"Magical" pictures by the Christmas tree

Between the picturesque first snowfall, our TWO Christmas trees, and the nonstop holiday music I play at home, holiday spirit levels are high in our house.

The girls even voluntarily tried on their Christmas outfits and for the first time in history asked me to take pictures of them. Hence, blog post. Cece mostly directed this impromptu photo shoot and also insisted that the lights be off. (I tried to explain that makes it harder to take pictures, but she's a lady with a vision.)

Here's how it turned out:

Kinda, sorta, pinterest-y? I'll try this shot again in the future, I think it could be really sweet.

Cecelia Ray in her holiday glory. I love.

And Rosie in her holiday glory. I may have to send out a secondary Christmas card this year of just Rosie like this.

Then upstairs, Cece wanted a photo series of her holding an assortment of ornaments. So we have about 20 of these types of pictures.

And Rosie wanted to pose with an Easter egg. Because, why not?

And before the evening was over, Rosie had to give me her new trademark pose which will undoubtedly be on her first album cover. Or inside her first book jacket. She has inherited Joe's diva personality and I think she'll go far ; )

Hope you had a great first weekend in December! I'm hoping to post more frequently this month so stay tuned for more Rosie and Cece  holiday adventures!

Valentine's Day 2015

 

 

Valentine's Day turned out being fairly busy so, we don't have a lot of pics. BUT. We did have some pretty good times. At least initially. In the morning, we had pink pancakes (yes, they were leftovers so they were still festive, just a little dry.) And I made sure the girls woke up to a few decorations and gifts as well as cards. So, we exchanged pancakes and gifts which was sweet. (Joe got the girls and myself some lovely necklaces, cards, and flowers. We baked him a cake, not pictured, as I forgot to take a picture before we ate it. Oops.)

In the afternoon, once Joe was finished with work, he took the girls on a date to see The Good Dinosaur and I attended an essential oils party. A great afternoon had by all.

We met back at the house later for dinner. And then the evening steadily went downhill from there as Cece ended up getting sick after she went to sleep and a couple more times throughout the night. (Not really sure what happened, I swear she did not have that many treats!) So Joe and I spent our romantic Valentine's Day evening by laundering soiled sheets, sanitizing a bedroom, bathing our little lady late at night, and not sleeping much. But there's no one else I'd rather clean up puke with so I guess that's what makes it... meaningful? I don't know, grasping at straws here. Fortunately, Cece is doing much much better now, and no one else seems to have been affected, so I am hoping we are all in the clear.

 Hope your Valentine's Day was not disgusting filled with all things sweet!

Christmas Morning 2015

The big dance is over! Christmas has come and gone (and a part of me is already dreaming about next holiday season!)

We spent Christmas Eve and morning at our house. The girls both managed to get in bed early (which meant everyone was up early, at least an hour before sunrise!)

We opened a few presents, took a breakfast break, and finished up the rest. 

Santa brought the girls bathrobes, but Joe's gift to the three of us won Christmas. He got Rosie, Cece, and me mermaid snuggies. There are few Christmas gifts more magical than that (except perhaps engagement rings and new babies ; ) The girls and I have spent quite some time lounging like mermaids and scooching around the living room. I'm only posting photos of them because they look so cute and I look absolutely crazy.

After Rosie took her Christmas nap, we headed up to St. Cloud to spend time with Joe's family and attend the Christmas bonfire (and, in the spirit of Christmas, share our mermaid tails with cousins). Although it was a bummer not to have a snowy white Christmas, I appreciated the clear roads and safe travel conditions!

I don't know about the rest of you, but now that Christmas is over, I feel like a sense of calm has washed over our house. Don't get me wrong, I love the anticipation of Christmas and the many holiday activities. But now that that the shopping, wrapping, making and baking is all done, I've had the most relaxing days at home with the girls now that the holidays are over.

We're excited to move on to 2016! This year is going to bring so many good things for the people I love, I can't wait to get this next year started!

Santa! I know him!

Just a couple days before Christmas, our family finally  managed a trip to see Santa. Cece, who is now a wise and experienced four-year-old played it cool. (Unlike the her first Santa visit.) 

Rosie did not play it cool. And we didn't get a good picture of our whole family looking at the camera. So Joe and I just purchased the image where he and I looked best, haha.

Yep, that's definitely a pic to hang over the fireplace ; )

(How come nobody takes a picture sitting on the Grinch's lap?)

I'm not sure what Cece told Santa to bring, but I sure hope he delivers.

I hope your Santa visits consisted of short lines and big smiles!

Cookie Day 2015

Next to Christmas, we recently experienced our favorite day of the year... COOKIE DAY! Am I still a little jittery from all of the sugar consumption? Yes. Is there still flour and sprinkles in all of our kitchen crevices? Most likely. But so worth it! 

With our friend Azure, we baked six different kinds of cookies this year: Oatmeal chocolate chip, sugar, snow balls, chocolate chip and walnut, Nutella cookies (not pictured, since it got mixed reviews, to put it nicely), and CINNAMON ROLL COOKIES. Those happen to be an amazing coffee companion in the morning, and therefore, a breakfast item in my book.

Does Cece look like a pro or what? She did a great job using the hand mixer while I ate chocolate chips straight out of the bag supervised.

Yay, teamwork!

In years past, we really went crazy with our sugar cookie decorating. We'd use several colors of icing, a giant collection of sprinkles, and take hours decorating. We kept it simpler this year, which I think was the right call.

I'd like to tell you that Rosie was super helpful, but the photo evidence would indicate that she was really good at eating cookies and also licking all the icing off. (Don't worry, we didn't gift those to anyone.)

Ok, fine... I'm also thinking Rosie is looking slightly emo and might need to finally have her first haircut one of these days. Look how not sorry she is about licking all the frosting off cookies.

Ta da! Finished product! I'd also like to give Azure a big thank you for being our baking  buddy this year and the past several years. This is truly one of my favorite days and I hope we keep the tradition going!

(It's fun to watch Cece grow! Our other annual cookie baking days here:

2011, 2012, 2013, 2014)

Festooning is our favorite!

The holidays have hit and I have no hesitations about going overboard in the comfort and joy department.

On Black Friday, as soon as both girls were awake, we cranked up the Christmas tunes and got our tree up practically before the sun was up. As you can see, the light was a little weird in these pictures since, you know, the sun hadn't quite risen yet.

By lunch time, our house had reached about 90% festiveness. The girls needed a nap. I needed some coffee and pumpkin pie. The morning  was everything I could have hoped for (besides the fact that Rosie continuously plucked and chucked every single ornament she could get her hands on, BUT but we're not letting that get us down).



Speak of ornaments, this is my favorite from last year that Cece made at preschool.

 

Though Joe had to work in the morning, Cece saved some ornaments that she wanted to put on the tree with him. And the star of course. 

Although his Christmas spirit doesn't exactly parallel mine and Cece's, I think he's still glad he got to participate in the fun.

 



Do you like my decorating style? It's called "I bought nearly everything from the Target dollar section, not even the real Christmas section."

Also, we already got to check off making gingerbread houses off the holiday to-do list. (I have so many lists. I have lists of my lists. But I love everything on them, especially things like this.) Cece and I had the best morning last week decorating teeny houses.

This year, to keep it simple, I just purchased a $9 Gingerbread village kit and I'm actually really happy with it. The icing was easy to work with and the houses were simple to assemble, not one piece of gingerbread broke and the roofs and walls stuck together!

Although I'm not feeling especially crafty this holiday season, thankfully there are mamas who are. My new favorite small business Tinely makes these awesome felt trees for kiddos to decorate. (And maybe I've decorated ours a time or two myself.)

 

These trees take up literally no space. It's awesome.



 Now all that's left to do is count down the days to Christmas, wrap up some shopping, and make a zillion cookies. I can't wait.

Hope your holiday season has been joyful thus far!