holiday rush

my week has been busy,

which is no surprise with christmas

right around the corner.

ronnie put up our lights,

which makes me happy...

and nervous to have him up that high.

(reid and i watched from the ground)

(hold on tight, ronnie!)

 

we spent a whole day shopping with mimi and papa. 

i actually got all the things i needed for the girls' stockings

and i found some cute cowboy boots for brette.

i only have three gifts left to buy.

hopefully i can knock those out by next week.

ps- reid totally crapped through her whole outfit

while out shopping and proved yet again, why

online shopping is definitely the way to go.

 

(this is her - yeah, i shit myself face. classic.)

 

i find myself needing more time.

we still need go look at lights,

visit santa,

send out cards,

drive through christmas in the park,

go stare at the magic tree,

drink hot chocolate and watch christmas movies. 

(i'm watching christmas vacation as i type this.

check that off the list.)

but i guess the truth is -

my girls are still little.

the holidays are going to be more fun the older they get.

right now its hard to keep them up late enough

to get some of these things done.

i need to be patient and let them grow up first.

i did, however, get some baking done.

 i count this as an accomplishment in itself because

we had a surprise guest,

miss eden lou.

i thought it might get a little chaotic and not get done, but

i really loved having her.

it gave brette someone to play with

and it makes me so excited for the

day that reid and b can run off  and play without me.

they colored, played tag, helped me bake and

ran around outside.

when nap rolled around, i had all the

girls in bed and asleep with no tears in 15 minutes.

i felt like a gold-star mom.

 

(my baking buddies)

 

(and my cookies turned out. yay!)

 

 

we had a good week.

now if only my house got cleaned...

whoops.

 

next up?

family cookie day

and christmas with ronnie's side.

tis the season.

me want some cookies

my big family cookie exchange is saturday

and i'm so excited!

i haven't participated in the actual

exchanging of cookies in a couple years

because i don't really need 8 dozen cookies at my house.

normally i just take home the candies we make that day

and call it a year.

but with two girls and a pending party at my house

i thought i should actually partake this year.

my family is graciously letting me do the exchange,

but cut in half.

instead of baking a dozen cookies for everyone,

i'm only doing half dozens and that's what i'll get in return.

its a lot more manageable for me and it will

help me avoid eating a few dozen cookies over the next month.

added all up i'll need to get three dozen cookies pounded out.

i'm gonna be one baking son of a bitch on thursday.

hopefully the girls cooperate.

last time i did the exchange i made monster cookies.

they are seriously good.

and the time before that i did crappy sugar cookies,

but with good cause.

this year i had an idea to do s'more cookies.

i found a recipe that seems pretty easy,

so i'm going to try it out.

i'm hoping they're a hit.

 

here's the recipe:

make your normal chocolate chip cookie dough.

crumble up a cup of graham cracker.

cut 6 marshmallows in half.

add 3/4 cup of your graham cracker to your cookie dough.

take your 1/2 marshmallow and roll your dough around it.

then roll your ball in the remaining graham cracker crumbles.

bake at 350 for 12 - 15 minutes.

now i just have to do this times three.

wish me luck!

christmas shopping

shopping with a four month old and

a two year old doesn't work.

well, it works, but i hate it.

brette wants to touch everything

and reid doesn't like to sit in her carseat for that long.

just the other day i had to let brette pick out something to hold

while i held reid as we walked around wal-mart's toy aisle.

oh what fun.

so i did something i hate.

i bought almost everyone i know gift cards.

wah wah.

it's not fun for me.

it's not personal.

and it's lame to wrap.

BUT it gets me in and out of the store in less than 5 minutes

and that is most important these days.

now i only have three people left.

except for what i need to finish up brette and reid's gifts.

when it comes to shopping for the girls,

gift cards won't work and i don't want brette to see what she's getting

so i've done a lot of online shopping.

in fact, a lot of deals i found were better online than in stores anyway.

i'm all about the convenience and the fact that

it's delivered straight to my door can't be beat.

 

 

i'm sticking to my little rhyme from a few years back...

something you want,

something you need,

something to wear,

something to read.

 

we got brette:

a big wheel

a table and chairs set

to be determined, but right now we're looking into cowboy boots.

and this book.

 

we got reid:

a toy,

to be determined

a swimsuit

and this book.

 

this does not include their ornament, pj's and xmas books

their elf on the shelf, tootie, brought them their christmas pj's,

they will get their ornament on christmas eve

and we're having a breakfast party with all my girlfriend where

"santa" brings them their christmas book.

then i have a bunch of small stuff for their stocking.

whew.

 

now who wants to pay my credit card bill?

please?

anyone?

hello?

it's beginning to look...

...a lot like christmas.

unfortunately it doesn't look exactly like

what i had pictured in my head.

my old house had a very different decorative vibe:

black, white, green, birds, leaf patterns.

so when it came to decorating for christmas

i used a lot of red, silver and sequins. 

oh yes, there was lots of sparkle.

and it looked great.

but in THIS house

it looks weird and out of place.

last year we lived with my parents over the holidays

so i hadn't seen my decorations in two years.

when we i got them out, i was sorely disappointed.

this house needs wood, plaid, cotton sprigs,

pinecones, cranberries, gold and deep red.

so basically i need a lot of new stuff.

that's not great news when i don't have the budget

to go out re-buy all my christmas décor.  

i mean hello, i'm busy shopping for gifts!

 

so i scrounged up what i could,

and made do.

i plan on borrowing a few more things

my mom found that she doesn't use.

maybe i can go out at the end of the season and

get some more on sale and have it for next year.

until then, this is it.

notice my tree has no topper?

it used to be a big silver sparkly bow and

it totally doesn't go anymore.

i actually bought this because i just

had to have one more thing of garland.

my old table runner was black velvet.

it's heinous.

i remember i had this scarf hanging in my closet and since

i wanted to incorporate plaid, i thought

this was a good cheap option.

i'd like to replace the big sequined ornament with a wooden sleigh

and add a few cotton sprigs,

but obviously that will have to wait.

i hate everything about my island décor,

but i have no ideas and nothing left to use,

so this will do for now.

my mantle needs work too.

it needs height.

i'd love to find some reindeer or trees to add.

i'd also like to fill my wooden toolbox with poinsettias.

ps- my mantle garland has lights but one must have

burned out because they wouldn't turn on today.

sounds like a job for ronaldo.

i love my wrapped columns.

basically i just loved lit garland.

 

 

so when i finally do get to go out shopping for new things i

have a few ideas from either instagram or pinterest

that i thought would work great.

now i just need to find the right items

and recreate something similar.

 

 

 

this was my original inspiration picture.

i took a screen shot so i could keep it.

it basically has everything.

cotton, cranberries, wood, old trucks.

it's perfect.

the rest of these are based off this first idea.

 

very cabin chic.

wish me luck finding all these amazing things for super cheap!

tis the season, right?!

 

 

 

amen

not last weekend,

but the weekend before

(i know, i'm a week behind)

we had miss reid elizabeth baptized.

 

she is now officially part of the catholic church.

i wanted her to have her special day like brette

and get to wear her mimi's gown.

i wanted our family to get together to celebrate

and i wanted her to know that there has always

been so many people looking out for her

and her faith.

 

its kind of hectic to try to get the house clean,

lunch made for 15, both girls dressed, myself ready and

out the door by 10:30.  

in fact, it took me about 2 days just to pull this off.

its a long drawn out process of grocery shopping,

cleaning while kids sleep, cooking soup ahead of time,

baths the night before, ironing the morning of.

then realizing you forgot dessert and whipping up something super fast.

it always ends up in a mad dash to pull everything together at once,

but i want days like this for my girls.

days filled with family.

so even though it basically takes over my life for a couple days,

its well worth it to get memories like these:

 

 

ps- thanks again to my cousin kelly, for these amazing photos!

#thankful

we had a really nice thanksgiving.

a stress-free morning,

a delicious meal at ronnie's sisters.

lots of lounging.

and since brette didn't nap,

she fell asleep on our way home and

we had both girls in bed by 6:30.

s u c c e s s f u l

 

 

 

another success?

my desserts.

seriously. the bomb.

 

 

this year i'm thankful for family:

the little one ronnie and i created.

they're seriously perfection.

my immediate family, that i'm lucky enough

to see and share a meal every monday night.
they would do anything for me and my girls. 
(well, anything except make a special trip to bring me thanksgiving leftovers. ahem, dad.) 

my extended family that makes traditions fun, important and a good time.

and my chosen family. 
the girls that i get to call my best friends and
will be my village while raising our kids together.

 

love you all.

THANK YOU for being a part of our lives.  

 

 

ps -

i have to work tomorrow

so ronnie will spend a full 11 hours

with both his girls and no help.

send your prayers.

pumpkin pie cake

i'm in charge of desserts and rolls for our thanksgiving dinner.

of course, pecan pie is on my list.

it's mandatory and i must admit,

i make a mean pecan pie.

and just in case anyone out there is looking for

another last minute thanksgiving dessert idea,

here's what else i'm making:

 

pumpkin pie cake.

 

 

i've never been a huge fan of pumpkin pie,

but i feel like pumpkin something should be on the table.

so when a co-worker said she had an amazing pumpkin cake recipe

i thought i would give it a try.

 

here's what you'll need:

1 can of pumpkin

1 C evaporated milk

1 1/2 C sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp allspice

4 eggs

1 box yellow cake mix

1 stick butter

grated pecans

 

mix the pumpkin, milk, sugar, eggs, and all the spices

together until well blended.

pour into a 9x13 pan and

sprinkle the box of cake mix on top.

melt the stick of butter and

pour over cake mixture.

top with chopped pecans.

bake for 45 minutes at 350

(or until it passes the toothpick test)

 

 

ENJOY!  and have a happy thanksgiving.

now excuse me,

i have some baking to do.