Holidays 2014....6 months later

I've been gone for 6 months now, ummm wow. Keeping up to date on my blog is hard, but I want to do it because it's sort of my kids' baby books. So here are some long overdue pictures of Thanksgiving and Christmas, our first as a family of 4....what a sweet time it was.

 

Christmas 2013

The Christmas season was so special for us this year, celebrating with Hadley at this fun and tender age and so filled with joy with #2 on the way.  Here are the last couple day of December for us....

 

Reindeer Chow and No Bake Cookies - take that broken oven!



First gingerbread house!



World's sweetest husband surprised me with this :)



Getting ready for our North Pole Breakfast - Reindeer and Snowman donuts!

 

North Pole Breakfast - menu below so I don't forget next year!



 

 

 



In her big girl room - Santa did good!

North Pole Breakfast
This was so fun to put together and the girls loved it. Can't wait to add another to our table for this next Christmas! Here is the menu:

• Bacon and ham
• Crockpot grits via (so delish and they cooked themselves overnight)
• Reindeer and snowman donuts
• Baked oatmeal casserole via
• Santa pancakes (just add strawberries for his hat and whip cream for his beard)
• Hot chocolate with candy cane stirrers

Five on Friday!

ONE
We have had fun with all the Christmas festivities this year with Hadley. She really is into it all this year - we even started Elf of the Shelf (which she named "Frank" of all things). He's been very mischievous and she loves running and looking for him every morning. Usually I am moving him around right before she wakes up, almost got caught this week!  What has Frank been up to so far?

TWO
I never blogged about Thanksgiving, but we had a wonderful weekend, away from work and spent with our dear family.  Brandon and I ran a 10K on Thanksgiving morning (around 24 degrees when we started!). I placed 5th in my age group and finished the 6.2 miles in 50 minutes (give or take a few seconds) at a pace of 8:10/mile. I was so excited! Brandon finished just a minute or so later and placed 7th in his age group. Post race pic...

Twinkies!

We took Hadley to the Fantasy of Trees that weekend. She is at the perfect age for all the activities and couldn't wait to see Santa! She decorated a sugar cookie (which she consumed in like 2.5 seconds), got her face painted, got a princess manicure, rode the carousel with her daddy, and sat in Santa's lap like a pro (soooo unlike last year - she was terrified of the man).

Me and Brandon managed an amazing date night that weekend with dinner at Blue Coast Burrito (I had the most amazing fish tacos) and then had front row seats at the Amos Lee concert. That man is so talented.

THREE
Hadley really wants a big girl bed for Christmas. Is it bad to admit she is 3 and still in her crib? She's never climbed out but I think we are all ready for her to make the move. She wakes up every morning, "MOMMYYYYY, I NEED TO GO POTTYYYYY." Counting down the days till she can do this by herself!  We ordered her furniture and bedding which should be delivered the weekend before Christmas. Here is a sneak peak!




Bed, nightstand, and dresser

Bedding from PBK

FOUR
Last weekend Hadley came down with the most terrible stomach bug (the pukey kind). We pretty much didn't leave the house all weekend so we are ready for a fun time this weekend with Christmas parties, gingerbread house decorating, and present wrapping!

FIVE
I've been working on Christmas gifts for Hadley's wonderful teachers. I ended up getting these adorable mugs from Anthropologie. I think these are so cute and I can't wait to fill them up with goodies and package them up!

I also ran across these adorable milk bottle measuring cups which I think would be the cutest little present for the cook in your life!