brown paper packages.

Merry Christmas to you & yours! We had a wonderful Christmas with all of our family & my office was closed the whole week this year, so it was fabulous to get that extra time with everyone.

For some reason, I didn't get a lot of pictures of Paisley opening her gifts & I didn't get even one of Aaron & I.  I guess I was having a really good time?!

We celebrated Christmas with my family on Christmas Eve this year & I vote to swap off with our families every year.  It makes the whole day so much easier & less stressful when you don't have to track all over town & visit 4 different houses in one day.

My sister & Chris got Paisley a sleeping bag & she LOVED it.  She & Jade kept crawling in it & playing with while they were opening their other gifts. 

Nana & Papa got Paisley a life size Barbie.  She is as tall as Paisley & now that I have her in p's room, she has given me a fright, more than once.

This is Paisley's cousin, Colton.  They don't see each other often, so this is the only picture we have of them together.  Their expressions are priceless.

My Nana & Papa got Paisley a karaoke machine & she LOVES it.  Aaron & I thought it was great, at first.  Now, not so much.  The volume control lets her get the music & microphone very loud & she likes it very LOUD! It's funny to hear her make up songs & belt them out with all her heart.

We are nappers in our family & holidays are no exception!

the most wonderful time of the year

This year we decided to go to the Botanical Garden's Christmas garden of lights & it was beautiful. It was super cold, so Paisley & Jade were ready to leave pretty quickly.  

Paisley was super cold & kept asking for me to hold her & was not into taking any pictures, while we were outside. They did have the greenhouse decorated so we were able to go in there & take pictures where it was much warmer & the girls really enjoyed the tall trees & all the winding walkways.

Aren't they precious?

Pais loved the singing Santa that was on the wall outside.  She kept watching it & dancing with the music.

We had a really fun time, even though it was freezing! Next time, we will dress EVEN warmer!

The next day, Aaron took Paisley to the gym with him.  They swam for a bit & Aaron said Paisley wanted to play on the steps more than actually swim, which sounds just like her.

 She's wearing her "workout wear" & totally rocking it! 

Saturday night, Terra & I found matching gold outfits for the girls at Target & they looked precious on Sunday.  We match them on occasion, judge if you like.  We think it is adorable. 

{tis' the season}

Paisley was able to go see Santa & Mrs. Claus at a friend's house & for weeks she has been talking about how she wasn't going to be scared this time.  The last couple of years, she has cried & gotten really upset when it comes her turn to get her gift.

Santa gives each child a gift {that was brought previously by the parents/grandparents}  Paisley was so brave! She walked up & got her present like a big girl! She wouldn't sit on his lap or hug him, but who could blame her? 

 The next day we decorated our tree & Paisley was such a big helper. She was so proud of it!

Later that day, we went to the mall for a bit & she was enthralled with Santa {from afar}. I was able to get this precious picture of her watching him.  Right after this, the "elf" came over & told me that we weren't allowed to take pictures of "Santa".  Pffft.  Whatev.  I got this one & I adore it, elf.

Super Sunday was this week, & last time Paisley had a slight breakdown so I was pretty nervous about how it would go.  Aaron & I kept talking it up & making sure she knew the songs & that it was no biggie & that there was no reason for her to be nervous.

She did awesome & didn't act nervous, at all!

That night, she was in rare form & wanted to take a lot of pictures.  She was being such a ham!

Please note: she is also wearing her persnickety cuffs with this oufit, which is HUGE! I searched & searched last season & wasn't able to get my hands on any.  When they came out this year, I nabbed them immediately & Paisley absolutely refused to wear them. She is at a weird stage, where she thinks certain things are "silly" & then will just be so ridiculous about wearing it, that I usually give up.  Not this time, little p. I wouldn't let up until she LOVED those cuffs as much as I do.  I showed her loads of pictures of other little girls on Pinterest wearing them.  I talked them up so much, that now she wants to wear them with everything.  This is a win, people!  You got that stubborness somewhere, sweet little p. 

Look at that personality? I love her so much that my heart could burst!

turkeys & shopping

I am so thankful for everything in my life.  I have a beautiful family, a wonderful church, a job that I enjoy, & friends that we adore. I am blessed and have much to be thankful for year round; but it nice to have a day set aside to spend with family & eat loads & loads of pie!

I normally make a ton of stuff & end up bringing it home with me & eating massive amounts of dessert for days on end.  This year, I only made what was requested so that there wouldn't be a ton of extra food after Thanksgiving.
Paisley is such a good helper & she is actually very good at doing small jobs to help out when I'm cooking.  We made mini cheesecakes, green bean casserole, & sweet potato casserole.  They were all super yummy, but I didn't take any pictures of the process or the final product, so you will just have to take my word for it!

We make the sweet potato casserole from scratch & Paisley liked taking the skin off the potatoes.  

We always eat lunch with Aaron's parents on Thanksgiving & then go to my family's house in the afternoon for another round.  We all matched a bit so I wanted to take the picture for our Christmas cards & Paisley insisted that Taylen be in the picture with us.  She wasn't in a very great mood to begin with, but as soon as we started taking pictures she really clammed up & started making a fuss. Taylen & Paisley posed for a few & she was all smiles!

I think Taylen crouched down to be closer to Paisley, so she thought she should do the same.

The pictures went downhill from here, but we still managed to get some good shots of everyone else.

Aaron kept telling everyone to throw the leaves in the air & Paisley did not like the idea.  Look at that face! 

I downloaded the preview version of Photoshop & worked for 3 days to take Taylen out of our "family" picture & finally managed to make it look presentable enough for our card.  Photoshop is so foreign to me, the instructions may as well be in Hebrew.  I am really forcing myself to work through it though & trying to edit at least 2-3 pictures each day to work on my skills.  It's a work in progress, people!

I'm not 100% happy with the results, but I was ok with it enough to use it for our cards.  

*I am aware I photoshopped p's arm out, I'm not familiar enough with the software to make another one for her, any tips would be welcomed.  :)

Terra & I have a tradition of always going Black Friday shopping on Thanksgiving night.  This year with Black Friday starting so early on Thanksgiving, we almost didn't even go.  I wish that retailers would leave it late on Thanksgiving {midnight!} so that the shopping actually is ON Black Friday! 

We did end up going & still had fun, but we were finished shopping by the time we are normally going out, so it wasn't near as exciting as previous years.

We were lazy shoppers this year... we waited in the car at Target until they opened the doors, insead of standing out in the cold in line.  There didn't seem to be as many people out shopping this year, so maybe that will persuade retailers to change it back! Here's hoping.... We did score some great deals & had fun so it was still good.

Hope your thanksgiving was blessed!