2016! And holiday recaps

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{Long post alert!}
Happy New Year! (What?!)  I hope everyone is having a fabulous start to the year!

My apologies for being silent for a while.  I really try to blog when I feel inspired, and while I did have some ideas and recipes to share, I have been making it a point (or at least trying) to be more present and focus on the here and now with my family.  More on that in a bit.

The holidays were upon us SO fast, amirite??  Suddenly it was Halloween and before I knew it Thanksgiving was long gone and Christmas was staring me in the face saying "Ready or not, here I am!"

Ayden has been growing and changing so much that it's nearly impossible to keep up.  He talks non stop from the moment he wakes until bedtime, knows over 200 words, and is putting words together.  We were impressed when he would point and say "gloves" when one of us was doing dishes.  Then one day he said "Daddy's gloves" and blew our minds.  That same week he pointed at his binky (a monkey Wubbanub) and said "Please--have--monkey"  !!  What?  Who is this man child and where is my tiny baby?  I am daily in awe of this little creature that we made.  I can't believe I carried him, gave birth to him and that he is the little person he is.  It's incredible!

Christmas Day at the Santa Barbara Mission ~ checking out the live nativity animals!

Bubble time is the best time ;)

Thanksgiving was going to be a quiet thing at home with just the three of us.  My brother- and sister-in-law were hosting and Hubby's parents were driving up to San Mateo to be with them.  Then Hubby sent me a text "I'm thinking of driving up for the day" meaning all three of us drive 5 hours one way, have Thanksgiving dinner, then drive back.

Let's do it!!

With a toddler!?

YOLO!

Were we crazy?  Probably.

Road trip!  Hubby loves selfies ;)

The drive up was easy and mostly uneventful.  Mostly.  At one point some lunatic ran us off the road, and although Hubby expertly got us out of a fishtail and back on the highway, I found myself envisioning the worst and burst into tears.  I was still rattled when we got to R&B's house.  Brother Bear promptly made me an aperol spritzer to get me into the holiday spirit, which worked. ;)  Ayden and his cousin D had a blast playing all afternoon!  D has an arsenal of really rad toy trucks, as well as a train table.  Translation: no prying those boys away for anything!  They ran around screaming and yelling, played in D's rocket ship tent, jumped on the couches and rounded out the day with a bubble bath.

Post-dinner lego sesh

Dinner with the family was amazing and we celebrated Lita's birthday with cupcakes after dinner.  It was a great day! The drive back... well, that was a different story.  We assumed A would sleep the whole way home since it would be bedtime.  He fell asleep not 2 minutes after we hit the road.  Score!  Then he woke up 30 minutes later... and was awake and screaming the rest of the 4.5 hours.  Can't win 'em all ;)

Fa la la la la...

Christmas was approximately 5 minutes after Thanksgiving and I found myself totally unprepared despite having lofty expectations of getting my shopping done early and sailing through sans stress.  Hubby's birthday was the 2nd and we both had to work.  While I got to surprise him with some sweet Lulu swag, we never got to actually go out and celebrate. :(  Major fail.  Next year - err, this year- Imma do it up BIG, babe.  Vegas, anyone?

Decorating for Christmas is always one of my favorite things to do, but this year was super fun since I knew Ayden would totally dig it.  After he went to bed one night I made some extra chocolatey hot chocolate (I'll post a recipe sometime!) and put on my virtual elf ears and got to work.  It was so fun seeing his face light up at the snowmen everywhere and the sparkly garland and lights.

Elf sighting at Home Depot!

Best. Day. Ever.

When it came to tree shopping we made the rookie mistake of taking the toddler with us.  It went as well as you can imagine.  Total bust.  We decided to try again the next day and have him spend some time at the grandparents' house while we shopped.

I'm always of the go-big-or-go-home mind when it comes to Christmas trees.  I want a huge, full Nordmann fir taking up half the living room.  We couldn't find any decent ones that weren't crazy expensive, so Hubby suggested a tiny tree.  I was meh about it.  The little trees just didn't feel like Christmas to me.  We spent over an hour digging and looking through tiny trees and somewhere along the way I really started to love them.  We decided on one with a super spindly top and loaded 'er up and took it home.  Ayden was in love with it!  He kept saying "Oooh, treeeeeeeeee!!" and petting the branches.

Toddler free tree shopping! Yayuh!

It passed inspection ;)

We celebrated Christmas a weekend early, as R&B&D came down to visit.  Santa got Ayden his very own giant fire truck like D's, along with a wooden recorder that may or may not have been hidden the very next day. ;)

Christmas day was a relaxing day at home with just us three, which I loved.  Ayden had even more presents to open and we got to FaceTime with my parents while he opened his presents from them.  He is totally obsessed with the dinosaur-transporting truck they got him!

"You smell like beef and cheese.  You don't smell like Santa."

And now here we are - 2016!  A new year with a clean slate.  I usually make half-hearted resolutions like " I'll be more organized" or "I'll stop spending frivolously" and those are broken within the day. lol  This year I want to focus on family.  I want to be more present and in the moment with my loves, and work harder at unplugging.  If I constantly have my nose in my phone I am going to miss these beautiful fleeting moments of Ayden's early childhood, and no email or status update is worth that.  I also want to be better about taking photos of us as a family.  I have 16,000 photos on my phone (no joke.) mostly of Ayden.  There needs to be more of the three of us, even if it means stopping random strangers and asking them to take a photo of us (something I always feel awkward doing).

Phew.  Didn't I warn you it was a long post?  If you've stuck around, thanks for that!  I hope this year you are met with many blessings and complete happiness.

XO

*MUAH!*

Fall Family Photoshoot with Kiel Rucker Photographers

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It's the most wonderful time of the year!!  Yeah, I know that's really a Christmas song, but honestly it doesn't get better than Fall.  I absolutely love autumn!!  Southern California has yet to get the memo that the season has changed; it's still up in the 80s every day, so our boots and scarves really haven't seen much action ;)

We recently had the opportunity to team up with Kiel Rucker Photographers for a (long overdue) family photoshoot.  If you've kept up with me for a while, you know that Kiel has been our close friend for years and the only person we trust with our family photos.  When Kiel told us he brought on a family/portrait photographer we were excited to work with her, knowing that Kiel would only work with the best of the best.  The lovely, bubbly Leanna did not disappoint!  Ayden took to her right away and wanted to keep holding her hand.  Lady killah!  She was so easy to work with and immediately had us comfortable in front of the camera.  She has a fabulous eye for a great shot and captures light just beautifully.

Leanna is booking family photo sessions for the holidays, so if you are in/around Santa Barbara and surrounding areas make sure you get in touch with them ASAP to book your session!  The package is a great deal and they even set up a personal gallery for you at Minted.com so you can create holiday cards in a snap (winning!  Christmas cards are always a stresser, amirite??).

Here's a little peek into our session, as well as their promo with booking info.  Pro family photos are so worth the investment and their package is a killer deal!  Check 'em out! :)

Baby's Footprint Christmas Tree {crafty MOMent}

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Just a quick note to share a cute little project we did with Ayden for Christmas...  Foot print Christmas trees!  For Halloween we dipped his little foot in white paint to make a ghost on his pumpkins, and it gave me the inspiration to do the same sort of thing for Christmas.

I got non-toxic paint at Michael's, along with a sheet of plain white cardstock.  The whole project was super easy and is an adorable addition to our holiday decor this year.  (It was also a huge hit with the grandparents!)

Please forgive the stellar iPhone photo...

You will need:
cardstock
paint
paintbrush
glitter glue pens
gold sharpee
picture frame

Cut the cardstock down to whatever size you'd like for your picture frame.  I then poured a bit of paint onto a paper plate and used a small paintbrush to brush the bottom of his foot with a thin layer of paint.  Carefully press that chubby little baby foot onto the cardstock (this is definitely easier with two people).  Allow the paint to dry completely.  Use the gold sharpee to draw the star at the top of the tree, and use the glitter glue pens for the ornaments.  Once everything is dry pop it into a frame and voila!  So stinkin cute.

Merry Christmas! =)

Merry Christmas!

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I am at a loss for words; I cannot believe it is nearly the end of the year.  Where has the time gone?  I'm pretty sure it's been exactly 5 minutes since we brought Ayden home from the hospital, right??

This Christmas has been on my mind since, um, forever.  I've daydreamed of Ayden's first Christmas for months and maybe I even had a letter sent to Alaska to get stamped by the North Pole for him.  Maybe.  I know he won't remember any of the decorations, the presents or the food but these moments will be so special to reflect on later.  When he's old enough to understand a letter from Santa, he's gonna be so stoked.

What are your favorite childhood Christmas memories?  When I was growing up we had spanish food for Christmas dinner (one of the stars of the show, here.).  We listened to Manheim Steamroller and read the story of Jesus' birth, and opened all the presents from family and friends on Christmas Eve.  Christmas morning we opened all the Santa presents and stayed in our pajamas most of the day.  I think one of my favorite childhood Christmases was the year I got my roller blades and spent the entire day blading around in the kitchen and in front of the house.  I was so rad.

Thank you all so much for reading my little blog and sharing your kind words and encouragement.  I hope this holiday season is full of joy and that you are blessed in 2015.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

XO,