Christmas Card 2013

I say it every year - but it really is my favorite thing of the year about blogging! Faith has been hosting the Christmas Card Carousel for 6 years, and I've been linking up for 4 I think? Which means I've been blogging far longer than I realized! Anyway, I love seeing everyone's cute family and their cards, and sharing ours here too. So fun to have these in a single place to look back on! (Side note: Blogger, please don't ever let me down. My family's history lies in your hands. Side note to my side note: time to print the blog as a book again.)

As always, designing stuff for myself is HARD. I knew long ago I wanted gold glitter on our card...and it turns out so did a lot of other people this year. :) So trying to use that but not have them all look the same was a little challenging, but I think I managed best I could. I went through like 20 designs before settling on this. Normally I like to do a full horizontal picture on the front, and I did something a little different this year. If only you knew the internal struggle that went on to decide I liked this design. I'm so crazy, and apparently I don't mind airing that here. ;) Here is the front:

And the back -

All pictures by the talented Amanda Rice Photography. I couldn't resist putting a good crying picture of MB on there - not that I had many options where she WASN'T CRYING. #divababy  ;)

 

As usual, I didn't hand address my envelopes but fancied them up a little with some fun glitter tape from Hobby Lobby (in the sticker section actually). I also used some leopard print glitter tape that was pretty darn cute but a pain to peel off. :) 

Seriously can't believe Christmas is in a week! Merry Christmas to any of you that might still be reading through my random and sporadic posts! :)

Christmas PJ Picture Overload

Last night at church they had a pj party for the kids, so of course I had to get some pictures of them in their cuteness. A few days ago there was a big Christmas pj link-up hosted by several girls, so I thought this would be the perfect time to share these pictures. Yes - I'm late to the party. Some things never change. ;)

I took a few pictures with my phone but ran out of memory, so grabbed my real camera. (Which I now keep on top of my fridge - thanks Aunt Nan for the idea - makes it easy to quickly grab!), Unfortunately it was dark already and it's SO hard for me to get decent pictures without natural light. Not to mention the most cooperative subjects ever. :) So the majority of them looked like this. But I did get a few cute ones so here's a little overload! 

Maeva was conflicted on if she wanted to sit on Manny's lap. One second she was whining for him to hold her, then the next she couldn't get down fast enough. Why am I not surprised? :)


The focal point of the whole thing was Manny's Rudolph slippers. I stumbled upon these at Hobby Lobby, and KNEW they were a must for him. They light up when he walks. So if he's not walking, he's stomping his feet because heaven forbid a second go buy where they aren't lit up! I didn't buy Maeva a pair because they didn't have her size, and honestly, I didn't think she'd care. False. She's officially at the age where she has a STRONG opinion, so there were a few cat fights over these.

Manny's new thing is to make funny faces if I ask him to pose for a picture. The middle one is his go-to every time. His hair is a mess too given this was probably the 1 minute in the last 24 hours he's been without his hat. That kid and his hats...always. :)

Once Manny was out of the picture, MB was ready to pose for a while...until she saw one of Manny's trucks and got so excited. So cute how she loves his toys so much...a little bit of a tomboy but also a girly girl with her purse and love for boots and vests. :)

As I mentioned, MB wanted the Rudolph slippers too, so I stopped by Hobby Lobby today and got her a pair. Yes, they're too big, but they're slip-ons so they're manageable. And will be the gift that will keep on giving. ;) But as luck would have it, I didn't think to test them in the store (DUMB) and one of them doesn't light up. When Manny saw it wasn't lighting up, he said, "Hang on sissy, I'll fix it." A few minutes later I found him in the kitchen with this mini tool kit trying to "fix it like daddy". Such a big helper! 

 

Sandy Hook: Evil Did Not Win

My sister sent me this video and I'm sure many of you have seen it, but if you haven't, please take the time to watch it. It is by the mother of a sweet 6-year-old girl who lost her life in the Sandy Hook tragedy last year. In such a busy season when the days can often be long with my kiddos, it just put things into perspective for me. Her faith is inspiring and she speaks so much truth in this little clip. If you're not at a place where you can do the ugly cry, you might wait to watch. :) I am so incredibly thankful for God's gracious love to carry us through life!

Tuesday Tidbits

Well I think it's safe to say I'm officially on a roll...this is my second blog post in December! Already doubled my production from last month. Things are looking up friends. ;) Thought I'd share a few random things today...seems to be what I'm best at anyway. (randomness, that is) 

1. You know it's my favorite time of year for many reasons - one of which is getting Christmas cards in the mail! I saw Megan display her Christmas cards like this last year and filed that idea away for this year. It's sad how excited I was to try this, but I really really love it! My kitchen is so cheery and I can easily see all the cards instead of picking them up for the thousandth time from being dropped in the depths of my stretched out Christmas card wreath. I just used packing tape to secure the ribbon to the top and bottom inside of the cabinet, and clipped the cards on with smaller clothespins.

2. While I'm super excited about my new Christmas card display, I'm even MORE excited about the opportunity to try out the Reverse line by Rodan + Fields! I was thrilled when Meghan asked me if I'd be interested in doing so because I've heard so many great things about it, and I desperately need something to help with all those misspent years in the tanning bed and lathered in baby oil at the lake. I took some before pictures that I am not brave enough to share just yet, but plan to post at the end of 60 days. Nervous already thinking about it. ;)  If you are interested in Rodan + Fields, feel free to contact Meghan at meghanwatkins28@gmail.com - she has been so incredibly helpful getting me started and would love to do the same for you.

3. So my niece Gabi ran into a pole the other day while she was walking into her school and looking down at her phone texting. Being the good sport she is, she went to her principal and asked him to pull the surveillance camera from the parking lot to see if you could see it. And it's our lucky day - you SURE can! ;) I have probably watched this 100 times and still laugh hysterically. What is it about people hurting themselves that is so funny?! Regardless, this is a must watch. It will definitely brighten your day. And Gabs, hope your headache has gone away! Thanks for letting us laugh at with you.

 

4. Yesterday I took pictures for Candice to use on her Christmas card. We thought we'd just snap a few real quick of just her kids, but then I had Candice get in some too. Wouldn't you know that Manny and Maeva then decided they HAD to be in the pictures too. The children who never want to be photographed were front and center. 

This picture cracks me up. Manny was really working the photo bomb, and Jas and Judson were kind of done too. It was chaos at it's finest and I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe!

5. Speaking of the kids. I don't know what I'm going to do with these two! Sunday at church I thought I'd try to take a picture of them together, and I was quickly reminded why I never even try anymore. Far more interesting things than posing for a picture. They both are at such fun ages right now (most of the time) and I really need to do an update post on each of them. Manny has gotten a little protective of Maeva (when they're not fighting, that is). He likes to mimick my voice sometimes when he talks to her. I don't baby talk, but I do a little dramatic tone with her...okay maybe it is baby talk, but not goo-goo ga ga kind. I'll have to get a video of him doing it to give you an idea. But I just love it when I'll hear him say from the other room, "Here you go sweetie!" or my personal favorite - if Maeva's crying he'll say, "What's wrong with my princess baby?!"

So that's about it for today! Writing this has made me realize how much I've missed writing, even about little random stuff like this. Maybe I'll even be back for a 3rd time in December. Such an over-achiever. ;)

Snow Much Fun!

Well our big winter storm did not disappoint, and turned out to be everything they said it would be! We ended up with some nasty ice and pretty snow. Of course we had to get out and play in it. It was FREEZING but so much fun! I couldn't resist and ate some snow collected in a bowl. The taste instantly took me right back to my childhood...the good ole' days. :)

Maeva was really excited to get out in the snow. I was surprised with how much she liked it! She didn't last long though...had her fun pretty quickly then was ready to go in and take a nap. I can relate to that thinking. ;)

Because it's been mentioned by a few people, I have to go ahead and put this out there: I did not curl my hair to go play in the snow. :) These are actually 2 day old curls from my crazy new curling iron (more on that another day.) The top of my hair was a hot mess, but thanks to the stocking cap it covered that rat's nest up. 

Once MB went inside, we had a fun little snowball fight with Manny.

He just wanted to throw snowballs at Patrick over and over.

Finally Patrick pegged him when he wasn't looking. 

I was a little unsure how he'd react, but he LOVED it!

Then he wanted Patrick to do it over and over and over again. :)
 

 He decided to try the snow after he saw me do it, but he didn't like it. Kind of surprised me!

Next up was a little snow baseball!

Manny preferred to pitch rather than hit. I think it was just an excuse to throw snowballs really. :)

 Manny kept telling me what I needed to be doing differently. It was pretty cute!

It was a super fun day and I'm so thankful to have healthy kiddos to enjoy simple moments like this with. And I'm also glad Patrick got some good pictures of us! He's getting better about picking up my camera if it's sitting there and snapping a pic or two. :)