Santa Visit + Christmas Card

Can you believe it's CHRISTMAS WEEK?! Eeeeeek. It's hard to believe that this is my baby's 2nd Christmas, and I'm so excited to see how much fun she has this year! She's been loving seeing Santa (or as she calls him, "Big Ho") everywhere we go, but I knew she wasn't going to be about sitting on his lap. Of course, we took her for a quick visit anyway ;) Crying kid Santa pics are my FAVORITES, so I've been anxious to have one of my very own! Haha. Please don't lecture me about being a mean mom? This lasted about half a second!

Jaqs spent the remainder of our time "hiding" behind her hand. CUTEST THING. By the time we left, she was blowing Big Ho kisses! Sweet girl.

The little "Winter Wonderland" we visit has a nativity scene, too. I took J's picture in it last year, so I had to do the same this year. I adore the sweetness of this photo!

Jaqs is loving her time with GG & Pop!

And I'm loving having my little family together for lots of quality time together!

I probably won't be around much over the next week or so, but I want to wish you all a MERRY CHRISTMAS!! I'm so thankful for the friends that I've made in this little blogging community. You have been such a huge support for me (and my family!), and I'm grateful for the relationships shared here. 

I hope your Christmas is magical and that your new year is filled with blessings!

See you in 2014!

{homemade} candy cane body scrub

If you're looking for a last minute teacher, friend, or really, ANYONE gift, you've come to the right place! I've made body scrubs before, and everyone seems to love them! It's such a quick and easy thing to make at home, and you can scent it just about any way you want. Win!

 Ingredients:

2 & 1/2 cups granulated, white sugar

3/4 cup good canola oil

1/3 cup coconut oil, melted

2 teaspoons peppermint oil

a few drops of red food coloring

(this amount fills 3 half pint jars--roughly 24 oz.)

I picked up this peppermint oil in the natural foods department of my grocery store, but I believe you can also get this sort of thing at some craft stores. Just make sure it's intended for skin and not diffusers/melting oils or it could be an irritant.

Mix up all the ingredients and put the scrub in a cute mason jar & that's it! 

It doesn't get any easier than that, my friends!

 If you're a peppermint fanatic like me, you'll LOVE this; plus it's also very moisturizing with the addition of coconut oil...perfect for winter skin!

Enjoy!

Christmas Home 2013

I adore how our home feels at Christmastime! The decor is so cozy, and I love having the tree lit up all day, every day! It just makes me happy, and I'm apparently not alone because Jaqs turns on the lights first thing every morning. Makes me smile! Oh, and I mentioned being worried about keeping her out of the tree in a previous post, but she has not messed with it at all. We may have lied a little bit and told her it was HOT (!!!) but hey, whatever it takes, I say. It's still standing, and I haven't lost a single ornament, so it's a win.

Christmas dishes are so fun! Love giving our hutch a little holiday makeover..

These are the Anthropologie Inspired Snow Globes I made last year... 

 The other trick to keeping J away from the tree was giving her her own little tree to decorate with shatterproof ornaments. She occasionally takes them on & off, and I've kept it just how she's done it because I think it's perfect!

 The sweetest little mistletoes! Jaqs had so much fun making this "art" piece. Although, those mistletoes aren't so little...that's an 8x10 frame those tootsies are in. My kid is a big foot. She comes by it honestly though!

The best part! The tree!

 I wanted to change it up a little this year but also keep all the same ornaments, so I did some color blocking, and I'm kinda digging it. I also added the picks to the top for some extra flare.

 We needed new stockings this year, and my mom scored these at Canton a couple months ago. I added chalkboard tags to personalize them for each family member.

 Jaqs plays with her Little People Nativity every day. She loves "baby" and all the animals!

 The perfect paper for our Mickey loving girl...found at Target! I love that it's not terribly cheesy.

 And, of course, J's room needed some goodies, too! I found the gingerbread girl at Hobby Lobby and could not resist it for $15. Looooove it. The foam trees are another project from last year!

 We've started our Christmas book collection because I definitely want to do the 25 books of Christmas in the years to come. Here's to hoping I can score some after the holiday!

I spy a sweet little hand <3

Hope you enjoyed a little "Christmas Tour" of our humble abode! :)

Five on Friday!

It's Friday!! And I'm thrilled about it! I have a girls' night planned with a friend tonight and some family fun with my trio planned for tomorrow, so I'm a happy girl today!

Per my Friday usual, I'm linking up with Darci & the girls for Five on Friday :)

{one} The Wildcat football family Christmas party was Wednesday night, and we had such a great time! The restaurant where we had it is extremely family friendly, so all of our kiddos just ran around playing together, and it couldn't have been more perfect. Definitely takes the stress off the parents when you don't have to worry about keeping a bunch of kiddos quiet through a dinner for 30+ people!

 It's still bizarre to me that we have a little one to include in the "kids picture!"

{two} If you have an HEB (and a wax warmer) pick these up next time you're there! My whole house smells like peppermint bark, and I LOVE IT!! I'm obsessed with the smells of this season. Of course, they make me super hungry, too, but whatever ;)

{three} It has been coold (to us) in Texas for the last week, and J absolutely loves it. Crazy girl! She just giggles and says, "buuuuurrrr!!" every time we go out. I think she'll be happy to get back to the park soon though! Lucky for us, next week is looking pretty nice!

{four} We're not doing any advent activities this year just because J is still young, but I'm scouting out everyone else's ideas for next year! I love Jessica's (of Little Baby Garvin) toddler activities...so much fun! I'm also dying over this little felt stocking advent garland. I really hope I can score one after Christmas! 

{five} Not trying to get into a Santa debate here, but obviously it's a decision that you make as a parent in whether or not you will "do" Santa. We WILL be doing Santa in our family, but it will never override what we're really wanting our children to know Christmas (and LIFE!) is all about. E of E, Myself, and I had a great post on the topic this week that basically pinpoints exactly how I feel about including Santa in Christmas traditions. Santa is only a few weeks out of the year, but Jesus is year-round! Now, if only I could get Jaqs to stop referring to the man as "Big Ho!" It's getting embarrassing.

I can hardly wait to see how she reacts to the jolly fella this year. Something tells me we're going to end up with one of those hilariously pathetic screaming pictures! Can't wait.


Hope you lovelies have a wonderful weekend!

toddler {girls} christmas wishes

Jaqs is going to have a merry Christmas indeed this year! She's at such a fun age, and I really think she's going to have so much fun playing with her new toys. It's easy to go overboard, but I certainly don't want to raise her to believe that this is what Christmas is all about. I wanted to share J's little list though in case some of you are looking for ideas for your littles!

click set for details

1. The Little Mermaid & Doll--We're collecting all the classic Disney movies, so of course The Little Mermaid had to join when it came out of the vault earlier this year! Target had a movie + doll deal a couple months ago, so J is lucky & getting both.

2. Melissa & Doug Wooden Sound Puzzle--My little lady loves wooden puzzles, and I know she'll go crazy for this vehicle one that even has sound when the correct piece is places! Yep, my girl looooves cars, trucks & choo-choos.

3. Jammies--You can never have too many sets of pj's, right?! Not when they're this cute!! I love this heart set at Old Navy, especially with Valentine's Day coming up next!

4. My 1st Trampoline--This is Jaqs' BIG gift this year, and she is going to LOVE this trampoline. I'm calling it now that we'll be living in the backyard after Christmas! :) Girlfriend LOVES to JUMP! This trampoline is perfect for toddlers as it's only a couple feet off the ground & is completely enclosed. The weight limit is 100 pounds, so it should last us awhile!

5. Just Like Mommy Set & Baby--J has a baby stroller at my parents' house, and she plays with it constantly, so we figured it's about time she has one at her own house, too! My mom and I found a Black Friday deal on this set, so that's the one she'll be getting from GG & Pop, but there are tons of options out there, and this seems to be one of those toys that boys and girls never get tired of.

Family Pictures

Hi friends! I have missed this little space of mine so much over the last couple months. Since Thanksgiving, I've sat down to blog many times, but each time life has "happened" and I accomplished nothing here. Rather than overwhelming myself with trying to play catch up, I decided to just start fresh and new with NOW!

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We had a fabulous Thanksgiving at home with our families in Abilene, and while we were there, my cousin offered to take some family photos for our Christmas card. I'm so thankful she did, and I absolutely am SO pleased with how they turned out! Thank you, Jessica, you're the best :) I thought I'd just get my toes wet here and share those with y'all today! 

 Jaqs went straight to climbing the rocks in the location where these were taken! Busy girl.

 Is it obvious that she loves her daddy? :)

I adore this picture! It's a miracle that we're all looking AND smiling!

 Neigh the pony goes everywhere with us.

Whew, feels good to be back! Believe it or not, I even have a few posts scheduled, so I actually WILL be back sooner than 3 weeks from now! :) Thanks for hanging on, y'all.