Work Christmas party

So I am finally to the post to answer the question of why our fridge was so full the day before we were to leave to go out of town.



Saturday night we hosted a Christmas party for Kevin's co-workers. We wanted to keep it as simple as possible so we decided to make the main dishes soups and to make it even simpler, crockpot soups. We did one potato soup and one chicken and dumplings.



Appetizers we did two hot dips, bacon dip and cheesy spinach dip.



We had peppermint punch, a cream cheese ball, puppy chow, cookies, chocolate eclair, a cookie pizza, and pumpkin roll. We tend to go over the top on the sweets.....


The food was yummy and the company was fun to be around. An all around good night. We did a white elephant gift exchange and I managed to get the Forever Lazy which was hilarious because it had a huge zippered butt for bathroom needs.



We had a good night and were lucky to find some friends who happily accepted what leftovers we were not going to be able to transport with us on our trip.

Super "pretties"

After we finished opening presents in the morning Kevin wanted to take Leah for one more Christmas present.






Leah got her ears pierced! Kevin said she was a trooper! Slightly terrified she sat still waiting on them to pierce her ears.


Luckily Leah was a trooper because it took them three times to get her right earring through her ear. I had never heard of the piercing gun messing up but I guess it happens and of course it had to happen to our sweet Leah. She is so excited about her "pretties" but not as excited that we have to clean them three time a day. A small price to pay for the super cuteness.

Merry "fake" Christmas

With our plans to travel to Charlotte this year we really wanted to have Christmas at home for the kids before we left. We included in our letter to Santa this year that we would be out of town so he would know that if he had a chance he could stop by our house a little early. Chase insisted on leaving chocolate milk and cookies out for Santa(cause chocolate is his favorite according to chase). When the kids got up the next morning they were ready to see if Santa was able to stop by our house.






The cookies and milk were gone, there were presents under the tree and the kids were super excited. Chase quickly noticed a note left in the tree attached to a long string...






He followed the string all thought the house....

Nothing like a little roller coaster action to start your morning. After finding the big gifts we headed back upstairs for some more fun. The kids were so excited about every little thing, including the toothpaste in their stockings, it was so fun to watch them.

The aftermath....



Not too bad. After presents we enjoyed a yummy french toast casserole that Kevin prepared for us the night before (one of the items in our packed fridge from the previous post). It was a fun morning and the kids enjoyed playing with their toys the rest of the day. Chase suggested that we take pictures for Santa so we could send him a thank you card, such a sweet suggestion! More to come of our crazy "Christmas" day.

First snow

So we finally got our first snow here and we had one excited little boy. Now i'm not talking blizzard type snow, i'm talking about mega wind chill, barely 1/4 inch of snow. BUT to a four year old it doesn't matter how much snow, just that there is SNOW. On our way to school we passed a sled hill and Chase just didn't understand why we couldn't go sledding. Finally after school Chase did get to go out and play.






Like I said, not much snow but enough for Chase. His first comment to me was, "See Mommy I told you it would snow at Christmas." FYI we celebrated Christmas at our house today because of travel plans, so Chase did get his Christmas snow. I think the best part of snow play is the hot chocolate...






Yummmmmmy! Now Chase is just ready for enough snow so he can get in a snow ball fight with Mommy and Daddy. Before I end this post I will leave you with a picture of our fridge just 2 days before we are to go out of town...



Hummm... I guess you will have to wait for more post to see why we have/had so much food.

It's a crafty Christmas

I have already shared with you about the ornament wreath and candy jars I made for my mantle this year....





So to continue on with my crafty theme I tapped back into my inner Pinterest and decided to make some crafty treats to give as party favors.






And what is wrapped up in those cute little Grinches you ask?



YUMMY! The tedious part was making the hats and faces but overall it was fun.


So at least you know if you are on the naughty list this year, you still get a treat :)!

Cookies and Caroling

One of my favorites things about Chase being in school is seeing how excited he is about going to school and then the joy he has sharing what they have been working on with us. Today they kids put on an excellent Christmas program for the parents and Chase was so excited about all they had to share. The event was cookies and caroling, and we started with the caroling...

They all were so stinkin' cute....

After they sang they presented each parent with a gift that they made. I have been hearing about this gift for the last month but still do not know what it is because he says we can't open it until Christmas. We then enjoyed cookies and punch for the rest of the morning. Chase gives you each a wink goodbye!

Mommy and Chase date

Chase had a School field trip on Monday so I took advantage of the opportunity and made it a Mommy and Chase date day. We headed to Genitti's Hole in the wall dinner theater.






Chase was so excited he was getting to see a show and he was not disappointed. They put on a cute production where a girl wishes for an alien for christmas and gets her wish. Then the alien wanted to eat all the Christmas toys on earth so Santa had to make the alien surrender. I know it sounds VERY cheesy but they did a great job engaging the kids and making them laugh.





When the show was over the kids got to go on stage and meet Santa.



Then we got some pictures of the whole class with Santa.


After fun with Santa we moved into the dinning room for some soup, salad, bread, pasta, chicken, and brownies. Yes it was a lot of food!



Chase's favorite was drinking from the small mason jar.



We had a wonderful morning together and Chase is already asking when he can see another show!

Tis the Season

There is nothing like the Joy of a child. Chase is so excited about Christmas this year, it is contagious. As we pulled the tree out he was so excited about decorating...









He took much care into placing each ornament on the tree. Leah of course joined in the excitement.






Their decorating inspired me to tap into my inner pinterest and do some decorating of my own...



Check out my crafty candy dishes and my newly assembled ornament wreath...



All together now...



My inspiration also inspired Kevin who put lights up on our deck and eve, and bushes. Now we are in the Christmas spirit!