Holiday Gift Guide for Kids

The holiday season is well underway and in the interest of not waiting until the last minute to finish my shopping, I've been thinking about gift ideas for the people in my life. I'd like to spend the month of December decorating ginger bread houses, watching Christmas movies cuddled up together by the tree, baking cookies, taking Liam ice skating for the first, visiting Santa, and hopefully playing in the snow (just a few things on our holiday bucket list) rather than doing a bunch of shopping. In preparation for all the sales happening now through the next few days, I thought I would share some fun interactive ideas for kids rather than just toys this year ...

moonlite | osmo | walkie talkies | magnetic tiles

alphabet robots | legos | microphone | construction playdoh set

It's no secret that in this day and age, kids love phones ... no matter what age they are at. I don't love letting Liam play games on mine very often but when I came across these two gift ideas I knew they would be perfect when I occasionally do ... the moonlite is a projector you can clip to your phone and it has interchangeable slides you can attach to it that project the pictures from the story on the ceiling while the words are shown through an app on your phone to read to them. A really fun way to read stories before bed and doubles as a "flashlight", Liam's favorite! The second one is the Osmo. I've seen this before but it was always for iPad use only and it wasn't up until recently they made it available for Kindle and iPhone users. It is a stand you slide your device into and you can purchase educational games to go with it. The app it uses talks to you and you interact with it through a reflector in front of the phone. It looks amazing! We got Liam the creative monster game to start with for Christmas!

Who doesn't love walkie talkies, so great for so many ages and this particular pair has really good ratings for distance if they play with a friend or sibling outside. 

Liam's favorite thing to do right now is build ... he plays with these magnetic tiles at our library all the time and loves nothing more than Legos and super heroes right now making this set the perfect fit!

Another favorite around here, robots that transform. How fun is this set where it helps them practice the alphabet?!

A microphone for the music loving dancer in your life and a construction playdoh set that comes with the cutest electric drill.

Another favorite not pictured above ... a stomp rocket (and this one glows in the dark)!

Hope a few of these ideas help! XO

October happenings

As promised, our October happenings ... grab a snack and a drink because this is a long one! haha

Devouring our first batch of chocolate chip pumpkins cookies and playing in the fall leaves while waiting at the title company to sign for the house we sold ...

p.s. those tiny little salt water sandals were Nic's when he was a baby!

My favorite part about the start of this month is General Conference ... a time where we get to listen to revelation and inspirational messages from the leaders of our church. This was a pretty life changing one to remember as we make the change from a 3 hour church block on Sundays to a more family focused devotion of 2 hours. I filled a muffin tin with different snacks and treats (Liam loves when I do this) and the three of us watched together the day Nic was packing up the Uhaul. I have the best video from it of Lyla with a death grip around a bowl of popcorn and stuffing her face. haha

Liam's my little builder ... it is his favorite thing to do right now! He'll build a tower with anything he can find. One day we were coloring together (something he'll tolerate for apporximately 3 minutes) before I suddenly look over and notice him making a rocket ship out of the colored pencils ...

One of the last pictures I have of Lyla asleep in her infant car seat (tears). She has officially outgrown it and has a big girl car seat now ...

After moving in to our new house, we spent a lot of Fall afternoons exploring our neighborhood and surrounding neighborhood parks ...

Naturally, try to eat the bark ...

A belated birthday gift that arrived in the mail from her papa and Grandma Dee, a cute bunny sweatshirt! Love that her two front teeth are showing in this picture too haha ...

A milestone that has been coming for a while but is always hard for me to let go of ... Lyla would have kept nursing as long as I let her but she was biting me so hard all the time and never learning that it wasn't okay. There is a special bond I've shared with both of my kids while nursing that I'll never forget but thankfully Lyla has made it easier on me than with my previous experience because she's a momma's girl.

A view of our new kitchen at night time ...

I've always had this "bargaining chip" with my mom that if I moved back one day, I hoped to inherit her piano. Look what she had delivered to my door step a week after we moved in ... I literally wanted to cry, it was one of the best gifts I've ever been given! I've been brushing the dust off the keys and playing just about every day since ...

Her first tiny pig tails!!!

Around Halloween (hence the Scooby Doo head) and in the aisles of the Walmart toys ... I wasn't sure what to get Lyla for Christmas this year since all one year olds care about are boxes and ribbons but when she saw this puppy in a carrier and starting hugging it for dear life ... 

Making Paw Patrol cupcakes together for Liam's preschool birthday celebration ...

Nic has been hard at work any time he is home. Those first couple weeks we literally never stopped ... project after project getting organized and unpacking. We downsized quite a bit on storage space and garage size compared to our last home so we've been donating as much as possible to eliminate what we need to store and found these amazing overhead storage racks at Costco that he hung to make up for the rest that we did keep ...

Liam and his "meow" and a rare moment these days when Liam fell asleep on the couch during quiet time ... which epically backfired when he was awake until 10 that night! haha 

His best friend Hadley visited from Pocatello and the two of them played all afternoon together having the best time! This moment also gave me a glimpse into Liam's future with girls while watching Hotel Transylvania together ...

Lyla's pig tails, can't stop won't stop!

The weekend before Halloween, Target had an event for the release of the new Paw Patrol Halloween episode and series of toys that came out for the Christmas season. It was a great opportunity for the kids to wear their costumes and trick-or-treat at a few places around the store and watch the new episode ...

I forgot how much church is a bit of a marathon from the time a baby starts walking until they attend nursery at 18 months so a lot of our Sundays have been spent taking turns outside wandering around the church building and playing in the leaves ...

Liam has made the sweetest new friend in our neighborhood. She brought him a gift on his birthday after only meeting him a few days before and invited him to  a "race" at the park one evening complete with the cutest little invitation she had typed up. As a mom, I couldn't be more thankful for this ...

We've witnessed some of the most incredible sunsets where we live lately ...

And the cutest turkey Liam made at preschool! 

I love the fall so much and I'm glad we are finally getting settled in to our new house for the rest of the holiday season! The best time of the year! XO

September happenings

So many changes for us in the months of September and October that I'm happy to finally start sharing today ... starting with the biggest change of all, moving to Meridian. There have been very few nights in all 7 1/2 years of our marriage that Nic and I have spent apart but with a then nursing baby, I couldn't leave Lyla to go back and help him pack up the Uhaul so I put him on a bus and with the help of his parents and a kind neighbor, they did all the heavy lifting and he arrived the next afternoon with the rest of our belongings. Nothing symbolizes change quite like a big box full of everything you own but it meant that our house had officially sold and we'd be moving in to our new home a little less than a week later ... 

I'm thankful my mom put up with us taking over her house for a full two months. A few memories while we were living there ... 

I caught Lyla in the the most beautiful light pouring in through her kitchen window. It was the witching hour (5:00) and we gave her an empty box to entertain herself at our feet while cooking dinner ...

Liam's Iron Man costume arrived in the mail and I took this to remember that he has since worn it every single day after ...

Having the best time entertaining herself in my mom's mirror by watching herself fall backwards over and over again (haha) ...

Getting the cutest new sweater for her birthday that will take a while to grow into ...

Afternoons spent at the park ...

I love these next series of park pictures SO much!!

When he willingly asked me to take his picture on the Target ball and then as soon as I pulled out my camera, turned around so I could get the shot of his back (haha) ...

Also big news ... I live near a Target!!!

Doing a couple of fun creative lettering projects for my sister-in-law ...

Poor Lyla girl was sick for a couple weeks of the month (around her birthday too, poor girl) but these extra snuggles, heaven! She rarely falls asleep on me anymore and those squished lips ...

October happenings coming tomorrow! XO

Veteran's day

Happy Veteran's Day!!

A couple weekends ago we got the opportunity to be a part of our local Veteran's Day parade with my mom's company she works for. Liam was in heaven getting to ride in a bucket truck and see so many military vehicles, helicopters, fire trucks, and police cars honoring those who have served and are serving our country. These pictures don't do it justice but there was a huge flag hanging across the street in front of the capitol building that totally took my breath away. 

Haha I just noticed that pretzel stuck to Lyla's leg! She ate the entire time. ;)

Holidays like this feel even more meaningful knowing my own family members have and are serving this beautiful country that I'm privileged to live in. My gratitude goes out to them today! XO

p.s. ... because I know you were waiting all weekend on bated breath after Friday's post to find out whether or not we decked the halls, it still looks very much like fall and Thanksgiving around here but no promises by the end of this week. ;) Especially because my Anthro stockings are supposed to arrive in the mail on Tuesday!! That and my neighbors got their Christmas lights hung over the weekend so I feel like I'm surrounded by my people. haha