We Wish You A Merry Christmas!

He's making a list and checking it twice.....

Santa Claus is coming to town!

Last weekend, Santa Claus visited us in our neighborhood, Westhaven! It was so neat! Instead of having to wait in lines like you do at the mall, we just got to pick the time that we wanted to visit - then just show up at the Residents' Club. This fun visit was complete with snacks and juice! Definitely much more kid-friendly! :)

Getting ready to see Santa!

I have been such a good girl this year!

So here goes the visit with Santa..... Don't let the pictures fool you!

"Hmmmmm.... Who is this strange man?"

"I'm not sure I like this!"

Sooo, here's what really happened.....

Poor baby! I know I am not nice for posting that, but I couldn't help it! She made us laugh because she knew something wasn't right! She lost it when Santa looked at her and started talking! We'll have to see what happens next year! ;)



I was so excited about that weekend, not only did Santa come, but it was Franklin's annual "Dickens of a Christmas," and also the lighting of the luminaries in our neighborhood - complete with carolers, hot chocolate and Christmas goodies. To my disappointment, we didn't get to participate in anything except going to see Santa because Elle wasn't feeling well. This was the weekend before we found out she had an ear infection. On Sunday, Elle ended up sleeping the ENTIRE day. This had never, ever happened! Elle barely even naps, and does well to sleep 10 hours at night - we knew something was definitely wrong! I am just so relieved she is feeling better, though, so it didn't matter that we had to miss out! I will be so glad when spring is here - hopefully our entire house can be free from sickness for a while!

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree!

So, I was thinking that Elle probably wouldn't pay much attention to the Christmas trees in our house this year - I was soooo wrong! Instead, they are pretty much the reason she started crawling forward (we are no longer going in reverse!) several weeks ago! haha! BJ and I spend our days chasing her around, trying to catch her before she steals an ornament or tries to pull the tree over!



Our main tree in the living room has a few ornaments made of foam balls wrapped in ribbon that are perfect for her to play with since they aren't breakable. I tried to strategically place them around the bottom of the tree for her!

My little ornament stealer - caught red handed! ;)

How can you say no to this sweet little face?!

Here is Elle's favorite tree! I got her a little pink tree for her bedroom. I had a lot of fun decorating this! Elle loved this tree so much that she pulled it completely over a couple of weeks ago! uh oh! I have seriously re-decorated this tree at least 10 times!

I think Elle might possibly design Christmas ornaments one day! I can't get over how much she studies them!

These trees have no ornaments, so she leaves them alone, of course! I guess I should have thought about having just trees and lights throughout the house! :)

"Baxter, I already told you - these pictures are just supposed to be of me!"

Here is my little elf helping me wrap away! What a good little helper I have!

"We have how many more to wrap???"

Hope everyone is having a great weekend! Christmas is less than a week away! Unbelievable!

Our Home for the Holidays!

Wow, it has been a crazy 3 weeks! I have been wanting to blog more, but besides dealing with the busy holiday season - we have had a sick baby on our hands! I think we FINALLY have it figured out (after 3 whole weeks of poor Elle being miserable!). When she went to the MD for the 3rd time in 3 weeks last week- they discovered that her left ear was infected. I was really starting to get worried because Elle hadn't felt well since Thanksgiving day, and no one had any answers as to what was wrong with her! It was horrible. Basically, her doctor thinks she had a bad cold, and possibly even H1N1, that led up to the ear infection. Elle is on her 5th day of antibiotics, and is doing much better! It is so great to finally have our baby back!


It has been so much fun getting ready for Christmas this year. This year is extra special because it is Elle's first Christmas! I have added several new decorations this year, thanks to Elle! :)


I am sooo excited to finally get to use my "Cookies and Milk for Santa" set this year! My mom got this for me about 10 years ago, and put it back for me until I needed it! ;) Thanks mom! We'll have to give Santa a little snack this year when he stops by!

Here are Elle's "First Christmas"ornaments! Kerri King took Elle's 9 month/Christmas photo shoot back in November - this was one of our favorite pictures! They turned out so cute! I'll have to scan the Christmas card that Kerri designed for us - she is so creative! It turned out really cute!

A little ballerina stocking for the princess!

I kept seeing this cute picture frame everywhere I would go, and loved it - so I broke down and bought it! I am excited about displaying a picture of Elle (and hopefully other little ones!) in it each holiday season!



And this is my absolute favorite!!
I think this will be a neat way to remember Elle's first Christmas, and we can use it every year for cookies, and other goodies.

I had passed by Third Coast Clay in the Factory several times, and didn't really pay much attention to it, because I just always associated it with something that kids do - painting pottery pieces for birthday parties, etc. Then, BJ and I passed by it while we were at a Christmas Market at the Factory, and we decided to check it out. I saw all of these really cute ideas about using kids handprints and footprints to do all different kinds of Christmas designs! They carry all different kinds of pottery - everything from ornaments to coffee mugs. So, we decided to paint Elle's hands and feet (slightly stressful, but fun experience!), and use her prints to make a reindeer.... and her mama attempted to paint the rest! This is a great gift idea for grandparents, too! (Elle just might be giving something similiar as Christmas gifts this year! ;) )




BJ and I always dread putting up the wreaths outside, but we finally got it done! This year we added lights. Each year, our neighborhood does luminaries, along with a Holiday Home tour one weekend in December. All of the neighborhood streets are lined with luminaries - it is beautiful! Since we were pretty much the only people on our street without outside Christmas lights in previous years, I decided it was time to try them! Hopefully we'll find an easier way to string them next year! This took forever!

I made this wreath for our front door - I just got a real wreath, painted the "N" and added the ribbon to it. I LOVE real garland, and trees, too, and dream of having them in my house one day - but I just can't imagine cleaning up the mess right now while having a baby crawling around!