Life with Kids : A Friday Post - cookies for Santa, IKEA and the First Snow!

It's been quite some time since I've posted on a Friday (or anything not relating to Finnley's weekly updates actually). But I've been thinking about this post all morning and now I am finally sitting down and getting my thoughts on the ~~page~~ screen.

ONE

We went to Disneyland last week and I'm already having withdrawals. I am planning on doing a more in depth post. I was hoping to whittle it down to one post but there are entirely too many photos...so I guess it'll have to be a few posts. We had the best time and now that we've had so many visits in the past two years we have been more picky when it comes to souvenirs. I have been on the lookout for the perfect Santa's Cookies and Milk plate set since Ellie's first Christmas and I finally found it!! While I try not to go too cutesy cutesy in my every day decor I think there is something whimsical about Christmas and I just adore this Mickey and Minnie Mouse set!!

TWO

The day before Thanksgiving we put up our Christmas Tree and then spent the day decorating it. We had a minor almost meltdown when we couldn't locate our Star for the top. We looked in every box we had, searched up in the attic three more times, opened our Valentines decor boxes, in every dresser and drawer and even the secret locations in our laundry room to no avail. It was lost. We were so frustrated and our minds were completely blank on it's whereabouts or even visualizing putting it away. We figured that when we cleaned out our third room for Finnley's nursery we must have either thrown it out or donated it on accident. I was devastated. Then we got the box of ornaments for the girls trees out of Ellie's closet and low and behold there it was, our beloved Star! What a relief. Then we had to figure out how Thomas was going to negotiate putting the Star on the tree while holding both girls - because I thought that was a good idea.

THREE

A while back, maybe even in September, I made a quick trip to IKEA while Ellie was in preschool. I just went to look around with Finnley and I spotted these wreaths. I loved them and grabbed two of them for the girls doors for Christmas time. I put them up after Thanksgiving and loved them so much I wanted grab a few more for our door and some windows. We headed to IKEA on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and they were sold out of them and not available online, but we picked up a few other items that of course we were not on our list ;)

like these dish towels. I have been waiting for years for IKEA to get some green kitchen towels, since that is my color of choice and they finally got them in! The best parts are the price and the name! and a new set of curtains for our bedroom. We put them up right away and I cannot get over how much brighter and larger they make our room feel. Now I am getting the itch to paint and redecorate ;)

FOUR

I have been busy cleaning up the house and putting the finishing touches on our Christmas Decor for my annual Ladies Holiday Tea party that is happening this Sunday. I am still finalizing the menu and so grateful that I scheduled it for a Sunday so I get one extra day to prepare. I am most excited because our house has seen a lot of changes in the past year and I've narrowed down my decor style a bit so it's fun to see how this all comes together. I'm working on the menu and so far most of the items I want to serve are savory bits so I need to come up with some more sweet options...what do you recommend?

FIVE

We had our FIRST SNOW of the Season last night and Ellie was beyond excited. I was freezing cold and tried to convince Ellie all day that Dada would be the perfect snow companion but she kept insisting that she wanted me to go out with her. When we got home from work we had dinner and then Dada headed out to feed the animals and took Ellie with him, they made snow angels, played with the animals, made a snowman and threw some snowballs. The best part is that Thomas was on his Blogger Husband A Game and took photos for me while I stayed inside nice and warm with Finnley. After a little bit Ellie came to the door and insisted that I come outside and bring a carrot. I got some pictures of the front of the house (and how I walked to try and avoid making footprints was comical) and spent some time out in the snow!