Annual Christmas Party

This weekend was another whirlwind for us.  Saturday started off with a last minute breakfast with work friends before heading to the school for the annual Alumni Basketball Game.  

I got back around 1 p.m. and had a lot to do to get the house ready for our holiday party with friends! 

Vacuum, mop, laundry, clean the bathroom.... omg... I was exhausted.  I finally sat down around 5 p.m. and the thought of entertaining friends seemed impossible.  Carrying a child is hard work!!

I quickly threw on a tacky sweater, embraced the exhaustion and loved every minute of seeing our friends! The party was smaller this year than last, but D.J., my little elf, had a great fire going and we had lots of delicious food to snack on.

It's crazy how fast our friends have all grown up - houses, babies, boyfriends and more! We are so fortunate to have friends that have been a part of our lives for such a long time.

Stryker even had his tacky sweater on.  He wasn't so sure about Julie taking up a spot on his bed!

The girls around the tree.  So good to see all these lovely faces and missed the ones that couldn't make it this year!

And the boys! So glad everyone was able to enjoy the party!

Sunday we just took it easy and napped during the entire football game! Only 4 more days till Santa will be visiting! I hope everyone is on the nice list this year :)

Friday Favorites

...Holiday Party Inspirations is the theme for today's post! D.J. and I are hosting our annual Holiday Party tomorrow so here's some of the ideas I have to incorporate the holidays into the party more this year!

one | stovetop potpourri
Christina from Carolina Charm posted this amazing looking stovetop potpourri that I couldn't resist trying this year. It looks like it's going to smell amazing!

two | mantel with garland

When we got our Christmas tree this year, I knew I wanted to get some of the clippings for our mantel.  I had been loving on the way these inspiration mantels looked and hoped to make ours look as festive!

three | drinks

With this human growing inside me, the typical punch with a splash of alcohol isn't going to work for me this year.  So I've been eyeing this crock pot hot chocolate idea.  Throw some marshmallows on the table and there ya have it folks - a delicious, warm drink for the pregnant mamas!

four | food

I have been craving anything and everything sweet, so you know I'm looking at attempting to make something like this...

five | happy holidays

As we are only 1 week from Christmas, I want to wish you all a blessed holiday with the ones you love most! 

Weekending

It always seems like there is never enough time in the weekend to get everything accomplished. With crazy busy week schedules, D.J. and I still needed to get a few more things checked off our list before the holidays get here.

Friday night I racked in some extra cash and babysat while D.J. earned major points in the husband category.  I gave him the option of either painting the baby room or finishing up our Christmas shopping.  I'll let the picture tell you what he ended up doing...

THE NURSERY IS PAINTED!!! It's still coming along and have a long way to go, but progress is being made!

Saturday morning I took a 2 mile walk with my mom and delivered our neighbors Christmas cards.  My dad came over to take some measurements for the new and improved closet he is working on in the nursery.  Right now the closet is just a shelf up top and a rod, so I wanted to make it a little more storage-friendly. Something along these lines...

Saturday afternoon, my mom and I stopped by a jewelry party they were having to raise money for a friend that passed away earlier this fall.  I was hoping to find something for my mother-in-law, but I didn't see anything that I thought she would like...or more like I am too nervous she wouldn't like it! I scored these awesome earrings for myself though! 

We tried to do some Christmas shopping while D.J.'s car was getting cleaned, but all we founds was a blazer that Nana got D.J. for his birthday.  I do have to say, this guy cleans up pretty nicely!! 

Sunday came quick after what seemed like a crazy Saturday.  We went to church, relaxed, went to the annual Fashion Show at the school, holiday party at my aunts and FINALLY got a Christmas tree! Hope you all had a fabulous weekend and looking forward to the last week of kids at the school for me! 

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things: Stocking Stuffers

So happy to be linking up with Elise and the girls again for this awesome holiday season link-up! Stockings are one of my favorite things to fill during the holidays.  Growing up our stockings were always filled with such fun things.  Everyone thought it was funny that we would get bathroom toiletries, gum, and things like that, but I really enjoyed it because I always needed those things!

Starbucks Card - should be in everyone's stocking. Perfect to crave your peppermint mocha craving!
Younique 3D Mascara - Never tested this out yet, but I have seen the results and I think this is something that I need to try.  My friend Corrin is selling them and for anyone with small or thin eyelashes, you have to try this out! It's amazing how much of a difference this mascara makes on the eyes!
Kendra Scott Elle Earrings - These earrings have been floating around blogs and Pinterest for a while now and I think they need to float right into my stockings.  The classic gold and pale pink makes for a perfect outfit topper.
Lush Bath Bombs - If you haven't tried these yet, you are seriously missing out.  They are so relaxing and make baths so much fun.  They are very affordable and I would highly recommend getting a few!
OPI Nail Polish - I have fallen off the nail polish banwagon lately, but I think that's because I have too many and need to purge some of the runny ones.  I love a good OPI nail polish in my stocking.  Especially any of the new colors that I don't have yet!
EOS Lip Balm - My new obsession.  Late to the game on this one, but these babies are perfect and feel so smooth on my lips! Stocking up in the stocking this year!
Sweaty Bands - After trying on a few different headband types, I found that the Sweaty Band is the best for my head shape and I love that they are super cute.  Perfect for working out and just wearing in general when my hair needs a little extra TLC!
Sharpie Pens - I am a pen nerd and love a go
Ferrero Rocher - I never buy these other than Christmas time and they are such the perfect thing to throw in a stocking.  Buy a bag and throw a few in everyone's stocking and the Ferrero Rocher crave is fixed!

The hubs gave me an awesome Christmas list this year and here are a few of the items on his list that could potentially be stocking stuffers.

iPhone Running Arm Band - Always a good thing to have especially if we are working out.  I have to find the kind that can fit the phone with the case on it too, which I think is going to be the hard part.

Andes Candy - DJ told me that Christmas is not complete without Andes in his stocking and I think we still have some left over from last Christmas.  But I will continue to fill his stocking with them regardless!

Pocket Knife - Every man should have a pocket knife and I think this is a great stocking stuffer.  They are so handy and allow easy access to things that need cut or fixed on the spot.

Brooks Brothers Tie -  So classy and I love the maroon and baby blue on this specific one.  All guys could use a new tie here and there! 

Poopourri Trap-a-crap - Our friend on DJ's baseball team had this with him during baseball season and as gross as it is, it really does work well! Spray a few times on the toilet bowl water, do the deed, and the smell is gone! It's AWESOME!

Movie Tickets - and popcorn of course! These would be easy enough to stick in the stocking and call it a day.  We always love going to the movies and it would be nice to only pay for a drink!

Fishing Lures - Great for DJ to have while he is home in the off season and going fishing on the lake behind my parents house! Maybe one day he will catch something if I get him the right lure!! :)

Dog brush - Stryker needs a new brush. The one he uses right now I think hurts him so a new one is necessary!

Harness - We have a hard time on the leash with Stryker so hopefully with this harness, he won't pull as much. He's such a great dog, but the I me thing we need help with is walking and running on the leash. 

Tennis balls - Every dogs dream right?! I swear nothing makes our dog happier than the sight of a tennis ball. I can't wait till he sees these in there and goes nutzo. 

Dog bone - I'm not talking bones in a box. This dog is getting the biggest, best bone there is out there! For his first birthday we got him a huge bone and he was obsessed. Gonna be great to see him chew on this one!

Can't wait to see what y'all say and get some more ideas!! 

Our first tree

December is finally here! Since we have moved into the house, I have been waiting to decorate for Christmas!  Even though we did a lot of other decorations before getting our tree, I wanted to share our experience getting our first tree!

My family has been going to this same Christmas tree "farm" for as long as I can remember.  I honestly don't know any other place to get a tree. Yes, there is Home Depot and Taylor's Do-It Center, but this was as "real" as it was going to get besides going to cut down our own.  With my family, it usually takes us 30 minutes to decided on a tree.  Julie always likes one and my dad likes another, but in the end, it usually always comes down to us getting the first one my mom looked at.  For us, we knew we had to get a smaller tree than my family usually gets.  We have a smaller house and not as many ornaments to decorate it with.  There were a few trees that had potential, but we ended up going with this fraser fur beauty.

We couldn't resist the beautiful wreath too.  I had been debating whether I was going to try and make a Christmas wreath or just buy one.  None of the ones I saw I liked, so this was perfect.  Now every time we walk into the house it smells like a Christmas tree!

Since my dad was in Pennsylvania with the truck, we had to tie it to the top of my CRV.  Never though the day would come where we are putting Christmas trees on my car!

D.J. was awesome and we were able to get the tree set up on the stand right when we got home! While he was outside being an awesome husband, I was trying to untangle the white lights that we were putting up on the tree. Someone decided to see what these lights were all about and got all tangled up in them. Looks like he was pooped afterwards!

After Stryker had his fun, D.J. brought the tree inside and I started to decorate. From the beginning of decorating, D.J. told me that it was my job to do the inside of the house and his job to do the outside.  Here is the progression of my decorating skills! We had to go out and get more ornaments though so now it looks more full of ornaments than it does in this picture!

Here is our first ornament going on our first Christmas tree!

Some of the presents we already have wrapped our under the tree! However, as of yesterday, they are getting put up because Strkyer already tore one open.  I decided to be a little "pinterest-y" and wrap them all in brown paper and put pretty bows and ribbons on them all! Let me know what you think!

And there it is everyone, our first Christmas tree experience! Be on the look out for more Christmas decoration posts soon!

Thanksgiving in Fredericksburg

Our thanksgiving was filled with food, family, and fun! On Wednesday after D.J. was finished with work, we hit the road to Fredericksburg to spend Thanksgiving with The Browns! Trying to get out of Hampton Roads at 3 p.m. on the day before Thanksgiving is the worst day to travel.  Surprisingly, it was not terrible. It took us about 10 minutes extra to get through the tunnel and then about 20 minutes extra the rest of the way.  Instead of going up 95 though, we took the scenic but faster route up Route 301.  It was very pretty and worth the extra miles to keep moving rather than sitting in traffic on 95.
For the first thanksgiving not spending it with my family, it was great to be with D.J.'s family.  Dennis had the turkey going bright and early and Stef, James, and Jayden came over around 11 a.m.  Amy, Brian, and Myla got there around 3:30 p.m. We all ate together around 5 p.m. and then watched the Steelers Ravens game after.
Friday we went to see The Hunger Games in the morning and attempted to do some Black Friday shopping.  Personally, I think its not all that its cracked up to be. The sales are decent, but not worth the lines.  The line in Old Navy was literally to the back of the store. We came home that night and I did some Christmas shopping for D.J. while we hung out.  Saturday everyone came over and we played 4 on 4 basketball back in the park! I was pretty much not playing since I am no good.  :) Jayden played with his basketball and Myla was all wrapped up in her "fat suit" which is the cutest little pink outfit sitting in her stroller!

We already have lots of plans to see this side of the family in the next few weeks.  Christmastown with Brian, Amy, and Myla and Brian's family next weekend and then D.J's first coaching basketball game on Dec 14th with the rest of the family coming down to hang out and watch it!

Here are some snapshots from the weekend together!

 

Check back soon to see the progress of the house so far! Before and After pictures will be up soon!