Christmas Festivities!

I hope it's not too late to be posting this? It's only a mere 4 days after Christmas, but it feels like much more! Truthfully, the first days after the holiday have me feeling bummed. What's keeping my spirits up is having Bean home for a week! I'm so thankful for the time he gets off around the holidays. With that being said, Christmas was a blast! I wasn't sure how Dakota would feel, or if she would understand the concept at all, but after waking up Christmas morning realizing that Santa had visited her and it was indeed all for her, each one after that kept getting sweeter. We had a total of 4 Christmases (including ours), 2 dinners, a Christmas Eve party, lots of snacks and lots of company. It was a crammed day to say the least, but so much fun. Dakota made out like a bandit, and now we're having a week of clean to make room for the new and pass on what we don't need anymore. It's really refreshing!

My favorite part about the whole day (aside from being with family!) was watching Dakota walk right up to her new kitchen, stick her cup full of milk in the microwave and start pressing buttons. Be still my heart! ♥ I hope your Christmas was as merry and Santa was good to you. xo, Meghan

Christmas Eve 2010 + 2011

Pardon my absence! We have all been sick/fighting colds for almost two weeks now and, with the excitement of the Holidays, we've had our minds elsewhere. Christmas was a big big hit in our house this year. Everyone's bellies are still thanking them for all the yummy Christmas meals we ate. We're all playing with our new toys and enjoying having Bean home for a week. We're taking our time getting things back in order, and savoring each moment of this wonderful season. I plan on doing a proper Christmas post this week, but until then...look how goofy we all look last year! ;) A lot changes in a year, but not the finger in the mouth!

Hope you had the most Merry of Christmases. xo, Meghan

Santa vs. Baby

This past weekend we took Dakota to see Santa. She loved him last year, and she seemed so excited this year. She "oohed" and "awwed", pointed and wanted to run up to him. But when her turn actually came, fear was all over her face. So maybe taking her while she was hungry, and sleepy wasn't the best of ideas, but I'm thinking that she would have done that no matter what. 

Ever since becoming a parent, I've learned time and time again that things don't go the way you always plan. In a perfect world, Dakota would walk right up to Santa, hop on his lap, and whisper everything in his ear she wanted for Christmas. Aside from the fact that she was scared, my dream scenario would require Dakota to know full sentences....which she does not! Despite our reassuring words, our gentle pushes to get her to just smile for the camera, and Santa himself telling her it was okay, all she wanted was Daddy. It was so sad, but I think we all got a little chuckle from it. Regardless of the tears shed, and the utter fear of the great jolly man himself, we had a good time. I plan on really talking him up this year when she sees all of her sweet presents, and probably every day until next year. Hopefully next year she will be more accepting of him! 

Truth be told...

I am a first born. So I'd like to think, that naturally, I'm an organizer. Someone who can't stand clutter, is always punctual, and never misses a beat. To a certain extent, I am these things (except punctual, I think you loose all punctuality when you have kids!). What really got me thinking about this was my Christmas list. I've had that bad boy written out since before Thanksgiving. I knew what I wanted to get, what  I needed to get, and where the best prices would be. I made sure my packages were here weeks before, to leave room for error. I've crossed all t's and dotted all i's. I've even had things wrapped for well over two weeks! So, I should be able to kick back and relax, right?

It seems that I've done so much ahead of time that I've left myself worrying that I have forgotten something, didn't do something, or didn't pick something up. I hate that feeling! It's just that everything has gone as perfect as can be so far, that I'm shocked. I find that this happens often, if I prepare everything to much in advanced. I'm left to twiddle my thumbs and wait around, and I just can't do that. I've found that if I've procrastinated up until, say the night before (hello middle school history fair!) then I feel like the next morning I've accomplished some great feat and that I've got it all under control.

Is there such a thing as being to prepared? Have you finished all your shopping yet? 5 days left! The excitement is growing over here!

xo, Meghan

Christmas is in full swing!

It's true, Christmas is indeed full swing, but it has been for weeks now! I don't know how I let this post slip past me and sit in the drafts folder for so long. You can tell how old it is, because the Santa count-down is still on 25! 

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It's a tradition in our house that we go to the Festival of Lights/Christmas parade each year. This year was even more special because we got to take Dakota! She loved the floats, and the lights. Everything is so much better through the eyes of a child. We took the neighbors with us, and had such a fun time!

Christmas is so so close. My only hope is that these days before are super full of fun, love, and traditions. I hope they go by slow enough so that we can enjoy them (but not too slow!). xo, Meghan

Advent Calander//recap

If you guys are anything like us, you look forward to opening the advent calendar each morning! This is the first year we've done it in our house, and since Dakota is only 16 months and doesn't really understand it all that much yet, I've filled it up mainly for Bean. There's lots of things for all three of us to do, but a few special things just for him! ♥ I had originally planned to make our calendar, but time got away from me and this is what we have. I think it's cute though, and I think that I will make one for Dakota and future babies, and keep this one for Bean and I. No reason we can't all count down, right? :)

Day 1:// Let's make a paper chain!
Day 2:// First Friday? Then put up Christmas lights!
Day 3:// Festival of Lights!
Day 4:// Lets make paper snowflakes!
Day 5:// Poinsettia (which I forgot to pick up, wahh)
Day 6:// "Let's run around town like we own the streets"
Day 7:// We can go print our Christmas Cards!
Day 8:// Trip to the bookstore!
Day 9://Go thrifting for sweaters!
Day 10:// Build a gingerbread house!
Day 11:// Ornament: I crammed a bomber type hat ornament into that tiny box!
Day 12:// Put Dakota is her Christmas footie pj's and read Christmas stories to her!

Of course all these days also had some candy inside! Are you doing an advent in your house? What have you filled your days with?
xo, Meghan

A family ritual

As of yesterday, we have 3 decorated trees under our belt. That's right, 3! We've decorated at my moms house,  Bean's moms house, and our own house. If that doesn't put someone in the Christmas spirit, I don't know what will. What I love most about decorating with both of our families is the chance to treasure each and every special ornament. It's so fun to hear each back story (and believe me, there is one!) for every ornament. Where it came from, how old it is, how special it is, who it used to belong to. It's my favorite! It's even more special this year, because we get to make our own memories, and pick special ornaments with Dakota. This will be her second Christmas, and I just know she will be so excited. This time of year gives me warm fuzzies!

Fridays are for:

After taking a week off of this last week, I was so eager to share these cute things I found over the past two weeks. I've been happily decorating our house for Christmas and these are a few of my favorite holiday inspirations! Hope you enjoy, and happy Friday!

all via pinterst

Have you started decorating for the Holiday season yet? Do you do advent calendars in your home? 

xo, Meghan