Everything is "Magical"

We had a great thanksgiving! Hope you all did too.. Yeah, the ice storm was a bit of a ruiner, but thankfully both places I was at (Western OK, and Home) we didn't lose power.. so that was nice.. I did somehow get Food Poisoning the Tuesday before, and that was NOT cool.. Then Jordan had some sort of stomach bug on the Day after.. so we ended up staying in Western Ok from Wednesday to Saturday.. but it was fun.. the girls want to be out there all the time anyway.. 'Mommy? Go see Gigi? Pa? Joe? Pops & Grammy, Bear? Poppy?".. she names off everyone she knows out there.. So we had a fun time.. Mom put up 5 trees this year.. and the girls loved them. She made the mistake of putting breakable owl ornaments on one.. so of course Cross wanted to "Hode" them.. and you can imagine how that went..

This is a really fun time with them. Everything is magical.. without me even doing anything. These people who do 1235 Christmas Crafts, and spend every single day trying to 'create' magic.. MAKE. ME. TIRED.. "Oh Look everyone a Santa face pancake with apple cream pudding frosting hats!".. Ugh. I thought this was such an amazing read. QUIT MAKING EVERYTHING MAGICAL

"Think about the life of a modern day, Westernized child. Think back to when your children were new. What did they notice?

A fresh child will find magic in every ceiling fan. A baby will be fascinated by the light switch on the wall which, with a simple flick, brings the brightness of noonday in the dead of night.

Even adult humans 200 years ago would have found this miraculous! A child today can walk into a grocery store and see entire cases dedicated just to berries. Half a dozen varieties, flown in from around the country and world are stunningly displayed. We take this for granted as spoiled adults, but this is crazy! Most of the world lacks this ever present variety.The television, the hand held phone, the tablet- all with moving people trapped inside of them who appear and disappear at the swipe of your finger. Children recognize this technology for what it is- magic."

I am with the author of this article.. If you feel the need to do this for your child.. go ahead.. and I'll be proud for you, but I just don't have that kind of time.. Or those clever crafting skills apparently, lol.. I have seen this first hand when we take the girls to the farm, and maybe because I grew up on a farm, I feel this way.. but Hay bales are magical.. Just sitting there.. You can turn them into forts, jump and climb on them, roll down them, hide in them.. And its just a bale of Hay.. Some may feel the need to paint they hay bale, put reindeer ears on it, and add lights to it.. But.. Its still just as magical without all those things.

Here's something for you.. I remember one of the most 'magical' things in my childhood being what I called a Gymnastics Bar in the Barn.. I used to go out to it every day and hang from it.. spinning, twirling, doing dismounts, watching the pretend crowds cheer for me as the pretend judges awarded me "10"s... Guess what that bar was? A deer Carcass bar..

When the hunters would shoot a deer, they would bring it out to the barn to let it hang and the blood to drip from it.. Yeah, I know.. Gross.. but didn't really take away any of that magic for me!! Magic is Magic.. Especially if you have a great imagination.. Which I do.. and I think my girls do too.

We get so caught up in creating special things for ourselves and our kids that we miss the magic.. I remember thinking the Ipod was the coolest thing that ever happened.. My kids will grow up thinking music always just came with their phones! If you look around there are so many magical things this time of year.. you really don't have to create any if you don't want too, its there if we just look for it. So Do what you can.. but don't feel bad if you don't wake up and make Reindeer Shaped Cinnamon Roll.. If you have time to do those things, then YAY! But.. We can only do what we can do.. and shouldn't feel bad about the rest.

Speaking of Magical.. We went to 1Smart Cookie's "Cookies & Milk with Santa" event on Saturday.. It was so much fun. We thought it would be a nice place for the girls to take Santa Pics.. Well Cross was super excited.. She had talked about him for days and all the way there.. When we got there she said "OH! Santa!! HI SANTA!! and Introduced him to JA... And that was it.. She didn't want to sit by him, or take a pic with him.. Cille pretty much hated everything about him, so yet again, for the 2nd year in a Row, MJ and I are in the Santa pics.. But.. it was a super cute event.. Cookies were Delicious, and the girls enjoyed coloring pics and drinking chocolate milk.

Tonight we are going to the "Live Nativity" at Crossings. There will be a sugar cookie bar there, petting zoo, and then they are going to tell the story of Jesus. I love our Church so much. They have so many fabulous events to go to and take your kids to learn about Christmas. Tomorrow night we have small group. We have been learning about Advent. Tomorrow is "Peace".. It will be really good. 

In other news.. Cross is obsessed with her Monster PJ's these days.. She wants to wear them all day everyday.. if you put them in the dirty clothes.. she will get them out and say "No, I wear the Monsters".. I mean, there's a reason we call her Creepy Cross. Cille still hates me trying to take pictures of her.. But I can't help it. She's really pretty, so I still try.. This is how it always goes...

 She just hates it.. So there's that. I'm so excited about Christmas this year.. We did a wishlist for the girls to make life easier.. I remember when I was buying presents for peoples kids.. Man, what a jerk I was.. I probably bought them blocks and 355 things they didn't need.. but you just don't know until you have kids of your Own! So forgive me for that.. I did a wishlist of things I really thought the girls would love to make life easier.. So if you are wanting ideas, consider doing that for your relatives.. I think it is super helpful to me when they send me lists of what they want, or what their kids want. 

We will try to go look at Christmas lights this weekend.. When we see them Cross says "Look Sissy.. So PURRRDY".. lol.. She's also started saying her name "I Cwosslee Maaple".. if you ask her what Londyn's name is she will say "Sissy Maaple".. Londyn has learned all her colors, letters and numbers now.. she's very proud of herself.. She will sit in her bed at night chatting about all her colors.. Its super cute. Special thanks to Suzanne, her speech therapist, and to her Ipad Apps, Endless Alphabet, and Endless numbers for helping teach her those things! Oh.. and of course, Daniel Tiger.. 

You guys enjoy the holiday season!! 

Girls 2nd Birthday Party--Noah's Ark 2 by 2!

Well.. We successfully had the girls 2nd birthday party. I can't believe they are Two already! The first year of their lives felt like it took a long time to get to 1.. but from the first to second it just flew by!

I picked out the theme about 6 months ago.. The girls love animals, and I knew the party was going to be at the Crossings Playground, so we decided on "Noah's Ark, 2 by 2".. because that was of course the cutest and most fitting for the girls. 

I will try to provide info on where everything came from..but I've been collecting it for 6 months, so my apologies if I miss some of it. 

The fabulous Cake came from Chubby Cheeks Bakery in Edmond. It was awesome. She did an Ark "Cake" and then we added the animal Cake Pops to the center of it.. She even made a Noah Cake Pop! It was the CUTEST.. 

The girls wore super cute outfits that we found on Etsy. A Shop called Lillybellasboutique.https://www.etsy.com/shop/LilyBellasBoutique She designed the shirts for us, then Mom found matching pants from Mis Tee V Us. They turned out super cute.. Ironically, I left it to their dad to get them dressed while I went to setup for the party, and he put Cross's Shirt on Londyn.. lol..

Their Chalkboards were one of my favorite things. We found a shop on Etsy who actually put the pictures ON the chalkboards which I think makes them so much more personal.. and cuter.. Her Shop is Called My Three Charms, and she can do just about any Theme. She's super sweet and easy to work with.

The Cute Vinyl Sign came from Oriental Trading too.. they had one we hung on the gate, and they had another one that stabbed into the ground. They were cheap and they do a pretty good job with those..

The Big Ark, Giraffe and Zebra were ordered from Oriental Trading. Now.. these things do not stand up very easily..they are kinda flimsy, so we ended up putting ours up on the fence. Plus is was kinda wet that day, so it was better that they were kept under the Awning. The first Giraffe we ordered had been shot.. (had a hole in him) so we had to send him back, but they were quick to send out another one.. However, they wanted me to send the old one back.. They paid for shipping, but it was a pain in the butt, so just keep that in mind if you order from them.

We ordered Masks for the Ark from Melissa & Doug.. "Put em on, 2 by 2, wearing Masks is what we do!" and had all the kiddos pick one, put it on and take off! They were pretty easy to put together (I pre-assembled before, but if you had older kids this would be a super fun birthday activity to do while they are there). They were awesome. The kids really enjoyed them. 

Those delicious looking Pretzel animals came from another Etsy Shop Called Sparklesbaby that is UH. Maze. ING. She did the pretzel animals, Chocolate Covered rainbow Oreo Cake Pops, and Choclate rainbow drizzled Rice Krispy Treats. They were all so freaking good. She is super easy to work with and ships them in plenty of time. You can store them in the frig.. We are still eating the stuff a week later and its just as delicious. 

 The super Cute Treat Bags came from Jettabees.   These were one of my favorite things at the party because they are soo soo cute, and an awesome little hand-crafted touch. They were also super affordable. She let us pick which 'animals' we wanted for the bags and they were so cute. We used these as the goodie/take-away bags for the kids at the party. We put a LED light Stick in there, (Compete with a sticker of Cross & LL from Sticker you. They make great stickers for anything,a nd we just loved them.) LED bracelet, Hershey's kisses (complete with Cross & LL 2 by 2 stickers stuck on the bottom of each Kiss. Those little cute stickers were from Party Games. They can make them for little candy bars, or whatever you like. Its just a cute little Unique Touch.

We also put a plastic Ark Animal, and some really cute little Noahs' Ark Rubber Duckies. A rainbow Crayon, Rainbow Swirl Lollipops, and on the back of the sacks we had little Thank you Stickers from Treasured Moments. There are literally a million things you can do as little personal touches. Etsy and Pinterest will dominate your mind with these things.. but these are just the ones I chose that didn't require a TON of money or effort. 

I made Butterly Treat Bags from an Idea on Pinterest. I put Rainbow Goldfish in some of them, and then I put assorted fruits in other. They are pretty easy.. Clothes pin, pipe cleaners, googly eyes and hot glue.. Here's the Pinterest Pin.. 

I also got the Cheese brella Idea from Pinterest. These are super easy. You take Babybel cheeses, cut off the tops of them and stab a bendy straw in them. You can also leave some straight. They make super cute cheese treats, and the cheese gives everyone a break from the Sugar rush!  I also made a fruit Umbrella that the kids could munch on.. complete with baby Marsh mellow Clouds. 

I also made Rainbow Bars.. but there was so much other stuff to eat that it wasn't really worth it. I bought Fruity Pebbles and mixed them with Marshmellow cream (Like Rice Krispy Treats) and put them in a pan with sprinkles. 

Now lets talk about the Cookies. OMgosh. If you have not been to 1 Smart Cookie in OKC you are missing out in your life. People look at these cookies and think "There's no way they can be that cute and taste good".. Um, I'm here to tell you that you are WRONG. Those cookies are the best cookies I have ever had. Everyone raved about them and they are so so good. They can make about any shape you want, and I still have the left-over Donkey on my desk.. he's so cute that I can't bring myself to eat him.. yet I know if I bite into him, he will be delicious magic. The struggle is real folks. She did Rainbows, Raindrops and animals for me. Everyone loved them and they are still asking about them now.. 

The Invitations were one of my favorite things too.. We ordered those from Sara Janes Studio and they were adorable. Took no time to assemble and fit in a square envelope. I also could not send out the invitations without the personalized Stamps from Stamps.com 

You can also order the thanks you's for this at the same time.. Which I should have done, but waited till later.. so be smart and order those when you order the invites. 

Plates, Cups, Napkins, etc.. I ordered those from Birthday Direct. They have cute little bundles you can get. I ordered Rainbow Tablecloths, and more napkins and cups from Amazon. They were cheap, so save the money for the cute stuff. 

These were a nice little touch.. "Flood Water". Got a Printable from Etsy, cut them out, and then Put them on mini water bottles with Packing Tape.. that way they wouldn't bleed in ice, or if the bottle sweated. They were cute and I put them in a big bucket on Ice. 

This cute little "Photo Op" came from Shindigz.. Its a Lion, and you put your face in it to take Pics.. however, it was a little Breezy, and once again, if you do this outside, you'll need to make sure you have a place for it to stand up because its kindof a pain. The Kids didn't care that much about it, but a few parents did get some cute pics.. 

So as I'm writing this.. I realize its way more elaborate that I had firs thought.. Because we also got animal balloons from Party City, Cupcakes, Rainbow Twizzlers, Rainbow Gold Fish, and probably a bunch of other crap I can't think of.. But.. if you start hoarding 6 months before the party, it doesn't seem that bad. I do think the little personal touches make the party great.. So I tried to do as many of those as I could without going broke, and going crazy. 

Everyone had a blast, and everyone enjoyed the food.. so yes, While I did go a little crazy, it was totally worth it! Except now I feel like I have some big shoes to fill for next year! Still loved that it was outside at our church.. kids loved running and playing the whole time, and we loved the big Pavilions for shelter and food. It was a great trip on the Ark!