December Fun!

Wow! I just can't seem to keep up with this thing lately...I apologize to those of you who faithfully check for updates since there haven't been many lately. Maybe I'll get back into posting more often very soon!

December has been so busy, but lots of fun so far! We went to a Christmas Parade in our town a few weeks ago, and it was a great night! The Hubby & my Dad both had to work late, so The Little One & I went with my Mom, Gammy. We had lots of fun, just us girls!

Snow machines are sooo cool when you're a kid! They were loving it!

The parade always ends with Santa's sleigh being pulled by real (stinky) reindeer! It's adorable!

That weekend we went to North Carolina to visit our friends, and help The Little One's best friend since birth celebrate her 5th birthday! We love spending time with them, and this weekend was no exception. We all had lots of fun at the Pump it up Birthday party! As you can see the girls probably had the most fun after the party with the mega makeup set the Birthday Girl got as a gift! They went crazy with it, but loved every second of it!

Fun birthday party :)

The Little One & Birthday Girl. They just love each other & we miss seeing them all the time!

Fun with Daddy in the bouncy house!

Makeup!!!

Before we left they exchanged their Christmas gifts from one another...and then got mad because they couldn't open up more gifts!

The next week was the Little One's field trip to the Christmas Tree Farm. It had been planned for months, ever since their first scheduled field trip to the Pumpkin Patch (at the same location) was rained out. They were so bummed when they found out they couldn't go, but excited to know they were going later in the year. Well, the morning of the field trip was c-o-l-d! It was like, don't think you can get out of bed cold. It was ridiculous! We bundled up & braved it, but the poor kids weren't able to enjoy it until a few hours in when the sun came out & warmed it up a bit. It was pitiful, they weren't even talking much, it was like an alternate reality & we were all just numb! The day turned out good though, and as you can see they did lots of fun activities!

Making "Candy Canes" with flavored sugar

Even a petting zoo is hard to be fun when it's this cold!

TRYING to warm up with hot chocolate! It worked a little.

Jumping on the giant pillow...she wasn't a big fan of this one, too many kids bouncing her around.

She always loves a good bouncy slide!

Well, that's the beginning of our month in a nutshell. We have had recent big happenings I'll post about later. They require more time and pictures than I'm willing to do at bedtime! Hope your December has been fun-filled and memorable too!

~Santa's Watching You~

Carter the Elf has arrived! I had always heard of "The Elf on the Shelf" from other people, and had seen it in stores, but I never thought my little scaredy cat baby girl would tolerate a magic Elf from the North Pole watching her & reporting back to Santa (whom she is petrified of) on her behavior.

If you don't know the story of the Elf on the Shelf, this is what the box looks like, and it has a book with it that you read the child all about their new Elf friend, and how they pick a name for him, giving him magic. He picks a spot in their house each night after going to the North Pole & reporting to Santa about the child's behavior. It also tells them their Elf can see them when they're not at home too, so they should be on their best behavior! It's a really cute story, and when my friend got one for her children, we showed The Little One & read her the book to see if she would be scared. She seemed to like the idea, and when one came to our house she took to it right away!

Each morning she runs to see where Carter is & if he's made any messes she needs to clean up. (Some people have naughty elves that make really large messes & the children clean them up, but Carter just has small "accidents" occasionally that need attention ;) She has found him sitting on the mantle, in the Christmas tree, having cocoa with Cinderella Barbie, Hanging from the lamp & sitting on the mistletoe.

His presence in our house has seemed to help behavior wise lately also (as an added bonus)! Not that she was ever really bad, but the attitude has toned down and she hates when I "have a talk with Carter". It amazes me how much she has taken to it & isn't scared of him or his "magic"! She even wrote him a letter his second or third day at our house that says "Dear Carter I Love You. Love, Olivia" She cut out a heart & wrote the note so sweetly that he had to write her back the next day, which was THE coolest thing ever in her mind!

I just love this age, it's so much fun!

Hope you're having fun getting ready for Christmas at your house, too! Remember...Santa's watching you!!!

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year!

As you well know, Christmas is coming...quickly approaching, as a matter of fact! I (probably unlike you) still haven't ordered my Christmas cards, but it doesn't mean I haven't thought about them, and this year I'm planning to use a site I've used in the past for printing pictures but haven't tried out for cards yet. A friend showed me her family's Christmas card she ordered from this site yesterday and it is so perfect, I'm hoping I can have one almost as cute! Shutterfly.com has high quality photo gifts that are adorable, and if your family is anything like ours, everyone loves to get a photo gift (especially grandparents with pictures of their precious grandchildren on them, right?!). In the past I have put lots of time and effort into calendars, and given them to close family members full of pics of the Little One. Shutterfly.com has some adorable calendar layouts if you plan to go in that direction this year, and once you upload your pictures, they make it SO easy to fill in the words, pictures & even special dates yourself! So cute and affordable!
http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars/wall-calendars
Of course, Shutterfly also has some of the absolute cutest cards I've ever seen, and I can't wait to select those perfect photos and do our layout this year. Here are some of my favorites!

I hope I can decide between all the absolutely adorable cards and photo gifts soon, time is quickly running out for me! Hopefully the Hubby & Little One will agree to take some pics for me and we can get some cute family shots so our Christmas card can be extra fabulous this year to go along with the amazing cards :)
Merry Christmas & Happy Shopping!!!