The most wonderful time of the year, indeed.

This is the boys first Christmas with a REAL tree, we're all in love with it!  We decided to go the real tree route this year for a few reasons…

A- our fake tree is WAY too big for this house/space.
B- I wanted the real tree experience and smell.
C- I hate putting together the fake tree.  Love it when it's done, but hate assembling it.

So one Sunday afternoon we loaded up the boys and went and picked out our tree.  They probably couldn't have cared any less, except they knew that the Christmas tree means their Christmas train is coming out as well.

It was a glorious thing, sticking it in the tree base full of water and decorating it minutes later.  I hope this becomes our new "norm" each year!

 Jaxon's 2013 ornament choice :: a caboose 

 Cohen's 2013 ornament choice :: Batman! 

I love the way a Christmas tree glows at night time… 

When the boys (and the dog) are asleep…

it's so peaceful.

 I love that nothing in this picture is perfect, with the toys all over the floor and couch…

Our life is so far from perfect, yet it's so beautiful to me. 

I feel like I have to document it any time that stinkin' dog is asleep…

We love her, but wish she was 10 years older.  :)

Happy Wednesday!

2 weeks until Christmas… are you ready?! 

Cohen turns 3!

Still in a little bit of denial about my youngest being 3 years old, but moving on . . . 

When I was in the beginning stages of planning Cohen's party, I had a little bit of a hard time figuring out what the theme should be.  He's not a big movie watcher, and he's not super obsessed with any particular theme or toy, so my choices were slim.  The one thing he kept coming back to was asking to watch "Wreck it Ralph", and if you know Cohen in person, you know this theme fit him pretty perfectly.  He's a little bit of a wrecker.  :)

We held the party the weekend of his birthday in Iowa.  All of my family was already there for a wedding we all had attended, and of course Tyler's family lives there, so this was easiest for everyone.  My wonderful Sister was kind enough to open their home up to 19 people, which we were so grateful for!

A lot of the details of the party only made sense to those who had already watched the movie, so if you've seen it, you'll probably understand the inside "jokes"! 

The decorations were set up, hoping to look like the inside of an arcade game. 

"Stumps" for cupcakes

Yeah, royal icing cookies are not easy to make… :)

Brick juice boxes

Game controllers

Tappers Root Beer

The kids were all playing outside, and then our special guest for the party arrived… 

Fix it Felix!

My Dad… he's the best Grandpa out there!

The first game we played was a wrecking game, I painted these boxes with a sponge and red paint, and bought big "Wreck it Ralph" hands for the kids to knock the boxes over. 

Of course, Fix it Felix fixed everything they wrecked!

Can't you just hear him… "I can fix it!"

Next up, was building our candy carts!

Just like Penelope & Ralph did in the movie, the kids got to design and build their own racing go cart!

Lastly, it was time for gifts... birthday boys favorite part  :)

We even got to ride some of Uncle Shane's fun "toys" at the end of the party! 

We closed out the day driving home with such thankful hearts.  There's nothing like a birthday party for your son, surrounded by both of our families, to make a person feel loved.

Another birthday party on the books… it is so fun to be a Mom!

Christmas decor.

It's a tight month for us financially, so the decor I have used around the house this Christmas season is either A.) from years past, B.) dollar spot at Target! or C.) free.  But I thought I would share anyway!

So come on in - welcome to our home.  :) 

The garland came from a friend of mine - it is real!  When her family went to go pick out a tree for Christmas, she asked to keep the shavings and shared the extras with me.  The rug was on sale at Target, and I used it with my shopKick gift cards!  (Do you use that app and love it as much as I do?!) 

And the sign was used with wood from our backyard.  A perk of having a yard full of random wood pieces when you move in, I guess!  Tyler cut it and nailed it for me, and a couple hours later I had a cute outdoor sign.  It's not perfect by any means, but I like to think it's the perk of being homemade.  Or something like that.  :)

And the wreath - $4 at an estate sale.  Score! 

I looooove our wood fireplace at night.  So perfect and romantic.  

Loving all the colorful cards this year... hoping for many more :)

We've been using this as a make-shift Advent calendar... each night we read a portion of the Christmas story, and the boys take turns ripping off another ring. 

Loving all the Christmas foam crafts... Dollar spot and no mess = perfect. 

The storage/guest room even got Christmas-ified. 

Hey, one kid dressed for the day isn't so bad... Anyway, a felt tree/ornaments that I made the boys.  Thank you Pinterest and Kristal for the idea!  It has been fun to see them destroy it and re-decorate it, all within a matter of minutes.  Better their tree than mine, can I get an Amen from you Mama's? 

And just to keep it real, this is how I went outside to take the outdoor pictures.  I bet my neighbors love me. 

How's your Christmas shopping going?  Are you done yet?

I have 3 more gifts to buy, and hope to be done by this time tomorrow!