So excited to finally share our holiday card today!!!  We took these pictures back at the beginning of September, which already feels like years ago, the girls have positively grown at least a couple of inches since then!  Getting them done early was completely by default, my friend Brooke was in town and she has taken our Christmas card photos since the year I was pregnant with Avalon, so I just can’t imagine anyone else doing them, ever!  It was still so warm out, so we were able to go barefoot and really be ourselves & have fun outdoors, which was such a nice change from being freezing every other year.
My romper is from H&M, and it’s majorly on sale now, I’ve linked it here but there are only a couple sizes left!  I loved the color combo of the maroon & Waverly’s light pink dress, a little twist on the more traditional holiday colors.  Avalon’s dress is linked here and both girls have been wearing these on repeat this fall!
It was so hard narrowing down our favorites, Brooke is the best about taking a million photos (which is totally my jam), so there are so many more to share.  Another day! 😉 There are way too many for one post!!!!!
We teamed up with Minted for our cards, we are big Minted fans for so many things, and there cards are just the best!  High-quality, innovative, creative, and so beautiful.  My favorite part is the option to write your addresses in and have them printed for you, completely perfect for a busy, working mom of two like me!  The card design I chose can be found here, it was so much fun playing with all the cards and figuring out which one went best with the two photos we went with.
The biggest thank you to my friend Brooke for capturing another sweet memory with our little family and to Minted for our cards!!!!  And wishing you all the happiest holiday weekend!
XO
PS – The winner of the Uncommon Goods giveaway will be announced on Monday, thank you to those who entered!

Happy December, friends!!!!!  It’s here! 🙂  We are so excited, December has been my favorite month of the year since I was a little girl and it’s only gotten better each year since becoming a mama.  I keep reminding myself to soak these next few weeks in, life is so busy and flying by, but these special moments are the ones I want to remember forever.

We got into the spirit earlier than ever this year, a couple weeks back we took the girls to the mall the night Santa came in.  Waverly remains legitimately petrified by him, something that’s been on repeat since she was one, and I’ve definitely decided that’s one battle I am not going to fight this year.  She was perfectly content staying back and watching from a distance, without taking her eyes off of him, and I’ve promised her that’s all she has to do when we take our annual trip to visit Santa at Bass Pro Shops this weekend.  She’s written two letters to Santa (one from her requesting a Shopkins bike & the other in her words from Avalon, asking for Elmo since that’s her favorite), and she’s planning to have Avalon deliver them for her when she sits on his lap.  Which pretty much just melts my heart.

Our elf on the shelf also made her debut!!!  I usually wait until December 1st, but I knew I had to work that day and it would be just way too crazy, so we did a themed breakfast over the weekend.  We have had so much fun with this already, Waverly gets so excited to see where she is each morning and Avalon always runs over to where we find her laughing & pointing, saying “hi elf!”.  Also, at the risk of screwing myself on this one, so far the fear that the elf is going to report bad things to Santa has worked like a charm.  We are riding that one for as loooong as we can.


The night after Thanksgiving we made a list of the things we want to do this holiday season.  It was so much fun having Waverly join in this time, remembering things that we have done in the past and wanting to do them again.  Can’t wait to check off this list, it’s truly the most wonderful time of the year!!!

1 –  Make Christmas cookies.
2.  Go to Christmastown.
3.  Bass Pro Shops to see Santa.
4 – Go pick out a tree.
5 – Drive around and look at lights and drink hot chocolate.
6 – Go pick out a toy to give the less fortunate.
7 – Watch holiday movies and eat popcorn (so far Waverly’s favorite is the grinch!).
8 – Caroling at mommy’s school.
9 – Ice skating.
10 – Go see The Nutcracker.

Wishing you the happiest weekend! XO

I love Thanksgiving weekend so much.  Pretty much for all the same reasons that I love the week before it, there is just so much excitement in the air and a thousand plus things to look forward to.  I love having an extra long weekend with all of us home and I love the start of all the fun holiday activities, which with kids, are just so much more magical than ever before.

Thanksgiving day, we all slept in until 7:30 (which is big for us!) and then snuggled in holiday jams eating some snacks before my family came over for brunch.  My brother was in town from Colorado, and my dad had just gotten back from a long trip in Florida, so we were so excited to have everyone reunited again.  The girls loved having them over, they took turns being held and snuggled by everyone and then performing some of their current favorite dances.  It’s safe to say that they never, ever lack for attention. 😉

Blanket, Trees
After some afternoon naps, we all got ready and headed to my grandparents and sister-in-laws for dinner and dessert, and then ended the night with the fullest bellies and fullest hearts!!!!  And of course, so very excited to officially kick off the most wonderful time of the year! 🙂
My Dress
Hope your weekend was magical and relaxing and just all the happy things!  I’m excited to share some more pictures of our weekend and some fun holiday activities we have been getting into (and have planned!) later this week.  Happy Tuesday!
XO

I recently started a new thing where every night I think of two things from that day that made me really grateful, or made me smile, or that were just two really wonderful things parts of our day.  I think I read it somewhere, I loved the idea of it because as any other mama knows, our days are not all rainbows and sunshine.  Far from it.  But even on the most chaotic, meltdown filled day we have, it would be impossible to not find at least a few things that brought me so much happiness.  In the new year, I’m going to try to write them down each night, I think it would make it that much more meaningful and I know I would love looking back and reading them one day.

This year we had our challenges as I tried to figure out the best scenario for me as a working mom, and though I love my new situation so much, there isn’t a work day goes by that my heart doesn’t hurt just a bit from being away from the girls.  We’ve struggled with some behavior challenges with Waverly, our oldest babe is still just as spirited as ever and who can sometimes push me right over my emotional limits.  But I think it’s overcoming those hard moments that make you stronger than ever before, and more thankful for all the good that you have.  Forever grateful for our two little girls, for Waverly’s love of life and for her sister that really knows no bounds.  For Avalon Elle, who is just as sassy as the rest of us, but who melts us with her sweet & sensitive demeanor, and makes us laugh with her little faces and new words.  For my husband, the calm to our crazy, the glue who holds us together, and the best example of unconditional support and love that I ever could have asked for.  And of course, our family and friends, the older I get the more I realize how precious and special the people around you really are.

Sharing some pictures from our weekend, it was such a good one!!


Wishing you and your families the happiest Thanksgiving weekend ever!!!!!  I am always thankful for the support of our family and for this wonderful community! XO

We are so excited to see this Friday arrive, both Waverly & I have off school and since going back to teaching I treasure a random entire weekday at home with my babes more than ever.  Bonus points when it’s a Friday and we can look ahead to an entire weekend with daddy!  We really don’t have a lot of plans, other than working on a few house projects (I suddenly got the urge to repaint the entire house), and hopefully spending some quiet, relaxing time at home before the craziness of the holiday season really hits.  I laugh every time I say quiet or relaxing about our house, neither are ever the case with our girls, but we still love our time at home so much. 😉 

A couple of months back, the girls & I had a date with one of my very good friends, who also happens to be one of the most talented photographers out there, and I’m so excited to finally share some of the images today!  I feel like I say this every time with Brooke, but seriously, I am so in love with these images and they are truly some of my favorite ever.  I think the reason I love them so much is because they were completely random and last-minute, we just thought it would be fun to take the girls out in rain boots since a big storm was on they way.  We let them play and just be themselves, which just made the images capture their personalities perfectly.  I wish I could bottle up everything about them right now, Avalon’s few teeth, one dimple, and little legs that are still a little bit wobbly when walking.  And Waverly’s freckles and her pure joy for life, something that will forever be one of my very favorite things about her.


I don’t know how I will ever find enough walls! 😉  The biggest thank you to Brooke of Brooke Tucker Photography, I love her work almost as much as I love her!!  Happy weekend, friends! XO