Reba's Valentine's Day party is tomorrow and her and I completed her goodies for her party and she had a blast. She has been learning so much at her little school/daycare that it just blows me away. Right now she is working on rhyming words and what she has sponged up in that little brain just amazes me. We have definitely been blessed with smart children. 

So we created her little Valentine Cards that she picked out at the store and her favorite part was momma let her write her name on them along with putting the suckers on them. I forgot to take a picture but she chose the "Inside Out" lollipop swap for her gifts to her little friends and she chose to bring a veggie tray to her party so we created the little goodies below:

I thought it was simpler that way for the teachers to pass out to the kids. Just one of those things that came to my mind while cutting up the veggies. 

Then the other night I whipped together this cute Valentine's box for a friend at work for her daughter to take because my friend didn't know what she should do. I told her not to worry about it that I would take care of it for her. (Reba creates all of hers at school so I don't get to do that for her)

Check out the next post for what I did with the rest of the veggies I cut up...

Christmas 2015

We had a good Christmas with all of our family's and I just wanted to share some pictures of the memories we embraced this Christmas season...

 The kids had a lot of fun at each Christmas we attended. On Christmas Eve we headed out to my grandma's (Nanny) and enjoyed an evening filled with family, food, and gifts. This side of the family, each child draws another child's name and that is the person they get to buy a gift for. This year Reba got her cousin Hudson, and Weston got his cousin Hannah. Reba gifted a Paw Patrol dog with a tractor and Weston provided $20 for Hannah to go shopping at Hobby Lobby (which she specifically asked for). It was a lot of fun.

We left Nanny's that evening and as we returned home, Weston went off to bed, Reba and I baked a batch of cookies so we could spend a little one on one time; which is always needed around here:) Then it was time to get her off to sleep so mommy could finish getting the house ready for the immediate grandparents to arrive for Christmas morning. Before she laid down with daddy in the recliner, she placed a tray of our fresh Spritz cookies, milk, and carrots for the reindeer out for Santa. After she went to sleep (along with daddy), I put her in her bed, I proceeded to head downstairs to wrap presents. Mommy didn't end up getting to bed until 2:30am, awoke around 6amish to start our family tradition of "cufon" (German tradition of basic bread dough, baked with heavy cream mixed with sugar and cinnamon). This has always been in my family and I continue to make each and every year. It seems like I am the only one that makes it though which is sad because it was always a must with my mom and Nanny. But I continue to bring this tradition to our family each year and I am glad that I do.

Everyone arrives, we have our Christmas, breakfast and then mommy is dying for a nap! I really wasn't able to get motivated after everything, I just continued to go. I couldn't rest because I had so much work to do, plus we were going to his Dad's side that evening.

At 4:30pm on the 25th, we arrive at Maria's house to enjoy more family, food, and gifts. The kids had fun running around with the other kids. Then it was time to head home because mommy was still dragging. As we returned home, we headed off to bed. On Saturday we were having Christmas at his Mom's side at the Farm that evening. So on Saturday, I proceeded to putter around the house working on a little of this and a little of that. We headed out to the Farm, which was a very rainy and cold night. Had family time, ate, then I was asked to photograph everyone's family. Grandma Judy had asked if I would take the pictures and then provide everyone a disc of all the photos. I gladly agreed (since I am in the process of building my photo biz). After photos, we opened all our gifts. The kids at this point have just been overwhelmed with coolness!

After we left there, we headed to my mom's so we could have the kids open their gifts from her. They both received pop-up tents (Reba a ladybug and Weston a Seal). I had pointed them out to mom and the kids LOVE tents, so it was perfect. Elsa doll was also received because that was the ONLY thing Reba asked for. We stayed at mom's until midnight. Her and I played dominoes while the kids ran around the house having a blast. Daddy laid on the couch playing on his phone (sometimes I just wish phones were obsolete!!)

Lastly, our last Christmas gathering was after church on Sunday. It was our immediate gathering at Uncle Bret's house. We arrived, ate our lunch, then gladly opened gifts. Once we cleaned everything up, everyone was ready to head home for naps. We returned home, I began putting everything away, put Weston down for a nap, Reba played quietly and daddy fell asleep in the chair.

To put our Christmas 2015 in short form, we were very blessed with each and every item received by all.  We are so blessed for all the family we have in our lives along with our friends. I pray you all had a great Christmas as well.

Tell me about your Christmas, did you enjoy the memories you made?

Christmas Ornaments

Do you have traditions in your family that you do at this time of year?

Ever since our daughter was a year old, we started making Christmas ornaments for family members. They were the greatest gifts we could offer since we were on a tight budget (and still am). We absolutely love creating these once in a lifetime gifts/moments with our kids. Now that we have both Reba and Weston, they love getting paint all over, but I have learned not to care about the mess because that is what makes our memories and I can take care of that mess after they are sound asleep.

We continue to make these amazing gifts, sharing them with all of our special family and friends. It became a lot more fun when Weston arrived last year and we were able to place his little foot on one side and Reba's hand print on the other.

So this year we made them again, but this time we used a hand print from each. Weston has just grown so much and he is so tall. His hand print and her's are virtually the same size!

This is our yearly tradition. Not only does it make memories for us as we create them but they are also keepsakes for all those who receive them as gifts.

I would love to hear about your traditions in your family.