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decorating the Christmas tree

I don’t think we’ve had a (big) Christmas tree since Liam was a toddler. I got rid of it years ago and didn’t really decorate for Christmas for many years. My heart was set on a beautiful white tree and I knew that one day, when we owned our first house, I would get the tree that I had been waiting for. This year, my tree dreams came true! I ordered a white tree from Target during Thanksgiving week while it was half price and it arrived on December 1st.

So we spent the first day of December with our Pandora station playing Christmas music while we wore our matching elf jammies and decorated the tree.

Did I say “we?” Yes! All 7 of us having matching pj’s this year and it was pretty much the best decision I have ever made. Matching pj’s for Christmas has also always been a dream of mine but I didn’t like the giant price tag that came with them. This year I ended up finding all of them for 40% off on Black Friday and bought them in sizes that they can wear this year and next–unless one of my kids miraculously has a growth spurt. And if you know my kids, you know that’s not likely.

I had a few people ask me how I got my husband to wear the jammies. My answer? Because I have a good husband, that’s how. He knew that it meant a lot to me and he didn’t complain a single bit. And he actually finds them quite comfortable so it’s a win/win.

This elf baby melts my heart!!

I’m keeping the mantel simple this year–I even had to borrow the greenery. But I’m hoping to find some pretty things after Christmas and at garage sales and thrift stores next year.

I ordered some more headbands from my friend, Rose and she threw in this adorable Christmas headband for Evangeline. We love our topknot headbands from her!

A couple of the runners-up for our Christmas card. A tripod and 10 second timer are my BFF’s. Look at how everyone is smiling! I loved this picture but thought it looked like my foot was broken haha.

And this one makes me laugh every time I look at it. Kai, the black sheep of the family.

Christmas lights are magical. The perfect glow that they cast make me so happy.

And I’ll end with this amazing picture of the kids with Santa. You know, where you can barely see 2 of my kids. And Santa and Mrs. Claus are hiding back there somewhere.

So even though I despise the cold…the Christmas lights twinkling at night, the cozy fires in the fireplace at the simple turn of a knob, and the cutest family of elves are making these cold, dark nights not so bad.

December 6, 2015

Blog, Family, iphone, Kids Say

November iPhone photos and Kids say

It’s hard to believe it’s already the end of the year! I love the holiday season but I also get overwhelmed with so many plans all the time. Here’s a quick recap of our November with iPhone photos. My favorite social media platform is intagram so the majority of my pictures are posted there.

1) Instagram does a weekend hashtag project that I love to join whenever it works out. One of the November challenges was “futuristic.” In the future, I foresee the ability to kiss my husband through the phone whenever I want 😉 (also, it was a bit harder to get the end result on that picture than I originally imagined.) 2) A little gift for a friend. 3) My new tradition of laying in Halloween candy on November 1st. 4) I had forgotten about this picture until I was looking through my camera roll. My grandma received these bon bons as a gift and I couldn’t resist the photo-op displaying the life of a stereotypical housewife (minus the soap operas on tv)

My birthday was in November and my only 2 requests were ice cream from Ices and a picture with my kids. Check and check.

So much lovin’ around here. That picture of Desmond kissing Evangeline? love it!

My brother got married a few weeks ago at this little spot in Forest Park. It looked like it was straight out of a fantasy movie. And then of course there were pictures with dinosaurs. I’m excited to have a new sister!

When you catch her in a good mood, Evangeline is so much fun to hang out with. She really is one of my best friends. I’m looking forward to the many years watching her grow.

In case you missed it, we won a trip to San Francisco!! This has been my year of winning contests. To date, my count is up to 10! We are hoping to go in the spring but I haven’t gotten the chance to sit down and call the travel agent. I’m so looking forward to it!

And since we just celebrated Thanksgiving, I just have to say that I’m thankful for a hard working husband who works a horrible shift and has to miss out on so many things so that he can provide for our family. I’m also thankful for my 5 children who wear me out but are so wonderful and such a blessing.

And a few Kids Say quotes that I’ve remembered to write down this month…

On a stressful day, when the kids were driving me crazy, I told them “I need to go on a Mommy vacation.” Kingston said “ooooooo! I wanna go!”

When we were talking about it again later, Liam suggested that I go stay at the “Dirty Inn.”
After going back and forth to figure out what kind of gross hotel he was talking about, I realized he was referring to Drury Inn.

The kids were all crowding around me, fighting over who got to sit right next to me. I said “What are you guys doing?” Kai said “jus’ chillin'”

We were sitting around with the kids, coming up with good jokes for Halloween.
Me–“What do you call a witch on the beach?”
Kai was SO CONFIDENT of his answer as he proudly yelled a not so nice word that starts with “b” and rhymes with witch. My eyes got wide as I calmly said “um no, sandwich. You call her a sandwich.”
**for the record, he hasn’t ever even heard that word before. Just being clever and combining “beach” and “witch” haha

Liam–“What is mommy getting?”
Don–“Ice cream. We didn’t have any.”
Liam–“The yummiest stuff in the world and we didn’t have any?!”

Kai–“Mommy, you should have named me Superman because I’m so strong.”

Kingston–“Yum! What is that?”
Me–“It’s biscotti. But it’s not for today.”
Kingston–“Oh, when Scotti comes over, then we can eat it with him?”

(Talking about how people’s lives are more important that material things.)
Me–“Things can always be replaced. But people can’t. If I died in a fire, you wouldn’t be able to replace me, right?”
Liam–“Yes we could! If we got a new mommy.”
(I’m just feelin’ the love -_-)

Happy December!!

December 3, 2015