Christmas Festivities

One of my favorite things about the Holiday season is continuing traditions from years past and making new ones! Last year we hosted our play group’s Christmas Party, and last Friday we hosted it again! 30+ Mom’s & kids! It was so much fun. 3 sleeping babies!Gift Exchange;Gavin's Gift;Saturday we had a little Christmas/Game Night with friends! We also did a white Elephant steal and played Pictionary – Christmas Style!
Here is a funny one - The Nutcracker! Gavin & Grant playing with our White Elephant Gifts that we got! A dancing & singing Santa on a motorcycle, They love it! Gavin brought home his "Top Secret" gift that he has been working on in school! I LOVE it! On Monday Gavin had his Christmas Party at school. They sang two songs to the parents and then all the parents were able to do crafts with the kids, eat & converse! Gavin was the Sleigh!On Monday evening we did something we’ve been doing for 4+ years! We get a Little Caesars pizza and go look at Christmas lights while we eat pizza in the car! Gavin loves this so much! Tomorrow Grant turns 9 months old!!

Shaving & Slush!

One of the gifts Gavin got for his birthday was a kids shaving kit!He has been asking for one of these for the LONGEST time! Yesterday morning when he was taking a shower he called me in so I could put some shaving cream in his hands! It was HILARIOUS! Just a few of the things he said were;
“Man, now that I can shave I’m getting pretty old!” “Mom, I don’t feel any more whiskers!”
“It feels so much better after you shave!”
SERIOUSLY! He loves it & thinks he is REALLY shaving!
Also, I wanted to share this recipe;
Cranberry Slush
2 cups of cranberry juice
1 can of frozen orange juice concentrate
1 cup boiling water
2 cups water
1 small box or cherry jell-o
2 cups vodka
Take 1 cup of boiling water and poor into jell-o. Stir until it dissolves. Add the remaining ingredients and stip together. Cover & Freeze for 24 hours. Scoop frozen slush into a cup 1/2 full and add Sierra Mist or Cranberry Sierra Mist to top it off!
*I made non alcoholic for Gavin’s Birthday Party and substituted the Vodka with 1 extra cup of cranberry juice and 1 extra cup of water!!
Enjoy, It's delicious!

Stockings are hung with care!

Christmas is only 11 day away! December has flown by so quickly. I thought I was ahead of myself with Christmas Shopping, but that was in November, now with only 11 days left I have a lot to do!!
I wanted to share with you my favorite holiday purchase this Christmas Season; new stockings!!I searched and searched for a stocking for Grant to match the ones we already had but I couldn't find one anywhere! Therefore, new stockings were a must! I ordered these cute things from walmart.com! The were cheap and they did FREE personalization, which was a must :)
Also, Grant is CRAWLING! He started last Thursday and hasn't stopped! It's precious to see him crawl, he gets so excited!

Gavin's 5th Birthday!

He’s 5!! I can’t believe it; 6 years ago I never would have thought this little guy would be in my life! I thank God every day for giving him to us! Saturday was Gavin’s 5th Birthday and we had his Pirate Party that afternoon! It turned out very cute, all the planning and hard work paid off, except it makes me kind of bitter at the fact that we put so much time and effort into a celebration that lasts 2 hours! Wishing it could have lasted all day :)
The kids got pirate hats, an eye patch, and a gold earing to wear! We made up Pirate Coloring Books for all the kids to take home too; I borrowed this precious red chest from a friend and it worked perfect for the favors/treasures!Inside of the red bag was a wooden pirate figure/skull/or ship, along with markers!We also needed some Gold Doubloons!!Dave made the cupcakes and I decorated them! Aaarrgh!Our sweet Birthday Boy!For food we served;
Meatballs - renamed them; Cannonballs
Ants on a Log - renamed them; Pirates on a Ship
Carrot Sticks - renamed them; Peg Legs
Orange Slices - renamed them; Cirtus Ships (try saying that 10 times fast)
Shark Fruit Snacks - renamed them; Shark Bites
Chex Mix - renamed it - Golden Treasure Mix
String Cheese & Beef Sticks -renamed them; Meet n' Cheese
Gold Fish Crackers
etc... Our Pirate Family;Gavin got some amazing gifts! We have such generous friends & family!! To top off his birthday, after his party we took him to Crawdaddy Cove, an indoor waterpark here in Madison!! He had a really special day and is still thanking us for it, so sweet!

Phil Vassar

I love him! Tuesday evening Dave took me to the Operation Toy Drive Phil Vassar Concert! It was amazing! He has a way of really connecting with the audience and he is so down to earth! The whole night it was just him & his piano, taking suggestions from the crowd on what to sing/play! Phil Vassar just released a new Christmas Album, so there was Christmas music mixed in. I just loved it! We left the concert and Dave goes, “I think that was the best concert I’ve ever been to!” Success.Edens Edge was there too, I only know a few songs of theirs but they are incredible! They are on tour right now with Lady Antebellum and they sound very similar I think!
Other Happenings;
*Gavin’s wish came true! Papa asked if he could take the kids to Discover the Dinosaurs on Friday evening! We haven’t told Gavin yet that he is going. We probably won’t tell him until an hour before we go, otherwise we will be hearing about it constantly!
*Grant now has 2 teeth! Two bottoms have popped through. Last night was pretty rough; he was very crabby and just wanted to cuddle. 2am rolled around and I found myself rocking with him! I’m not complaining though, I could rock with him falling asleep on my chest any day! *Gavin put together and painted this ship to put out for his birthday party! He loves it.
*Michael Buble’s Christmas CD has been on repeat since I got it! My wonderful mom bought it for me last weekend & I am obsessed.