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We are enjoying our time in California. While we were here my friend Helena gave the girls some adorable haircuts. (Although we are just calling Wendy’s a trim, because if it’s a real haircut, then she’s a Big Girl and mommy is having none of that!)
Thank you Helena the girlies look very cute. We are enjoying their eyeballs.
Wendy has been having fun with her cousin Jake too..
More Christmas photos to come as our Christmas traditions being to unfold.
Here are some pictures we took of the girls under the tree when we got home from seeing Santa.
Look how tiny she is next to the tree!
“Someday, I will be big enough to get you!”
We are now happily in nice sunny California. It is a beautiful 75 degrees and if you ask me that is just the way it should be at Christmas time. (I’m a SoCal girl, what can I say?) We are having a great time with friends and family and enjoying the season together. A few days ago we took the girls to see Santa. Well actually we did it on two different days.
First we took Wendy to see Santa all by herself. We wanted her to have her first Santa photo all alone. She did great. She looked so beautiful in her silver tutu and she didn’t cry. The photos we got were priceless and the Santa was so nice.
The next day we took the girls down to see Santa together. It was amazing, we went to the mall in the middle of the day on a Friday and there was no one in line. Santa saw us coming doing the elevator and came and waved at us through the glass. It was really nice since Ella was a little nervous (Last year she wouldn’t get anywhere near Santa). Then Santa met us at the entrance and gave Ella high-fives and fist pounds (or knuckles as he called them). He was so friendly. Then we brought the girls in to have their pictures taken. Once again they did great, although Wendy was not quite as agreeable. (These days you have to get her in just the right mood, as she is in the midst of getting her front teeth.) After they took their photos, Santa spent some special time with Ella and asked her what she wanted for Christmas. She told Santa that all she wanted was an airplane. Santa tried to talk her into some more items, but all she wanted was a plane. Then Santa said that all he wanted was a hug, and Ella gave him a great big squeeze (which is where mommy got all weepy and emotional.)
So thank you for reading my long winded post. And I’m sure none of you care as much I do, but oh well, it’s my blog and I will write what I want to! I am very excited for Christmas and some of the surprise gifts I have gotten from some awesome internet deals. I will be sure to share them with you after Christmas. Until then, HAVE A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and remember to CELEBRATE THE TRUE MEANING OF THE SEASON!
This week is finally over, boy has it been fun and crazy! The biggest event of the weekend was Alex and Briana’s engagement party. I had spent weeks planning, it was my first big party in our new house, and really the first big party I had ever planned all by myself. The party had a candy shop theme, but seeing as it is the Christmas season, we decided that the party would have Christmasy undertones. I think that it came out really nicely and everyone seemed to have a great time.
Here are some photos, but I must warn you, I haven’t had a chance to read about how to use my new camera, and I apparently haven’t mastered how not to take a blurry photo or what settings to use inside. But hopefully you will get the gist of what it looked like.
CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS
I am really excited about how my fireplace turned out. I love my new stockings!
My nativity goes perfectly on my mantel. I was excited to have all the pieces for the first time, but then I realized that I am still missing the angel, but I still think it looks great.
I was planning to wrap that post in garland and then continue the garland along the ledge, but then I realized I only had about 3 feet of garland, so I pulled the rose topiaries out of my wedding stuff to finish off the ledge, I really like the end result.
I have the great Mickey Mouse shaped bulbs that my mom got me one year. They were just the right size to spruce up my garland.
Here is the only shot I got of our tree, its very blurry, but here it is. I let Ella decorate the tree, which will explain why 3/4ths of the ornaments are on the bottom two branches. (I re-decorated it a little before the party, just to even it out).
ENGAGEMENT PARTY
We got a little pre-occupied with games and such, so this is the only photo of the happy couple, Alex and Briana. I made them wear the hats all night! Consider it my payment for throwing a great party :-)
To say I had fun with my new Cricut, would be an understatement. I had a great time making decorations for the party, and i think they came out great!
I was so happy with the outcome of my “Candy Bar”, it looked great and there was plenty to eat.
I don’t have an ice bucket, and I wanted to make sure people knew that ice was available. So, I made cute little sign that said “ICE IN HERE” and put it up on the freezer.
I was most excited about this, because it was all my idea. I took paper clips and hot glued circles to them, each circle had a different sticker. You could clip the tag to the side of your cup, 
I hope you enjoyed this post. Thanks to everyone who came to the party. Thank you Mrs. Emme for the great Spritz Cookies (they are one of my favorites), and thank you Mrs. Borton for the best peanut butter cookies i have ever had!! I hope everyone had a great time. Now of to the next 100 things I need to get done this week. I just keep telling myself, you can sleep when you get to California.
Well, my first thanksgiving is over, and it was (for the most part) a success. If you ask anyone else, they will tell you it was great. If you ask me, I will tell you that the turkey was dry. Oh well, try again next year! :-) More importantly then the food, my table was beautiful, which is what I was the most excited about.
My mom brought over some of her fall table cloths (since I only own one and it's not very festive).
I took two different vases and filled them with cranberries. 
Then I made burlap flowers, I used them as decorations and I turned 7 of them into napkin rings (I got the idea from Jen over at www.tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com check her out for other great decorating ideas). They came out really cute! I was very excited. If you like them also, I would be happy to sell you some. I can make them with any color fabric and any color center, just let me know what you want. $5 for a set of 6.
At the last minute I added some black beads that I had left over. When they were mixed with the cranberries, they looked like blueberries. I think it finished off the table very nicely. The foam turkeys are place card holders that Ella and her Nannie (Great Grandma) made when she came to visit. We tried to put place cards in them, but they wouldn’t stay, so they were just cute turkeys on our table.
Lastly, here are some photos of the girlies (they looked very cute in their tutus). These were supposed to be for Christmas, but Ella really wanted to wear hers.
:-) HAPPY THANKSGIVING now bring on the Christmas decorations! Well, not yet for me. I am hosting an engagement party next weekend. It is going to have a great “candy shop” theme. Keep an eye out for photos of it in the coming weeks.
