here's to hoping I can make it all happen.

Christmas Vacation 2014 Recap

We had a wonderful time visiting my parents and family for Christmas.  Christmas Eve we got together with my brother and his family to hang out, open gifts, and enjoy dinner.. my mama made lasagna.. and of course it was delicious.. and dessert was her always loved chocolate pie.  Clara and her cousin decorated Christmas cookies.  They definitely enjoyed each others company!

On Christmas we woke up about 8am (the perfect amount of sleeping in for me these days, since I normally wake at 5:30am).. Clara crawled into bed with us, and I asked her if she wanted to go wake up Nana and Papa so we could see if our stockings were filled.  In her sweetest voice she said, "No, I'm just a little sleepy."  And so we cuddled some more.  But it didn't take her much longer after that to decide to get up and snoop around the tree.

I had so much fun watching her open the gifts she received, and seeing the joy on her face while she discovered what was under all the wrapping paper!  One of the gifts we bought for her, was a toddler board game.. called the Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game.. and I'm pretty sure it ended up being one of her favorite things.  After all of our morning excitement, we headed out to GG's house (my grandma).. for some more family fun.

I always enjoy going back to visit my parents and even though we don't live super close to them.. I sure am thankful we live as close as we do.. the closest we've lived to them in 6 years.  It was definitely a nice, laid back vacation... minus Clara getting sick the last two days, but it's inevitable when we travel up there when it's so much more dry and cold.

Christmas Vacation Pt 1

This year for Christmas we were able to head up north to visit my family.  It's been about 2 years since we've been up here for Christmastime, we try to get with them every other year if we can.  The drive is about 11 hours, and it's the closest we've lived to them so we try to take advantage of it while we can!

I was especially excited this year because they're able to see my baby bump - they didn't get to see me pregnant in person with Clara at all since we were living in Korea at the time.  So being closer the second time around is a nice treat!

I didn't bring my laptop with on the trip, because I just wanted to relax - but thought I'd do a quick update (and I'll update more when we return home!).  But Clara is enjoying being spoiled by Nana and Papa and visiting her cousins.. there's been lots of food, relaxing, Christmas music and cookie decorating.. it's nice to be back!  I've been posting to Instagram a bit, so you can follow me there if you'd like!

My mama & I sippin' on some Starbucks (decaf for me, of course)!

Clara making Christmas cookies with her cousin!

I hope you all enjoy the rest of your Christmas week!!  Merry Christmas!

Christmas Reads

Last week I realized my child only owned one Christmas book.  ONE.  Out of all of the tons and tons of books on her shelves.. all she had was the Polar Express.  So I had to hop onto Amazon and order her some more ASAP.  I was so excited to give them to her, and decided to wrap them up to make it a little more fun.  I threw in an extra gift for her too.. something she could wear Christmas morning, if she wanted!

Lately this girl is obsessed with anything that is Frozen, Madagascar, and Rapunzel.  I really couldn't help myself when I saw this super soft Frozen robe at the store the other day.. she thinks it's the coolest thing since sliced bread.  Mama win for me!

The three books I bought for Clara are:

1. Humphrey's First Christmas by Carol Heyer - I wanted a fun book for her that also included the true meaning of Christmas.  This story is adorable.. about a silly Camel and his journey to Bethlehem.  He realizes the importance of giving when his journey ends.
2. Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner -  I'm loving the illustration in this book!  This is just a fun book about Snowmen and what they do when no one is around, and why they might not look quite the same the day after you make them!  ;)  This author also has a couple other Snowman books that look equally cute.
3. Bear Stays Up for Christmas by Karma Wilson - This book is probably Clara's favorite of the three right now.  I love the rhyming in it and it's a sweet story about friendship during the holidays!

I could have just bought up all the Christmas books!  I might even have to order a couple more.. I love books and love reading with Clara, and I just can't help myself.  What's everyone's favorite Christmas books for children?  I could use some more ideas!  ;)

Merry Christmas 2013

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.  Ours was laid back and perfect.  We are truly blessed.  I spent some time baking and cooking with my little lady.. she loves to help me in the kitchen.  We enjoyed unwrapping our gifts in the morning, ate lots of food, and napped!  It was just the three of us on Christmas Day, so we snacked on some appetizers.. and for our meal we had ribs, baked potatoes, glazed carrots, and garlic bread.  It was pretty delicious.  I'll be back after the New Year with some totally awesome (and some cliche) goals I have.

But for now, our Christmas in photos.

A Belated Christmas Over Skype

We had our 'Christmas' today over Skype with my family!  I love getting to see my niece and nephew (and of course everyone else - but they're just getting so big so fast!).  The gifts we shipped didn't get there until after Christmas, so we waited to open our gifts until we could all be 'together' on web cam.  Watching people open their gifts is one of my favorite things.  Especially seeing my niece open hers.. she's so cute.  Makes my heart melt every time I hear her say "I love loo!"  And it's so funny to hear her say Coleman's name... "Hi Toeman!"  Hahaha.  They really can't get any more cute.  :)

Picture quality may not be so good because they were taken by my web cam.  

Opening her BIG gift from Uncle Coleman & Aunt Haley!

A big Princess coloring book!

And some new crayons!  I think she loved it.  :)

One of the things my parents gave me was this cork board made from the corks I used for place card holders at our wedding.  It is amazing and I absolutely LOVE it.  It's so neat.  My mom is so crafty.. :)

And she gave me these super cute tacks to go with it.  I can't wait to get it hung up - I have the perfect place for it!  Thanks, Momma.. I love it. :)

Well it's time for me to go wind down for the night.  A bubble bath and a good book sounds like the perfect way to relax before bed!  Back to work tomorrow.. boo..

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

I love Christmas, but I always get a little sad when it's over.  My husband and I had a wonderful and relaxing Christmas day, but I cannot say the same for Christmas Eve.  Unfortunately.  I've had a head & chest cold for the past couple days, and I woke up on Christmas Eve with a 101.8 temperature, the biggest migraine of my life, nausea, the chills, and still a head & chest cold.  The migraine was so bad that I could barely open my eyes.  I spent the better part of the day laying on the couch with my eyes closed, unable to sleep because I felt so horrible.  All the while my amazing husband took on the task of running my errands for me, cleaning up around the house, making me breakfast, and rubbing vicks on my chest and feet.  He's so sweet to me!

By about 6pm, I felt worse and the fever wasn't going down which is no good for my poor baby.  So I spent about 4 hours in the ER and they gave me an IV and 3 liters of fluid to rehydrate me, as well as medicine for the nausea and for the migraine.  The only good thing that came out of that night was that we were able to hear our baby's heartbeat for the first time!  It was the most beautiful whoosh whoosh sound I've ever heard.  I could have listened to it all night.  And the heartbeat was at 170bpm!  A little fast, but only because of the dehydration and fever.  By the time I left the ER, I felt loads better.  The fever was gone, and the headache was mostly gone.  Now I'm just stuck with a nasty cold.  My poor nose has been rubbed raw from all the tissues I've gone through.  :(

Christmas Day, although still with a nasty cold, was a bit better than Christmas Eve.  We had some amazing food and my sweet husband helped me with the cooking.  My mouth is watering just thinking about the leftovers!  We watching A Christmas Story while opening gifts, and just had a relaxing day.

I was definitely spoiled this year.. I got some things that I wanted, along with some gifts that were a surprise to me and I loved them!  My husband knows what I like!

I look so cute in the mornings.  lol.  Opening my new stand-up mixer!

My husband checkin' out his new Iron Gym bar.

FOOD! 

I also received a Coach wristlet purse, a few new kitchen items that I love, some jewelry, and a few other things.  Next week we'll have Christmas with my parents over skype!  Can't wait.. I really want to see my niece open her gifts.  :o)

What did everyone get for Christmas this year?  I love hearing what others got!

I'm full of Christmas spirit!

We had a really great Thanksgiving at a friends house here in Korea.  Met some new people, ate some yummy food, and just relaxed!  Although I wish my husband and I could have spent the day with our family back in the states, we still enjoyed our day and were able to Skype with our families later on that night.  And I just have to say, thank GOD for Skype!

And now.. my favorite.. putting out the Christmas decorations!  I absolutely love everything about this season.  We put up our tree, wrapped some presents, put up the rest of the Christmas decor, set out all the Christmas-y smell good candles, and hung pictures and curtains (we are still getting settled after getting all of our things shipped over here... it's getting there!).  Right now I'm downloading a bunch of Christmas movies:  Christmas Vacation, A Christmas Carol, Elf, Christmas with the Kranks, Santa Clause 1-3, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, etc.  I can't decide which one I want to watch tonight!

Just a few things I love about Christmas time..

Snow!  So beautiful.

Hot chocolate... HOMEMADE hot chocolate.  And I make the best! ;)

Because the holidays give you a good excuse to wear more shimmery makeup than you normally would!

Christmas BAKING.  I have a lot of goodies that I want to make.. can't wait to share them with you!

PEACH PIE.  Not really Christmas-y... but I have one in the oven right now and it smells SO good.  Can't wait to have a piece with a huge scoop of vanilla bean ice cream!!