Goodbye 2013 Hello 2014

As I recap on 2013 I can see that this was one of my best years yet. Aaron and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary, we welcomed our second child Brantley in this world and Caidan, our oldest turned 10! I am very lucky to have such an amazing group of friends and a stellar family! We are so excited to see what the future will hold and can't wait for 2014! Here is a quick recap on our year!

We are also going to be staying in this year and I thought, I think I'll throw a little festive party! It just gives me an excuse to decorate, Aaron says. Here are some of my favorite ideas brought to you by Pinterest! Most of these things can be done DIY so I am thrilled about that! How will you decorate this year if you are throwing a party?

And of course your daily dose of my favorite 5 month old!

A VERY Merry Christmas 2013!

Well, Christmas has officially come and gone. I feel like it was like the day of our wedding, there was so much time and preparation that went into it and then it was over! Oh well, there will be another year! The kids were spoiled rotten, oh and so was I:) Aaron and I decided not to over do it this christmas and just focus on the kids. I listened, he didn't. He surprised me with the top band to my wedding ring. It's currently being sautered and sized so I can't show you a picture, but it's gorgeous! Brantley got a anytime chair from our friends at Pottery Barn Kids as well as a boat load of clothes from Baby Gap! Caidan got a PS4 (which is a gaming system) as well as a ton of Under Armor and Nike stuff!

We spent Christmas Eve with Aaron's family and then had dinner with mine. Brantley was exhausted by the end of the day he fell asleep in my mom's arms:) Note that he has a death grip on the wipes.

I made snowman pancakes for Caidan and myself to get us in the holiday spirit!

This was the best photo of the 4 of us I could get, which is 100% better than our thanksgiving photo. 

Brantley also got this talking puppy that he can't quite use yet but that didn't stop mommy and daddy from getting him on it!

He loved unwrapping gifts and eating the paper.... 

But most of all, just liked sitting in his box.

 Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and now, we must get ready for New Years Eve! 2013 has been so great! Looking forward to what 2014 will bring!

Merry Christmas Eve EVE!

I'm not sure what I'm more excited about. The fact that Christmas Eve is tomorrow or the fact that Christmas is officially two days away! Most of the gifts are wrapped (had to buy some last minute ones today) and everything is all ready for tomorrow! I had to take a step back and breathe for a moment today as I was becoming overwhelmed with festivities for the next few days. We have lots of family to see and not enough hours in the day to do so! I am so excited for Brantley's first Christmas, I can hardly contain myself. We went and saw santa at the mall over the weekend and I fear that this will be the last year for Caidan:( he is 10 and is slowly becoming more aware of what's "really" going on:) I'll cross that bridge when I get to it I guess. 

Brantley has no clue what's going on. Caidan is clearly skeptical.

But once he's in his brothers arms, all is well! We finished baking our sugar cookies this weekend and are frosting them tomorrow, I know I put it off till the last minute. 

B is also sporting his Christmas Jammies that I had to get! For the record, I had a coupon!

Oh and I never do tbt on Instagram but I had to do one this week because just one year ago, little b was in my belly and this is the shot we got as our "family" photo! classy individuals we are. 

Hope you all have a very merry Christmas Eve EVE!

One week till Christmas.....

I cannot believe christmas is only one week away! All the gifts have been wrapped and cookies have been made! We are doing our annual sugar cookies on Friday because Caidan is out of school for two weeks! I have been spending many nights curled up by the fire with a glass of wine or hot cocoa and all seems perfect in that moment! Today I made snowman cupcakes for caidans Christmas party tomorrow!

Last weekend we traveled to New Mexico to visit family and it was Brantley's first real trip outside the state. It was a 5 hour car ride and he did so well! There were lots of people there to hold him but ultimately he only wanted his mama! 

Caidan snowboarded for two days straight and I had to scrape him off the mountain each day! He had so much fun!

I have yet to get a good picture of both kids in front if the Christmas tree so this is the best so far.

This month marked 20 weeks and I remember seeing something similar on Pinterest where you compare the ultra sound picture and then their current picture! What a great way to document these milestones!

Hope everyone is having a great holiday season so far! 

Wrapping gifts

I have always envied the perfectly wrapped presents that you see under the trees in the magazines and thought, I can do that! I've always loved the simplicity of using kraft paper and then accessorizing with ribbon and string and washi tape! The possibilities are endless and you can get creative as well! PS Target has a fantastic line of new wrapping essentials that I was ALL over! Here's a peek at some of the gifts I have wrapped so far!

 I used this adorable wiener dog paper with just some festive twine string and look how nice it looks!

 Here are some of the goodies I picked up!

 In love with this washi tape, I plan to use it on the gifts from Santa!

 Basic kraft paper with some twine

I also wanted to include our advent calendar this year, I had my heart set on this one from garnet hill but it was 78 dollars! It is now on sale for 50% of and I plan to use it next year! So we picked this one up from Home Goods and called it a day! Caidan is so excited to move the snowflake every morning!

 And of course the munchkin! He is getting so freaking big!

Happy almost Christmas! Only two weeks away!

Christmas Crafting

Along with loving the holidays for the obvious reasons, I also love to bake and craft with Caidan! He loves to see what kind of things I can dig up on Pinterest and then what I come up on my own! So far we have only done the baking part of things! Here is what we did the other day!

 Holly and berry treats

 Oreo snowmen

 chocolate dipped pretzels 

 We are going to do our crafting this week so stay tuned for much more to come! Here is your daily dose of the munchkin! 

red and green striped onesie

It's cold today so.....

Today in Denver the high was 10. Yes, 10 degrees. So we parked it in front of the couch and watch Disney movies all day and may or may not have eaten lots of chocolate. Brantley is getting so big and today I realized just how big as he actually watched the movies. He jumps all day and tries to talk to me! His hands are constantly in his mouth and I'm convinced that one day they will come out! Note Charlie keeping watch yet again:)

He turned 4 months last week and I am realizing just how big he is getting!

Happy Wednesday!

Happy December!

It is officially December and the start to my absolute favorite time of the year! I feel like it comes and goes so quickly so I try to hold on it each day and do fun things with the kids everyday! So far on our list is making snowman cupcakes, handprint wreaths and holly treats! I spent the day after thanksgiving taking down the fall decor and putting up all of the Christmas decor! I added a few new things to my collection and updated our ornaments. I also did almost all of my Christmas shopping in Friday.....online! I will never be one of the people who will brave the crowds on Black Friday. It just doesn't appeal to. Me especially since most of the time the same offers are offered online with free shipping! I had so much fun setting up the tree with Caidan and Brantley this year. I am truly thankful for my kids and the fact that I get to spend this time with them!

This year I went with a more woodland and natural approach. I used gold and silver ornaments as well as the home made ones we made! The tree skirt is actually just a faux fur throw because I could not believe how expensive tree skirts are!

I used the tree trimmings all over the house because I could not throw them away! Plus they add to the wonderful smell in my home! Speaking of my home smelling wonderful, I have just been turned onto mrs Meyers cleaning products and I have to say that not only are they organic and made with natural products they have amazing scents like their holiday ones like Iowa pine and cranberry. Mine are on order because the store was sold out so I bought these!

Here is the rest of our home!

Signage from j and paper on etsy! She is an incredible chalk board artist and did these for Christmas!

Tassel garland from project paper on etsy. She offers many colors and styles and the shipping is so quick! I will def continue to support this shop!

Stocking and letter from target 

Handmade wreath by me! Message me if you would like one!

 

And of course the munchkin!

 

Hope you all have a fantastic start to the greatest time of year! 

Yes these are just one of my many pairs of Christmas socks!

And matching holiday glassware:)