December recap

Hey y'all! Holy Moly!  

Where did December go?  I'm not sure we stopped to 'smell the roses', let alone, enjoy Christmas!

I will try to recap our entire month in this one post. 

Let's see.  Nina and Papa came to visit for our annual trip to see the Christmas lights.  We rode the train, saw the lights, visited Santa, and of course loaded up on candy!

 

Mason was sick, and out of school one week out of December.  We watched movies, and as you can see, he lined up his cars.  

I did a lot of online shopping! 

We made lots of homemade goodies!  This dish below....  OH MY GOODNESS!!  Apple dumplings. A dish full of heaven.  

Here is the recipe!

 

We also made our white chocolate party mix.  AKA Christmas Crack!  HA!

 Someone couldn't wait!  Yes, it's that good!

 

We wrapped gifts.  Mason loves to help with the tape!  This pretty green chevron paper came from Hobby Lobby.  I love it!  I wanted to do more with ribbon this year, but just didn't have time to fit in everything.  

 Take a look at this pretty little bag.  I sold several of these for Christmas and purchased a few myself.  It's a perfect bottle thermal and Thirty-One now has 4 styles available.

You can check them out here.

The weekend before Christmas, we went to a wedding in Elkin.  Let me tell you...  this hotel went all out with Christmas decorations.  I think we all walked around taking pictures for at least an hour before we even went to our room.  There were over 70 Christmas trees in the hotel.  They were all beautiful!

 

Mason had a great time at the wedding.  His best bud, Papa, was there and he got to dance with the 'princess' (bride).  

 What a cute cake!  Someone did a fabulous job!

Look at Kevin and his brother, Jeff!  Good grief!  They look so much alike and even wore the same color shirt.  

By the way, doesn't Ali look thrilled!  HA!  I think she was exhausted! And she was ready to get out of that dress!  HA!

Looks like I'll continue to the next post to update about our Christmas!

Show Us Your Life ~ Favorite Holiday Recipes

Hey y'all!  Today (a little late) I'm linking up with Kelly's Korner to talk about our favorite Holiday recipes.

I don't know about you, but when I think of Holiday recipes, I immediately think about sweets!  Chocolate!!

One of the easiest and pretty yummy too, are the rolo pretzels. 

I've seen a couple of different recipes, but I always stick to the oven version.  Put a rolo onto a square pretzel and in a 350 degree oven for 3 to 5 minutes, and top with another square pretzel.  Easy!!

White Chocolate Christmas Party Mix!!  Oh my goodness!  This is a must for our family during the Holidays.  The recipe makes a ton, so I always make gifts for neighbors and everyone else (if there is any left).

You can find the recipe here.

Another chocolate favorite is Crockpot Candy!

Very easy and very good!  This is another great recipe that makes a perfect neighbor gift.  It makes a ton and it really is good!

You can find the recipe here.

I'm looking forward to seeing your recipes too!

Christmas time is here

 Hey y'all!  Are you ready for Christmas?

As for the decorations, we are done, but gifts are another story.  I have bought several, but still have several to go.

What about Christmas cards?  Have you sent yours or even ordered them?  I'm just not sure this year.  We sent 50 cards last year and received about 20.  I know that is not the point, but what I'm saying is, it appears people are not doing cards any more.

What do you think? 

Richett has been a very busy Elf.  Sitting in our tree, playing with remote control cars, and snacking on cuties!

Do you have an Elf for your little one?  

What are their names? And what fun tricks have they played? 

A Special Visitor

Hey y'all!

We have welcomed a special visitor into our home.

Yep! The Elf on the Shelf!

We decided for him to make his appearance before we put up the Christmas decorations.  We actually read the book to Mason a couple of times, talked about what was going to happen, and explained why the Elf was coming to our house. 

Mason wasn't sure what to expect, but now that he has seen the Elf, he is very excited.  

Once the Elf made his appearance, Mason had to give him a name.  After going through about 10 different names, Mason finally decided on Richett.

He came up with the name all on his own.  There is a character on Peppa Pig named Richard and with their British accents, it sounds like they are saying Richett.  So when Mason said Richett, it took us a minute to figure out what his was saying.  

This morning (day 2) he ran into my room and said, "Mommy, Richett is in the bathroom, and wrote me a note".  So excited!  

We are all curious to see what Richett has in store for us.  And are very excited to get ready for Christmas.

Mason is very excited to see Santa.  He has been looking through magazines making his wish list and circling toys. 

Yesterday Mason sang in Church with his preschool class.  He did an awesome job. We are so proud of our little boy!

I can't tell you how precious it was seeing all of the children on stage singing.  I was amazed by all of them and how well behaved they all were.  Not only did they listen and follow directions, they all were singing their little hearts out!  We loved every moment!  

 

Celebrating today

Today is a day of celebration and honoring those who have served and are currently serving our country!  Thank you for your sacrifices and for your hard work.  We appreciate you! 

There's a snake in my boots!

BOO to you!

 

Fall Festivities

Happy Fall Y'all!

Are you enjoying this Fall season so far?  This is our favorite time of year and so far, we are having a great time.

We went with our friends to a local nursery to visit the pumpkin patch.  This is the same place we went last year.  We fed the fish, chickens, goats, and donkey.  It was actually very hot and humid this day, so we were all a bit miserable.

Poor Mason fell in the driveway before we left.  The bad part is, he had fallen a few days prior and re opened the same sores.  He was so upset, but insisted we still go get pumpkins.  We had to the bring the wagon because he said he couldn't walk.  HA!   

Mason is so good with animals.  I, of course, am freaking out in the background.  Be careful, be gentle...  I'm so scared the animals are going to bite him! 

There was a new addition to the nursery this year.  Sunflowers!  They were beautiful!  The kids loved them too!

 Buddies...  Jack and Mason

 Our friends came over for a playdate and lunch.  We always have a great time with our friends.  Especially when there are cupcakes involved!

 Everyone decorated their own cupcake.  Mason has enough sprinkles for 10 cupcakes!  

I also had my first vendor fair.  A very cute company in Cary was having a Fall festival and I was able to set up a table for Thirty-One.  It was very nice to get my name out there and meet people.  

My biggest fans came with me to the Fall festival.  They look thrilled. HA!  Actually they did have fun for about the first 2 hours, but then I still had 2 more hours left.  They were definitely ready to go by then!  HA! 

Looking a Bruiser, one would think it is Winter and not Fall!  He is so funny!  Actually, he had just had a bath, so he was ready to catch a nap!  

And of course, Fall is not complete without baking.  This picture doesn't do these muffins justice.  Yummy Pumpkin Spice Muffins!