Christmas Craziness

I've been pretty absent from the blog lately. Probably because the past few weeks have been, and will continue to be crazy busy!

Here is just a quick peak in what we've been up to:

I found and fell in love with this new cut out sugar cookie and icing recipe I found online. These cookies turned out great. They weren't just nice to look at, they were DELICIOUS too! I will use them every time I need sugar cookies in the future. I hope to get this recipe on our cooking/ baking blog asap.





Ellie really enjoyed "helping" with the cookies too. Once I turned around to find that she had dumped WAY more flour on the counter than I needed. Ha! I guess that's what happens when you try to bake with an almost 3 year old. :)

Over the period of 5 weeks, we celebrate 4 nieces birthdays, plus my daughter's, plus mine! To say we've been busy with birthday parties is a HUGE understatement.

Right now we're busy planning the big party for Elliana and our niece Reagan 1 week from today. I'll be making the above sugar cookies for the party. Plus cake pops. Why oh why did I promise my almost 3 year old that I would make her cake pops for her birthday? Especially when I've never made them before?!

Speaking of baking, my sisters and I are going to have a "baking day" tomorrow with my mom. I hope it's more fun than crazy...

And speaking of birthdays, I can't believe Ellie will be 3 years old in just a few short days. I really can't believe it, it went SO fast. And as much as I hate to mention it, I will be turning the big 30 in just a few weeks. I'm not sure how I feel about it. But that's another post for another time.

I spent this past week stuffing and addressing all 100+ Christmas cards and got them in the mail yesterday. It was a huge project, but totally worth it. I love receiving Christmas cards in the mail.

I participated in this ornament exchange and it was so much fun! I received this beautiful/ fun ornament in the mail earlier this week:





Thank you Cindy! It was so fun exchanging ornaments with you.

In the midst of all the craziness, I told Caleb last night that I wish I could freeze time right now. Ethan is getting older and with that, SO much easier. He's been sleeping through the night and he and Ellie are starting to play together. It's so much fun to watch them.

I've especially enjoyed watching the two of them enjoy Christmas. Every time we drive by a house with outdoor lights, Ellie begs us to buy and put some outdoor lights up. We can often find them playing with and adoring the Christmas tree.







Last night we had Christmas music playing and Ellie was dancing and twirling to the music while Ethan watched with a huge grin on his face. My heart is so full I think it could burst sometimes! Although Christmas can be chaotic and super busy, it's worth every smile on the little one's faces.