Tagging the tree

Every year for as long as I can remember my family and I have gone to a local Christmas Tree farm to tag our tree.  Buying one from a parking lot just doesn't have the same appeal as walking through the "forest" and choose the perfect one for our home.  This year was no different.  After church we piled into the car, stopped at Dunkin Donuts for obligatory hot chocolate or coffee and munchkins and were on our way.    Since Olivia is older now, this year was fun.  She was able to walk through the tree farm with us and help choose our tree... all while picking up sticks and rocks and pinecones along the way.    She fell in love with this little Charlie Brown tree that was just her size.... we may get her one for her bedroom this year.  I think she'll love it!     We finally found our tree.    My Dad and Husband were so funny trying to convince each other that this tree was "the one".     Their conversation went like this...    Dad - "it's perfect" Husband - "no bare spots" Dad - "just the right height" Husband - "not to big" Dad - "not too small" Husband - "not too wide" Dad - "not too narrow"   When they were done discussing the physical attributes of our future Christmas tree we tied on our tag and signature tree tagging penguin (see pics) and took some pictures to mark the occasion.       

I adore this picture of Olivia and her Papa (my dad).  She loves him SO SO much!

   Our tree tagging adventure was a success.  Now, let's just hope that we can find our tree when it's time to pick it up!      

Christmas Breakfast

For Christmas breakfast I wanted to make something fun for Olivia. 

I recently read a post (or saw an instragram - I don't remember) from

Katie @ Loves of Life where she used cookie cutters to make eggs in a basket, Christmas style!

I was sold.

Our little Christmas breakfast was so adorable and easy to make... 

Not to mention it was a huge hit with Olivia who loves eggs and toast!

 

Since Olivia likes scrambled eggs, I scrambled one egg in a bowl. 

Chose my cookie cutter shape and cut the hole in the bread. 

Put a little margarine on each side, placed it in a pan and let it cook for about a minute on low. 

Pour the egg into the cut out shape, let it cook a bit and then flip it over.

Cook the egg to whatever consistency you like and that's it. 

We served ours with a bit of ketchup and a sippy cup of milk!

Enjoy!

~Laura

Corny or Cute Christmas Present

My husband loves his electronics. iphone and XBox 360 to be more specific. 

I'm pretty sure I'm married to a 12 year old boy!

Having Olivia doesnt leave much time to relax, destress and do what you want.

Joe helps me SO much with household chores and taking care of Olivia. 

(we work opposite shifts, I work days, he stays home with Olivia and he works nights and I stay home with Olivia)

So, I made these corny cute little vouchers so

my sweet hubby can have some time to himself when he feels like it... 

providing I'm home to take care of Olivia that is.

Now, please dont get me wrong, I'm not some kind of crazy wife who makes her husband ask for permission or anything, this is just all in good fun!

I hope he likes them and finds them funny...

Is it bad that I'm also kind of wishing that he loves this present

...and then loses it right away so he cant redeem them?

~Laura

Olivia's Feet Part 2 & More

I'm happy to report that my daughter's feet are fine! 

The doctor was not concerned at all with her inner foot walking. 

He said it's fairly common and not to worry. 

It may correct itself and it may not,

she may just have flat feet but as long as it isnt bothering her

and she has range of motion, not to worry. 

I mean seriously look at these adorable little toes!

My husband bought Olivia an Elmo stocking that sings "Jingle Bells" and let me just say, girlfriend loves it! 

She says "what's that" over and over and we play it over and over!



Olivia dancing & clapping to her Elmo stocking!



And I'll leave you with one more adorable picture of my girls cheeks,

because seriously, there's just no way to resist this cuteness!

~Laura

Blog Makeover!

I bought myself an early Christmas present...

my little corner of the internet got a makeover! 

I love it!  Katie from Loves of Life created it and she did an amazing job and was super easy to work with.

In other news... I made a little progress on Christmas projects last night. 

Did I take any pictures to share?  Nope... fail.

So, what do you think about the new blog set up?  How do you like having my smiling face over there staring at you reading???  Is my little Olivia not the cutest thing ever? 

Love, Laura

My "To Do" List

I've taken on so many projects this Christmas season and hello?!?!

Christmas is only 10 days away and I'm only 3/4 the way done with my first project. 

What was I thinking??

To Do...

• Finish the 3/4 finished fleece throw blanket
• Make a matching pillow case
• Make a matching hat
• Make another fleece throw
• Make 5 Hot/Cold Rice Packs
• Make 4 Hot Chocolate jar kits
• Make Peppermint Bark (a ton of it!)
• Make 4 dozen Sugar Cookies & decorate them
• FINISH SHOPPING for 5 people!

See, I'm sure I'm forgetting something from this list...in fact, I've made more lists and

lost them over the past few weeks that I'm not even sure what I'm doing anymore.

I did some shopping yesterday and got a bunch of things for my to do list above. 

I do have a big package with 6 gifts being delivered today which is helping my nerves a bit! 

I'm a little anxious to open the package because all items are breakable and I swear,

if they're broken I'm gonna probably cry a little bit.

 Send me some love and energy to get all of this stuff done.

I'm so thankful for good friends that are coming over Friday

to help me bake and decorate said Sugar cookies. 

Should I add that I'm a horrible baker and can pretty much assure you we'll end up

throwing away just as many burnt or messed up cookies as we'll end up keeping?

Let's hope all goes as planned.  Or, not planned, because had I planned I wouldn't be in this situation!

Merry Christmas - 10 days away!!!

~Laura

Crazy Shenanigans!

Seriously, this week has been full of me feeling like any minute

I'm going to turn around and be "on Candid Camera!"

Yesterday when I got home from work, I let the dogs out and when I let them back in my little one stunk. 

I wasn't sure what had happened and then I saw it... she rolled in sh*t!!

Mind you, she had a bath this past weekend, I guess she wasn't a fan of being clean.

Since she now had smeared herself with crap, off to the bath we went.  Don't worry, she's clean again.

...and she's really lucky she's cute.

Monday morning, after a particularly restless sleep,

I woke up, took a shower and as I was putting make-up on, I noticed it. 

A GRAY EYEBROW HAIR!  Really? 

What a horrible way to start the week!  I'm only 28 for goodness sake.  I don't even know how to fix this. 

I dye my hair every so often, guess my eyebrows will be taking a bath in the brown dye too! 

Online Christmas shopping has really been a savior for me this year. 

I don't have time or the energy to battle the crowds at the store after working all day

so this weekend I was looking online for a specific hat for my father. 

Well, in my haste, I just left the internet page up, walked away and forgot about it. 

My Dad went to use the computer and what's the first thing that pops up - a motorcycle hat website...

FAIL. 

Great way to ruin the surprise. 

Our conversation goes like this:

Dad - "Laura, if you're looking for a gift for someone,

you should make sure you close the page when you're done." 

Me - "Do you like the hat?" 

Dad - "Yes, it's nice."

Me - "OK, good!"

I kind of feel like I'm living out the bloopers right now!

Merry Christmas.

~Laura

Christmas Projects

Thanks to Pinterest (follow me HERE) I had a bunch of Christmas craft ideas that I wanted to make and I finally got around to one! 

This has got to be the cheapest Christmas wreath ever.  I used shatterproof dollar store ornaments in a variety of sizes, foam pipe insulation from Home Depot so I could make a big wreath and a TON of hot glue!

Final result...

The whole corner

My dad also worked on this sleigh project for a while and he finally finished in time for us to put it out for display and use it for our Christmas card picture.  Olivia did such a great job sitting in the sleigh!  This is the picture we're using for our Christmas card! 

Wishing everyone a happy week!

~Laura

Sentimental Christmas Stuff

My Grandmother has been gone for over 2 years now and this season makes me miss her that much more. 

It's funny, or sad, how when you have a child you think about how important your older generations are and you appreciate them that much more.  My Grandmother would have loved my daughter and it pains me to think that they'll never get to meet on earth. 

Olivia is named after my Grandmother for goodness sake.  My Grandmother died in August 2009 and when I found out I was pregnant in January 2010, my husband and I just knew that if we were having a girl, her name would be Olivia.  Anyhow, I digress.

So, my uncle lives in the house my Grandmother owned and since she passed away I haven't been there, nor do I want to visit because I'm perfectly content remembering her house exactly how she had it. 

When she passed, my mother and uncle went through her stuff and did what they wanted with it.  I dont exactly know what they did with it, I never asked.  It's too upsetting for me to think that they threw stuff away. 

Well, with the approaching Christmas season, there are a few things that I want that used to belong to my Grandma, her Manger and the small Christmas tree she used to set up in her bay window.  I specifically want them for Olivia.

I remember as my Grandmother got older she wasnt able to decorate herself, but those two things were so important to her so I'd go to her house and make sure to put them in their respective places.  (Although for some reason I cant remember where we set up the Manger)

I wanted to ask my uncle for them but wasnt sure how to go about it.  I'd be crushed if he said that he'd thrown them away and I couldnt prepare myself for that.  So, what does any good daughter do, make her Mother call.  So, my mother did just that, and thank God he still had them and he's happy to let me have them.  So, Sunday he's going to bring them over (since I cant bear to visit my Grandmother's old house)

I cant wait to set them up in Olivia's room and share pictures with my blogging friends!  This is something that's so important to me to have for Olivia.  Something from 3 generations older that meant so much to my Grandmother and so much to me.  I'm so glad that I get to pass them down to my daughter from my Grandmother.

Olivia is going to love them and I know that my Grandmother would have wanted her to have them. 

~Laura

A Santa Story

Friday night, a friend and I went to dinner with Olivia at a local restaurant.  It was pretty busy and nearby there was a family of 3, Mom, Dad and little boy around 6.  I heard him talking the entire length of their dinner about another patron who was there eating that looked just like Santa.  Funny thing is, the guy, did look just like Santa.  Red coat, blue eyes, wire rimmed glasses, long white beard and long white hair.  He sat with his wife in a corner booth unaware of this little boys accusations that "he was Santa!"

As the family was getting ready to leave, the little boy walked over to Santa, tapped him on his shoulder and sweetly asked "excuse me, are you Santa?"  Now, this man had no idea that this was coming.  He didn't skip a beat and answered, "why, yes I am!"  I couldn't hear the rest of the conversation but, Santa let the little boy sit on his lap for about 10 minutes with a full blown conversation about what he wanted for Christmas.  When he was done, his parents thanked this kind man and took their son and left. 

Then the entire restaurant erupted in applause for this kind soul, Santa.  Seriously, I was in tears.  He made that little boys night.  Just imagine how he must have felt, how his parents must have felt that this complete stranger just went right along with it and made this little boys night.  Unbelievable!  It was just such a heart warming moment.

This, my friends, is what the Christmas season is all about!

~Laura