Christmas Day

Christmas Day was perfect. Exactly what I envisioned it to be. Relaxing, no plans, no time schedules, no traveling, just time to focus on our kiddos and play with new goodies unhurried and uninterrupted. We opened presents, FaceTimed with our families, stayed in our pj's, took naps, played, cooked and ate amazing food, watched Christmas movies...you get the idea.

(I'm going to be very detailed so our families can experience Christmas Day since they weren't with us, so prepare yourself...)

The way our house is set up, we do Santa presents by the fireplace with the stockings, so the kiddos started there first after waking up at 7 (our kids are NIGHT OWLS, so this is early for them as of late).

We did not have any Legos for Gavin (because other family members are giving him some), but every time he sat on Santa's lap this year he asked for "Little Legos"! So we had to fix that. :) With matching candy (which actually stacks!). 

Henley kept asking for "More Zoo Animals" every time she sat on Santa's lap. Again--all from other family members! So my neighbor Kim told me about this amazing game that was so perfect. And of course she had to have matching Animal Crackers to eat while we played!

Our pretty tree in the dark. I love this picture:

Henley's main present was a Zoo for her animals and a Noah's Ark (last minute addition for $5 at Goodwill! I could not say no!). We originally planned on Ryan building a doll-house type Zoo out of wood but changed our minds because #1 our December has been CRAZY busy, and #2 this is more portable for her to take wherever she wants to in the house. We didn't glue any of the felt down so she can make water/sand/grass/mud wherever she wants with her animals in our out of the tub. And the girl now has A LOT of animals. With more to come! Can't wait to see how she plays with this.

McKay's is my new favorite place for these kids. Books galore (and in their stockings) for so cheap and on subjects they both love. Animals and Lego Star Wars:

Henley bypassed her Zoo and went straight for the books. She wanted to read them right away. My sweet Bookworm.

 Noah's Ark lift the flap. I don't blame her for being giddy. :)

Gav of course went straight for the presents!

Henley did get 1 animal from us to go with a movie we got at a White Elephant gift exchange:

She of course couldn't wait to watch "The Penguin Movie"!

(and did later while looking like a Teenager!)

Gav screamed A LOT as he opened his gifts. Which were a lot of little things, not one big present. This is a Lego Watch (in the Light Saber picture a few below). 

I wanted to document his "Christmas" pj's of red and green light sabers. :) 

(Thanks, Aunt Joanna!)

Big surprise--Light Sabers!

He watched Star Wars for the first time at Thanksgiving with Aunt Amanda and Uncle Cole (he was not allowed to watch with anyone else for his first time) and I found 3 for $9 at a Yard Sale this summer that I've been saving for months. This is him mid-freak out :)

Let the battles begin...

We could have given Henley anything and she would have been this sweet. Belle Tea Party Play-Doh.

Reading a new pop up Princess book (also from that Summer yardsale--my new plan for Christmas!)

Maybe Henley's favorite gift: a cash register that really beeps and has a real calculator!

She was scanning all of her toys and animals and then would say, "Thank you for shopping!"

Also from the Yard Sale, a set of wings (and new shoes) for my non-dresser-upper. Magically she loves them and wanted to wear them! Maybe she will be girly after all...

Henley wanted to read all of her books back to back while the boys built Legos:

Gav had too many favorites to pick one. His Lego Treehouse is for sure at the top of the list:

Along with his Lego Candy that he would build and eat:

And his new Transformer:

Henley loved all the candy (particularly chocolate like a true female) from her stocking:

The kids stayed in pj's all day and we played and played, rested, and played. We ended the day with Gav's new Rescue Heroes game (thanks, Kim, for finding it for him!). It's like Chutes & Ladders but rescuing pets from a burning building--so fun!

And racing Dad and Gavin's new Remote Control Racecar with homemade ramp:

The kids were so excited to finally be able to put Baby Jesus on our Christmas countdown.

There is so much about our December that I would love to document on this blog. Hopefully I'll be able to soon if the kids sleep extra long at nap time. I so wish time would stand still for these 2 precious ones but I know it cannot--hence why I take so many pictures and document so much!

Fall Family Pictures

So let's face it.  I am a terrible blogger. I have come to grips that I am too busy in this season of life to keep this little blog up as easily as I can post to Facebook for most of my family to see. So when I can, I'll still update here, but seeing as how I'm 5 MONTHS PREGNANT and haven't even made a post about that, I'm facing the facts that this is a low priority in my life. :)

I just put this photo book together for our families for Christmas, and it gave me a code to embed, and voilà! I have an easy blog post. :) Enjoy these family pics our friend Emilee took of us! We hopped the fence behind our house to take pictures in the field--wish I had a picture of me at 4 months pregnant climbing a ladder!

Click here to view this photo book larger

Create a gorgeous, high quality wedding photo album at Shutterfly.com.

3 Ring Circus

My baby girl is THREE!!!! I can't believe it. Where have 3 years gone??

So all who know me know that I LOVE planning these kiddos' birthday parties. It is not a chore for me, I don't feel pressured to do it, I truly live for it. Like think about it for months in advance.

 So for this elephant lovin' little girl, we did a 3 Ring Circus theme for her 3rd birthday and we had a TON of fun! :)

And like always, I will share too many details and too many pictures because, let's face it, I can't help it! This time it's my pictures (and Ryan's) plus Papaw's pictures. I asked Papaw to be my "Second Shooter" (haha!) for taking turns with me at the Photo Booth and walking around getting action shots. I'm so glad! We both got pictures the other did not!

The kiddos testing out the Photo Booth before the party:

Everyone had to go through the "tent" entrance to the Hughes' Big Top:

My mom always says when I pick a theme, it's like Manna from Heaven for all the goodies I find for so cheap. It's so true. I really think the Lord knows how much I love doing this and He gives us the desires of our heart! So randomly one day while I was in AmVets (like Goodwill), I look up and see this 1987 Circus program for $.25. I seriously do the happy dance in the aisles when I find this stuff, y'all. So I cut it all apart and used the pictures all over the house as decoration.

Peanut nametags for the party guests:

Henley's amazing custom-made invitation:

I always decorate with Library books and pictures and love leaving it up for a week! That is sweet Henley dressed as a clown next to the clown book. Precious girl.

Those streamers--love them! It took us TWO HOURS to hang them. I had no idea when we started how tedious it would be, but I love how it turned out! Like a circus tent!

Because each game had a prize, I gathered colored gift bags we already had (yes, I am cheap) and let the kiddos decorate them with Circus themed stamps and stickers:

Our neighbor Emily (also an elephant lover) had a Circus birthday party earlier this year, so her family let me borrow SO MUCH that I didn't have to buy much! I wanted it to feel carnival-ish so we had games all over the yard with these prizes those kiddos "won" that they collected in their treat bag:

(I must point out the Lollipaws footprint lollipop and elephant taffy--thank you, Big Lots!)

And close up of the tags: "Thanks a 'ton' for coming to my party!" I crack myself up, people.

Speaking of cracking myself up, can you believe I did this? Yes, I did. Another Consignment Sale find--Youth Large. I am such a dork.

My absolute favorite game: Pin the Tail on the Elephant

(And notice the signs that match the invitation!)

I asked each grandparent and our neighbors the Eadys to man each station. They were such a huge help! I think Nani had more fun than the kids...

This was one of my favorite prizes at this game--animal masks!

Toss the Cans with Laney

I don't have a close up picture but the cans are all animals--including a purple elephant for Miss Henley!

Ball Toss with Pop

Animal Bowling with Gram

Found these at a Consignment Sale and they seriously crack me up!

The Hamiltons--Maddie loved the games!

And Bryson loved the animals. :)

Face Painting with Aunt Amanda and Abbey

My favorite--Ryan the Ringmaster got a mustache!

Balloon Animals with Ryan the Ringmaster and Gabe the Great:

I must point out that my amazing husband saw this balloon animal kit at Wal-Mart for $5, and he practiced for 2 hours when we got home. Seriously. Without me asking him to do it. So this wasn't part of the original plan but he got so good at it that we had to do it at the party!

And Uncle Cole got in on the balloon animals, too!

I think my favorite part of the party was the group parachute time. Henley is in Kindermusik again this Fall, so I casually asked her teacher this week if we could borrow the parachute. I really assumed she would say no, and she said yes!!

We play games in Kindermusik where we shake the parachute and have to keep the balls from falling off, so I gathered all of Henley's elephants and we had to keep the elephants from falling off:

I called out each kiddos' name and each one got to run under the parachute. It really was so fun and they seriously loved it!

And obviously I did too. :)

Then the boys gave up and the girls had a blast playing underneath:

Then it was time for lunch @ The Concession Stand!

Oh Goodwill, my parties would not be as fun without you.

This is an official Ringling Bros Circus cup!

Our menu included Corndogs, Popcorn, Cotton Candy, Peanuts, Circus Peanuts...

...and my favorite! A veggie and fruit clown:

Our entire family helps out SO MUCH before, during, and after my crazy themed parties. Uncle Cole helped man the popcorn maker:

How awesome is this thing? Aunt Amanda got it for her birthday last year and told me I must plan a party to use it. Check! :)

Aunt Amanda hard at work as usual during these parties!

This is one of my favorite finds from Hobby Lobby:

Aren't they hilarious!?

These stinkers peeled all the breading off their corndogs and just ate the hot dogs!

Our neighbor Beth enjoying her Cotton Candy:

I went out that morning to get this Cotton Candy fresh from a gas station a mile away from our house and it started melting!! So so sad. But obviously was still yummy.

Of course Aunt Amanda made amazing cupcakes (with fresh strawberry icing, let me add) with circus animals and clowns out of fondant on top. And I love my circus tent cupcake stand from eBay!

An elephant cupcake for the birthday girl:

Present Time!

I love this picture because it shows how much other kiddos love seeing what the present are as much as the birthday girl!

Photo Booth

Because there are so many, I saved the best for last--the Photo Booth Pictures! I had props for everyone to choose from and I love how the pictures turned out!

Before everyone left, Laney grabbed the elephant mask and gave out Elephant Rides! The girls lined up and loved it.

Then I had an official Ringling Brothers coloring book from 1984 (another $.25 Goodwill find!) for the girls to color:

THESE KIDS. I cannot say enough about how much I love them. They even had a uniform--their church camp shirts from this summer with a Circus theme of "The Greatest Known on Earth." They are always so eager to help in any way and I cannot imagine our lives without them! Thank you, Eadys!

The party guests left and Gavin and Henley played Hungry Hungry Hippos for AN HOUR! It was a hit! (Thanks, Kim!)

And then the birthday girl passed out on the couch.

A sign of a successful party!