Christmas Morning

Awww Christmas morning.  I've always loved Christmas.  The visiting family, presents, food, and the magic that is always there.  I never thought that it could get better when I was a kid.  Man I was wrong!  There is nothing better then seeing that same magic that you experienced as a kid in the eyes of your kids.  It seriously is the best thing!  I LOVE Christmas!  Brantley was so excited and couldn't stop talking about how excited he was that Santa was coming and he got Lilley really excited about it too.  It was awesome!

I was so mad that I forgot my camera on Christmas Eve!  But, the kids got their PJ's and we all have a great time and had amazing food like always.  That night Brantley was so amped that I thought for sure that it was going to be a while tell he fell asleep but he kept telling himself that if he doesn't fall asleep Santa can't come.  So when he hit his pillow he was out!  We had everything wrapped so all we had to do is haul it all in and set it up and we were in bed by 11:30.  To bad the kids kept waking up all night!  Lilley woke up at 1 and 5 and Brantley woke up at 5:30 but we told him that he had to go back to bed cause Santa hadn't come yet.   Brantley finally came into our room for the last time at 6:30 and we kept him there trying to hold him back tell Lilley woke up but we ended up giving up and waking Lilley up at 7:00.  I just loved watching them.  Just amazing.  I am bummed though that for some reason my pictures didn't turn out the best.  I don't know why but a lot were kinda blurry.  Such a bummer!  But I did a few good ones. 

Santa Came!!

These were my project this year.  I made these little art desks! 

Right before heading out to see if Santa came

The haul all opened up.  Man they got spoiled!!!!

Lilley's stash

And Brantley's

Next will be Christmas morning at the Grandma and Grandpa's houses.....Coming soon.  :-)

Family Fun

The other night we built a ginger bread house.  The kids worked really well together and did a great job at building it.  It's so much fun doing all of these different activities with the kids now that they are both old enough to really do them and enjoy it.  All I had to do is the icing but they told me where and how.  Such a great night!

Cheesing for the camera in the middle of decorating

Working together...LOVE IT!

The finished product

Goofs!!!  :-)

Buddy

Meet Buddy our family elf.  Isn't he cute?  I was planning on starting the elf on the shelf tradition this year and was about to order the book and elf when I ran into this little guy at Real Deals and fell in love.  I just thought that he was so cute!!  So we got this elf on the shelf instead of the more traditional one.  The kids have had sooo much fun with this!  The have had a blast waking up trying to find him every morning and I've had some fun with finding some where to hid him.  He's sat in the tree, "admired" the Lego advent calendar, Hung on for dear life on Brantley's book bag (he really wanted to go to school with him for what Brantley says), rocked in Lilley's rocking chair, hung out on the stocking holders, had a marshmallow fight and made a BIG mess that Lilley had a blast cleaning up by eating them all, took a spin in Brantley's remote control Jeep and some other things.  Besides the waking up early EVERY morning he has been a joy to have.  We love him! 

Entry Way

So I finally got all of our family pictures hung up in our entry way.  I got to say I LOVE it!  Every time I walk by it makes me smile.  The canvas pictures I did!  I'm pretty proud of myself but I've got to say it was pretty easy to do.  I would have never thought that you could do it if it wasn't for pintrest.  Such a great web site.  And it only cost me $15 for all three and if I were to order them it would have been $25 each.  Saving money just makes me love it even more.  :-)

Close up of one of the canvas's. 



Decking the Halls!

So can I just tell you how much I LOVE Christmas time?  I love everything about it!  From the decorating, the total excitement of crazy kids, giving and lots of family time. I never decorate for any other holiday but Christmas and I go all out for it.  I thought that I would document what my house looks like during Christmas.  The kids had so much time decorating with me and I've got to say they did a great job.   

I just love my village! It's by far my favorite decoration. I was sooo sad when Mervyns was closed cause they were the only ones that carried my village. So I can't add to it every year but it is good size so it will do.

 

This is our advent calendar this year!  I didn't want to do the typical candy one again so I found this Lego's one and I'm hoping they will like it more.  So far so good!!

So we don't have a fireplace to hang the stockings up on so I came up with this idea of sticking the hangers on the wall a few years ago and I just love it!! 



This is Santa's plate that gets cookies and milk Christmas Eve



Thankful

Can I say that I've got the most beautiful kids ever!!

The other day it was just a normal day. You know kids running around all crazy cracking me up and also trying my patience. The winter is always hard on my kids since they love being outside and since they can't spend as much time out there they get bored which means they get into trouble. Well this other day I was watching them and I had one of those moments that I just couldn't help but think that I was so thankful that these two little people belong to me. I get to raise them and show them how to be great adults. How lucky am I?!? They are perfect, beautiful!! And I've got a perfect husband helping me in it.  I'm  so grateful for my life. Sure it's not always happy go lucky here. But to me a perfect life has challenges. I love being a mom, love my husband and my perfect kids. They are growing up so fast and before I know it they will be all grown up.

These two little people have made me a better person in every way. I've learned to be more patient then I ever have been, they have shown me so much love more then I could ever imagine and I love them more then anything else. I never thought that I could love anyone as deeply as I love them . They truly are everything to me and have been since I first layed my eyes on them. Being a mom has been the biggest gift I have ever received.  I'm so grateful for them and my family.

 

Remember This?

So on one of these cold days the kids were getting bored and Justin and I were out of patience.  I was trying to think of something to do and I remembered this from when I was a kid.  I used to LOVE sliding down the stairs in a sleeping bag!  So we got all of the pillows and blankets in the house, piled them up at the bottom of the stairs got a sleeping bag and down they went!  The kids also LOVED it! 

Halloween!

So Halloween this year was soo much fun!  Although I've got to say that it is a lot of work!  My kids are old enough now that they want to dress up as certain things and they want it done their way and no other.  It's kind of heart breaking in a way.  It just means that they are growing up and mom just isn't cool.  (Aren't they still too young for that?)  Brantley started the day off kind of on a bumpy start.  He didn't want to have a mustache painted on for his school party but I thought that what is captain hook without a mustache?  He needed one!  So I tried to convince him of this and drew it on.  He still didn't like it but we were out of time and late for school so I told him to just deal with it.  He told me that I didn't know what was cool and that painting his face was not cool.  Sad moment!  I'm not cool!  (I should have just wiped it off but I thought he'd warm up to it.  I was wrong).  He ended up crying most of the first half of the party and hiding.  I felt so bad.  He was embarrassed and it wasn't the normal school routine.  He warmed up after a while and had a great time the second half. 

Trick-or-treating was great though!  By the end of the day Brantley decided that he wanted the mustache and we painted it back on for the night.  Lilley and Brantley loved it!  Our neighborhood decided not to do trunk or treating so we actually got a lot of kids trick-or-treating this year.  We even ran out of candy! It really was a great day (well after the morning melt down).  Justin even dressed up!!

Tinkerbelle, a fat ref and captain hook

Field Trip to Black Island Farms

 So this week we went on Brantley's first field trip with his preschool and of coarse it was to Black Island Farms.  We just LOVE this place!  It is sooo much fun!  The kids got to go on a tracker ride to the pumpkin patch and pick out their own pumpkin, see some farm animals and play on some pretty cool toys and rides.  So much fun that we are going back this week with our neighbors and friends.  It's hours of fun!

Lilley raising her hand telling the guy she had found her pumpkin

She was so excited to have her very own pumpkin that was her size!

Brantley and his pick

They weren't too happy with me for making them take their picture here before they went to play...I'm such a mean mom.  :-)

Brantley and his friend from school having a race

This slide was a little steeper then he thought.  But of coarse he loved it!

Lilley had to get in the fun.  She climbed up the hay bales all by herself.

The train ride!

I just love this girls smile!  Melts my heart!

And of coarse so does Brantley's

They were so proud of themselves for climbing up to the top.  It was pretty high up.