Home for the Holiday

We woke up on Christmas Eve to a sick baby. Unfortunately, Evan has another cold. We still had an amazingly wonderful Christmas though... it is so exciting to have started some new Christmas traditions with our little family!

I woke up on Christmas Eve morning and made hot, gooey cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Then Evan and I got started making Reindeer food to sprinkle on our front yard. To make the reindeer food we poured some oatmeal in a baggie and add some glitter. Then we attached a note that said "Make a wish and close your eyes tight, then sprinkle on your yard at night. As Santa's reindeer fly and roam, this food will guide them to your home. For your gift to the reindeer and Rudolph, your wish may be real, your dreams may come true!"


After Evan's afternoon nap we started on baked homemade cookies for Santa. Santa made a special request for chocolate chip cookies this year :)

We put out the cookies and a cold glass of milk for Santa and a carrot for Rudolf.


No Chimney! No Fireplace! No Problem! Santa's magic key is hung on our front door.


Before we put Evan to bed, we sat by our beautifully light up Christmas tree and Dan read us "The Night Before Christmas" as Evan fell asleep.


Children make the holidays so magical!

On Christmas morning Evan woke up at 7:30 am and we headed out to check to see if Santa had come...


He did!!!

Evan loved all his presents. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family.

Merry Christmas to all our family and friends.

An Almost 2 Year Old and an Early Christmas

It's here, it's here! Evan's video, is here! I love the way it came out. I made a video through One True Media's website of pictures and video clips of Evan from 12 - 24 months. It took many hours of uploading pictures, picking out the perfect music to go along with those pictures, and editing lots of video clips. Dan requested to not see the video until it was complete. Well last tonight we watched it together and he was so blown away and excited about how it turned out! I can't wait to play the video for our friends and family at Evan's 2nd birthday party. It brought me to tears seeing how much Evan has done over the last year. I can't believe my baby is almost two! This year has gone by so fast.

Evan has been under the weather these last couple weeks. He has a sinus infection and croop. We have been staying at home a lot lately to give Evan a chance to get better. One thing Evan loves to do when he is sick is take baths.


It was really cold most of the week, but on Friday it was in the 70's and beautiful outside. So we spent some much needed time outside and played on Evan's new swing set. It was nice to get out of the house for a little bit! I put him next to the rope ladder and he knew just what to do! He wanted so badly to get up there :)


My parents and sister are heading up to Philly in a few days, so we celebrated our Christmas with them over the weekend. My dad cranked up the Christmas music and my mom made us all hot choloclate with little marshmellows. Then we all sat around the Christmas tree and exchanged gifts. In my family believing in Santa is a must! Or you will not get any presents ;) All gifts under the tree are addresses "From: Santa." I love Christmas time!!


Let me end this post by saying thank you to my wonderful husband, our outside decorations look beautiful! We are the only people I know who have a Christmas elephant :)

Swing Set, Lotsa Cookies, and Family

Evan got a very special present from his grandparents this year for Christmas... a new swing set! It arrived a few weeks ago, but when Dan went to open the huge box he immediately noticed we were sent the wrong item. It was a girly pink and purple play house- not what we ordered! So we called the company about the mix up and after jumping through many hoops they finally arranged to get us our clubhouse swing set that we ordered. Well, it finally arrived this week!

Evan loves the swinging motion. It is not only fun for him, but really good for him too. I try to take him to the park as much as possible. Studies have shown that swinging can be used to help kids regulate their bodies. It also helps them focus and increases a child's body awareness. But Evan doesn't care about any of that... to him swinging is just plain 'ol fun!

Even though Christmas is still a few weeks away away we decided to put it together early for him. We just couldn't wait, so Dan assembled it this weekend. He is so good at these sorts of things and he actually likes doing it.


This weekend, I got some long overdue girl time with my ladies from playgroup. My friend Robynne had us all over for a Cookie Swap. We each made 2 dozen cookies and brought them to share. Now I have a whole bunch of different Christmas cookies to snack on!


I saved the best for last, Rachel and her boyfriend Jess are here! They came into town on Friday and I could not be happier. I have missed my sister so much while she has been at law school. Now I get her home until January! Even though Evan does not see his Aunt Rachel very much it amazes me what a special bond they have.

Here is just a cute picture of Evan :) Check out his eyes in this picture. I love how green they look!

Weekend Fun

We started off our weekend with a breakfast with Santa. Our church has a pancake breakfast with Santa every year to raise money for a local charity. The pancakes were delicious! Evan even enjoyed a few bites. However, Evan was not a fan of Santa this year and started fussing and trying his darnedest to get away from him! So Santa asked me if I could sit on his lap and then have Evan sit on my lap. haha Can't wait to see how the picture turned out!

We had some free time so we headed to the park to enjoy the beautiful cool weather. Evan had a blast...


... and he thought his shadow was pretty cool too :)

We ended the weekend with Jose coming over for some football, BBQ and an impromptu photo shoot in front of our Christmas tree. Thanks Jose for the help and tips with photoshop editing!

Traditions

We are not able to make the trip up to see my family in Philly this year. Evan got really sick last year and took a while to get better. The cold weather was just too much for our Florida baby, so Dan and I decided to stay home this year. I love my traditions up in Philly and will miss my family a ton, but I am determined to make this year a great Christmas for my family.

Here are some of our traditons, some new and old...

Enchanted Tree Lighting Ceremony
Every year on the Friday after Thanksgiving we go to Hyde Park for their Enchanted Tree Lighting Ceremony to kick off the holiday season. We meet our friends there and drink hot chocolate and wait excitedly for Jolly Old St. Nicholas to come an light up the 30-foot Christmas Tree. Yay! It is officially Christmas time!

Christmas Tree Oh Christmas Tree
We got our tree at Home Depot over the weekend. We spent a cozy night at home decorating our tree. Every year since Dan and I started dating we decorate our tree with Chirstmas music playing in the background and with a mug of hot chocolate! Evan is so fasinated with the tree!

Christmas Pajamas
I bought Evan's Christmas pajamas! I can't wait to see my little boy go to bed on Christmas Eve wearing his new pair of Christmas plaid coat pajamas.

Santa's Post Office
At every Macy's across the county there is a mailbox to collect letters to Santa Clause. We brought Evan's stamped letter to Macy's addressed to Santa at the North Pole, and drop it into Santa's special mailbox. For each letter recieved there will be a $1 donated to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, up to $1,000,000. I am excited to make this one of our new family traditions!

More to come...

So Much To Be Thankful For!

We started off our Thanksgiving day with getting up at the crack of dawn, at 5:30 am, to head down to the Turkey Trot. Our race started at 7 am. Poor Evan was so confused why his parents were getting him up before the sun even got up!

My mom, Evan and I walked the 5K fun race while my dad, Dan, Steve and Jose ran in the competitive race.

This is a tradition my family has done every year since I can remember. It was a great start to our day!

After the race we had an amazing breakfast at my parents. Then we took a drive over to see my parents new condo on Indian Shores.

We could not go inside yet because they don't actually sign for it until Tuesday, but we got to check out the beach!

Evan loved crawling around in the sand and splashing in the waves with his Grandpa!

After the beach, we spent the day relaxing, watching some football and preparing for dinner. We missed having my sister home this year. She was not able to make it home from law school because Thanksgiving falls right in the middle of her exams.

My mom did a great job and the dinner was oh so good! After dinner, my cousin Frank came over to have pumpkin and apple pies.

I love Thanksgiving! I am so thankful for my family, wonderful husband, and my sweet little boy! I am a lucky girl :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

This isn't just a turkey as you can plainly see.

I made it with my hand which is a part of me.

It comes with lots of love especially to say,

I hope you have a very, Happy Thanksgiving Day!

Love, Evan

Finger Painting Fun

Today we finger painted! Evan had a blast. He painted not 1, not 2, not 3 but 4 masterpieces.

He was very focused during his art time today. He didn't mind getting messy at all and thankfully didn't try to put any paint in his mouth! Evan has done painting with pudding before, but this is the first art project I can keep and it will be proudly displayed on our refrigerator. I already know that I am going to be one of those moms that never have clean refrigerator doors... it is always going to be covered with kid's art projects, pictures of family and friends, and party invitation.



Only in Florida can you have your baby outside in his diaper doing finger paining in November.

One of Evan's masterpieces!

The Mota's... as Elfs!

This website it too funny. Dan and I can't stop laughing :) Evan looks so dang cute!

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/tZWKEOzu7DZIwXEK

Well, I need to get to bed and stop playing with this site... good night!

Ft Myers

Visiting family, sand, sun, swimming, a visit to my favorite little whole-in-the-wall bookstore, a well over due date night with my hubby, drinks and live music at the Holiday Inn... I so needed this weekend!

Pop-Pop and Evan looking at boats on the balcony.

My handsome little guy!

Date Night :)

They loved on Evan so much this weekend!
Dan and I love visiting my Granny and Pop-Pop. They have a condo in Fort Myers Beach right on the beach. We packed up our stuff and headed down on Friday night and stayed until Sunday. It was too short but we cramed all the fun we could. The weather was amazing!