Christmas was a BLAST!!!

I feel like each year just gets better and better as the kids get older and really begin to understand that Santa Clause is coming to deliver presents.  This year Lily was more excited than ever, she was awake until 1am. tossing and turning. We kept checking on her, waiting for her to fall asleep so we could go down stairs and start setting up.  She kept saying that she couldn't fall asleep because was just too excited!  So we finally finished everything up and went to bed at 3am, only to be woken up at 7:30 by cute little Lily telling us that Santa came :)
My sister in law told us about this fun website called Capture The Magic.  We got some pictures of the REAL Santa in our house :) and printed off the pics for Lily to see them first thing in the morning. She was so excited about it!!!

Be sure to enter my giveaway I have going on right now for your chance to win one of my binders complete with 3 months of laminated meal plans, grocery lists and activities. GO HERE FOR DETAILS.  It ends Jan. 5th!!! If you'd like to buy one you better hurry, I've only got TWO left. I'm already working on making another 50, but it will be another couple of weeks before they are all finished.
I hope you all had a Merry Christmas!!!

Getting Ready For Christmas~ Part THREE

Whoa, it sure gets crazy this time of year doesn't it. Seems like everyday I'm running errands like crazy and spending WAY too much money. Yesterday I went to the post office and stood in the really loooong line while trying to entertain my two year old, I shipped a package to Germany, which cost me $43, can you believe that!!! Last night on the news they said that it was the busiest shipping day of the year, just my luck :)

Here's what else I've been up to.

Decking the house with more Christmas decor,

And the dog too :)

I got new stockings this year from Rod Works.

And a few more ornaments for the tree.

This is about as far as we go when it comes to Christmas lights.

I've been working on my neighbor gifts and getting them delivered.

Finishing up the Christmas cards I got from Shutterfly.com

Tryin to be festive by wearing my elf socks I got from Target for $5.

I really like big rings :)

And got my nails done a sparkly red with a little Frosty the snowman on my ring finger.

We just sold these couches that were in our basement to make room for THIS!

We got it from Sams Club and we're going to set it up for the kids on Christmas Eve. We figured since the winters are so long here that this would be a perfect indoor trampoline. It's not too big and not too small, such a great size for smaller children. We got it for $140, they have it online too.

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Getting Ready For Christmas~ Part TWO

One thing Sean and I argue about this time of year, is WHEN to put up the Christmas tree. We had a little debate about putting it up BEFORE Thanksgiving but he's learned to follow the very wise quote, "Happy Wife, Happy Life" :) :) :)

Then he REALLY started to get into the Christmas spirit!!!

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I found another company called Shutterfly that has a great selection of Holiday Cards. They are a little cheaper than the last one I posted about too. They happen to be the  #1 choice of professional photographers.

I didn’t order enough Christmas cards so I’m going to go with this company for the next batch. Here is the one I picked along with some information directly from their website. Just choose the card you want and upload your pictures, it's that simple.

•Store all your pictures on Shutterfly free of charge, safely—without limitations, or deletion.

•We do not shrink your original high-resolution images—giving you the best professional-quality prints and products in the industry.

•Instantly share your pictures online—friends can see them without signing up.

•Turn your pictures into personalized gifts—we’re #1 in quality, having won awards for our photo books, cards, and editing tools.

•We’ve got articles, videos and plenty of “How To” tips to support and inspire you.

•Pick up 4x6 prints at Target, Walgreens, and CVS in as little as an hour.

*If you have a blog and would like to receive 50 FREE cards then go HERE to see how.

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One last thing before you go! I talked with Effie's Heart about changing the Giveaway Prize. I wasn't getting much response with the gloves, so we decided to just make it a $36 gift card instead. This way you can choose what ever you want. Shirt, Cabaret leggings, gloves, or whatever else you want on their website. Remember they offer free shipping anywhere in the US and this weekend for Black Friday, EVERYTHING is 30% OFF!!!!!!! To enter the giveaway, leave your comments  HERE.

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Last year at this time I came up with a little schedule for the month of December and called it Gearing up for the new year. It's a whole 3 weeks of Christmas. If you'd like to check them out here is a link for each week.
Week #1
Week #2
Week #3

Getting Ready For Christmas!!!

Yes, I said it, I'm getting ready for Christmas even before Thanksgiving. I've got my Christmas cards all ready to go...

I ordered my cards through Tiny Prints, they are a premier online stationery website that offers exclusive designs for birthday invitations, holiday greetings, baby shower invitations, and many other cards and stationery for many different life events. To see their full collection, visit: http://www.tinyprints.com. If you become a fan of their facebook page you can have access to a couple promo codes their offering right now. Here are a couple of my favorite Christmas Cards.

I've been burning some yummy Christmas scented candles...

You've got to try Stephanie Lee's Silent Night candle, SOOOO Yummy!!! And she's got a great shipping policy. All packages are a $10 flat rate, but she throws in $10 worth of extra candles to make up for the cost of shipping. So I got the 3 smaller candles for FREE! How nice is that? Visit her website at www.stephanieleecandles.com

We've pulled out the Christmas decor and have been watching The Santa Clause movie...

And thinking of gift ideas for the family...

This weekend through Monday My LDS Memories is having a sale with all photo book prices starting at just $15. They are regularly $35. They have a new photobook called My Family Proclamation. It combines many quotes from "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" by The First Presidency and Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

Christmas

This Christmas was wonderful!!! I'm continually amazed with the joy children bring to life. It's easy to get caught up in the constant demands child rearing presents, and forget about the remarkable blessing they really are. Having children around the house invites such a special spirit of innosense and purity. My daughter is teaching me lessons daily, like when she reprimands me for being a teensy bit mean to her daddy :) or, like when I get so worked up about messes around the house, she say's, "Mom, don't worry about it so much" lol, definately one of my New Years Resolutions this year will be to, not sweat the small stuff. So, this year was extra special because it was Oliver's first Christmas, and because Lily is at such a fun age for Holidays. It brings back all the excitement from when I was a child. To see her face on Christmas morning was priceless, and I think the best part of the whole thing is the anticipation leading up to the day. All the talk about Santa, the elves, and the reindeer, just brought me back to my Santa believing years. I'll never forget the year when someone did the Sub for Santa, for us. We were pretty poor growing up, and never really had big Christmases. This particular year seemed to be the worst one ever. My parents and us 4 kids were living in a tiny 3 bedroom appartment, we didn't even have enough money for a Christmas tree. I remember coming home one day to a few bags full of gifts, a Christmas tree complete with ornaments and lights, and a little note saying, "From Santa's Helpers". Now when I look back at that, I think WOW! What amazing people there are out there in the world, to notice a family in need, and to be there to offer their time and money, in order to provide them the best Christmas ever! I will be eternally grateful for the anonymous givers.
Here are a few pictures of our special day.

Lily really wanted a REAL fish for Christmas. She was a really good girl this year, so Santa granted her wish :)

Every year gets harder and harder for me to find the perfect gift for Sean. He likes things, that I obviously have no interest in :) I only wish this was my idea to get him this Cougar Rug, because it would have been THE perfect gift. He's being nice and giving me the credit, and telling everyone that I got it for him for Christmas:) I did let him buy it, so that counts for something right?

Sean was actually really cute and creative this year for me, he earned some major points. He got me a Spa Day. The best part about it was the way he presented it to me. He quoted my blog on the part where I said, "a spa day, now wouldn't that be nice". So, not only did he get something that I REALLY wanted, but he also proved that he's paying attention :) I guess now that I know he's reading my blog, I better be careful about what I say, lol. I love you Sean!!! You're the best, and thank you for always being such an amazing husband.

3rd Week of December

Last night Lily had her Christmas dance performance. It was adorable!!! I just love seeing her dance, and am grateful that she can be in dance. I always wanted to take dance growing up, but we couldn't afford it. So I feel blessed to be able to give Lily these opportunities.

Dec. 15th

Today, I'm just going to continue working on my Christmas list, and hopefully can get most everything taken care of.

Dec. 16th

Try a new class at the gym, or check out a video at the library. One thing I've learned, is that it's important to mix up your exercise routine. You don't want to get stuck doing the same old thing. Not only does it prohibit you from seeing the kinds of results you'd like, but also begins to be drudgery. You want to spice it up, keep it exciting, kind of like marriage :)

Dec. 17th

Have a "Spa Day". Well, wouldn't that be nice to have an entire day of pampering and relaxation. Unfortunately that isn't really possible for most of us :) But we can just pretend lol. I'm going to get a babysitter, go get a facial, and run some errands. That's a Spa Day enough for me. A little quiet time to myself is all I need sometimes to get me through the day, or the week :) Here's a website my friend told me about that has some awesome jewelry for moms. Maybe I'll buy myself a little something too. www.smartmomjewelry.com

Teething Bling® was inspired by babies who like to tug on our jewelry. It is the original patent-pending teething jewelry.

Dec. 18th

Today I want to just focus on reading my parenting book throughout the day when possible.

Dec. 19th

Work on organizing and getting rid of toys, making room for the new. Hopefully I can get Lily to help me out with this, and to be excited about giving some of her toys away to kids that don't have much. I just love being organized, so doing this will help me to not feel so overwhelmed with toys after Christmas. Here is another website my friend told me about. They sell these mom day planners. They look awesome!!! I may have to get myself one of these for the New Year. www.trulymoms.com

Dec. 20th

Just have a relaxing day with the family. No schedules, no "to do" lists. Just enjoy the moments :)

Follow up for the week

This week seemed a little crazy, despite the fact that I said I was going to keep it simple. Monday we planned to go Ice Skating, but due to the FREEZING weather conditions, we had to skip that :( Which is a bummer, because I was really looking forward to it. Perhaps next year we'll get to experience that together as a family.

Tuesday and Wednesday I did my cleanse!!!! I was really excited about accomplishing that, because it takes some self control :) I posted a video link in my last post of my days on the cleanse.

Thursday I planned to get my Christmas Cards out, and the whole day I was scrambling around, feeling completely overwhelmed with the whole thing. So, I finally just had to throw in the towel, and decided to just skip it this year. I feel like such a scrooge, but I just don't want to make myself crazy by giving myself more than I can handle. I have to pick and choose where my time is best spent. I'm aloud to skip a year here and there, right? I do plan to send out a Christmas email with our recent family pictures. Hopefully that will be enough this year.

Friday, I wanted to have all my Christmas shopping done, lol, that didn't exactly happen either. I did get out and get a little shopping done though, and I put together a list of what I have left to do. So, hopefully I can have it all done within the next few days.

Saturday, was my day to plan out some healthy meals for this week. I've put a little something together. In my future posts I plan to show you a few tips and tricks I use to make eating healthy, easier, and tastier :) So, since we skipped ice skating, I decided to take Lily to see The Frog Princess to make up for it. It was our little mommy daughter date. It was so much fun to spend some special time with her. She ended up sleeping through half the movie, and is still trying to convince me that she didn't sleep, lol.

Sunday, we actually made it to almost all 3 hours of church. Olly gets really cranky without his morning nap, so Sean or I usually takes turns bringing him home for a nap. Later we went over to my sisters house to make Ginger Bread houses, and that was a lot of fun. This week I have been more conscious of trying to mention Jesus's birth, every time Lily brought up Christmas.

So, overall, I'm still proud of the way the week turned out. I'm working on my schedule for this week. I'll post it later tonight.

2nd Week of December

This week I'm keeping it simple.

Dec. 8th & 9th

This time I am really cleansing. I plan to video it all for you, and post it as soon as we've (my husband is going to cleanse with me) accomplished the full 2 days :)

Dec. 10th

Get my Christmas cards out.

Dec. 11th

I want to have all my Christmas shopping done, or at least have an idea of what I am getting for everyone and send out any shipments that need to be made.

Dec. 12th

Plan out healthy meals for the next week include lots of veggies.

Dec. 13th

Spend some time reading Christmas stories, watching Christmas movies, and focusing on the true meaning of Christmas. I want to be sure Lily knows more about Jesus than Santa lol.

Follow up for the week

I'm pretty proud of the way the week turned out. Monday night we went on the Polar Express.

Tuesday I was sick, not fun, but actually not too bad because it only lasted a day. Then Wednesday made a ginger bread house with Lily :) I love those kits you get from Costco, makes this activity more enjoyable (for me) because everything you need is there. Fun, and simple.

Sean got Lily her very own pink Christmas tree to decorate. She was really excited. I thought she would be thrilled with the idea of putting it in her bedroom, but nope. She wanted to place it right next to the "mama" tree.

And here we are in the process of making the cinnamon ornaments. This was fun, and also very simple. All we needed was apple sauce and cinnamon, cookie cutters, then bake for a couple hours, add ribbon, and you're done.

And I've had a chance to really dig into this book, and I'm lovin it. There's a lot of things I didn't know. I've been highlighting some stuff and plan to share what I'm getting out of it.

Follow up for today

Well, I planned to cleanse today and tomorrow, but noticed yesterday I was at the beginning stages of a cold. Sure enough, woke up this morning not feeling so hot. So, I decided to hold off on the cleansing until next week. I'm really anxious to cleanse too because I've been eating so much junk. I can literally see the fat forming around my mid section :) I plan to do a video of my days on the cleanse, that way you can see what I do for the 2 days.

So, since I have this cold, I decided to just start fresh with my schedule on Thursday. I'm sure I'll be feeling better by then. I did actually start my parenting book today, and thought I would share a few things that stood out to me.

• "The challenge of parenting is to love our kids enough to allow them to fail. To stand back, however painful it may be, and let significant learning opportunities build our children."
• "It's a fact: Responsibility cannot be taught; it must be caught."
• "Although it's hard to figure out at times, the hardest things in the world to learn are the things we are told we must do. To help a child gain responsibility we must offer that child opportunities to be responsible."

Gearing up for the New Year

Only 25 days until Christmas. Can you believe it? This year, I wanted to start early on my resolutions. I don't want to completely let everything go, like I usually do during the holidays. So that's why I've put together this schedule to follow until Christmas. Like I said before in my last post, I want to equally incorporate mind, body, soul, and family over the next 25 days. So hear is what I came up with.

Dec. 1st and 2nd

First of all, I wanted to start out the month with a couple of cleanse days. I'm very passionate about cleansing, because what it has done for me. It's the perfect way to start anything I believe. You get your mind on track, increase you're energy, get your weight in check, and just feel amazing. I know there are a lot of different cleanses out there, so do the one you like most. I've tried a few and have found one that works the best for me. Click HERE for more information.

Dec. 3rd

Start a new educational book. The one I plan to read is called, Parenting With Love and Logic, by Foster Cline, M.D. & Jim Fay. I hope to develop some parenting skills, lol. Sometimes I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing, and pray to God that my kids will turn out okay.

Dec. 4th

Do a fun Christmas craft with the kids. This one looked fun. I love the smell of Cinnamon around Christmas, and it looks simple enough for me:) We'll see if I can pull it off.

Dec. 5th

Start taking a class on something of interest. I'm thinking something that only requires an hour or two a week. I don't want to take too much time away from my family, but I thought it would be fun, and a nice break. I recently found out about a place just down the street from me called Picture Line. It's a photography shop that sells all kinds of fun stuff, they also offer free classes with tips on how to use your camera's. So, I plan to try a few of those classes.

Dec. 6th

Find a service project to do with the kids. I thought that this could tie into December 4th's task. If the craft turns out okay, you can give them away to friends or neighbors. I plan to make a special trip to my Grandpa's house. I know he loves visitors, so I thought I could go spend some time with him, bring him some dinner or lunch, and just enjoy the time with him. I'm also in the process of making a video of his life. I recently did an interview with him on video, I want to put it all together, with some of his childhood pictures, and some music. So, I want to begin this project as soon as possible. I'm hoping to have it finished before Christmas, and give the DVD's to family members as a gift. I'll post the video as soon as I'm done with it.

Dec. 7th

Do a fun activity with the whole family. I plan to take the whole family Ice Skating down town. We've never done this before, so I'm excited to try it out. We might have to leave Oliver with a babysitter though, it may be too cold to take him out.

Well, that covers the first week. I will continue the rest of this Schedule next Monday, but will still be writing each day, on how I'm doing :)