it's my girls' world

This year, we were so excited to decorate our new home for the holiday season! A bit of new stuff, a bit of the old and here you have it. Come on in...

Our wreath this year looks tiny on this door. I'll have to replace it come next season.

 Let's go downstairs first...our family/tv/play area.

Downstairs is where the red is at. 

Just some pine fronds and some  glass ornaments

The girls were responsible for this tree. #youdoyoukids

I had to find new and creative ways to use what we had and fill our space instead of buying tons of new.

 

Our tree this year-- we did pink, pewter and gold like we did for the past few years and then added lots of white and shine. 

I found this crystal garland at Marshall's and bought a couple to lighten the tree. 

Here's our decor from 2014 and 2015 in case you're nosy like I am ;-)

Linking up for TWO different decor link ups with Beth and Andrea.

'Tis the season, friends!

This weekend was so fun but I am SO tired! I feel like I need a day to recover from all the happenings.

Friday, we headed out to a holiday dinner with D's department to this seafood restaurant in Burlington. Traffic was awful but fresh oysters, steamed crab legs and jumbo shrimp totally made up for it-- no foodie pictures though as #husbandscolleagues 

We did take a walk and checked out the beautiful christmas lights after though.

On Saturday, we headed out bright and early to about an hour away for Aaron's 4th birthday party- a movie party. While the kids and D watched Moana, Mama did a little shopping in the attached mall. Gymboree sale, BBW candles and some kid stocking stuffers for the win! When we were done, we headed to Aaron's party #2 at his home with all his family. After a couple hours there, we were en route again, this time to party #3 at our friend Jo's house. So.much.good.food and fun chatting with friends we hadn't seen in a while. We didn't leave too late though and put the kiddos in their pjs to come home as Sunday was an early one.

Bright and early on Sunday, we woke up, slicked back hair  and put makeup on a wiggly, giggly four year old for her little Christmas recital. 

 

  This little lady took her time choosing her four finger puppets. (The other one saved her money to go to Michael's instead)

The girls rolled their own maple taffy! VERY cool experience.

 (PS- C isn't wearing glasses for real- she got some 3d glasses from the movie, punched out the lenses and used them for the rest of the weekend)

Three out of the four of us napped when we came home, tidied up a bit and we all had fried chicken for dinner.... oh and salad :-)

Happy Monday, friends!

 

Linking up with   

the lovely Biana

- Get my back working again and take it easy re: working out until I'm all healed 

- Don't eat all my kid's Halloween candy

- Lose 2-3 more lbs 

1 lb down but I haven't been totally clean eating or working out my five days a week consistently due to wanting to get all healed so I'm okay with that. 

Blogging

+ 3-4 posts weekly

+ Post my Sonoma vacation recap

House:

+ Hello and welcome Christmas. Start the decorating!

+ Do a mini American Thanksgiving celebration (I have tons of American family after all)

+ Clean out the kids' learning cupboard and their junk drawers (I'm getting scared to open them)

+ Organise our mud room

Still a bit to do but I'm cutting myself a bit of slack. 

Family:

+ Family pictures and cards need to get scheduled and done.  

+ Start family shopping for our trip to TNT.

+ Enjoy Great Wolf Lodge

Done and done!

Me:

+ Read two books

+ Begin to pack for our trip to Trinidad

+Organise my annual girls' night in

+ Enjoy a mini getaway with two lovely ladies.

So not too bad for a partially sick, pretty busy November. If my mud room could clean itself, I'd be so happy! 

Now onto December..... no goals just a big old bucket list chockful of fun!

Our main thing is to enjoy the spirit of the season! Lots of family time, moments and memories just soaking in this beautiful, festive  time. 

What's on your bucket list this Christmas?

Happy December Weekending, friends!

Today, I have the beautiful Beth (on the outside AND inside)  from Our Pretty Little Girls talking about all things Christmas! Beth is a fellow two-girl mom and her blog is filled with recipes, crafting, faith, fitness and fun.... a girl after my own heart-- except for the crafting. #cantevenbegin

Oh and she takes the most lovely pictures. I'm guessing she doesn't use an iphone like I do :-)

(The comments in brackets are totally my own of the peanut gallery variety. )

When I was around 8 we were driving around looking at lights on Christmas Eve when I saw what I swore was Rudolphs nose up in the sky. I totally panicked and was so upset insisting that we had to get home immediately so I could go to sleep. I've never forgotten that moment. Christmas is so magical with children. I love that my girls still believe in Santa and I am trying to soak it up because I know we don't have much longer. 

(Awesome, magical kid story. My girls still believe in Santa-- at least until next year too. LOTS of questions are coming in) 

Red wine or mulled cider depending on what kind of party it is ;). 

(#redwinosunite)

You can never go wrong with a bottle of wine, a nice bag of coffee, or a candle. 

We currently don't have a large party, although that is something I would love to make a tradition at some point, but we do celebrate with friends. For the past several years we've had an annual Polar Express viewing with some dear friends of ours. The evening consists of soup, hot chocolate and cookies, lots of laughs, and watching the movie together.

(a kid movie viewing?!what an awesome tradition, I might have to copy!)

I think I am best known for having lots of Christmas trees since the current number in our home is 6. I also love lots of lights in the living areas. There is just something so magical about curling up on the couch to watch a Christmas show in the glow of the lights with a warm fire. However I was once told by a decorating pro that the secret is lots of glittery, shiny items to catch all of the light. I've been slowly working on adding more sparkle around our home.

(6 trees?! I take sooo long to do just one. Great tip with the sparkle!)

It feels impossible to only pick one because we have SO many. Our North Pole Breakfast, decorating gingerbread houses, looking at lights, Christmas pj's, and Bob our elf, just to name a few. But I think my favorite has to be attending Christmas Eve service as a family. I look forward to doing that every single year and it feels like the peak of all the Christmas anticipation.

 (that is a beautiful picture of your girls)

Besides attending service things really change from year to year. But, we always make sure to have a slow morning at home with just our girls and I almost always make homemade cinnamon rolls.

(Yay for slow Christmas mornings. We do the same.)

Thanks for playing along, Beth. Wishing you and your family a merry everything!

You can read my answers to the same questions here.