baby it's cold outside

We are living in a snow globe! It is SO pretty everywhere you look here right now. It dumped down snow all day yesterday and it made for a fun morning playing in it with Liam! The snow comes up to his thighs so walking in it is no joke for him. haha We did a lot of sitting instead. The snow we got is really powdery and doesn't stick whatsoever so my dreams of making his first snowman with him crashed and burned for now. It is probably fate because I'd really like Nic home with us for that. :) He has two weeks off over the holidays, a BIG Merry Christmas to me and Liam. We seriously can't wait!!! With that said, some pictures of my little snow bunny ...

December things

This last week I spent every day during nap time consumed with various Christmas prep projects. I made gifts for the neighbors, a string of Christmas light treat boxes filled with m&m's, and finished wrapping presents to put under the tree and fill stockings. By the end of the week, I was exhausted but legitimately sad that I had nothing left to wrap because the creative side of me LOVES wrapping gifts. I told Nic that I'm sure malls offer a present wrapping station and maybe they should hire me for the month of December. ;) Cute wrapping paper, homemade gift tags, and red and white twine are a weakness of mine. haha

We finally had to put up a gate around the bottom of our Christmas tree with little hands and bunny chompers around here. Liam still tries his darnedest to reach over the top and see if any shiny ornament could possibly be in his reach but gives up after a couple of attempts. haha

Our advent calendar has been such a fun and special tradition to add to the spirit of Christmas at our house this year, we've been loving it. We've watched The Grinch probably 110 times by now and will continue to have it on repeat until December 25th has officially passed us by. Maybe even after that. ;) The one December thing we are missing in our lives so far is driving around and looking at Christmas lights. Liam hates and I mean HATES with a passion riding in the car. Even driving to the store is a struggle let alone wanting to peruse several streets of houses so when he seems in a particularly good mood in the car (all of two times so far!) we decide to get adventurous and travel down a side street to look at a few lights. I swear not two houses in we are already regretting our decision and having to bag it from the sounds of pure anger ripping at car seat straps in the back seat (sigh).

I mentioned in Liam's birthday post how much Nic is looking forward to him being old enough to be able to build things out of Lego's together. While shopping for a family we are providing Christmas for on Saturday, he saw a bag of giant Lego's and wanted to give Liam them for Christmas. While Santa was already done finding presents to bring Liam, I didn't want to pass up something that Liam and Nic could do together. I wrapped the bag up as soon as we got home on Saturday. When last night rolled around and the weather was terribly cold and windy and besides going to church in the morning, we had been stuck inside all day so we decided to let Liam open the blocks early. haha He has loved them! 

Christmas with kids is so magical! I have already felt that magic all December long so far that I can hardly imagine Christmas morning! Most of all, I can't wait to teach him about giving to others. We get to deliver/door bell ditch gifts we have for a family in our community on Christmas Eve and it makes me heart so happy.

Just a few December things I am loving! XO

5 things about Liam lately

When people ask me how old Liam is now, I find myself caught between saying his age in months or a year. For so long now it has been months so it feels natural to say he is 13, almost 14 months old but hitting that year mark felt like such a big step too so occasionally I'll say "just barely over a year". Either way, it has made me miss not sharing month-to-month updates on our little guy because he changes SO much every single day. Instead of continuing the month-to-month thing as he gets bigger, I thought I would start something new and share a few things every so often that he has discovered and that I want to remember. Here are five things about Liam lately ...

| O N E |

He has three new words in his vocabulary besides momma and dada ... yeah, hi, and my personal favorite, Rue! Every morning after getting Liam out of his crib and changing his diaper, we walk out into the kitchen together and Rue is the first thing he runs to (besides dada of course!). Whenever he says her name unprompted it comes out "Ruh" or "Boo" (so adorable!) but he often mimics us and says "Hi Rue" in this high pitched little squeaky voice. She is definitely his best friend!  

 

| T W O |

Liam marches to the tune of his own drum whenever he is given the opportunity to roam somewhere on his own but if I call out to him with my hand outstretched, he grabs onto my finger(s) to walk beside me and my heart melts into a puddle.

| T H R E E |

He finally got the hang of his sippy cup and throws that thing back and swigs it like it his first sign of water after being in the desert for a million days. So hilarious!

| F O U R |

Hide-and-Go-Seek has been one of his favorite games for a while now but he recently learned that he can be the one to hide from you and pop his head out to be found! ;) 

| F I V E |

He goes into fits of giggles whenever you make kitten or puppy sounds or say "here kitty kitty" to him. I don't know what is so funny about those sounds but when he starts to giggle, we can't help but say them over and over and over again just to hear those giggles one more time because they never grow old.

We sure love watching him grow and learn new things! He is quite the little character with the best personality. He is definitely so fun to be around!

Christmas Advent Calendars

Happy December! It is now socially appropriate to be excited about Christmas haha but let's be real, we've been excited over here for at least two weeks now! Something I have been wanting to incorporate into our Christmas family traditions is an advent calendar. As a child, most years we would get one of those cardboard calendars, usually in the shape of a Christmasey house, and we would pop open a window for each day leading up to Christmas and find a chocolate inside! My brother and I would take turns getting to open a window every other day. The only advent calendar Nic and I have done together since we have been married was one similar to my childhood. I don't know if as a kid, chocolate was chocolate and I didn't care, or if it was the fact that I bought it at the cheapest place possible (the dollar store) with the cheapest candy inside ever but either way, the chocolate was seriously TERRIBLE!!! We both spit it out and threw the whole thing away after the first day. Epic fail! You can see that post here if you want a good laugh. 

Don't get me wrong, treats are a fun part of the holidays but I wanted to do something a little more meaningful than just treats in our advent calendar this year. There are so many different types of advent calendars out there and I decided on two for our family. The first one I made ...

Since we don't have a mantle, I hung it under the TV! And yes, The Grinch has been on repeat at our house, it is a favorite! I made this calendar out of paper envelopes. I wrote the days on the outside and hung them on green and white striped twine using mini clothes pins. Then I decorated the outside with fun washi tape. Each envelope has a card with a scripture and activity on it to read and do as a family. I found the scripture calendar here. Some activity ideas I included were Christmas cookie baking and delivering to neighbors and friends, different service projects for other people, baking Christmas cookies, singing carols, watching all of our favorite Christmas movies, snow activities like sledding/snowball fight/building a snowman, and doing different Christmas crafts. There is also three m&ms inside, one little treat for each of us. That is definitely Liam's favorite part just like it was for me as a child but reading the scriptures about Jesus' birth together as a family has quickly become my new favorite part. It brings the spirit and true meaning of Christmas into our home. I love it!

I also wanted to do a Christmas book themed advent this year. I rounded up a few of our childhood favorites as well as added a new one that we will get to read on Christmas morning after Liam opens his stocking.

Liam's favorite part of this advent ... knocking the books down!!!

This really is the MOST wonderful time of the year!!! XO

the magic of a chocolate shake & a bath

There is nothing that makes me feel sadder than seeing Liam sick. I just want to take it all away for him and despite medicine and snuggles, I feel completely helpless. Two nights ago, Liam was up all but two hours of the night with a stuffy nose. Luckily it wasn't any worse than that but still hard to sleep when you can't breathe very well. When yesterday morning finally came around, we were both beyond tired. Apart from naps, he cried and wanted to be held all day long. I had a splitting headache and was slightly delirious from lack of sleep (I NEEEEED MY SLEEP!) so packing him around all day just wasn't going to work. I had to get creative and discovered the pure magic of chocolate and a bath. There is truly nothing that they can't cure. ;)

I have been trying out a few samples of Shakeology from Beach Body that one of my cousins so sweetly sent to me and Liam kept begging to have a drink out of my mug so I gave him a little bit in a mug of his own and helped him drink it. His face was covered in chocolate and he cried when it was all gone. haha  

Poor baby was so sleepy.

Later in the afternoon when the chocolate shake was gone and the arms were about to fall off, into the warm bath he went. He was ALL smiles!! Pure magic I tell you!

^ One of my new favorite pictures of him that I just might have to add to my bathtub picture collection I have going in his bathroom! ^

Today is a new day and while the runny nose is still there, we both got a good nights sleep last night and everything is beginning to look up! Now excuse me while we go have another chocolate shake and a bath. ;)

Holiday Gift Guide for Babies & Toddlers

Happy Cyber Monday!

With the internet covered in crazy good deals today (well, for the next hour anyway), I thought it would be the perfect time to share a holiday gift guide for the babies and toddlers in your life. While I know this will be another holiday where Liam will be more interested in the crinkling sounds of the tissue paper and straight up eating the wrapping paper and bows (haha!), we still have a few special surprises for him. I LOVE giving gifts but sometimes the holidays stress me out with the sheer number of loved ones to buy for and the hype of the latest and greatest gifts to give but I recently saw the idea of centering gift buying around these four things ... want, need, wear, read and I loved the idea so much! So here is a little holiday gift guide and Liam's want, need, wear, and read ..... 

| ONE | TWO | THREE | FOUR | FIVE | SIX | SEVEN & EIGHT | NINE |

| W A N T |

Liam LOVES hiding under blankets right now and I can tell many homemade forts are in our future. With that said, we decided to get him his very own teepee to play in! I can't wait to set it up, put a string of Christmas lights inside, and see his face light up on Christmas morning! Tegu blocks are also a fun addition to your child's toy collection. Liam got some for his birthday and these magnetic blocks have already brought hours of fun (even for us adults!). We've never tried bath crayons before but they will be in Liam's stocking this year to pull out on a snowy winter day when there seems to be nothing else to do but take a bath!

| N E E D |

A couple of needs ... his very first pair of mittens and a new hat since his head has grown out of all the ones he wore last year. 

| W E A R |

Just like every other little one, Liam is constantly growing out of his clothes. We got him a new fun pair of Christmas jammies and a comfy hooded romper since we spend most of our days this winter at home. 

| R E A D | 

I recently hosted an Usborne Books & More party and it was the perfect opportunity to add to our Christmas book collection as well as our growing library. We love the "That's Not My" series and picked out the That's Not My Penguin and That's Not My Puppy (since Liam is obsessed with them!) for his stocking. Liam will be taking his first trip to the ocean this coming April so we also got him a seashore book. It is from their Shine a Light series where you hold a flashlight behind the pages in the dark and images appear! They are so cool! This book and his very own flashlight will be wrapped up inside his new teepee on Christmas morning.

Happy Christmas Shopping! XO

Thanksgiving 2015

Thanksgiving is one of my very favorite holidays. Not only because I love to eat (haha) but I think it goes without saying that it is a wonderful opportunity to reflect on all the many things we are thankful for in our lives. Before I share those things, I wanted to recap our time spent in Meridian with my mom for Thanksgiving ...

While we were skeptical (if you've been to Idaho and experienced the weather, you understand) the weather forecast showed signs of snow on Wednesday and Thursday this week. We'd planned to travel on Wednesday but kept getting encouraged by others that it would be smart to leave at the soonest opportunity and we are so glad we decided to leave on Tuesday instead. First thing to be thankful for, making it there safely because Wednesday did indeed bring snow. My mom had to work Wednesday so we popped into her office to say hi in the afternoon. At the first sound of Liam, her co-workers started popping up from their desks to see him. He just stood there overwhelmed by it all until one of the ladies gave him a stuffed monkey to carry around and then it was all fun and games after that. He found his way into every nook and cranny he could. haha A place full of non-baby toys is always Disneyland to a kid. His favorites being Sita's computer/keyboard and his new love of calculators. I think it is safe to say we know what he wants from Santa this year. His very own calculator! ;)

On Thanksgiving we took Liam  outside to experience snow for the first time in his new boots! We didn't let him go too wild and crazy because it was about 20 degrees outside and his pair of gloves and hat haven't come in the mail quite yet but he definitely loved poking it with his finger from Sita's hand.

Nic's favorite appetizer on holidays is little smokies with BBQ sauce and he got to share a bite with his little sidekick this year. Considering Liam wolfed down 3 or 4 of them in a few minutes flat, I'd say he was a fan. haha

Liam discovered the CD rack at Sita's house and it was game over to any and all toys we tried to draw his attention away with from there!

Through no fault of her own, my mom's turkey wasn't done when it was expected to be so for dinner we gave Liam bites of other foods instead. When everything finally came together, he was too full and showed no interest in a bite of mashed potatoes and gravy, turkey, or stuffing. He sure loved leftover apple crisp and ice cream the next day for dessert though.

^ Nothing but trouble!!! ^

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, we've had an on-going second round of sickness at our house that we brought along with us on the trip. I had a sore throat most of the time we were there and Nic started coming down with it by Thanksgiving night so we laid low the rest of the trip. We did quite a bit of online shopping on Black Friday from the comfort of the couch (best way to do it in my opinion!) and kicked off the Christmas season with Christmas Vacation and Home Alone.

I shared a family picture of us on Instagram on Thanksgiving Day saying that you know you are living a wonderful life when every year you are more grateful than the last, my family being one of my biggest blessings of all. I meant every word. I continually feel more and more blessed with each passing year as we near the end and I look back and reflect on all God has given me in my life. I am one lucky woman to be adored by a man as wonderful and selfless as Nic. I am blessed to be a mom to a little boy who takes the world by storm and is my reason to smile every day. I'm lucky to consider myself among the very few these days who get the incredible privilege to be a stay-at-home mom. I adore Rue and the giggles she brings to our family from her quirky, entertaining, and lovable personality. I am blessed to always have my temporal needs met and feel so thankful to be loved by my Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ each and every day despite my shortcomings. Happy Thanksgiving to you all! May you reflect often on the blessings in your life because I promise you that if you do, you will find more joy than you can imagine this holiday season. XO

P.S. Our Thankgiving last year. Look how tiny Liam was!