A Festive Week

We had a very festive week in our house! I've been aiming for us to do one fun Christmas activity each day-even if it is a small one. This week Jack and I have been to see Santa (for the third time this year), We've colored Christmas pictures. We went and looked at Christmas lights twice. We baked Christmas tree cookies. My friends and I went and saw Wynona Judd in concert and had a GREAT time. Tonight we are going to our church for Christmas Around the Block (I've written Christmas A LOT in this post).

Santa gave Jack an elf hat and then Jack HAD to ride the tractor at the mall. 

Jack and I both are wearing all of our holiday sleeping gear. Jack decided he wasn't cute enough so he got into my make-up. I've gotta learn to put it up high.

Us gals had such a great time at the concert. We were in El Dorado and it is stunning at Christmas time. We ate at Laredo Grill and oh my word that food was good. We've decided to go to El Dorado more often. It really was so fun and a nice break for myself. 

Speaking of break for myself, I got myself a new book. I'm sure you have all seen it. It is from the Powersheets lady. I'm thinking about doing them this year. Anyone else? I'm trying to talk a friend into doing them with me. 

I've decided to spend a portion of my weekend making a list to make sure I have my Christmas stuff together. It is sneaking up guys. I shouldn't say sneaking it is running at me full force and I got to get it together. I have two more days of work and one of those is a half day. We have several fun things I want us to do and honestly there is a lot of work that still needs to be done. 

We have a couple fun things planned for this weekend but we are going to have a crazy weather weekend so I don't know how much we will get done. It is suppose to be 70 tomorrow and then storms and then on Sunday it is going to be so darn cold. We might go to church but that will probably be it. Well gals I hope y'all have a fab weekend and get lots accomplished including some fun.

Our Christmas Card

I wanted to take a minute to share with you our Christmas card this year. I love how it turned out! I saw this example on the Vistaprints commercial and knew this was the card for us. The small picture of Jack being naughty is where he put my mom's dentures in his mouth. Oh the adventures I have with this one! 

Backing Up Photos with Google Photos

If you are anything like me you have a phone full of photos. I use to be so nervous that something would happen to my phone and I'd lose all my photos. I can't understand the cloud and since I do a lot in Google it just made sense to back my pictures up in Google photos. This summer in a workshop I learned how to do it. Today a co-workers was having issue with viewing her iphone pictures on her computer. Once I showed her how to back up all her phone pictures to Google photos it made making her Christmas photo album so much easier.

Here is a quick how to.

1. Open up the Google Photos app.

2. Click on settings.

3. Tap Back up & sync

4.  Swipe the dot to turn it blue (on).

There you have it! It is super simple and saves me so much time. I hope this gives you some peace of mind. Do you have a photo back up system that works for you?

Stocking Stuffer Exchange

I love participating in exchanges because it gives me the opportunity to meet other people, shop for fun items, and also get something in the mail just for me! I love stockings so when I heard about this exchange I quickly signed up. I was partnered with Tori over at Becoming the Wilkinsons. 

Tori got me so many great things! I waited until I had some quiet time to open my box so I could marvel over each item. Here is one pic of everything all together. Look at all of this!!!!

The first thing I noticed was the cute tissue paper-so festive! Tori included a super adorable card with a sweet message.

I love office supplies and I got some super cute ones! Look guys! They are so cute. My favorite is the polka dot flags. I love that the flags are big. The post its are attached to a cardboard piece that folds out so that they stand upright. I took two of the packages to use at work and one to use at home. 

Next up are some bath bombs that I can't wait to use because I LOVE a bath. I also got two face masks. I've tried this brand before but not the hydrate and detox. I hope to have a mama spa day soon.

There is even more! I got a magnetic to do list, hand cream, lip gloss, and a gigantic Hershey bar. I'm excited to try the hand cream and lip gloss. The cold weather always makes my skin dry, especially, my lips. I've heard great things about these products. I'm hiding this Hershey bar for a time when mama is about to lose it.

Oh these socks! On Friday night I went to my friend Jessica's house and she gave me fuzzy socks to be cozy. I fell in love with them and then I find these in my box. It is fate! I put them on right away and boy are they cozy and cofortable! 

I took this picture right after opening my box. I'm in love with these socks!

Thank you soooooo much Tori for all the amazing gifts!!! You are too amazing! You did such a great job and I loved it all

Little of Everything

Sometimes I just have to get on here and share what is on my mind and what we've been up to. Instead of turning each piece into its own post I'm going to just mash it all up and share a little of everything.

1. We made our gingerbread house on Thursday night. Sometimes this craft can be a little troublesome but Jack enjoys it and we always have fun. We make a huge mess but messes can be cleaned up so I'm learning to just let it go.

2. I went to my friend Jessica's house to watch the new Gilmore Girls. We were only able to watch the first two episodes before we had to get some sleep. The plan was for us to get up the next morning and watch the other two but I ended up having to head home. I'm giving away no spoilers but I just wanted to say that it was very eye opening for me. Rory is 32! Zac has gray hair. It was like seeing myself as compared to how I use to be. We really don't give a lot of thought to how much our lives change in our 20s but to see it from this view was very difficult for me to take in. I felt like I haven't aged that much in these ten years or so but I guess I have because Rory is gorgeous and she looks like a grown woman. Your 20's are such big important years and I never took that in until Friday night. Your 20's turn you into adults. It is hard to convey what I'm thinking on this subject but just know that seeing the GG cast after all this time brought up some throught prevoking stuff-some deep and some lighthearted stuff. 

3. I had an anxiety freak out about Christmas the other day. Christmas is by far my favorite time of year but it can be super stressful for moms. We want to give our children a magical holiday. I also want there to be traditions and memories. Making sure that all the things get done in 25 days can be very difficult. I'm trying to let some things go but it isn't that easy. There are times when being a single parent is super stressful, and this is one of those times. Just to have someone to take some of the load off or at least someone who could let me vent to them would be nice. 

4. Friday the Star From Afar that I ordered arrived. I'd heard about it on Emily's podcast Mom Struggling Well. It comes with a book and this super cute nativity set. You are suppose to read the book and then each night you are suppose to hide the star with the wise men nearby and then you keep moving the star and wise men closer to the manger until Christmas morning when the star and wise men have found Jesus. This year I'm just hiding the star and wise men when I can. Jack has been mostly playing with all the pieces. 

5. I'm prepping for some big changes in my life in 2017. I've hired a life coach and we are going to get started right after the new year. I'm getting ready by doing some soul searching and trying to get clear about the changes that I want to make. I don't want to overwhelm the poor woman by throwing all my problems on her. I want to be very intentional about it all. I'm nervous and also very excited for some changes. 

Cousin Christmas Craft Day

This morning we had our first annual Cousin Christmas Craft Day. Basically my sister texted me this morning and said "hey we should do some Christmas crafts with the kids". I ran to Wal-Mart and grabbed a few things. I took a plastic tablecloth and covered the coffee table, turned on Christmas music, and put out some snacks.

We decided to make candy cane ornaments using pipe cleaners with red and white beads. It is a super simple craft and is great for toddlers.

We then made Rudolph ornaments with popsicle sticks. I glued the sticks together while they worked on their candy canes. We let them paint the sticks and while those dried we read a few Christmas books. We then let them glue on eyes and we just cut out a circle from red glittery ribbon we had onhand.

Our last project was to make a Christmas tree with their hands. Canvas is really expensive so I found a package of big foam pieces for a lot cheaper and with a lot more pieces.   I just glued on a yellow cardboard star because I can not paint a star at all. You should have seen how many stars I had to draw before I got the one we used. My lack of skills does not stop me from crafting with my kiddo.

We were going to also bake cookies but crafting with those two boys about did us in so we are going to save that for another day.

I started making a Christmas paper chain (it is such a classic) while we were finishing things up. It is going to be a work in progress for awhile. Eventually I'm going to hang it over our large windows in the living room.

It was so fun and I love that it wasn't something planned but I already know that this will be a tradition for years to come. I'm looking forward to Maybree getting a little older and being able to take part as opposed to having to watch from the highchair. Next year I want to put out more intentional snacks and organize things a little more but for something not planned it really was a lot of fun. I love making memories with the kids and giving them something tangible for them to remember our fun day together.

What Christmas crafts are you doing this year?