Where has this month gone!?

I am feeling pretty bad that I haven't blogged in almost 3 weeks! Geeze! I didn't even realize how fast these weeks were flying by and every time I sat down at the computer I got distracted with something else and thought "I'll get to this tomorrow". Yea right! 

Anyway.. It has been a crazy/fun month so far and I am beyond excited for Christmas!!! As I said a few weeks back I knew even though I got a great start on shopping I would still end up last minute finishing and I was not wrong! I still have about 3 more presents left to buy but all are for family or friends in FL and we're not leaving until after Christmas so I have decided at this point I will wait until Wednesday to finish up! Maybe I'll catch a sale?

We had our Marine Corps ball on the 15th. It was in Myrtle Beach so my Mom came to stay with Bailey and it was the first time I left her overnight! I expected to cry but I didn't! I think I was ready for a little getaway even if it was only one night! We had a beautiful room on the beach and really enjoyed our time away! We were kicking ourselves for changing our reservations last minute from two nights to one! 

I forgot my camera which NEVER happens so we only have Iphone pics from the night! 

My Mom stayed a whole week so we had lots of fun hanging out with her! We put our Christmas aprons to good use and baked some cookies one night! 

 

This was the first time I let Bailey help this much and she had SO much fun! We laughed so hard at her :)

 

That sweet face melts my heart <3 

 

 

This is when she decided to add some extra ingredients! haha! Good thing the cap was still sealed or we would have been eating detangler cookies! 

 

We also went to see Santa and went on a hay ride through Christmas lights while Mom was here! I will share pics of those experiences later! 

 

Hope you all have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! 

 

 

   

Mail is so much fun!

Looks fun right?! 

 

Bailey got a box from my Mom and Dad (Nana and Pa Pa) today and she could not have been more excited! It was ah-dor-a-ble watching her dig through the box! She would say "Party" every time she threw a bag or tissue paper!

Elmo got left at Nana and Pa Pa's when we were down there last time so he jumped in the box! She was like "Hey where have you been?" lol 

 

She got a ton of Christmas outfits and Pj's and a Christmas apron hand made by Nana! 

 

How cute is she in her little apron?! I love it! Ready for some Christmas baking! 

 

Mom made a matching one for me too! 

 

Maybe I'll share a pic of us in them together later! 

 

I am even more excited now for Christmas morning after watching her open this box! She's going to have so much fun!! 

 

 

Happy December!

Although it's after midnight I'm going to pretend it's still December 1st! 

I had a fabulous day to kick off this holiday month which included some Christmas shopping ALL.BY.MYSELF.! 

I can proudly say I am pretty much done with Bailey's gifts! Crazy right? 

I'm the one who finished shopping for her last year on Christmas Eve when there were just a few random people running through Toys R Us as they were closing! 

Don't get me wrong, chances are good I will still be a last minute shopper this year but I am very excited to have gotten such a great start! 

I almost hate shopping early though because I am way too excited for her to open everything it's going to be hard for me to wait! 

I will wait though! 

I can't believe how fast this past week flew by! We are finally well in our house and things are starting to get back to normal! 

I have been playing with the new camera and I'm starting to understand more about it but still have SO much to learn! 

This is one of my favorite ornaments I made a few years back and it was a fun little model for me to take pictures of while playing with settings! 

This year I am having trouble decorating. I threw out a lot of old decorations last year that I was so tired of and thought I would buy new this year but with being sick and having lots of other things to do I just haven't gotten to it yet so I am left with a half decorated mantel and random decorations around the house! 

I have a lot of DIY Christmas decor projects I want to tackle also just have to find the time!! 

In other news... Patrick's recruiting package was approved so we will be moving somewhere within the next 6-12 months or less. More on that later. 

Lots of emotions for me with all of this. 

  

   

 

New Tradition!

This year we welcomed Elfie into our home and family! 

This is a tradition I am so excited to start! I watched friends do it last year and couldn't wait to start it for Bailey! She is still a little young and doesn't have a full grasp about what's going on but she likes little Elfie and I was excited to see her looking for him this morning on the tree which is where he was yesterday morning!

This morning I had to lift her up to find him.... 

  

He was enjoying a nice dip in a bowl of giant marshmellows! 

Cute little guy, isn't he? 

For those of you who aren't familiar with this tradition, it's called Elf On The Shelf. A little Elf that you adopt. He (or she) was sent by Santa to watch over your little ones the month leading up to Christmas. The Elf flies back to the North Pole every night (using magical powers of course) to report back to Santa. When he returns the next morning he gets into some kind of mischief!

Sounds fun right?! I thought so! 

The fun part for the Mommies and Daddies is coming up with the "mischief"! I think our Elf, Elfie will save some of his really good mischief for later when Bailey is a little older! ;-)

Sick, sick, sick! Thanksgiving and Black Friday!

I have been sick for 4 days now and am absolutely miserable! :-(

Sinus infection, and possible bronchitis. I ended up at the ER on Thanksgiving and they said they don't really treat either so they sent me home with cough drops. I was not happy. I went to Urgent care the next day and was told I am not sick enough yet to be treated so to come back in a week! Ugh! Really? Why can't you help me now!?! Again, not happy! This Dr. did prescribe a good cough suppressant and tell me to take mucinex. 

I am only getting worse so I guess I will be seeing the Urgent Care Doc again in a week. Grrrr! 

Even though I am feeling like I am I still did my best to enjoy Thanksgiving! I spent all of Wednesday afternoon baking! Pumpkin bread, chocolate cake, cheesecake, rice krispie treats, and potato salad! 

All morning Thursday I did my best not to sit down because I knew that would be it! I cooked and cleaned all morning. We ate turkey around 3:30 then I finally sat down and that's when it all caught up and we headed out to urgent care which turned into the ER since they weren't open! 

This is our Thanksgiving photo... 

Not too bad considering how I actually felt! 

My friend and I headed out to catch a few Black Friday deals around 10 Thurs night! Probably a bad idea since I was already super sick! We got back around 12:30 I think and I went straight to bed!! 

The next morning I was paying for it. I was seriously miserable ALL day yesterday :-(  I did a lot of sitting around and napping! Patrick was great doing stuff with Bailey all day! 

Patrick was excited to get out a little so we did all head out for a bit. We bought my Christmas present!! 

A DSLR CAMERA!!! Wooo hooo!!! You will be seeing some wayy better pics from me soon as I learn how to use it! I will share this journey with you all! 

After another nap yesterday evening we went out and picked out our Christmas tree! I got through it much better than I thought! It is beautiful! We plan to decorate it Sunday when Patrick is home! He is on duty today. Blah! 

  I love this picture! Even though it's blurry, it captures the excitement and fun she was having running all around looking at the trees!

Well, that's what's been going on around here! Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Christmas is coming!

I am getting very excited for Christmas decorating, shopping, baking, music and crafts!! 

As soon as the Turkey has been eaten, it's ON!!

I have been noticing all of the felt ornaments lately on Pinterest and on some other blogs I follow! I love it! I have been making felt ornaments for YEARS and it's fun to see that they are so popular now! I considered selling them years ago but just never got around to it but I may add some to my ETSY soon, we'll see! 

I thought I would share a few of my favorites I made a while back. {when I say a while back I mean a lot of years ago, haha I was in my teens!} 

So fun! I have a few projects ahead of these but I'm excited to make some more this year to add to my collection! 

What fun Christmas crafts are you making this year?

Busy Bee!

I've been such a busy bee lately I have completely forgotten to blog! ..Fail! 

I do have some cute new things to show though! These are all up on my ETSY!

The snowmen and Santa owl are garden flags made from burlap and hand painted! The necklace, earrings set in the bottom corner are rosettes and really cute on! The picture doesn't do them justice! 

Patrick was in the field for 3 days this past week so I turned my kitchen and dining area into a craft work zone! I made a huge mess but had fun doing it! 

I started some other projects also that I haven't finished and as always made a couple things that didn't make the cut! haha! 

That's it for today! I will try to get back to blogging everyday again! 

Happy Friday!! Have a great weekend!