Holiday Gift Guide for Kids

Hey hey friends!! I've rounded up some of my ideas for gift ideas for kids. Most of these items are on my list for my kids. I also think a lot of these ideas are gender neutral.

Friday Favorites- Favorite Holiday Traditions

Oh Friday! How I love thee!! Today, I'm sharing my FAVORITE holiday traditions that we share with our little family of 4. I LOVE this time of the year and the traditions that we have started make it all that more special!

Eek, will you just look at how little they are?!?!

Christmas Recap

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas holiday! Ours was filled with family, love, bleeding fingers/toes and whipped cream (more on that below)! 

This year, we were blessed for family that made the trip to see us and so we didn't have to travel anywhere. We had a lot of downtime, just the four of us to unwind and prepare for guests. When guests arrived it was nothing short of a good time with everyone. 

On Friday, Saidey started the day like this 

and ended the day like this: 

Poor thing shut her finger in a door and it was the worst. thing. ever. Poor baby girl. It was pretty swollen and sore to the touch, and we're pretty sure she's going to lose her finger nail. 

Friday night was pizza and movie night and it was very low key. 

On Christmas Eve morning, we woke up slowly and started prepping for Christmas Eve dinner with my family. The girls played and hung out while Will and I did a few last minute errands, cleaned a little and did a few things around the house. Once my family got there- we exchanged gifts and ate soup and appetizers. So good!

While we were opening presents, my mom got a phone call from my aunt saying that our Grandpa's wife (my Grandma Joan passed away a few years ago and he remarried recently) had passed away that day. Although my girls and I were not close to Brenda, our hearts still ache for her and especially my Grandpa. Our thoughts continue to be with my Grandpa and her family during this time. 

Attack of Odin =)

A pretty darn good view 

 Grandma and her girls 

No big deal, just doing some headstands =)

It was a wonderful evening but also a good reminder to always be thankful and that we are blessed with each new day. Always, always.

 We set out cookies for Santa and reindeer food in the front lawn and tucked the girls into bed. Once they were fast asleep, it was time for the fun! Will and I got the girls' stockings stuffed and set out Santa gifts before settling into bed ourselves. 

Christmas morning arrived and we all ran downstairs to see if Santa found our new house. Of course he did and the girls were so excited about the gifts that he left! 

We finished opening presents from us and then started breakfast while the girls played. Sophia stubbed her toe on our kitchen barstool and of course that was the worst. thing. ever. too. She survived though and  the rest of the day was spent playing with all of their new toys.

We clean up pretty nice 

Notice the photobomber over my head? 

Will's family arrived later that afternoon and so we exchanged gifts and then began prepping for personal homemade pizzas. So yummy! After that, the girls headed up for bed and declared it THE BEST CHRISTMAS EVER! 

Mama bird taking care of her Hatchimal 

Pie Face game is SO. MUCH. FUN!

Ending the night with hot chocolate in our new personalized mugs! 

Yesterday (Monday) was so nice to just relax and hang out. We played a lot of games and this mama didn't change out of her pajamas. When I finally got around to thinking I should get dressed, I looked at the clock and thought better. =) 

I definitely wasn't ready to return to work but am looking forward to another long weekend! I'll be back on Friday to share my top 16 FAVORITE moments of 2016! 

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and you got to spend it with your favorite people. For some of you, the holidays are a difficult time and my heart is with you too. 

Friday Favorites: The Most Imperfectly Perfect Christmas Card

Happy Friday y'all and even more important today- Merry Christmas Eve Eve!! We are so excited for Christmas at our house and we're just brimming with excitement! We can't wait for a long weekend and lots of time with all of our favorite people!! 

I thought I'd share our Christmas card today- it's simple, a little blurry and you know what? It might just be my favorite card yet! I didn't stress about the photo this year, instead I shot the girls in front of our fireplace in their Christmas jammies. 

You can see our cards from previous years here: 

I'll be back next Tuesday sharing all about our Christmas. I hope you all have a very merry holiday. For some of you, I know the holidays can be a hard time of the year, so my heart is with you as well. 

Merry Christmas! 

How NOT to Overspend During the Holidays

Hi, my name is Shay and I'm an impulse spender. As you can see from the title, it may suggest that this post is going to be me, telling you, how NOT to overspend during the holiday season that can be very focused on material objects. But, coming from an impulse buyer, I gotta be honest in saying that I don't have a lot of tips and am guilty of overspending. So, I'm not sure if I'm the best person to be giving advice on money but I have found a few things that work for me! 

Sophia's first Christmas. Oy vey! Talk about excessive!  These were a mix of presents for everyone but probably a fair amount were for her- a five month old at the time. (insert monkey covering eyes emoji)

I've wrote out my Christmas list and checked it twice since early November. Every year, I make a list of everyone we need to buy gifts for, along with ideas. Once I decide for sure on gifts, I write them down and then begin checking them off as they are purchased. This process has helped me immensely in keeping organized but also to keep track of what I've bought, especially for the girls. 

Girls Christmas gifts from Santa last year. We kept to one large item and 2 small items, plus stockings from Santa. Then, from Will and I, 3-5 gifts. We're sticking to the same basic plan this year. 

But

From November into December, I am bombarded with ads, emails, bloggers and nifty gift guides that make my organized list a thing of the past. Pretty soon, I am adding things to my cart, both online and in stores (Target, I'm looking at you) that were never on my list to begin with. Pretty soon, my contained, well intentioned list has grown and now Sophia has yet another gift in her pile and of course, I have to make it even, so that means adding another gift for Saidey. 

Last week, as I was clicking on yet another link, I had to literally give myself a mental shake and yell, "Stop it lady!!" What is it with this time of the year- where in my head I know that the girls don't need more toys and junk to overflow from their rooms- but when I see sparkly, shiny things, I'm instantly buying things that they don't need? I can be instantly swept up in this time of the year, filling my cart and over doing it. Excess materialistic "stuff" that will result in more clutter and toys for everyone to pick up. 

It's this time of the year that I need to slow down and remember what life is really about.  So, here's what I've done since last week: 

I've stopped looking at any retail emails. 

Keep in mind, I average approximately 30-60 a day, maybe more. I don't even open that folder. Not a glance. I don't need J Crew or Anthropologie alerting me of another sale and free shipping. 

Just delete, delete, delete!

Self talk

This may make me sound a little loony but I literally talk myself through when I have the impulse to buy something NOT on my list- it sounds a little like this, "Shay, you have your shopping done for the girls. They will be happy with whatever is under the tree. They don't need more, all they need is YOU." Or, "You really don't need ANOTHER plaid shirt." Ok, you can't have too many plaid shirts)- so that argument doesn't work so well. =) 

Practice the pause

When I see something that I just LOVE and HAVE to have- I make myself practice the pause. I walk away from the computer (as most of my impulse shopping is done online these days) and engage in something else. If it's still on my mind and I've truly thought about what it will bring to our home, I may go ahead with the purchase. But you know what? Almost every time, the item that I previously thought I had to have, loses its luster after I practice the pause. Practicing the pause has worked miracles and thankfully has resulted in far less packages making their way to me. 

Instagram. 

Oh, I love Instagram. It's become my most favorite community of fellow mamas, bloggers and positive energy. However, I'm signed up for like to know it- an app that will email you outfit details if you like a post. It's been an awesome way to find out where people are buying things but it has been a source of impulse buying for me. Bloggers have been putting up gift guides and I get every single email telling me exactly where I can find these gifts. Again, I found myself mindlessly scrolling through items, seeing something that I SWEAR Sophia or Saidey NEEDS and clicking "purchase," without a second thought. And then the boxes come. So, I either have stopped clicking "like" to refrain from even getting the emails or I don't even give them a second glance when I see the email message pop up on the screen. 

It's totally ok to add a few "extras" when it's not on your list but in my case, it was getting excessive and I had to just say no to it all. For me, sticking to my list is hard but it's a must to prevent excessive buying of just more "stuff" that will accumulate in our home. 

Do you find yourself impulsively buying items? How do you manage finances and gift lists during the holidays? 

Show and Tell Tuesday: Christmas Decor

Today, I'm linking up with Andrea at Momfessionals for another Show and Tell Tuesday: Christmas Decor edition! I love all things Christmas so it comes as no surprise that I love decorating for Christmas too! Since moving to the new house, it's been trial and error and picking up things here and there. We used most decorations that we had before and then have picked up additional things!

So, come inside and take a look! 

View from the entry way

Please don't see the princess wand that I forgot to move before snapping the pic!! 

Advent calendar 

I love this truck with the tree on the back so much! 

Dining room 

Crooked trees courtesy of my 6 and 3 year old =) 

Family room

We were going to put our old Christmas tree in this room but just didn't get to it and that's ok. There's always next year!

Saidey's tree in her room

Sophia's tree in her room. Sorry for the wonky lighting- her tree is silver, just like Saidey's 

So, there's our Christmas decor! 

Happy Tuesday everybody!