The Day of Rest

I know I know, I need to update about Christmas. We'll get to that but I just wanted to put it out there permanently that we had a relaxing Sunday! 

Church only had one service at 10 am today and we had no other plans so we just caught up on stuff and hung out! 

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Sundays and they are always my favorite day of the week but usually they are a whirlwind of crazy, business. 

About 18 months ago Jared and I volunteered to make coffee on sunday mornings before Sunday School hour. The honest truth is that as a couple we tend to always show up ten minutes late for basically everything and we both felt guilty walking into church late EVERY Sunday so we opted to show up an hour before everyone else so that we wouldn't me late! Well about a month after we started Addiston got mobile and then we recently tacked on baby #2 so it's been slightly more entertaining! We have grown to love it and especially love the early sunday school class "mature" folks who always check in with us and steal the good creamer! 

So we usually get up for church at 6:30-ok our alarm goes off then, we don't actually get up till 7 and then run around the house coordinating clothes and doing hair till we pile in the car with breakfast for four packed and my make-up in toe (it gets done in the car-Jared shaves while he drives, don't judge) We make coffee at have Church, lunch with friends, which we host often and then maybe an hour of clean up time before we go back to church at 6, which puts us home in time for baths!

Today we read books before church, went out for lunch, hung out around the house,  put on pj's in the middle of the afternoon, and ate leftovers for dinner so I truly did nothing! It was beautiful! 

And a baby eating toes shot for good measure!

I hope you enjoyed your day of rest!

faux gingerbread

Last week I decided to be creative super mom and searched the internet for gingerbread recipes. The good kind that doesn't crack while it's cooling or crumble from the weight of a whole tub if icing slathered on the roof of a little house adorned with mini confections. I thought I had found the perfect recipe, one with tried and true reviews and advice from moms and grandmothers alike commenting on adding a tablespoon of cinnamon for aroma and to cool in the fridge as opposed to a stainless steel bowl.

Then I had reality slap me upside the head when both girls woke up from a nap needing extra mama attention and I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and realized I hadn't showered in three days and my hair looked likes something out of a Dr. Seuss book. The realization that I probably didn't have time  to roll dough and print templates for walls and prop and wait all while convincing Addiston that it wasn't cool to eat giant cookies held together by a pound of frosting. So it was pinterest to the rescue and faux gingerbread christmas trees it was!



A sugar cone turned upside down on a sugar cookie covered in icing with mini M&M's for ornaments.



Excuse the putrid shade of green that became the tree. I didn't have the proper color of food coloring and mixed random other colors and sprinkles until I achieved an acceptable color.





I decided it was the holiday season and let her eat some of the candy-she almost NEVER gets chocolate, needless to say she was happy. And the little one got to work  out the jumper for the first time while we expressed our creativity through frosting.



And if we weren't prepared enough for the Christmas season Isabella got to be Jesus twice yesterday at church. We're hoping she doesn't develop a complex!

here we go again

As usual life has picked up speed as is the norm during the holiday seasons! I feel like I've seen my suitcase more in the last month and a half than in the previous 9 combined. We went to  Pumpkin fest, Niagara Falls, Homecoming at MVNU and Thanksgiving. I'm ready to be home and have a normal schedule instead of catching up on laundry and packing it again!

MVNU Homecoming



Thanksgiving





Addiston is still crazy cute and smarter than I want her to be at 2 1/2 years old, She's getting back into the potty training thing-probably because she loves her Disney Princess big girl panties! She's discovered she's strong enough to open the fridge now and gets her own sippy cup and snacks. Sometimes she pulls the wrong handle and opens the freezer!



Isabella is growing slowly but surely and amazes me at how easy of a baby she is but I don't want to jinx it so knock on wood! 



I'm done with shopping and wrapping, the halls are decked and we've enjoyed plenty evening fires, Church programs are half complete (Isabella still has to play Baby Jesus twice this coming sunday!) there are a few fun little things I'd still like to squeeze into this happiest season of all, (gingerbread houses or trees, cookie baking, and snow angels-if the south ever decides to recognize the season formerly know as winter) Cards still haven't been sent and travel plans have yet to be finalized but we're getting there.

decking of the halls



Addiston's first taste of hot cocoa


(she wanted to "taste" it about 10 times)

The Lighting of the Christmas tree downtown



Church Childrens production



Addiston was Mary


excuse the horrible washed out lighting, spotlights ruin my very meek photography skills!

Last week Addiston caught the stomach bug that seems to be making it's way through every family we know and she was nice enough to share it with me. We've both been feeling a little punky since but are on the mend. Friday night was our Sunday school christmas party to which I owe Jared props because he did 80% of what needed to done to get ready since I was bed ridded most of the day. Needless to say I pushed a little to hard trying to host a party when I wasn't back to capacity yet and saturday morning resulted in no motivation to do anything (even pour a bowl of cereal) so we finally used the IHOP giftcard my grandma sent us for our anniversary and went out to breakfast! On the way home there's a holistic pet supply store and they just happened to have an animal rescue in the parking lot hosting a pet adoption day. Since it was a redlight and we were sitting there scouting out all the cute puppies I convinced Jared we needed to go look at them. Against his better judgement he pulled a U-turn and long story short, Addiston got an early Christmas present!



but if you ask me he was excited too!



We've named him Roman and he's doing great so far! Wish us luck, because something about a 2 year old, baby, and a puppy just sounds a little crazy!!

I need a bubby

When I was younger we lived in a cute little suburb in downtown Harrison! There was a sweet family that lived next door with a daughter my age and a boy about 5 years younger than us! We called him bubby, I'm not sure why but I do know that until I was in middle school I didn't know his real name! Anyway bubby used to come over and kill bugs for my mom when my brothers and da weren't home!

So it's half an hour before Jared is due to be home. There is a huge bug in my downstairs bathroom. I called Jared to see if he could come home early which I know he can't because he takes the train downtown to work so we blockade the door and hope the creepy crawly creature doesn't escape downstairs bathroom.

Fall Leaves

A few days ago we took our annual leaf pictures! We have a HUGE tree in our front yard that likes to cover our front yard at least 3 times during the fall season and I just love the colors so I can't resist!








I just love Addiston at this age. I wish I could bottle her up! She is so smart that I can't seem to keep up and don't know what to teach her next! She's getting more and more independent and sometimes I swear she's entering her teen years. When she's playing alone in her room and I check in on her she says "it's ok mama, I'm doin nofin!" She is such a sweet big sister and I love how excited both of my girls get when they see each other! I can't believe they're mine, I feel so blessed by them and pray that I lead them in the right direction!