Snow is Fun and All, But...

This month has been amazing, weather-wise.

Most of the days have fallen between 60 and 75 degrees, with one day creeping up around 80.  Shorts and t-shirts weather.

I felt myself long for boots and sweaters every now and then, but then I remembered how cold boot and sweater weather is and I went back to appreciating the sunshine.

But, as we closed in on Christmas, I did wish - just a teeny, tiny, little bit - that we'd maybe have some chilly weather for the big day.  Something that might merit a fire in the fireplace and lots of cuddling on the couch.

A few days ago the weatherman said that there was a chance we might have snow on Christmas.  Snow!    A white Christmas!

I live in Texas, so I know better than to hold my breath or make any serious plans based on the weather report.  But still...snow!

And then, on Christmas Eve, I lay in bed and listened to the house take a real lashing from the first serious storm we've had in months.  Lightning, thunder, hail pelting the windows...it sounded pretty serious.  I checked the weather app on my phone and saw that the temperature was dropping.

It rained all morning.

But around 1 PM, we saw our first sprinkling of...snow.

As the afternoon wore on, the rain faded away and the snow took over, blowing around our house and blanketing the lawn.  The kids were getting excited.  Jack kept saying, "I can't believe it's snowing on Christmas!" while Claire just pointed outside and said, "NO! NO! NO!" over and over again.

Watching their excitement escalate, my heart grew warm as the day grew cold.

For a bit, it was great fun, and we ventured outside to take part in this winter weather.  Jack, with socks on his hands because we don't own any mittens (we live in Texas...we don't need mittens!), made snowballs and threw them at Charles.  Claire, bundled up and cozy in my arms, squealed with delight.

Snow!  Well, the start of it, anyway!

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I Wish You a Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, to you and yours, from me and mine (and if you don't celebrate, have a wonderful December 25th!).

10 Stocking Stuffers for Babies

Last year, Claire was just five months old at Christmas.

I had so much fun with her stocking...even though she didn't "need" much, I found plenty of things she absolutely had to have.  I'll share with you some of my favorites!

Here is a list of 10 of my favorite stocking stuffers for babies:

1. Sippy cup or bottle
2. Baby Leg Warmers (I bought Claire a couple pairs of BabyLegs to match the cloth diapers I bought her...but you don't need to cloth diaper to buy these - and they are so handy, and so cute!)
3. Rattle
4. Teething toy (I bought a Sophie the Giraffe and had her peeking out the top of the stocking)
5. Diaper Bag Essentials (a little package of wipes, an extra pacifier if baby takes a paci, or for those of you who cloth diaper, a few cloth wipes just for the diaper bag and some butt spray)
6. Baby shampoo and body wash
7. Lotion (I like to buy lavender calming lotion, even though I have absolutely no evidence that it makes even the tiniest of a difference...a girl can dream, right?)
8. Bows and headbands
9. Ball (babies love balls, and they are perfect for the toe of the stocking)
10. Baby food (puffs or finger foods are perfect for an older baby, and a canister of puffs fits nicely in a stocking)

What are your favorite stocking stuffers for babies?  I'd love to hear your ideas!

10 Stocking Stuffers for Pre-Schoolers

I *love* stuffing the kids' stockings.

I am pretty sure I inherited this from my mom - she's pretty much the Best Stocking Stuffer, ever.  She still does stockings for us each year, and it's one of my favorite parts of the holidays!

I know it can be tough to come up with things for little kid stockings, so I've made a little list of some of my go-to stocking stuffers.

Here are 10 of my Favorite Stocking Stuffers for Pre-Schoolers:

1. Crayons (I also think it's super cute to have a coloring book peeking out of the top of the stocking)
2. Bubble Bath (actually, any bath supplies are great - including bath crayons, bath fizzies that turn the water a different color, and those little bath sponges that start out as capsules and turn into animals)
3. Bubbles
4. A toothbrush and toothpaste
5. Favorite snack (like dried fruit)
6. Candy treat (I like M&Ms because it's easy to monitor their intake)
7. Character socks (fun socks are available in the $1 bins at Target and Michael's)
8. Ball (these are perfect for the toe of the stocking)
9. Stuffed animal (a small one, peeking out over the top)
10. Sippy Cup (last year I got Jack a metal water bottle, and it was awesome!)

What are your go-to stocking stuffers for pre-schoolers?  I'd love your ideas!

O' Christmas Tree

When I was a kid, we decorated the Christmas tree every year around my birthday (December 16th).

We would drive to the tree farm and pick one out.  My Dad would cut it down (although I am pretty sure my mom actually cut it down one year when my Dad couldn't make it) and we'd drive home with it strapped to the top of our Buick station wagon, giddy with excitement.  And then we'd get home and my Dad would bring it inside and get it all set up in the tree stand and my mom would break out the boxes of ornaments and pass them out to us, one at a time, to carefully place on the tree.

It was quite an event.  In fact, just the kind of event I hope I can recreate for my own kids.

A couple of days ago, we decorated our tree.

Here's where I need to make a confession about what seems to be a very hotly contested debate this time of year.

Real tree?  Or fake tree?

This year, our tree is fake.  We made a big deal out of getting it and setting it up, and it was very exciting for the kids.  They don't realize that they're missing out on the experience of picking their own tree, watching Daddy cut it down, and then getting to smell it's fresh pine scent every day.  I do - I realize this - but I'm totally onboard with "the fakie," as we like to call it.

Last year, we had a real tree and it shed pine needles like crazy, all day long and every single day for the entire month it lived (died a slow death?) under our roof.  Then it was time to take it out for the neighborhood tree pick-up service our trash service offers, so we (Charles) dragged it outside (leaving about two billion pine needles on the floor in its wake) and left it at the curb (amongst the other neighborhood trees) to be removed.

The next day, all of the trees on our street were gone, leaving little patches of green pine needles next to the mailboxes.  All of the trees were gone, that is, except ours.

Apparently ours (at about 7' tall) was too big to be picked up - it needed to be cut in half first.  :::SIGH:::  So, Charles had to cut it in half and then schedule another pick-up.

It did, eventually, get picked up...leaving the biggest pine needle puddle on the block in front of our house.

In one word, our real Christmas tree was a big fat PAIN.

So, I didn't fight too hard when Charles said he wanted a fake tree.  In fact, I even agreed.  And willingly sent him to Home Depot, where he chose the *perfect* tree.

I do miss the smell of fresh pine needles in our home.  But I don't miss cleaning them up.

The beauty to our fake tree (aside from the actual beauty of the tree - there are no bare spots or funny looking branches on this thing) is that we will have it for a long time to come.  If we choose to take the kids out the tree farm next year to cut down our own tree, we can do that...and then if we hate it, we can go back to our fake tree the year after that.

There was a time when I was an Extreme Tree Snob and thought it was really, really lame to have a fake tree in the house.  I still get why people feel that way.  But I also get why there is a fake Christmas tree industry in the first place.

It's because they're AWESOME.

Real or fake, I hope you enjoy your tree this year (if you have a tree and celebrate Christmas, that is - if  you don't celebrate Christmas this might be a good time to be thankful for that because these darn trees are a lot of work!).

So tell me...are you a die-hard Real Tree person, or do you swear by your fakie?

Berry Wreath Centerpiece Tutorial

Last week, I was asked by Driscoll's berries to come up with a holiday-themed berry craft to be posted on Life with Levi (where I am a product review contributor), and entered in their Holiday Berry Craft competition.

I'm not particularly crafty (and I didn't even realize one could make crafts with berries - they're an interesting medium, to be sure), but I was game for the challenge - so I said yes, and got to work dreaming up an amazing and unique berry craft.  And I think I did, indeed, come up with a winner (even if only in my eyes).  

You can read more about the contest and how I came up with the idea (nothing earth-shattering) over at Life with Levi.  

It was so easy and turned out so cute, I'm going to use this space to put together a tutorial for you (I even thought to take pictures as I was working on it, so this should be super simple to follow).

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Halloween - How it Went Down Last Year

This has been a busy, busy month.

A little over a week ago, I was sitting in bed scrambling to get blog posts written that I could schedule for publishing while we were away on our cruise.  And here I am again, the night before we leave for California this time, trying to be all responsible and act like I mean business and write a few posts that I can, again, schedule to publish while I'm gone.

But I'm tired (waaaaah....).

And so, instead of firing up the brain cells, I'm going to leave you with the blog post I wrote exactly a year ago:  Halloween Scrooge No More.

Because this time last year, I was kinda feeling lame about the way I just skipped over Halloween and didn't put any effort whatsoever into decorating the house/picking out costumes/carving pumpkins.  The only thing I did well last year was polish off the chocolate bars Jack brought home from trick-or-treating.

So far, I've done a little better this year.  I spent some time (time = $$$) on costumes and even made a very cute Halloween banner for our house.  Turns out we'll be traveling on Halloween, but the plan is to carve pumpkins with the kids' cousins in California.

A huge improvement over last year, to be sure (although, Jack did ask me why our house doesn't have as many decorations as the one down the street...).

How do you do Halloween?

Halloween Scrooge No More

I admit it.  When it comes to Halloween, I am pretty Scrooge-like.  I can't remember the last time I've dressed up.  I don't decorate the house.  WE DIDN'T EVEN CARVE A PUMPKIN THIS YEAR.  And we have an almost-three-year old.  Shame on us!

For Jack's first Halloween, I bought a dinosaur (dragon?) costume off the clearance rack at Babies R' Us.  Last year, my mom made him a spider costume  (that he was too afraid to wear).  This year?  He wore the spider costume and I shelled out a whopping .99 on a second-hand ladybug costume for Claire at Kid 2 Kid. I didn't even try the darn costume on her until this afternoon, about 2 hours before we went Trick-or-Treating (it fit).

For the most part, I just think Halloween is kind of a pain.  It requires work.  It ends in obscene amounts of candy for the people who need it the least (kids, and me) AND we have to keep the dog in the backyard so she doesn't tear down the door every time someone knocks or worse, rings the doorbell.  And in Texas, it's kind of hard to prepare for...because you don't know if it's going to be too hot for the costume you picked out, or too cold for the costume you picked out (for the record, it was a perfect 70 degrees tonight).

But I remember how fun it was when I was little.

I remember the giant ghost decoration my mom put out every year.  I remember the fabulous costumes my mom made (like a magnificent paper mache' My Little Pony).  I remember dumping out a giant pillow case of candy and sorting through it all (and putting it into little piles...chocolate here, bubble gum there, lollipops here, and raisins in the trash) and letting my dad  eat some to "check and make sure it's not poisoned" (ha!).   I remember tearing through our neighborhood, which was kind of rural and had lots of space between the houses and almost no other children, and watching our candy bags fill with full-size candy bars because it was cheaper for the neighbors to buy a few giant candy bars than a big bag full of little ones.  Then we would load up in the Buick station wagon and my Dad would drive us to my Gramma's house so we could Trick-or-Treat in her neighborhood (lots of houses close together) and we'd hear Thriller, The Monster Mash, Purple People Eater etc. on the radio as we drove.

And most importantly?

Halloween was the GATEWAY TO CHRISTMAS!!

So, I loved Halloween as a kid.

And then, somewhere between childhood and parenthood, I turned into a Halloween Scrooge.

This year, I had good intentions.  Inspired by other houses in the neighborhood (Fake graves and skeletons in the yards! Spooky wreaths!) I asked my mom to show me how to recreate the ghost we used to have hanging up as a kid.  But I was somehow never able to actually get the pieces together necessary to make it.  I picked out little candy bags and lots of ghoulish treats and removable tattoos and pumpkin bubbles from the Oriental Trading company catalog (I wanted Trick-or-Treaters to get cool treats at our house).  But, I never wanted to actually spend the money to buy the stuff when it came time to order (this is why I was at Target this afternoon, picking through what candy was left as the employees were setting up Christmas displays next to me).

While I was at Target today though, I had a bit of an epiphany.  Rather than wallowing in my own lameness (what mom of a young child doesn't even carve a pumpkin??), I decided to let myself off the hook because I kind of have a newborn (I say "kind of" because she's 14.5 weeks old now, I am not sure if that counts as a newborn) and a new house that is still not entirely unpacked.  No time for Halloween nonsense!

But...it doesn't have to be like this next year.  I realized, as I was looking at the creepy Halloween wreath I kind of loved and wanted to buy but couldn't justify spending $30 on, that tomorrow ALL OF THIS IS GOING TO BE ON SALE.  For, like, cheap.  And I can come and buy it and not feel like I'm wasting my money on junk for a holiday I don't really care about because A) it will be cheap, and B) it's not about me, it's about my kids and Jack loved Halloween!

That's right...having Jack helped put some of the magic back in this holiday for me.  In our old house, Trick-or-Treating was not an option so we went to a function at a local church.  This was Jack's first time Trick-or-Treating (Claire's too, for that matter, but she slept through most of it and just woke up for the neighborhood block party at the end of the night).  Jack and the neighbor girls had great fun running from door to door (until Jack got tired and asked to ride in the wagon, at which point I asked him if he wanted to  stop getting candy and he told me "no, the girls can bring it to me" - HA.).  He loved seeing the costumes, playing at the neighbor's party, and when we got home, passing out candy to the big kids who were still out making the rounds.

I figure next year Jack will be big enough to really get into it and he will appreciate my efforts at decorating the house.  I will be a Halloween Scrooge no more.

And speaking of Scrooge, Christmas is coming up.  And Christmas is another story indeed.  There's a good chance that when I'm at Target tomorrow scooping up the leftover Halloween decorations, I may have to throw Christmas wreath (or two)...or a giant light-up reindeer...in the basket.

Here are my precious little Love Bugs in all their Halloween Glory.