Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve our family did our traditional appetizer and desserts for dinner, amazing as always! It was great to spend time with family and exchange some gifts before the big day! 

Easton spent some time watching Mickey, with his snowman cup in his new "pirate cave". Doesn't get much better than this for our little guy!

The gifts for our family exchange and my parents!

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 Having a red door really pays off this time of year...doesn't it?

My sister and my sil enjoying a holiday cocktail! They were delicious!

Our Very Own Merry Little Christmas

Merry Little Christmas

He woke up from his nap and came down to a living room set up for him

Our Christmas Post is before our Christmas Eve celebration because that is the way it all went down. Since our work schedules didn't really allow us to have our little family Christmas on its own day, we did it before Christmas Eve celebrations began. It was magical. Easton couldn't have played the part any better. He loved each and every gift we got him. He squealed, clapped, and ran around. It was great! 

The gifts were wrapped and his play house carefully put together

 As seen in the pictures below he was pretty excited and he kept saying "Ohh". He might not know what Christmas is all about but I think he got the feeling when he started opening his gifts!

After playing in his little house he opened his alligator! He ran around the house with it, as seen below!

He got a John Deere remote control tractor for toddlers. Can you just feel his excitement!!

I think he and his Dada will enjoy this toy for sure! After he opened all his gifts we packed up and headed to my parents for our traditional Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas Eve

Today is the day! Today is Easton's Christmas. Little does he know that when he goes to sleep for his nap he will wake up with a living room filled with presents! Since I have to work tomorrow the hubby agreed that we could do his presents today, so that I wont miss the chaos! 

 After some family fun we will head over to my parents annual Christmas Eve celebration. It is a relaxing night filled with family, presents, appetizers and cocktails! 

 This little guy has been so good with the ornaments, our first day of time outs really paid off this holiday season. He has a select few that he plays with (which are from his nursery tree) and other than that he just points to the "ball" ornaments!

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas Eve and get to be surrounded by those that you love. 

In an Instant

How quickly they grow. A year ago my baby really was a baby. I randomly found this picture this week and I have never even seen it. I have no make up on, my hair is probably unwashed and in a messy bun. My baby is in pajamas and I probably am too. I have no idea what day it was or what we were doing when it was snapped, but I love it. 

This time last year I was so sleep deprived, so nervous about going back to work and questioning everything I was doing as a mother. Although I still question and research and ask others, I am way more confident than I was in this photo. Oh to be a first born...This little babe could have cared less that I didn't know what I was doing or that I was learning moment by moment how to be a mother. I am sure I will look back on photos of this year and realize I will have grown even more as a mother and he will have most certainly grown a whole year too.  A year really passes in an instant. 

5 on Friday

1. Remembering this during this season is key. The reason I celebrate Christmas is celebrating the birth of Jesus. Of course I enjoy many of the festivities that come along with this time of year too!

 2. Gingerbread house making. My mom always did this with us as kids and even as adults we have kept the tradition alive. Tonight I hope to make this happen! Despite having purchased a gingerbread house early in the season only to have the dogs eat it last week and then going to 2 stores this morning to buy one with no luck!! I will find one by tonight!

3.  I love our little tree corner. A couple of years ago I made the no sew burlap tree skirt and it has held together and I'm still loving it!

4. A new addition this year are pillows!! One that says "silent night" and the other says "holy night". Made with Iron on Transfer printable paper! 

5.  I am also loving that we have the first amendment for all to believe whatever they choose, to say whatever they choose to believe and those that don't respect others beliefs just have to deal. Except A & E doesn't believe in the whole freedom of speech part but thats their right too.

Disneyland with some iphoneography

After a rough start to the day. Easton and I joined some friends at what will be hopefully a year filled of Disneyland! Its so close and such a fun place for kids. I got a pass and if I attend more than twice, it will be worth it!

We started our day with a Disney Junior show which was the cutest and the boys loved it and then headed out for some rides and free play time. 

All the characters were dressed up in their Christmas attire and Easton got to meet in person, Donald. This mama was super proud when he started blowing him kisses and showing his love!

Joyous time of year & 5 on Friday

Linking up with the awesome hosts of 5 on Friday!

1. Time definitely gets better with age. This year has been amazing and I have been blessed beyond belief! This past week almost everyone morning my sweet little one sleeps a tad bit longer than I do. Just enough time for me to make a glorious cup of coffee and read my devotional. Great way to start the day. 

2. Traditions. (or the making of them) This past weekend we went to our town green for the tree lighting/santa visit/caroling etc. They started at 5:30 (With LA traffic who the heck gets home and out the door by 5:30) so we missed most of it but made hot chocolate and walked as a family. 

3. Friends. Tonight I will be going to our annual "holiday dinner" with some of my best friends! This picture is way back before we started even thinking about having kids and only one of us was even married! It is a great tradition and no matter how busy life gets we do it every year!

4. Christmas nursery decor is my favorite! This year my mama gifted Easton with this adorable pillow with the words of "Twas the night before Christmas" since he is loving books right now! 

5. I am still loving my Toddler Christmas Corner idea! Although once the toddler was introduced to it a couple of changes had to occur, since he couldn't quite get the hang of "hanging" ornaments, it is much easier for velcro! 

Easton's Christmas List

I ordered most of the gifts Easton is getting on Cyber Monday off of Amazon and they are believed delivered one at a time, day by day and it is oh so exciting! We have quite determined our Christmas Plan since Tucker has to work the days before and after Christmas and I will be working on Christmas...but we will make it happen!

As a big bad 16 month old boy everything is about an animal...therefore an alligator pull toy, turtle dream light, jungle book etc. If we had a playroom (which I dream of) I would totally get him a teepee and toddler table! 

This year Easton and I talked about what he would ask Santa for (yes, it was one-sided). He was all ready, dressed super cute, waited in line like a trooper, and THEN:

He wasn't quite able to get all those words out. Maybe next year! Merry Christmas!

Our 16 month old

Our little buddy is now 16 months old. He got to go to 2 Christmas tree lightings, go to the pool (it was 85 on December 3rd), play in rain puddles, love on his pups, get a hair cut, and take holiday photos!

 He had a couple weeks were he was having some stomach issues and was not to into his veggies, but he is back on track, eating everything! He still doesn't sleep through the night...one day, one day. He is very active and loves to be outside. He is still loving Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Clifford the big red dog. This month he has become quite the talker and can tell us what most animals say, moo, meow, woof, eeh ooh (monkey). He can point the the sky and ground, point to his body parts. He can climb onto most anything. I think he has all 4 molars and I think he got them all at once!


We weaned him from using his bottle to go to sleep at night! Parenting score! He now has his last milk on the couch and then goes up stairs for jammie time! Which is a win, however I may have let him try chocolate milk in his baba for the Christmas tree lighting...oops! But it was so cute!

His wagon had cute little battery colored lights for the tree lighting/Santa visit at the town green! We walked and it was freezing (well So-cal freezing)!

Felt Christmas Trees

This year one of my holiday craft goals was to complete these little felt trees for our mantel. I completed two different kinds. I gathered spools, circular bases, felt, scissors, and a whole lota glue for my glue gun. 

 After cutting a bazillion triangles I started gluing and ta-dah the red and white ones were done! For the other style I made a template and cut long strips and wave cut the edges and glued them onto the cones.
Very easy and very inexpensive! I read many tutorials and took the best tips from each, which made it easier!

Christmas PJ Party Link- up

Happy PJ party to you all! Apparently it is extremely difficult to photograph Easton in PJ's! Here is the best I could do!

Merry Mantle

Today I am joining the lovely ladies of Ten June and Our Fifth House and sharing our Christmas Mantle! This year I placed a couple of additions on each side for some height. I searched DIY felt tree tutorials for weeks and finally made some! I love the idea of sticking with the red and green for this time of year, so I stayed with the traditional look. And yes I have my baby proofed fireplace and no I didn't take it down for the picture, this is real life people!

 This little bucket is new to us this year and I found it at Homegoods! It is filled with pine cones from the local mountains from a couple years back!

 Every evening at 5 o'clock those little twinkle lights glisten and it makes me oh so happy! 

I hope to snag some personalized stockings at the end of the season to add for next year!