Christmas photos and printables

Here are a few Christmas photos from our family to yours! We had a great Christmas season and it was with a heavy heart that I took down our Christmas tree this year. Ezra is 4 and at a perfect age to share in all the MAGIC of Christmas.  We hope your holiday was blessed with wonderful time with friends and family and we look forward to another beautiful celebration next year.
 

 

Princess Libby Rose

 

 

 

Unfortunately Michael had a flight and couldn't be in our "family photos" but at least it's the first time I've gotten a picture with both kiddos and myself though Libby was not all too pleased about it.

 

 

 

 

You can click on the images below to enlarge them.  Ezra is obsessed with snow and has been asking me when it will snow all summer.  Last year we got like an hour of light snow all year so I was really really super duper like jumping up and down excited on Christmas day when Michael yelled, "it's SNOWING!"  I couldn't wait for Ezra to see it.  It was our Christmas miracle!

 

 

It was really hard for me to shop for Libby b/c she's so young and I just didn't know what would keep her entertained... then I saw these cheerleading pompoms and knew I'd hit paydirt!  As you can see, she knew immediately what to do with them...

 

For the first time Michael and I were both off of work and able to go to Ezra's school Christmas party.  It was great to be able to spend time with him making Christmas crafts with his classmates and teachers. 

 

 

 

For Christmas Michael's dad got the boys some fake mustaches to play with and luckily I snagged these 2 photos when I did b/c they were buzzing around like some little bees and the mustaches didn't last long :)

 

Prepare yourself for some SERIOUS cuteness!  Cousin Cooper looking like the Monopoly man :)

Lastly here are a few printable and a teach gift idea.   I saw this on Pinterest and loved the idea.  Basically it's just an apple on top of a small mason jar filled with caramel apple dip.  For the dip you simply get a container of Maretti's caramel dip typically found right around the apples in the produce section then you mix about 1/3 of that with 1 block of cream cheese.  the fill the jars about 1/3 of the way with the ''nougat" mixture, then top with the remainder of the caramel dip and sprinkle the top with toffee chips.  I wrapped our mason jars with bakers twine and put some Christmas scrapbooking paper on the lids to add more festivity but you could keep this super simple and it would still be awesome.  Lastly I created these printable tags to add some flair and personality.  My plastic bags were left over from Ezra's birthday party and were too short to tie up top with a ribbon but luckily I had some red and white striped washi tape on hand so I just sort of created a flap and taped it down.  Hopefully you guys will find these useful.  I made 8 gift packages and still had dip left over. 

 

 

Just click on the images below to enlarge the files then save to your computer.  When you go to print the images just select the 8.5 X 11 print option to get them sized right and you can use a 2" circle punch to cut out these circle tags.

I also created this printable Christmas garland/banner which I hung from my hutch in our dining room. I thought it was be lovely to use in family Christmas photos or just as a decoration or even hung in the Christmas tree:

I made ours with a Santa on each end then the word PEACE in the middle but I included this reindeer in case someone wanted to use reindeer instead of Santa.  Also the extra "E" is included in this file as well.  These take more time to cut out b/c of the scalloped edges but it's adorable when all is said and done.  I used red and white striped baker's twine to hang ours for a little extra something special.  I took some photos of it up in our house but I can't find them so when I do I'll include those later:

Thanksgiving retrospection

Here's a late Thanksgiving post, but since I'd posted before featuring some different sites with cute free Thanksgiving printables I wanted to share how I used them at our house. Our Thanksgiving began with a game of hide and seek. Can you find Libby?

 

Maybe if her P.J's were camoflaged this spot would have worked better.

 

 

My brother Weston took another approach.  Instead of  his legs we got a detached head look.

 

 

Here's the table setting:

 

 

I used the cupcake toppers in these apple and peach pies in a jar.  Delicious and ridiculously easy. 

 

 

The centerpiece was in a birch bark covered pot and was bought at Central Market.

 

 

Napkin wrappers printed out from Hostess with the Mostess.  The link can be found in the prior Thanksgiving post.

 

 

I got the squirrel printables from Martha Stewart's site and filled them with nuts and chocolates.

 

 

These cute little paper pilgrims and indians were also free printables I found online whose link can also be found in my prior post.

 

 

 

These wine glass and wine bottles labels are also from the kit I found on Hostess with the Mostess.

 

 

 

For the kid's table I used these printables coloring pages as placemats.

 

 

The Thanksgiving bunting found below is from the same kit that has the menu and coloring page found above.

 

 

I ordered these "autumn" stripey straws from Sweet Shop Lulu and they matched the free printables thankyou flags I found online perfectly. 

 

 

I wrapped some milk glasses in some hemp twine to finish off the look.

 

 

Hopefully you guys also had a great Thanksgiving.  I actually took down my Thanksgiving stuff and put up my Christmas decorations in the same day, I couldn't wait! 

Naughty or Nice

Libby and Ezra could not be more different personalities. Ezra has his sensory processing issues (which are barely even noticeable anymore) but otherwise has been a very easy, polite, attentive, and responsible child. Libby on the other hand is a ball of energy that has her own agenda and a hurricane couldn't stop her from getting/doing what she wants when she wants. She's like a grenade, she packs a huge punch in a super small package. I've also equated her to a honey badger, a hurricane, a tasmanian devil... you get my drift. :) She wears me out but then she gives me her super cute toothy grin and I melt.
 

Just look at those dimples:

 

 

This photo pretty much sums up Libby's personality :)

 

"Wanna see me cram this whole thing in my mouth?"

 

 

Here goes...

 

 

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea."

 

 

"There, ya see I told you I could do it!"

 

 

 

Keeping a hairbow on Libby is nearly impossible.  This is usually how she starts out:

 

 

Looking cute wearing her monogrammed elf shirt with her big brother:

 

 

The naughty-ness begins with playing in the dog water:

 

 

And culminates with this: