Graham Cracker Houses and Chillin'

One of our favorite things to do at Christmas when family is in town, is to just sit around and chill and chat and watch the kiddos. It was especially fun this year to watch Penny and Trey toddle around and aggressively play with each other. Mostly Penny being the bully. We stopped by Nanny's to visit, and Livy is obsessed with Emmie. 

Then we got the great idea to not only use our super awesome Royal icing, but to use a hot glue gun for the foundation of the house and the icing for all of the decorations. Needless to say the houses were done a whole lot quicker, and with a whole lot less stress and frustration. It was great for the kids to help and get involved to because we didn't have to worry as much about the sturdiness of the houses. 

I love this tradition and I love this family of mine so much. 

Learning Dynamics Christmas Program

Livy's Christmas Program may have been one of the happiest moments of my life. I hear people talk about their heart exploding, but really, I was beaming with pride the entire 45 minutes. At the beginning of the program they told all the kids to look at their parents and sing to them. Livy looked right at us, and continued to look at us the entire time. She didn't need any help from her teachers, she knew all of the words and all of the actions to every song. I couldn't handle it. I just wanted to squeeze her she was so stinkin' cute. I am so glad she has another year of preschool mostly so I can see this program again. She kills me. 

We feel so lucky to have both Mimi and Grammy Sue there to watch her. 

Livy has absolutely loved her teacher Mrs. Anderson. She especially likes her because she has brown hair and brown eyes just like her. She really has been fantastic. Such a good year for Liv. 

Christmas is in the Air

I wish I had taken more pictures of "putting up Christmas", but this is all I got, and the girls loved it. Penny loved holding the ornaments and then holding them next to the tree as if she were helping. Olivia was a huge helper, she made a beautiful cluster of silver ornaments right at her level. I wanted to spread them out so badly, but then I realized just how much I loved it. 

Baby Booting

Since Ryan started school this Fall, I decided to start making and selling baby boots again. I opened up shop on Etsy, opened an Instgram account, and was busy all Fall. I was a vendor in the Small Shop Round Up in September and the Beehive Bazaar in December. I sewed for hours every day. An hour or two during nap time, and then a few hours at night while Ryan studied. It was fun, and I was so busy. But I think I'm ready for a little break now. Or a break for forever. We'll see. 

 

Pasta Lover

But really. This girls loves spaghetti and lasagna, and these pictures make me so happy. 

Christmas at Riverwoods

We were at Riverwoods for dinner and decided to take advantage of the surprisingly warm weather, and enjoy the lights and with hardly a line to see Santa, we quickly prepped Liv for her list with Santa. She was awesome. She hopped right up on his knee and told him she wanted a "dollhouse". Then we put Penny on his other knee for a picture, and she immediately put her hand against his face, trying to push him away and screamed at the top of her lungs. I wish we had a video of it, it was hilarious. This may just be my favorite picture of all time. 

The girls both loved all of the lights. They would just look around with awe and say "wow!", we absolutely love this time of year, and all of the joy and happiness it brings. 

Qualtrics Christmas Party

Every year Qualtrics keeps trying to out do themselves at the Christmas party, and so far they have! This year was a Roaring 20's theme. I was pretty excited, and was lucky enough to find a costume from a friend the night before the event! My friend Erin did my hair, it was such a fun night out. Everything was decked out in glitz and glam. We had a delicious buffet dinner and then our entertainment was Brian McKnight, he was awesome. He has such an amazing voice, it was such a fun night. Then we stuck around for the DJ for a few minutes and danced our little hearts out. Such a good time.