Christmas Party @ the Taylor's

I have an amazing group of Mama friends who I refer to as my Mama Tribe. We each have kiddos who are similar in age who have been the best of friends for over 2 years now. I have been wanting to throw a Christmas Party for the Mama's & the littles for a couple years now & this year I finally made it happen.

Everyone came over to our house where they enjoyed lots of appetizers, desserts & cocktails for the Mama's. While the Mama's hung out visiting, I kept all the kiddos busy by making some popcorn & having them watch the Elf on the Shelf & a couple of other classic Christmas cartoons.

Then after movie-time was over they moved over to the kitchen table where I had set up stuff to decorate sugar cookies & gingerbread boys/girls with icing & sprinkles.

They had SO much fun decorating their cookies! After they were done we set the cookies aside so the icing could dry & then at the end of the evening I packaged them up in baggies for each little to take home & eat!

Mason had way more fun dumping & mixing the sprinkles than actually decorating the cookies:

After all the  mess was cleaned up from decorating cookies, we all moved to the living room where the littles & the Mama's exchanged presents. The kids had SO much fun opening up their gifts to each other!

 

After the kids opened their gifts & headed back downstairs to play it was time for the Mama's to open our gifts to each other. I was having a hard time trying to figure out what to get these two very special friends & racked my brain for weeks. I wanted to give them something meaningful & two ideas actually had come to mind.

My friend Sara had sent me this picture a couple of months ago wanting to know if we could get together for a craft night & make this:

(photo credit) 

We had good intentions on getting together for craft night but for whatever reason, we could never coordinate a time during the month of Dec. So I decided I would surprise them both & make them each one for their Christmas presents as well as make one for myself. I think it turned out pretty darn good :)

I also ordered all three of us matching arrow necklaces. The arrow has been kind of our motto since we all met several years ago & have actually talked about getting matching tattoos of an arrow with our kids name incorporated into it. I just love what it represents -

Being a Mama we are all on this journey of motherhood together that can some days drag you way down. You may feel like you aren't ever going to get out of the rut but by some miracle you do (usually by the help of your Mama friends) & you continue on the journey....always moving forward.

So I thought matching arrow necklaces would be perfect for all of us:

(photo credit)

The girls absolutely loved their gifts & I loved what they gave me as well.
We all enjoyed exchanging gifts with the littles AND with the Mama's & will definitely make this an annual tradition for many years to come!

 

Santa Visit

The beginning of December has been surprisingly pretty quiet. Life with a new puppy has been keeping us busy & staying home on top of me taking a call weekend & all that life at home brings.

It is now a week away from Christmas & we have yet to go make our annual visit to see Santa Claus. How can this have happened? Usually I am on top of my holiday game but the days in this month have seemed to escape me.

Mase has been asking me for a couple of weeks now when we were going to see Santa because he wants to tell him what he wants for Christmas. Pretty sure if he doesn't get to tell Santa what he wants he is still going to get the presents but little does he know :) Figured I better make it happen so me & my Mommy friend Dana decided to take the kiddos after work this evening to go see the jolly ol' man. After seeing Santa with Mase 4 years in a row Shane decided to sit this one out this year. Bah humbug!

Like we have done the past 3 years, we went to the Bass Pro where they have the best Santa & an amazing Winter Wonderland. We got inside & headed over to the station where you get your Santa visit pass. It was a Monday night & sadly we had an hour & 1/2 wait. Looks like we weren't the only parents who were scrambling to get our "wish lists" in to Santa before Christmas?!

Since we had some time to kill we decided to feed the littles at the restaurant inside of Bass Pro. We all got through an uneventful dinner with 5 kiddos & then decided to look around Bass Pro, check out the equipment & fun booths for the kiddos until it was time to get in line for Santa.

 

We stood in line for about 15 minutes & the littles were really well behaved. They were too busy checking out Santa & all his surroundings to be distracted by being bored waiting in line.

(last minute "add-on" to Mason's wish list for Santa LOL)

 

I was unsure if Mason would sit in Santa's lap this year & he actually asked me in a panic if he would have too since he saw other kiddos in his lap. I assured him that he could stand next to Santa instead if he wanted & he was pretty content with my answer.

Wish list given to Santa & candy cane earned :)

 

Annual photo with Santa

After we saw Santa it was after 8pm & the kiddos were getting cranky so we headed home. Even though it was a "school night" I am so glad we got out & were able to check this annual holiday event off our list! Now Santa knows what to bring Mason on Christmas Eve - thank goodness!!

Paw Patrol LIVE!

Mason LOVES Paw Patrol. The first thing he wants to do when he wakes up is watch the cartoon & again before bed. He is obsessed with the little dog Chase on there so when I saw Paw Patrol LIVE was going to be going on tour I knew I had to get tickets.

I had asked my Mama Tribe if they wanted to all take the littles to it together & they all said yes. So we all agreed to take the day off of work & make a fun day of it. I had purchased the tickets back in June & at the time it seemed like 5 months was a long time to wait but the day suddenly came & here we are!

Sadly my one Mommy friend was unable to go due to a work conflict so Dana & I ended up taking her little girl with us. We didn't tell the kids what we were doing so when Mason's little besties showed up at the house at 8am this morning he was so confused. He thought he was getting ready for school but little did he know we were going to Paw Patrol LIVE!!

The day before I had made personalized t-shirts for them with their favorite pup on the front & a big paw on the back! I ordered the decals off of Etsy & bought the t-shirts at Walmart. They turned out SO cute & the kids LOVED them!

Cheeeeese :)

We piled the kiddos in the car & told them where we were going! They really didn't understand what was going on other than they were all taking a fun car-ride together somewhere!

When we got there the place was crazy! There were kids everywhere & the energy level of our little ones was off the charts! We finally got to our seats & once we got settled in my Mommy friend Dana went to go get the kids some snacks. They each got a lemonade in a souvenir water bottle & a bag of popcorn with a souvenir fire hat.

You would not believe how much those two items cost!!! The lemonade was $15 & the popcorn was $20. She spent over $100 on lemonade & popcorn - CRAZY!!!! The kids loved their snacks during the show so I guess it was worth it but geez!

The show ended up being super cute & the kids watched the entire thing without making a peep.

 

 

At the end they had a dance party & the kids got up & were dancing all over the place with the characters! So fun & super cute to see them having so much fun!

Before we left we got a cute pic of all of us & then made the road-trip back home! It was a super fun day & the kids had a blast!



Cell Phone Dump

Cell phone pics for the month of November!!

 

Popcorn & movie night with besties!

This kid says "get out & vote"!

 

So this Mama got out & voted!!

A round of Chutes & Ladders for the 10th time & wine. Good pairing :)

That moment when you feel like you are doing something right as a parent. So proud of what my little man is thankful for....mom, dad & God.

Pancakes shaped like Mickey Mouse! YUM

Zzzzzzzzzzz - food coma!

Napping together - so sweet!

Me & Winnie

One of my Mommy besties & her little girl - love these 2 girls :)

Jingle is up to his old tricks!



Birthday & Christmas decorating

First of all, I want to give a huge shout-out today to my hubby who has begun level 43 in this game we call life :) Here's to another year filled with many memories & blessings!!

Shane's birthday always falls on the week of Thanksgiving. He was a turkey baby when he was born so every 5 years or so his birthday falls on the actual T-giving holiday. This year is was the day after. You know what happens the day after Thanksgiving??? (in my house anyways)

Decorating for Christmas!!!!

 

It usually takes me a couple of days to get everything out & put up so I always begin the Friday after the turkey holiday. The fall decorations come down & the red/green decorations go up & by Sunday it is quite festive in our house!!

 

We always start with decorating Mason's tree that goes in his room. He loves getting out all his ornaments & hanging them on his tree! Such a fun tradition!

Then we work on putting up Mama's tree! I absolutely LOVE our tree once it is decorated! It fits perfectly in front of the window in our living room, is over 9ft tall & full of white sparkly lights!

You know who else loves the tree??? Ugh Winston.

I forgot how crazy & frustrating & FAST a puppy can be. Those branches & lights are sure tempting & he tries to eat them every chance he can get! I had to remove the tree skirt because the tassels on the end were just too much for him to leave alone. It's a good thing he is cute - LOL!

You know what else happens the Friday after Thanksgiving? The Elf on the Shelf makes his appearance....

Welcome back Jingle!!! Oh how Mason has missed you & your shenanigans!

The mantle is all decorated with garland & our stockings & the front door is one big snowman which Mase loves helping me with!

 

And last but not least I absolutely LOVE putting up all the Christmas decorations on top of my kitchen cabinets!

Our house is officially holiday-ready over here & we are looking forward to everything the next several weeks bring! Happy decorating to you :)

Puppy Breath

Ever since we lost Bubba our Millie just hasn't been herself. She seems to me like she is depressed, she has been sleeping a lot more, has lost her spunk & has become real clingy. Perhaps it is due to her old age but I think it is because she really misses Bubba & his companionship.

We had tossed around the idea of when would be the best time to get another dog for awhile now & were unsure if getting one now is better or waiting until the spring would be best. Besides I just didn't think my heart was quite ready to get another dog. 

But a few weeks ago Shane had to go & show me pics of 5 week old bulldog puppies that were for sale & he talked me into going to "look" at them.

Well....you know what happens when you just LOOK, right? Especially with Bulldog puppies? It has happened to us twice before so I knew "just looking" meant we were going to end up leaving with a deposit on a puppy.

 

So we made the drive about 75 miles south of us to "see" the puppies & just as I had suspected, as soon as we saw them we knew we were going to be picking one. Bulldog puppies are the most adorable little things. Ugh just look at that sweet face...

And that puppy breath. Yep - I was suckered again. We ended up picking this little guy a few weeks ago as the newest addition to our family & he got to come home with us today. Just in time for Shane's birthday next week :)

We drove down early this morning to pick him up & Mase was SO excited to be bringing him home. He rode in my lap all the way back & actually slept the entire drive home.

When we got home we introduced him to Millie out in the backyard on neutral ground & she was super observant of him for awhile. As she watched him she slowly started to warm up to him a bit. She had to tell him who was "boss" a few times by nipping him & he learned real quick you don't mess with Millie.

By the end of the day they were becoming fast friends...

Mason was in heaven with the new puppy & wanted to sleep in his little area with him....that is until the puppy would start biting his ears or tugging on his shirt.

 

I would say our little pup is getting used to his new place & is one spoiled little guy! He has no idea how good he is going to have it here :)

 



 

Oh & we finally decided on his name....Winston :)

Turns out my heart does have room to love another one after all!