Welcome 2016!

How another year is coming to an end; I do not know! But, here we are, mere hours away from welcoming 2016! We decided to have a low key New Year's Eve this year. Just some steaks, wine, games and Netflix by the fireplace. It's a perfect way to start, as I am deeming 2016 the year of peace.

 Last year, I didn't make any resolutions. As new parents, we were totally in survival mode, so my only goal was to make it through the last half of Baylee's first year. :) This year, I thought long and hard about it, and decided I have three resolutions that I think will make me a better mom and wife.

1. To get more organized. The understatement of the year is that we have already outgrown our house. Clutter is not my friend, but we don't exactly have the room for "a place for everything". Since we aren't even close to being in the market for a bigger house yet, I've got to get more organized. This means getting rid of the old and finding a place for the new...and then curing my husband's chronic case of the "dropsies". (You know...when they throw their keys wherever even though you've lovingly put hooks up on the wall, or when their dirty clothes make it to the floor instead of the hamper thats literally two feet away. I know I'm not alone here. Love you, babe ;) Haha) I'm no saint either, though. Time for the clean folded clothes to make it out of the laundry baskets, and for the plans to deep clean once a month to be actually put in to action!

2. To slow down and enjoy the now. In case you haven't noticed, I live for tomorrow. I seriously got giddy when I saw all the Valentine's Day displays at Target. It's a terrible that I have and it drives Brian absolutely bonkers. I love planners and lists and looking forward to all the things! But, I've realized that sometimes I miss out on what's happening today when I'm so busy planning tomorrow. Baylee is growing up entirely too fast, and I'm going to miss it if I don't sloooow down. So, even though you and I both know I will still decorate for V-Day as soon as February 1st hits, I'm going to make it a point to stop and smell the roses every day.

3. To get stronger and healthier. I have been the biggest bag of lazy bones since I became a stay at home mom, and it's time for that to change. Healthy eats and moving my body every day is my ultimate goal. I know Baylee and Brian will benefit from it too!

2015 was a magical year watching Baylee go from an immobile infant to a running, climbing, talking toddler. I have no idea what 2016 has in store, but we have been so blessed already, all I can hope is that God keeps my family as healthy and happy as we are today! And, now that I've shared my resolutions with all of you, maybe it will help hold myself more accountable! ;) I'd love to hear all your resolutions as well...be sure to leave them in the comment section of this post!

I wish you and yours the happiest 2016!

  

"For auld lang syne, my dear,

For auld lang syne.

We'll take a cup o'kindness yet,

For auld lang syne."

Until next year! ;) XoXoXo

   

Christmas 2015!

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas. It was busy, busy, busy around here, but we made so many memories and were filled with joy and love! I can't even begin to start to put decorations away because I am so sad that this magical time of year is over. I'm already counting down the days until I can cover our house in hearts! ;)

Our festivities began on Christmas Eve morning with reindeer pancakes! I am notorious for flopping on my festive breakfasts, so I was so happy that these actually turned out adorable. Baylee was so excited, and, a girl of my own heart, ate the strawberry nose and chocolate chip eyes first.

 

 

 Brian took Baylee out to run some errands, so I could finish some present wrapping and cleaning, and then Baylee took a three hour nap! Woohoo! We all got ready and headed to my Nanny and Papa's house for some amazing food and family time. My Nanny outdid herself, as usual, and had a beautiful set up of prime rib and ham with all the fixin's. Yum! And I'm pretty sure I gained a pound and a half hovering over the dessert table all night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Baylee was a show stopper in her red plaid Christmas dress, and thanks to the long, wonderful nap she took at home, had a total blast all evening. She was running around the house singing, giggling, and dancing, and when it came time to open her presents from Nanny and Papa, she was just the happiest kid around!

 

 

 

My sisters and I continued our Christmas Eve tradition of wearing our new pajamas from our Mom while we opened gifts. I love that some of our traditions will never die. :) 

 

After we finished opening gifts, it was starting to get late, so we headed back to my house to put Baylee to bed and give Santa a chance to come! On Christmas morning, Baylee was up by 8:00 am, and was one elated little girl when she saw what Santa had brought for her! 

My Dad got her a Cozy Coupe and I have barely been able to get the kid out of it for the past 4 days! She's in love with her little car! Every toy she opened got played with immediately, and clothes were called "cute!" and then thrown on the ground. Second Christmases are so much fun! ;)

 

 

 

 

After we opened presents, we had our traditional breakfast of cinnamon rolls, eggs, and bacon. Baylee wasn't a big fan of the cinnamon rolls (weirdo!) but she chowed down on some bacon and vanilla yogurt! We all took much needed naps, and then got ready for the surprise of the day!

 

My Dad got us tickets to go with him and my sisters to see Frozen On Ice. I knew Baylee would love it, because she adores the movie, but I had no idea just how in to it she would be! Besides killing it in her brand new Elsa dress, she was singing and dancing along, and didn't take her eyes off the show once. It was the cutest ever! 

  

 

 

 

After the show, we went back to my Dad's for dinner and MORE presents. Seriously, this kid has no idea how blessed she is! (Thank you so much, everyone! She also got presents from my Mom and Brian's parents too...we are going to be purging her old toys and clothes this week for sure!) We had lasagna (our Italian tradition) and ham for dinner, and ate until we thought we were going to pop. It was truly one of the best Christmases I have ever had! 

 

 

On our drive home that night, Brian and I realized that this was our 5th Christmas together. How time has flown! We are so lucky to have our daughter now, and to be able to watch the magic of Christmas through her eyes. There really is nothing more beautiful!

 

Until next time! XoXoXo

 

 

 

 

The Merriest December!

Merry Christmas Eve Eve! I can't believe we are only 2 days away from Christmas! Has December flown by or what?! Sorry that the blog has been a little quiet, but we have been up to our eyebrows with a combo of Christmas fun and colds! 'Tis the season! :)

I thought I would do a quick post about all the fun things we have been up to the past couple of weeks. The Christmas season has been so much fun this year with Baylee! She doesn't completely get it yet, but she's figured out who Santa is and when she sees a picture of him anywhere she yells "Santa! HoHoHo!" She also does a mean duet with me to "Santa Baby" I go "Santa..." and she sings "babyyyyyy" and I sing "Hurry down the chimney..." and she sings "ah-niiiight!" which means "tonight" of course. It's the cutest ever. I have a feeling next year she'll be singing the whole song!

Baylee has been enjoying all of the Christmas decor in the house. Every morning she walks into our family room and says "Hi Twee!" to the Christmas tree and then proceeds to take off her favorite ornament; a ballet dancer that I've had since I was around 6. 

I've also been having so much fun dressing Baylee up in all of her festive outfits. I even found my Christmas dress and petticoat from my first Christmas, and couldn't resist putting them on her for a little iPhone photo shoot at home. They just don't make dresses like these anymore!

We did our last Disney trip of the year with Brian's parents last week, and had a blast as usual. We took Baylee one last time to Olaf's Snow Festival at California Adventure. She had so much fun playing in the snow. I can't wait to take her up to the mountains for some real snow play sometime soon.

Over the weekend we had our annual Christmas Pajama Party. It was probably the best yet! We ate my dad's home made pizza, drank rum and cokes and mistletoes (vanilla vodka, white cranberry juice, and sprite), and played the best round of white elephant ever. Oh, and the sweets! We had two kinds of brownies, classic puppy chow, peppermint puppy chow, ice cream, and all kinds of candy. Drunken sugar rush, anyone?

A big part of why the Christmas party is so fun is the games. We try to have new fun games to play every year and give out candy and gift cards as prizes. This year, we played the oven mitt present game where you have to unwrap a present that is wrapped in many layers of paper and boxes while wearing oven mitts. The catch is that you only get to keep unwrapping until another player rolls doubles with a set of dice. It gets pretty intense for sure! 

We also played "Do You Wanna Build A Snowman?", and, well...I'll let the pictures do the talking. :)

Our last game was the fiercest mini gingerbread house competition I've ever seen. And though they weren't quite Food Network worthy, I'd say everyone did a great job! 

After white elephant, we had a dance party in the kitchen with Baylee, and then everyone passed out on my guest bed, couch, floor etc. I woke up with a mean cold the next morning, but it was totally worth it. This years party will be tough to top next year!

Yesterday, we visited my Nana who is my great-grandma, so Baylee's great-great-grandma! It was so good to have some quality family time, and that sweet Christmas dress circa 1986 made another debut. I have pictures of me in it at that very same house, so it was giving me all the feels watching her toddle around in it and play with all of Nana's porcelain dolls just like I used to. We are so very blessed to have so many wonderful grandmas in our lives. :)

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and the fun will continue. I can hardly contain my excitement to share all the magic with my girl! I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!

Until next time! XoXoXo

Today With Bay!

7:30 Wake up, Mama!

I'll never understand why babies who are put to bed past their bed times wake up early the next day. Thank goodness for gingerbread coffee in festive mugs!

8:00 Breakfast of champs!

Baylee had peanut butter and jelly toast cut in to stars and some apple slices. I had an english muffin with slabs of butter, because, you know, who diets in December? ;)

8:05 I make my shopping list.

For the essentials, of course.

8:30 We're not moving.

I was going to get us ready and go run errands in the morning, but I saw that it was 30 degrees outside and was like "Nope!". So, we cuddled on the couch and watched Mickey Mouse instead. :)

8:45 Baba for life.

10:00 Playtime!

After watching TV for a while, we needed to get up and move our bodies. So, we went to Baylee's room to play with some of her toys.

11:00 Meltdown.

Nap anyone?

11:05 Relax on the couch.

11:30 Nap time! Woot!

P.S. We found Kissy Dog! Totally a long story for another blog post! ;)

12:00 Drink all the coffee. Wrap all the presents.

If I had known Baylee was going to take a 3 hour nap, I would have went back to bed instead!

2:30 Baylee (finally!) wakes up and has lunch.

Today's lunch menu was turkey, peas, and cottage cheese. (Rhyming not intended)

4:00 Go to Target!

Mama forgets to take pictures. Boo. :/

5:30 Home from Target. We don't mess around.

5:30 Dinner is served!

I made cream of mushroom chicken in the crock pot, rice pilaf, and broccoli. Yum!

6:00 Daddy's home!

Finally having Brian home every night has meant the world to us. :) 

6:30 Daddy has bath duty while I clean up.

6:45 Painting piggies by the fire.

7:00 Mama gets to relax.

Am I the only one who is obsessed with philosophy bubble baths?

7:30 Night baba time.

8:00 Reading books under the tree.

8:30 Bedtime for Baylee!

And she totally said "I lu loo." to her Daddy as I carried her down the hallway to her room. Be still my heart.

8:45 Snowbelle gets in to mischief as usual.

Goodnight, sleep tight!

Until next time! XoXoXo