Minted

My favorite time of year is quickly approaching.  Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, hands down.  All that eating and drinking and socializing with friends and family.  It's so much fun.  I think part of the reason I enjoy this time of year so much is because it leads into Christmas and the fun festivities the holidays bring.  One thing I look forward to every year is creating our family holiday card.  This year, I'm looking at Minted.

With so many options it's becoming difficult to choose one.  I love the look of Destination Luggage Tag

The number of photos you can include on Complete Tree Holiday is amazing!  For someone who can't make a decision on what photos to include or if you have a family you can't get to look good in the same photo.

The simplicity of Calligraphic Flourish Holiday is very classy looking and so easy on the eye.

Though right now I seem to be drawn most to Sparkling Be Merry because it can be used as your Christmas card but can then be turned into an ornament your tree can see for years!

There's so many great options making it incredibly hard to choose!  

On top of all of the holiday cards Minted carries, they also have a section on holiday gifts and I'm dying over this cute print.  What a great gift for a grandparent wall!

What options do you like best? Any I didn't mention that you think I should consider?  I'd love to hear what you would send.

-stephanie

I'm Back

Every time I hear someone say "We're Back" or something along those lines I immediately start singing in my head, "Backstreets back, alright!" or "Oh my God, we're back again".  How can I not?  I did grow up in the age of boy bands.  I heart you JC!  So it's been a nice 2 week break but I didn't intend for it to be that long.  I figured I'd probably pop on and blog a bit throughout the holidays but to be honest, the moment Christmas Eve hit, I was feeling all sorts of just relax and enjoy the family.  So I did.  But, I'm back now.  So to ease into things, today's post is a boat load of pictures for you.  Enjoy!




Christmas Eve is when it all began.  Such a long evening.



She left cookies & milk for Santa.

Addie came out Christmas morning and ran straight to see if Santa ate his cookies she left for him.  He did and she said, "he left crumbs".

She got a balance bike from Santa.

Graham was super content through the morning.

He got a lovey and he loves it.

Check out all those bells at the bottom of the tree.  Addie did that.

At my parents she wore her new tutu.

Her big gift with some assistance from the dogs.

Her pretty jewelry.  She was getting weird by this point in the morning.

Christmas this year was so much fun.  She finally got it.  She talked about Santa, and Frosty the elf when she noticed he returned to the North Pole.  She got it all this year and it was so much fun as a parent to enjoy the magic of Christmas with her.

How cute is this little booty?  Graham got jeans for Christmas.  I die.

His NYE garb.

Saying goodnight to 2013.

As a last hurrah before it all got back to normal, I took Addie to see Frozen.  She did awesome!

It was such a nice break and I'm happy to be back into a rhythm but I can't wait until Christmas next year with two littles to enjoy it with.  How was your holiday?

-stephanie

Elf on the Shelf Arrives

We finally did it.  We busted out that Elf on the Shelf.  I had originally planned to get it out on the first of the month but the more I thought about it the more I thought Addie wouldn't really get it.  Plus, I didn't want to do all that work if she still isn't at the age to comprehend.  So I waited until closer to Christmas so I didn't have to move him as much.  Saturday morning was the day!

I spent Friday evening getting everything laid out and prepared so I would just have to quickly throw the breakfast down and make the hot cocoa.

Addie and Rick went out to his parents lake house Friday night so when she got home she saw Santa had a package delivered.

She loved her donuts.

The hot cocoa with marshmallows was also a huge hit.

We had about a 5 minute conversation after reading the book as to what the elf's name should be.  She continued to say, "I don't know" or "nuffin" when we asked what his name should be.  I was tempted to name him nuffin but it seems he may have received a name over the past several days.  She's started referring to him as Frosty.  We'll see if that sticks.

-stephanie

Happy Holidays

We officially have less than 2 weeks to Christmas!  Cue panic since half of my shopping list is completed.  The one thing we do have marked off the list is our Christmas cards went out a couple days ago.  How sweet are my babies?

Moments later, Addie tried to dump Graham off her lap.  

Happy Holidays!

-stephanie

PS.  Don't forget to enter the great giveaway going on now.  You can enter to win a $50 gift credit to Uncommon Goods, enter here.  

Product Review & Giveaway: Uncommon Goods

It's that time of year when I should be getting my final shopping done in time for Christmas.  It never fails though that I leave something until 2 days before and I'm scrambling to find one last gift. Each year I plan to do better and each year I fail.  Luckily, I found a company that offers so many unique and affordable gifts for everyone on your shopping list.  Uncommon Goods is a "privately-owned retailer that endeavors to feature unique designs and handcrafted gifts created in harmony with the environment and without harm to animals or people."  Most products are created in the US and half are handcrafted!

I'm really loving that you can also have gifts personalized.  I'm looking to get Rick a gift, but I want to step it up a bit and have it personalized.  You can check out some of those gifts here.

I, or should I say, Addie & Graham had a chance to try out some of Uncommon Goods products.  Addie tried out the Nursery Rhyme blocks you can find here which she just loved!  Every time she grabbed a block she'd say, "what does this one say?".

And Graham?  He got to try out these sweet Babiators.  My little Carlos!  You can find the babiators here.

How stinking cute is he?

Uncommon Goods make its easy for you to find gifts in your price range.  Most of the gift exchanges we do are $50 limits so I can easily check out Uncommon Goods' section of gifts under $50 here to get some really good ideas for our exchange.

Here comes the part where you get really excited!

Giveaway Uncommon Goods is offering one of my readers the chance to win a $50 gift certificate!

How to Enter  Just follow the instructions in the Raffelcopter widget below.  Make sure you complete the first task as it is a mandatory task.  Once you complete the mandatory task, all other tasks are optional but do increase your chances to win! Open to US & Canada only. The giveaway is open to all and will close at midnight on Monday, December 16, 2013.  Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Note:  I received these products free of charge as part of a review, however all opinions are mine and are true.

ABC Family 25 Days of Christmas

If you're like me, you love watching those Christmas movies.  My particular favorites are the cheesy ones on Lifetime.  A love story and a Christmas story combined into one?!  Yes, please!  So here's a list of ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas.

Pay close attention to Saturday, December 14th...The Little Mermaid!!!  Clearly not a Christmas movie but I'm so excited for that one!

Happy viewing!

-stephanie

Addie's Favorite Christmas Gift

I told you about the wish list prior to Christmas, but what about what she actually got for Christmas.  Let me start with this, we are in toy overload in this house.  She has 50 too many so I was dreading what she would get from family.  I fully expected that she would get a lot of toys so we didn't buy but 2 toys for her.  So her favorite couple items have been her play kitchen, the Little People Surprise Sounds Fun Park Fair, and her train table.  By far the train table has been the winner.

Now books & clothes, necessary.  We can't get enough books in this house.  She's her mothers daughter and all.  I'm dying over all of the great clothes at Target.  Seriously...

...I die over cuteness!

What were your kids' favorite gifts this year?  Anything out of the ordinary?

-stephanie

2012 Christmas Photo Dump

So okay, yesterday was officially the first day of 2013 but I'm still in the middle of my working from home/holiday break and I'm a little off schedule and all over the place.  So, before we move further into 2013 let me give you a big old photo dump of pictures from the past couple weeks in December.

First up is the only half way decent picture we got at the Columbus Zoo Wildlights.  The Columbus Zoo is rated one of the best zoo's in the country (hello we are home of Jack Hanna) and Christmas at the zoo is so pretty!  We took advantage of one of the warmer nights we had in December and enjoyed a rather busy evening with lights, cookies & hot cocoa!

Next up is Christmas morning.  Of course my child woke up at 6:30, oi!  And please forgive her crazy long hair in her face.  I just can't bring myself to cut it.

Santa brought her a rocking unicorn that plays music and gallop sounds.  She was in love with that thing.

Opening presents with her is a slow process.

Every piece of paper must be removed from the gift before she can really check it out.

So excuse me for the next several pictures.  For some reason my camera has been acting slightly strange and it was driving me insane trying to figure it out while Addie was right in the middle of opening gifts.

The pic above is a whole lotta fake food stuff for her kitchen (see picture below).

Seriously, the play kitchen just may be the best gift she got.  She played with it forever and it was so fun to see her pretending.

Next up is Addie's first time playing in snow!

And the camera is back, least it seems to be.  I think it was the bright white snow helping out the picture taking.

In the past week, we were hit with over a foot of snow and it doesn't seem to be going anywhere any time soon.

So now we're all caught up and ready to really begin the new year.  I imagine the blog will be in full swing next week but we'll see what happens!  How was your Christmas break?  Any good shopping deals (Marc Jacobs was just marked down to 70% off at Target, holla!)?

-stephanie

Baking with Addie

Addie is slowly approaching the age where she's using her imagination.  She likes to play with her tea set and feed her babies and it's so neat to see her brain working.  One day she doesn't understand and is really frustrated and the next it just works for her.  She's also excited about small chores, feed the dog, throw something in the trash, help in the kitchen.  I thought Addie was still a little young for any Christmas cookies this year and I still think there are a few things she's not ready for (ie, icing Christmas cookies can wait until next year) but when I started pulling out ingredients for my favorite Christmas cookies, Addie pushed a chair over to help out.

So I told her to climb up on the chair and put on her apron to keep her clothes free of flour.

I couldn't not let her help out, though she did slow me down a bit.  She was so excited to pour in the flour or help mix up the batter.

I even let her have one lick off the spoon.

It was so much fun with her helping out and next year will be so much fun when I can set her up with a rolling pin to make her own cut out cookies and ice them herself!

-stephanie