on Harper >> top: gap, gift // jeans: gap, thrifted // cardigan: gymboree, thrifted // shoes: TOMS // shades: target. on Mandy >> sweater and jeans: target // shoes: old navy
happy new year! i hope you all had fun and stayed safe last night. we rang in the new year at home, with the H monster and my mom, and it was perfect. my mom brought over a prime rib (! my favorite) and i made baked fan potatoes (slice the potato almost all the way though along the length of it so it fans out, drizzle with butter, salt and pepper and bake for an hour at 350. thanks betty crocker!) and roasted asparagus. bloody marys were involved, as was Wii resort – which is super fun. a bit before midnight we turned on the tv, poured champagne ( a tiny cup of bubbly gingerale for the nugget to cheers with) and finished the year by calling Callin’ Oates and jamming out in the living room to Rich Girl.
(if you do one thing in 2012, make it calling Callin’ Oates. 719.266.2837 – “your emergency hall & oates hotline”. thank you to the numerous readers who sent me this. nothing much makes me happier than being known as the hall & oates girl).
we couldn’t’ believe H stayed up until midnight, then she blew our mind by making it to 1am. we danced, wore party hats and had a great time. i do love me a good NYE fancied up outing, but this was just perfect. this morning, Harper is forcing us to wear the hats while we drink coffee and watch football (can i get a WHAT WHAT for the regular season being over today? glorious) and keeps demanding we party.
i’m so excited for 2012. i woke up feeling the newness and although it’s really just another day, i hold hope that it’s the start to an amazing year for our family. i wish all of you nothing but the besty best BEST in 2012 and if i haven’t said it enough – thank you for being here. this blog means a lot to me (2011 really drove that home for me) and it means even more that there are awesome people out there (like you!) that choose to read it.
this holiday season kicked last holiday seasons ace. last year i was all kinds of grinchy and sick and although i powered through, i had never been so happy to put away decorations and kiss christmas goodbye. this year was different. i learned so many important lessons in 2011 (that i probably should have learned much earlier, but hey, what can you do) and this week, i’ll be sad to clean up the house. but also happy thinking of the memories we’ve had the past month or so.
kids make christmas. the past 3 years were fun – Harper being around 8 weeks, then just a year, then just over 2 – but this year she was so into it and made it magical for me. coupled with Scot, who is the king of christmas, something about this holiday season was just special. now all the hoopla is over, but the awesomeness lives on. Scot is off all this week and we are stee-raight chillin’. sleeping in, hanging out like it’s our job, you know, important stuff. the look on H’s face each morning as she realizes daddy isn’t at work is basically the best ever. i’d like to press the pause button.
the day before christmas eve, we looked at our brown crispy tree and decided the fire hazard had to come down. Scot deemed it unsuitable for christmas. after 4 trillion needles were swept and vacuumed up, we pulled out our old faithful fakey, only to have half the lights not work. 45 minutes later he exclaimed “we’re going to target”. trees were already 50% off, so we scored a new tree for cheap, and redecorating it got us all back in the christmas spirit.
my mom spent the night christmas eve and we made an epic gingerbread house, ate clam chowder and drank bloody marys while watching White Christmas. around 10:30 we decided it was waaaay past time for H to go to bed, so we checked up on Santa on the norad website and he was in boise! we rushed her to bed after she made up a note and a plate for santa (“i think santa would like eggnog instead of milk” – Scot). for future reference, santa hits seattle at 11pm.
in the morning, we woke up around 7 and Scot went in to get her. she was dead asleep, but when she heard the door open, she shot up and in a drunk voice was all “is it christmas day today? mommy? daddy? gg? is santa here?”. it was ridiculous and adorable.
santa brought her a toolset, the only thing she asked for. we have no idea where she got the idea, but she is enjoying fixing ALL THE THINGS.
she knows all the words to, and continues to sing: holly jolly christmas, jingle bell rock (her FAVORITE), regular jingle bells, rudolph, and i want a hippopotamus for christmas. in fact, in line to see santa, she said “i’m gonna tell santa i want a hippopotamus” and i said “really?” and she said “no mommy, i’m just kidding”.
she also “whatever”ed me yesterday. SHE WHATEVERED ME.
but i digress.
this christmas was exactly what it should have been – about family and being together. the presents were few, but who cares? it’s not about the things, it’s about the people. and we made it count in every way. i couldn’t love christmas more this year.
oh Harper >> dress: gift, target // coat: old navy, thrifted // shoes: target. on Mandy >> tank, jeans, shoes, cardi: target // scarf: h&m. on Scot >> super awesome new coat from target (i’m biased, i bought it for him).
let’s pretend it isn’t monday night and i’m just now posting SOS, ok? although i’m pretty sure the linky will be sparse this week – everyone was so busy getting their christmas on anyway. we sure were! we had a great weekend full of family, sugar and…more sugar. seriously, there is a reason why most people pick dieting as their new year resolution. dude. duuuuuuude.
christmas weekend included (but was not limited to) things such as: gingerbread house making, bloody marys, dogs in santa hats, smoked salmon, xmas jammies, white christmas viewing, letters for santa, turkey, playing with cousins, white elephant gifts that ruled, coffee, sparkly tops, taking down our dead brown tree and replacing it with a fake tree, and searching for the best christmas lights.
i hope you all had a wonderful weekend whatever you did to celebrate. merry christmas!
on Harper >> jammies: target // boots: carters, thrifted. on Mandy >> sweatshirt and scarf: h&m // jeans and boots: target // bag: Tribe
why did my child step out in jammies? because last evening we headed down to Chehalis to ride the “Polar Express”. it’s a steam train ride in which you and your chitlins ride to the “north pole” and pick up Santa and IT IS AWESOME. on the 45 minute ride, they bring out cocoa and cookies (just like in the movie, minus you know, all the singing and dancing)(although they do play the song while they do it), the conductor comes and punches your ticket, and they read the Polar Express aloud to the kids. as the lady reading said “…and my friends said Santa wasn’t real”, Harper then YELLED “mommy, she just said SANTA ISN’T REAL!” and it was the funniest thing ever. kid was so offended!
they really have a little Christmas town set up and as you pull up to it in the train, Santa is in his house and all the kids lose their everloving minds as he comes out, waves, and then gets on the train. oh man, it was awesome! Santa comes around to talk to each kid and gives them each a bell that says The Polar Express on it. it was so precious and Harper was just beside herself. my mom had brought the movie over last week so we could all watch it and get prepared, which was such a good idea. we all had such a blast. it was FREEZING, but so worth it.
excited toddler is excited.
today i am sick. like, miserable sick. but yesterday was magical and i’m smiling about it through my raw nose and sore throat. plus i can’t really forget because the kid is jingling that bell all over this place.
on Harper >> top: gap, gift // jeans: gap, thrifted // cardigan: gymboree, thrifted // shoes: TOMS // shades: target. on Mandy >> sweater and jeans: target // shoes: old navy
