It’s the day before Christmas…

It’s the day before Christmas,
and all through our house,
not many gifts were wrapped,
and I haven’t seen my spouse.

True Story. I feel like I haven’t seen my husband in a couple days (late work nights and late solo shopping adventures). My body is achey and it hurts to walk. If I am getting mastitis again, just shoot me now.

Our shopping isn’t done – we have 5 people left to buy for. My baby boy is fighting his bassinet at night – so we’ve been sleeping in the recliner. Hello, stiff neck!

With a little encouragement from my husband this morning, I’m trying my best to suck it up and carry on. After all, it’s Christmas Eve. Tomorrow is Christmas. Our first Christmas as a family (with a baby), in the home that we own!

We’re getting off work a little early today, hubby will finish up a little shopping, and hopefully take a quick nap before heading out for the evening. What’s on our agenda? Church service and then a casual visit with J’s parents and extended family.

In the morning, we’ll wake up and doing Christmas as a family of 3 in our new home. We’ll take our time, then go to my parents for breakfast. Following tradition, we’ll have mom’s Spanish Brunch recipe (eggs, cottage cheese, monterrey jack cheese, green chiles, and maybe another kind of cheese too?), with cinnamon rolls and coffee. And, open gifts of course. Gifts before breakfast… duh.

We plan to visit and relax there until early afternoon, then we’ll head to my in-laws for dinner and gifts. I have a sneaking suspicion that Sammy is going to win the Christmas lottery and make it difficult for me to find places to store all of his goodies.

Keeping our little Sammy on a bedtime schedule is pretty important these days, and with the holidays, we will do the best we can. We’ll try to be home at 8 or a little after to get little guy bathed and tucked in bed.

Saturday morning we’ll make our way to Arkansas to visit J’s dad & family. We will have to do some kind of shopping on our way, because I just won’t get that accomplished before Saturday. Not possible.

I love giving gifts and seeing the look of surprise on our loved ones faces. I also seeing my husband’s looks of surprise when he finds out what we got for people! He said he wanted to be more involved in shopping this year, but when it came down to it, he slept in the car while I braved the crowds. Oh well. There’s always next year, babe.

From our family to yours, Merry Christmas!

Stay tuned for photos from our Christmases and a 4-month update on our little guy soon.

XO
Andrea

 

Five on Friday

I can’t be the only one, right?

We’ve made it to Friday folks, and next week Thanksgiving will be here. It is certainly one of my favorite holidays and I can’t wait to have Sammy join us this year at the dinner table. He actually does really well sitting on my lap! However, I would be totally thrilled if we could coordinate a nap around the time we sit down to eat.

Today I bring you a super random Five on Friday. Enjoy!

1. S.O.S. I need black boots!

I got down a box labeled “Fall shoes and boots” from the top shelf of my closet. I couldn’t figure out where my black riding boots were… until I remembered that I threw them away when we moved. It must have been part of my total wardrobe overhaul where more than half of my stuff ended up in a DAV donation bin. My pregnant-self who hated everything in the closet really did my non-pregnant self a service that day by clearing out what all the stuff that was so-so, didn’t fit right, or just wasn’t my style any more. My black boots were a victim, but they really needed to go. I am a cheap-boot-shopper and those boots had seen one too many winter seasons and looked like it. Here’s what I have my eye on… (photos link to sites)

And who doesn’t love leopard print?

 

I need a pair of brown ankle booties, too. Loving these styles… Both are out of my price range, but a girl can dream.

2. Time to deck the halls

This will be our first Christmas as a family of three, and our first Christmas in our new home. We may put up Christmas lights this weekend! (By We you know I mean my husband.) I’m looking forward to putting up the tree and other decor. Oh, and Gordon our Elf on the Shelf is sure to make an appearance!

Who knows where we might find him!!! (Yes I realize my baby is too young to know what the heck the little elf is, but my husband and I still have fun with it.)

I also purchased two floating shelves from Hobby Lobby a couple weeks ago that are still in the trunk of my car. Those babies need to be hung! I’ve got my eye on some reindeer figurines that need a home.

3. All about the apple dip

You need to make this dip. Mix two blocks of cream cheese with one container of Old Fashioned Caramel dip (for apples). Top it with a layer of Heath Bits of Brickle (you’ll find them near the chocolate chips). Buy a bag of granny smith green apples and dip away. It’s so super delicious that you’ll forget about the calories.

Pretzels are great dipped in it too!

4. Saving our memories

I’ve been SO good about taking pictures and videos of Sammy. I think I have one picture from each day of his life. Most are on my phone, but we do have some great shots that I took with the Canon. What I’ve been SO bad about is getting our photographs printed. Oops!

Now, I would consider myself pretty tech savvy… but I have a pretty basic question for those of you smarter than myself…

The videos I have taken on the Canon are saved as .MOV files on my computer. I want to burn them onto a DVD. How easy is that? What kind of program is required? Can I do that with Movie Maker? Please help so I don’t ruin these files!

5. Taking time out for ourselves

As much as I love coming home from working, immediately putting on my PJs and spending time with baby and hubby, we need time for just the two of us. Sometimes all we talk about is baby, or work (we work together). Tonight we are taking Sammy to my parents while we go see a band play the early show, from 6:30-8:30. That way we can get Sammy and get back home and be on our normal schedule for bedtime (10pm). The band happens to be led by our friends who moved out of state about a year ago. They are back in town this weekend!

 

Have a great weekend and make sure you have those stretchy pants ready for next week! Oh baby!

 

Catching Up…

Good Thursday morning to you! I’ve taken a little hiatus from blogging because life has been pretty darn busy. Between Christmas parties, shopping, date night, and the birth of a new cousin (!!!), life has been a whirlwind lately. I won’t complain – I kind of like it.

…Except the part where my whole house is a disaster because we are never home to clean up the messes we  I make when we are I am there.

So, here’s what we’ve been up to…

Date Night at the Nutcracker

My sweet husband planned a date night for us to see the Moscow Ballet Great Russian Nutcracker, which was in town for a one time show.

We enjoyed wine, popcorn, and the show was fabulous. I love ballet and this production was done SO well. It was beautiful! Here are a few photos we snapped from our seats, way up in the nosebleeds. The tickets weren’t cheap so we settled for the upper balcony.

Parties

Last Friday we attended Jeremy’s office Christmas party, which was held at one of the physician’s homes. Typically I’m not nervous in social situations at all, but since Jeremy’s the “new guy” and I had never met anyone before, I was a little anxious.

The party was really nice. Lots of mingling, eating & drinking, and a friendly gift swap. The doctors provided the food – and it was delish. Jeremy and I agreed that our favorite appetizer was the simplest. A toothpick with cheese tortellini, mozzarella, cherry tomato, and a basil leaf drizzled with a light vinaigrette. Fresh & flavorful! This recipe for Tortellini Caprese Bites seems very similar to what we had. I definitely plan to re-create these.

Oh, and the hosting doc gave Jeremy a frozen pheasant. Looks like I’ll be googling pheasant recipes!

The next day we attended Jeremy’s annual family Christmas party. We had a great time like usual visiting, eating, drinking – and this time we toured his cousins’ new house. Here’s a group photo we snapped at the end… Can you say flowy shirt fail on my part? That’s right – I’m the purple blob in the front.

Shopping

…or the lack there of. I was feeling good about my progress so far, and then I realized that this weekend is the last weekend before Christmas. Traffic has been nuts near the mall during the day, and I know it’s only going to get worse. I will just have to bite the bullet and finish up. I plan to start early in the day on Saturday so I don’t waste my whole day looking for a parking spot and standing in line.

With that being said, I have found some great deals on Amazon, Zulily, and Groopdealz this year. I am truly excited for our family to open the gifts that are waiting under the tree!! (That’s right, I’ve wrapped everything I have bought!)

Archie’s Arrival

My cousin Nick and his wife Sydney welcomed a little one into our family this week. Archie Scot came 5 weeks early, weighing just under 5 pounds. He is too cute and is the perfect addition to our family, just in time for Christmas! Photos later 🙂

 

That’s all for now – back to work!

 

 

Allen Family Christmas Cookies 2013

One of my favorite family traditions in making Christmas cookies with my dad. We use the same recipes – my great-grandmother’s soft sugar cookie recipe and Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook’s rolled sugar cookies recipe. Every year, we make the same shapes – trees, snowmen, stockings, stars, candy canes, angels, and bells. This year the bell cookie cutter was MIA, the tree cutter got mangled in the back of a drawer (luckily, we had a back up), and the star’s arms are starting to look funky. I think a new set of cookie cutters are in order for Bake-A-Thon 2014.

 

 

My dad worked in bakery when he moved to Springfield in the late 80’s. I’m not going to lie – the man’s got some talent! Cookies, pies, cakes, breads, you name it, he can bake it. Our annual cookie making is one of my favorite Christmas traditions, and one that I hope to pass on to my children some day.

The rookie blogger in me forgot to take photos of the iced cookies before they were delivered to the neighbors. There’s always next year!

Do you have a Christmas cookie recipe to share? Please do!

Sydney’s Christmas & Cheetah Bridal Shower

Here are several photos from Sydney’s bridal shower in Missouri. It was a beautiful snowy day and the shower guests enjoyed a delectable spread of brunch items. Sydney opened lots of holiday-themed gifts! Most of the guests brought an ornament, too!

Homemade Holiday Gifts: Wooden Sign

We all know Andy William’s signature holiday jam, It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year. It inspired my latest homemade holiday creation! I did some research on Pinterest (click here to see my Jingle Bells board) and found this pin!

I thought this would be a perfect gift for Sydney’s Christmas & Cheetah print themed bridal shower. My mom and I decided we would go in together on making this sign and we were thrilled at how it turned out.

My mom has been making hand-painted wooden signs for years, but this was the first time we had done a sign like this. I’ve included some step by step instructions on how to make a holiday sign that makes a perfect gift – or something to keep for yourself!

Materials needed:

• Wood board, around $10 (Find a burly man working in the lumber department at your local hardware store and ask for a 1×10″ board. They come in a variety of lengths. I bought an 8 foot board and had it cut in the store to 22″.)
• Sand paper
• Carbon or Graphite paper
• Acrylic paint, between $1-2 per bottle (You can find these at Walmart or a craft store. We used the colors Vanilla and Bright Red, but you can use any combo you’d like!)
• Paintbrushes, in a variety of sizes. You will need the smallest of small brushes for the intricate snowflake designs.
• Wood Stain, in a walnut shade
• Ball point pen

Getting started:

1. First, you will need to create your design on the computer. This can be done with numerous programs, but make sure your page prints to 8.5 inches by 22 inches (remember, that’s the length of the board). Print out your design on two pages and piece it together. If you would like a more in-depth post about how to do this, leave a comment below. I cannot include a printable because our stencil was made on my mom’s Macintosh circa 1994 (not even joking) and it is from the pre-PDF era. I could probably scan it though…
2. Prepare the wood. Paint a thin layer of the background color on the entire front side of the board. The front side should be the side with the fewest knots and blemishes. This will make painting easier! For a more rustic effect, keep the coat of paint very thin near the sides of the board. Let this dry.
3. Get ready to trace! Tape your stencil on the board. I like to put tape at the top edge so I can slip my carbon paper in and out easily. Begin tracing the outline of your letters. Make sure that your carbon is directly under the area you are tracing. Use medium pressure. Double check to make sure the line is transferring to the wood.
   
   
4. Now, it’s time to start painting the letters. Take your time and go slow!
5. Once you’re finished painting the letters, let the sign dry. Use the sandpaper to smooth out the rough and sharp edges. If you are going for a more primitive/country look you can use a hammer or chain to ‘beat up’ the wood. Then, apply a thin layer of wood stain to the front, back, and sides of the board. This can be done with a rag or foam brush. Then, wipe the stain away with an old rag.

Unfortunately, I do not have a final photo after the stain dried. However, my mom is getting ready to make another sign as a gift so I will be sure to snap a photo of the finished product and update the post.

By adding picture frame hangers on the back this can be hung up on a wall, or just set near the gifts at the base of your tree!

Any questions? Let me know!

Homemade Holiday Gifts: For Your Mistletoes

It’s time for a Pinterest inspired holiday gift! I’m sure you’ve seen the Mistletoes pin floating around your feed. It’s a cute bag of treats for your feet. I’m talking foot cream and nail polish.

I decided to use this idea as a gift for some of my contacts through work. I wouldn’t have the budget for name brand polish and cream, but I could upgrade the gift by using Epsom salt instead of fake snow. That way the recipient is getting polish, soak, and cream!

Here’s what I came up with!

All products were purchased at Walmart. I came in under my budget of $5 per client!

• Treat bags – $2.00 for pack of 25 (These can be found with the cake decorating supplies.)
• Epsom salt – $4.87 for a 3 lb. bag (I was able to fill 8 baggies with one 3 lb. bag.)
• Foot scrub/polish/cream – 98 cents
• Nail polish – I used Sinful polish for $1.98 and Sally Hansen for $1.97. A few of my favorite clients will receive Essie brand polish 🙂
• Additional supplies: white cardstock and staples

I made the fold-over top in Publisher and printed it on white cardstock. I’m including a mistletoes printable for you to write a personalized message on the back! These will print 2 per 8.5×11″ sheet of cardstock.

Merry Christmas!

Andrea

Winter is here!

Technically it’s still fall, but we got our first snow of the season yesterday (and today). It’s a big one! In southwest Missouri, it is rare for us to have measurable snow prior to Christmas, with our bigger snows coming in late January and February. We have around 6″ at home and at work. I am loving it! I thought I would share a few photos:

I snapped this photo as Dad was driving me to work this morning. See the hill at the very top in the distance? That’s Bloody Hill from the Civil War Battle of Wilson’s Creek.

 

This is just after we pulled out of the driveway. The blanket of white is beautiful when it’s untouched!

Another winter-related item to share is a new lip combo I have been loving. Yesterday I wore Milani’s Chilled Brandy lipstick with NYC’s Wine and Dine gloss on top. Stunning! And it was long lasting throughout the day. I couldn’t help but to snap a selfie.

 

 

Finally, it’s a slow day at work (duh, patients don’t like to get out in the snow) so I took it upon myself to decorate the Christmas tree at work. I bought red and silver ornaments this year and decided to try my hand at decomesh. It is so fantastic! It was very easy to work with and I achieved the look I was going for. Since it is a healthcare/office environment I had to practice some self-control and not go totally artsy on the tree like I would have at home! What do you think?

 

 

Must-Have Monday: Andes Peppermint Crunch Candy

One of my holiday favorites has hit store shelves! It is definitely worthy of being my first food related MHM post! Behold…
Andes Peppermint Crunch!

What is it? An Andes after-dinner mint that has the Christmas spirit! It’s a creamy, chocolatey but refreshing and light candy.
Where to buy: Walmart or Walgreens
Cost: In the $3 range for a small bag of individually wrapped candies.

I would definitely recommend stocking up on these treats! My mother-in-law introduced me to these and am sure glad she did. I can imagine how tasty they would be frozen!

The gold glitter nails were a lapse of judgement!

Do you have a favorite holiday season candy? Is it “limited edition”? I have tried (and like) the gingerbread Twix. I think it’s a new product this year! I will gladly take your candy recommendations.

It’s that time of year! Haul out the holly, put up the tree before my spirit falls again, Fill up the stocking, I may be rushing things but deck the halls again now!