Santa!

We've had a pretty low-key weekend with a few highlights tossed in there.

My girls, still in their pajammies, are currently playing with Anna, Elsa, and some other Barbie-type dolls driving them in a school bus and a Little People chariot because that's how we all should travel, of course. Violet thinks she can run now since she started walking less than a month ago, so it's funny to watch her try to push the chariot or the bus along as fast as she can! The Steelers game is playing in the background, Andrew is playing Xbox online with his friends and George is sleeping. The sun is shining and even though it's 37 degrees, it is much happier than the rainy weather we have been having the last couple days.

Friday night, I had planned on taking the kids to the Children's Museum Christmas event to see a penguin and a reindeer, but it had rained all day long. It was still raining when we got home from Lily's school and a few errands and it was cold.  The thought of dealing with traffic, parking and downtown stuff resulted in a "let's stay home" decision.  We all ended up in bed pretty early Friday night anyway.

Saturday, we went to a local nursery near our house to visit Santa.

Lily isn't in the screaming phase anymore, but still isn't crazy about going up to him.  Andrew decided to go over to Santa first to help his little sisters see it's ok.

Lily thought Violet should go first before her, so that's what we did.  I stopped to get Violet a cookie first to keep her occupied and maybe she wouldn't really notice I'd set her down next to someone...
It didn't work out quite that way.  She held on to her cookie though!

I asked Lily if she was ready and she said no. I picked Violet up and of course she was completely fine. I sat down next to Santa for a minute and Lily came over next to us comfortably. Baby steps, I suppose.

Lily asked Santa where Rudolph was and seemed satisfied with his answer. She replied that she wanted Frozen toys when he asked her what she wanted for Christmas.  She wanted to talk to him, just not be right next to him and Violet, as you can see, was content again.

Lily and Andrew had their cookies and it was time to leave.  As we drove away, Lily exclaimed excitedly, "We live near the North Pole!"  I love that magic!

We headed home for the girls to nap before we were going to another local light up night event that evening. This one was in our old, old neighborhood before Lily was born, but it's where she goes to preschool.  I was helping out with some crafts inside Lily's school for her teacher who was in charge of this entire event. You know, after just having given birth 5 days before!

Violet loved just walking around and trying to run inside Lily's school!  The kids "painted" puffy snowmen made of shaving cream, glue, and glitter, colored in coloring books, and made candy canes. Andrew helped cut the red stripes for the candy canes to be glued on.

We headed outside to listen to some kids sing and watch some others dance before strolling by Santa and waving from afar. :) Violet was clapping along and "singing" too and both girls were dancing along as well.

Soon the evening had come to a close and it was time to go home. While the kids waited for me to get packed up and into the car, Lily could not take it anymore and zonked.

When we got home, I put the girls to bed, and watched the rest of my favorite Christmas movie, "It's a Wonderful Life" on tv.  George has been working a lot of overtime lately, so in addition to it being tough with the overnight shift he works, he's been going in early too.  It's simply the season we are in and I'm grateful for such a hardworking husband.  I miss him too!

Steph's Snippets

Funny how the intent of sitting down and being able to blog is always there,but the reality is, it isn't happening much.  If I try to accomplish this at any time during the day while the other people who live in my house are around, there are one million stops and starts and there is no fluid writing at all whatsoever.  And by the end of the post, I simply just want it done!  That's no good.  Waiting until after bedtime is ideal except we've been so busy and I'm exhausted, so writing hasn't happened much then either.  All that to say, I have a ton of posts in the works!  Actually, I'm going to continue writing about our summer and other events, activities, and birthdays that have since passed as well.  I know you simply cannot wait haha!  In the meantime, here's a snippet of life lately.

~We are gearing up for band concert season in the next few weeks! Reagan began rehearsals tonight and her very first concert is in a couple weeks. Andrew's last one for 2014, is next week.

~Wednesday night, I took Andrew and Reagan downtown to see the local kid Chris Jamison who is on NBC's The Voice, perform a local show that they were also doing some hometown filming of for next Monday's show!  Chris is a 2012 graduate from Andrew's high school, so we've been watching this season from the beginning and rooting him on! Andrew laughs at me for cheering and clapping in our family room like I'm at the show. Well, lo and behold, when I saw yesterday I really could be at a show cheering and clapping for him, I decided we were going! I tried to win tickets on the tv station's website with no luck. I won them on the radio that afternoon!  Andrew, aka, The Grumbler, immediately said he wasn't going. This was one of those things where I told him he wasn't being given a choice.  Turns out, as always mama knows best and he had a good time!  This was Reagan's first "concert" ever!  Even though there was a lot of waiting and reshooting going on for the tv show, it was still fun and Reagan thought it was "really cool."  We were standing near Reagan's science teacher and a kindergarten teacher from her school --both of whom had Chris Jamison as a student in elementary school.  Andrew saw a bunch of friends from school and Reagan saw some of hers also. Chris sang the songs he's done on The Voice and then he and his band played 2 originals.  I love his version of Uptown Funk! It was a lot of fun and I'm glad we went! George dropped us off and picked us up at the venue and he and the little girls hung out at home.

~I have a couple giveaways coming up next week! Be sure to check back for those.

~I have Violet's and Andrew's birthdays to get up on the blog--photoshoots and parties. I love them and can't wait to share about them!

~There's some stepmom stuff that's been going on I'd like to write about, some inlaw stuff, and some friend stuff.  So in addition to what we've been doing, I do have a little heavier stuff to write about as well.

~Recently, I took some maternity pictures of Lily's preschool teacher. She's also the owner of the school and over the last year plus, we've become close friends. I think the world of she and her husband and I was so happy to be able to do these pictures for them!  As her due date came and went, I had my phone turned on all night to be able to go and take pictures of their baby when she arrived. This past Monday was that day! What an honor to be there as their daughter entered the world! It was miraculous and I couldn't be more happy for them! I'm so glad they let me continue to work on my own skills. :)  They are first time parents and doing amazing! I hope to finish edits by the end of the weekend!

~We had a busy, happy Thanksgiving, Andrew's birthday weekend. Can't believe I have a 15 year old!

~Lily went back to the eye doctor this week for a check up. I'm so glad she loves to go! Update with her eyes coming soon.

~I'm personally gearing up for this winter weather.  I don't love the cold and feeling trapped in my house for eons.  We've already had a little bit of snow which I actually love still, but the cold zaps me.  Here's hoping winter flies by!

~A few months ago I started watching Sons of Anarchy for the first time.  I binge watched late at night to get caught up to watch this final season with George, who has been watching the show since it started.  There's only one episode remaining.  I love this show and just like I did with Dexter, I liked being able to binge watch since I didn't watch from the beginning.  Sons of Anarchy ending, Parenthood ending...my favorites.  Scandal better keep on!

I'm off to feed Violet lunch.

Happy Friday!

Happy Friendsgiving!

Happy Friendsgiving!  

With Thanksgiving just past us, we head into a busy hustle and bustle holiday season and a lot of "I wants" really come to the forefront. I like to find ways to celebrate our lives and our friends all year long. We are truly so very blessed to have an amazing group of friends in our lives whose children are all friends as well.  We celebrate all of our successes together and are there to support each other when we struggle.  I couldn't ask for a better group of people to surround myself and my family with which makes writing about being thankful for friends, so very simple!  We spend birthdays, holidays, and so many "regular" days together making memories. I love that my children are learning by example, the value of true friendship.  We have teens, tweens, school-agers, toddlers, and babies. Stef, Tracy, Amy, and Amber are my people. I love their kids like my own. The men are friends, the women are friends, and the children are friends--we couldn't ask for a better group! From regular nights for supper, to birthday celebrations, to summer playdates, it's just better with friends.

These four little girls have been friends for as long as they will ever remember.

Stef, Amy, and I shared a time pregnant last year which made my last pregnancy very special!

The youngest of the group...Amelia, Liam,and Violet.

My beautiful friends and our beautiful babies!

Sometimes our crews are together, but not everyone is there. Teens are with friends, families have other obligations, we have some blended families too. We love and cherish the time with whomever is with us and look forward to the next get together for everyone!

Usually on Thanksgiving, my family has a meal together with just us. In a blended family, sometimes the mix of people changes, but with my mom and brothers across the country, it's just us for the holidays. It's a happy day where I am reminded of how fortunate I am to have my husband and children.  This year, however, some of our best friends, Tracy and Gary, weren't going to be celebrating Thanksgiving with their family until later in the weekend, so we invited them to come over and join us for our own Friendsgiving.  It was a happy day celebrating and being thankful for those we love most!

This month Netflix and the #StreamTeam have been celebrating Friendsgiving and dynamic duos! In addition the blessing of my best friends, I'm fortunate enough to have my very own dynamic duo--Lily and Violet!  A brand new Veggie Tales--In the House {a Netflix original} just started on November 26th and my girls were super excited to watch! They gathered up all their Veggie Tales stuffed animals, snuggled up in the big chair to watch another dynamic duo in Bob and Larry! (These are all Andrew's toys from when he was a toddler circa 2001ish)

Some shows to check out on Netflix for your littles that emphasize friendship & dynamic duos:

1. Bob and Larry: VeggieTales in the House 2. Bert and Ernie: Sesame Street: Elmo and Friends 3. Bo and Dezzy: Bo on the Go! 4. Justin and Olive: Justin Time 5. Tod and Copper: The Fox and the Hound 2 6. Clifford and Elizabeth: Clifford

Lily is a big fan of Bo on the Go and always talks about her energy which I love!  Violet loveloveloves Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood so we're always talking friends with that show! 

And a few for the big kids too: 

My favorite children's book is Charlotte's Web, so I love watching this movie with all of my kids and talking about the friendship between Charlotte and Wilbur.  The bromance between Phineas and Ferb is fun! I enjoy watching that show with the kids too!  

1. Phineas and Ferb 2. Shaggy and Scooby: Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated 3. Vada and Thomas: My Girl 4. Martin and Chris: Wild Kratts 5. Finn and Jake: Adventure Time 6. Mario and Luigi: The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! 7. Charlotte and Wilbur: Charlotte's Web There are some fun and also more intense friendships and dynamic duos for the grown ups to be found also!  George and I have been watching Sons of Anarchy--me for the first time and he to rewatch as the series ends and seeing the friendships and loyalty there on an entirely different level has made for some good catch up time with my husband.  I love having a show to watch together! My next solo show is going to be Gilmore Girls!   And in case you missed the announcement-- all 10 seasons of the original Friends hits Netflix January 1st! PIVOT! PIVOT! PIVOT!  Mark. Your. Calendars.  1. Rory and Lorelai: Gilmore Girls 2. Schmidt and Nick: New Girl 3. Ted and Barney: How I Met Your Mother 4. Liz and Jack: 30 Rock 5. Walter and Jesse: Breaking Bad 6. Mulder and Scully: The X-Files 7. Wayne and Garth: Wayne's World Can't wait to see y'all next month--keep on watchin' Netflix!  We are!