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!