Happy New Year!!!

We got the party hats and noise makers out earlier today for the kids to play with.  (I had these last year for a play date with my LensBaby group.  So it has been fun to go back and look at the babies then and now.)  It has been a fun year watching them grow so much and learning to talk so much clearer.  I am looking forward to see what the new year has in store for us.  I hope everyone has a great and safe evening!  And I hope the new year brings lots of happiness to you.  Happy New Year everyone!!! 

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!  This Christmas season was so amazing and memorable for us with the kids.  We are so blessed!   I hope you all had a wonderful and blessed day as well!

Holiday Bokeh Challenge

My LensBaby moms group has had an online bokeh challenge the last couple of years.  Last year one of my friends had a beautiful picture of her hot chocolate cup in front of the Christmas tree with heart bokehs rising as steam.  I loved that picture so I attempted to recreate it this year.  I love this challenge.  Thanks for the inspiration Liesl!  :-)

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You can check out other entries on the I Heart Faces website as well.

Tis the Season

This holiday season has been so much fun with the kids this year.  They are finally old enough to start understanding some.  They love Santa, the Christmas tree, Christmas lights, and the many Christmas TV specials.  I love watching their excitement and starting our own Christmas traditions with them.

{Our Christmas Tree}

I wasn't sure what would happen with this year's Christmas tree - whether it would stay standing through Christmas or not.  But so far so good.  Our decorations only go from the top to half way down (since the ornaments look so much like balls).  But they love the lights and get excited to see it every morning.  :-)

{Visiting with Santa}

We have talked about Santa quite a bit this year and have seen him a couple of times.  The first time we saw him was at the North Park Mall.  We visited him for story time.  And I have to say I was very impressed with how interactive it was.  We will be going again next year for sure. 



{Story Time with Santa}

 

{Trains at North Park}
We also went that day to see the Trains at North Park.  They have the most amazing display of toy trains there.



{Scrooge}
We finished our Christmas visit at the mall with Scrooge.  This was a little too old for us this year but we will try again.

We also had breakfast with Santa with my twins mom group.  The kids got to sit on Santa's lap for pictures there - but as much as they like Santa they weren't so sure about being that close to him this year.  There were no tears but no smiles either.  (Of course I found out little girl has strep so that could have played a part in her not having as much excitement for Santa...but she did manage to give him a hug before we left.)

{Christmas Cookies}

We've also have had several test runs of making Christmas cookies for Santa this year.  I've really enjoyed this with them.  Each time they seem impressed with different steps in the process - rolling the dough, cutting out the cookies, adding sprinkles, eating the cookies.  We will be making them one more time Christmas Eve.  I hope Santa likes them.  :-)

{Christmas Hugs}

But I have to say my absolute favorite thing so far this year has been the Christmas hug!!  I hope we have many more of these.  :-)

Merry Christmas everyone!!  And I hope you all get lots of Christmas hugs!!

Christmas Bokeh

One of the moms in my LensBaby group invited us to her house yesterday to take pictures that have that beautiful Christmas light bokeh.  She set up some white lights covered with a shimmery white fabric in the background to give our pictures the "snow effect".  I had been wanting to try this so I was so happy when she invited us for the play date.  Here are some of the pictures I took while we were there.



{My favorite little Snowman}





{My favorite Snow Princess}





{Some cuties from our group}
Seems like forever ago that mine would sit and pose for pictures so sweetly.  :-)



Christmas Cookies

Some of our LensBaby friends came over today to make Christmas cookies with us.  There were seven 2-year-olds here cutting out, sprinkling and decorating cookies.  And I have to say they all did so good!  I was so impressed with them.  We have little chefs in the making for sure!  :-)



Waiting for the cookies to come out of the oven...



Making a snowman...
{I think playing with the dough and with the sprinkles were her favorite parts.}

I was a little worried about doing this because of the possible mess.  But I have to say the mess was minimal and we will definitely be doing this again soon.  In fact, we will be doing it again in 17 days (Christmas Eve - let the countdown begin) so we have some cookies for Santa when he arrives.  (And hopefully I'll get some good shots of my Mister in action too.)  

Christmas Feet

This week's I Heart Faces Challenge is "On Your Feet".  Since we've been having so much fun with our Christmas tree and mommy is picture happy around the tree, I caught a few picture of our Christmas "Happy Feet".  :-)

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You can check out other entries on the I Heart Faces website as well.

Listening to Christmas Music

My friend and I got the kids together this past week for a musical Christmas themed play date.  We decided it was a good time to introduce them to all the fun Christmas songs.  We used You Tube to listen to the songs and then we did a fun Christmas activity that went along with each. 



Song:  "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"
Activity:  We dressed up like Rudolph with antlers I found at Target and painted our noses red.
(This is Little Miss's favorite because it has Santa in the video.  She calls this one the "Ho Ho Ho" song.)  :-)




Song:  "Jingle Bells"
Activity:  We all had jingle bells to play along with the song.



Song: "Frosty the Snowman"
Activity:  We made snowmen out of marshmallows and pretzel sticks. 
(This was probably the biggest hit of the day.)



Song:  "The Little Drummer Boy"
Activity:  We used wooden spoons and couch pillows to play our drums along with the song.
(Little Man loves this song.  He always wants to watch the "Baby" video since it has Baby Jesus in it.)





Song:  "Oh Christmas Tree"
Activity:  We decorated our Christmas trees.
(I found this idea for felt Christmas trees on Pinterest.  I thought it was so cute and super simple to make.)





Song: "Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow"
Activity:  We used our snowflakes to dance with the music.



Lunch:  We had reindeer quesadillas.
 (Left over turkey instead of reindeer inside though.)  ;-)
We had a ton of fun!! 



Oh and I have to share.  Our friends made us this advent calendar and yummy cookies as well.
(I'm so excited about this calendar!  She is so creative.  Check out all of her Nik's Naks.) 



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Linking up to Tot Time and Wordless Wednesday. 

 

I Heart Faces Challenge WINNER! Yay!! :-)

I am so excited to have had my picture chosen as one of the I Heart Face's winners for the "Bust a Gut" Challenge.  I always love entering their contest each week and seeing all the great pictures that are submitted.  Hehe...and I'm a little giddy about being chosen as one of their finalists. I feel very honored actually.  Thanks Amy & Angie for hosting such a fun contest!!



This picture was chosen for 8th place.  :-)

   

Happy Fall!

I know it's time to say goodbye to Fall and to bring on the crisp, cool fireplace weather (which I love!)  but it was nice to get one last chance to get some Fall pictures in with my LensBaby group this week.  We went to a small Elementary school park in McKinney and took a few pictures of the kids in the leaves.  But mostly the kids played on the play ground there.  I asked them later if they had a good time and they told me "Yeah, yeah!" so I think it it's safe to say we all had a great time.  :-)  Here are a few of our pictures from the play date and Happy Fall!