We're Back!

It was so nice putting the computer away for a few days or so and focusing on enjoying every moment during the holiday. But, we're back. :)

It really is the most wonderful time of the year! All the build up and it is over so fast. Even though I am going to miss Christmas time, I was ready to de-pine needle the home :) And since we decided to put the tree in the playroom this year, I especially wanted it gone because all of Stella's toys were creeping back into the living room. Therefore, the tree is gone, and you know how it goes...we will keep finding random pine needles for awhile. Those suckers get everywhere!

Christmas morning was just as magical as I hoped it would be. First off Stella slept until 7:20. Rick and I both went up to get her and videotaped her coming downstairs to find all of her presents under the tree. Her first glance was followed by a long point at the presents while saying "Ah!"  After opening each present she wanted to play with it before going onto the next. It made for a nice slow paced morning.

The rest of the day was perfect. We stayed in our pjs's all day and just played. In between taking a bath and putting on clean pj's I put Stella on the potty and we had our first pee on the potty! it was the best christmas present I could of asked for :) We had family over for brunch and we had family over for dinner. a perfect Christmas day.  Stella opened presents from morning to night. ;) The playroom is full of new fresh toys for Momma Stella to play with. 

The best mess is the mess left from Christmas day. so true.

Over the weekend, I reorganized the playroom and put away some toys that Stella has outgrown. We also purchased a cubbie organizer with a few baskets to help organize all of her toys.

So New Years Day is just around the corner and I began to get my wheels turning about my new years resolution. I know I had to think of something practical that I could complete with the time that I have without a toddler attached to my hip :) So I have decided to focus on organization; and I am going to start with the kitchen. I am going to reorganize one, yes one, cabinet a week! I know there is crap in some of those cabinets that either I have forgotten that I even have or never use and is just clogging up space. I also want to reorganize the coat closet shelf, and Rick and I's closet. 

Cheers to a Happy Monday!

Holiday Shenanigans

The holidays have been so much fun around here! I really can't wait for Christmas morning. You'd think I was the kid waiting for Santa to come and walk down to see all my presents under the tree on Christmas morning. Between the advent calendar and getting presents from friends and family, she kinda has the present excitement-opening business down. game on.

I think it's fair to say I have skipped blogging some lately because of Holiday fun! can't blame me for trying to suck up every single moment i can with this little munchkin.  Let's see...we have been busy making salt dough hand print ornaments, building gingerbread houses and reading Christmas stories. Oh yea and wearing these fancy dress up specs.... she seriously melts my heart...

Back to our Holiday shenanigans. I found a recipe for salt dough to make some hand print impression ornaments.  The dough couldn't have been easier. Stella actually mixed all three ingredients for me ;) flour, salt, and water! Rolled out the dough, stamped those bad boys and baked them in a 125 degree oven for an hour! Easy peesy! 

We had a blast making our gingerbread house this year. Not sure if Stella had more fun licking the icing off of the house or eating the candies. After watching Rick and I stick the candies to the house, she caught on and started taking handfuls of nerds and runts and dumping them on the roof. Where ever they fell is where the stayed. :) All in all the house looked pretty damn good if you ask me ;)

A new chalkboard and some new books...thanks G.G for the new Christmas books! Stella enjoys pointing out Santa in her Christmas books whenever she can. She loves him on paper; but in person...not a chance!

Another reason I love this time of year is the gatherings that we have with friends and family. We had our annual Christmas get together this weekend and it fell no where short of perfect. Spending time with special people, good food, festive cocktails and kiddies wearing each other out make for a great night. and my little babe went to sleep at 10:30 p.m and was still awake at 6:20 a.m.!! What the hell?? :)

Yes Stella this is your crazy ass Uncle Wyatt...

Only 4 more days until Christmas! And only three more days until my baby girl is 15 months old. 

After a great weekend, Sunday had the most perfect ending. There is no sweeter thing than lounging in front of the fire with my baby girl sound asleep on my chest, listening to each soft breathe that she takes....pure heaven. 

First set of Pigtails!

Okay, so I thought that these pigtails deserved a post of their own! During our trip to target I figured I would pick up a pack of the ouchless baby hair ties and give pigtails a whirl. A success! Ha! No more pulling the barretts out!  ;) 

Same old, same old's been going on around here. Holiday shenanigans, getting stuff together for our little Christmas get together, baking holiday goodies here and there and admiring Stella's endless goofy faces these days. I can't leave out this little babe's obsession with putting her feet on the table and the damn toilet lately. Let's see..so far I have found my socks and coupons in the throne. i think i would rather pick in the trash then in the toilet miss Stella. 

Tinsel our Elf is not sitting in the kitchen tree anymore ;) Rick and I began having some fun with her. He always moves her before he goes to work and I actually find myself excited to look for her. it's my inner child ;) 

We have 7 presents left on the advent calendar and 8 days until Christmas. I would say we are doing pretty good! I only rewrapped half of the damn presents on the calendar! :)

We have lots more Holiday cookies to bake and a gingerbread house to build. 

Happy Hump Day!

Check, Check and Check

Clearly I am not blogging during naps lately. I have been busy doing other things: wrapping, wrapping, some more wrapping...

We have checked a few more things off of our Winter/Holiday bucket list. One tradition I wanted to carry on from my childhood to Stella's is taking a trip to Peddlers Village during Christmas to see all of the lights and we did just that Saturday night. It was cold freezing! Little miss Stella reminded us of Randy from Christmas Story she was so damn bundled. She was in awe with the lights. All I saw was her little mittens pointing at the lights saying 'Ah!' With some hot apple cider, bustling through the crowds, my childhood memories came right back to me.

Sunday was mostly spent at home, beside the wood stove baby! After some gold flake dusted pancakes for breakfast and a quick lunch with some friends in town, Rick, Stella and I roasted watching the wood stove burn baby burn! Stella loved most chillin' in nothing but a onsie! That girl would live naked if she could.

We are lit!

Stella and I baked a batch of cupcakes and put a few decorations on them after they cooled. Momma smothered frosting on them and Stella stuck a mini gingerbread man on the cake :)  She made sure she licked her little fingers every chance she got! 

For the record, this gal is a dipper! Stella had a few baked french fries as part of her dinner! She dunked those bad boys in ketchup before each and every bite! i guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree ;)

Peddlers Village...check

Woodstove...check

Crazy Coupe assembled...check

Presents wrapped...check

Baking holiday decorated cupcakes...check!

Lastly....Stella selfies...yes please! She thought it was the strangest thing seeing herself in the phone. She was playing peekabo with herself until she discovered the camera button. A few selfies later...

10 Days until Christmas!

The Halls are Decked

The halls are decked! The stocking are hung by fireside, the tree is up and the village is lit. I am truly in disbelief that Christmas is 2 weeks away! Like every other year I know that it is going to come and go so damn fast. I am trying to enjoy every moment with Stella this year. When Rick brought the tree in Monday night to stand she was beside herself. She kept rubbing the branches and needles talking to herself in her own language. the whole time i was wondering what she was saying. Rick and I just looked at each other and laughed. She didn't leave the tree the entire night until it was time for bed. We let it fall for the night and decided to decorate it on Tuesday night. Stella was mesmerized as the lights went up on the tree. And as Rick and I hung ornaments on the tree, Stella took ornaments off the tree. ;) Needless to say that is why we went a little light on the ornaments this year. There are two ornaments that hold a very special place in my heart, which were the first two that were placed on the tree.

Mabel and Elroy, you are both missed terribly.  

 

Stella's Aunt Ashley and her cousins bought her an Elf on the Shelf as an early Christmas present. As the story goes you are not aloud to touch her or else she looses her magic powers and can't return to the North Pole to tell Santa how you are behaving. Since Stella doesn't quite understand just yet and all she wants to do is touch her and hold her we decided to place Tinsel (that is what we named her)  sitting in the tree in the kitchen and to watch over Stella.  Hopefully they will become more familiar with each others faces and we can have more fun next year. 

Our advent calendar looks a bit shabby for this week. :) Presents are randomly missing, gift boxes are empty. O well. How can you say no to a one year old just wanting to open a present? One a day doesn't seem to be enough. I honestly have no clue where some of the numbered present went. Two are MIA! So, there are less presents than days left until Christmas! If Stella isn't in your sight, than most chances are you can find her at the advent calendar! sneaking a present or 2!

On another note, my shopping is done! This is a first ever! All that is left is wrapping :) Nothing I can't handle. I am really excited for Stella to open her gifts! i am getting bored of playing with the same toys over and over again ;) Momma needs some new toys to play with!

Next on the to do list? Build our gingerbread house and start prepping for our Christmas party next weekend. 

Sparkle leggings? Yes, please!

Everything is Better in a Tutu

Our weekend was full of Christmas festivities and I loved every minute of them. Saturday was all day rain. Our plan was to go cut down our Christmas tree but that definitely wasn't going to happen. So instead we had some Rudolph pancakes, met up with some friends for lunch and took Stella to see Santa. When we got to Santa's North Pole, he was of course on break so we wondered around the mall for a bit. Rick suggested we head back to get in line a few minutes early and good thing we did. Five minutes after we began the line, there were more than 30 people in line. Stella is not one to be strapped down for long periods of time now that she is mobile. So to help the time go by and keep her occupied while waiting for Santa (to come back from the bar?!) she was the little babe pulling the snow out of the North Pole. I kept hearing little voices in line "Mom, look! That little girl is pulling out the snow!" whatever it takes i guess, right?

Priceless...

She was fine until she sat on his lap and got a good look at him up close. Immediate waterworks!

The rest of the day was spent in jammies at home staying out of the rain. We played in the ball pit, and made Christmas cut out cookies. It really is fun making messes together. cleaning them up is another story. The second I dropped the flour onto the table to keep the dough from sticking her little hands were in it swishing like windshield wipers. She caught on pretty quick :) She was cutting out cookies in no time! 

These are the moments that I wish I could freeze and spend forever in.

Sunday we woke up and headed right to the tree farm after breakfast. Can you believe that there was a line at the tree farm waiting for the gates to open? We were torn between how to maneuver Stella through the tree farm. We figured the grounds were going to be saturated from Saturday's rain so the stroller wasn't the best option. We didn't feel like sinking in the mud, and Stella wasn't going to make it walking the distance of the tree farm as much as she would of loved to try. So the baby Bjorn it was. Let's just say she wasn't the biggest fan. Being strapped in, just isn't her cup of tea these days. She was in love with every tree that we passed, and wanted to touch each and every one of them. The wind was incredible. Her little nose looked like Rudolph's by the time we were done.

 After getting back from the tree farm we played in the playroom, of course playing in Tutu's is so much more fun, while Rick cut a hole in the house ;) Fingers crossed we will be sweating our asses off in front of the wood stove one day this week!  We wrapped up our weekend with a new soup recipe for Soup Sunday! Chicken enchilada soup. It was damn good, especially because it was so cold outside!

17 days until Christmas!