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12.31.2013

Christmas Traditions : Christmas Day

Get ready for lots of pictures...
We always spend Christmas morning at my patent's house opening presents from Santa.  When we were younger, my Grandparent's always came over for brunch and we would get to show off our new presents.
The giraffe is from my sister

Now that we're older, the traditions have to change to accommodate more people.  We opened a couple presents, ate breakfast, and opened the rest of the presents.

"If I could talk I would say I love my uncle Rob Dob!"
... she really does love her uncle Rob Dob
My grandmother (mom's mom) cross-stitched all of these stockings for us.  My mom has taken over for her and has made the stockings for the last year or so.  Cora got one of the original ones that was my mom's stocking growing up making it extra special... AND it's special because it was stitched by her grandma (the name) and her great grandma.
Cora and I hung around my parent's house for the day playing with her new toys and getting a nap in.  While Cora napped, I prepped a little for the dinner.



Christmas dinner with our extended family was at my parent's house and is more casual than our Christmas Eve event.  We just hang around, enjoy some hors d'oeuvres and drinks for a couple hours before the meal, share what Santa brought us, and watch some of the kids play with their new toys.  I didn't get any pictures, but I had a great time.  Cora was partied out so she spent a small portion of the party sleeping.

12.30.2013

Christmas Traditions : Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is always exciting because it is the night before Santa comes and we get together as an extended family to do a formal Christmas dinner.
Growing up, we would dress up, go to church, then go over to my Grandparent's house and have dinner and presents.  My grandma was always good at throwing a party.  We always had potato sausage and stayed up well into the night opening presents.
In the last 7 or 8 years the tradition has changed a little.  We go to my Aunt and Uncle's church where the kids put on a Christmas play (short & sweet while still getting the message across).  Instead of going to my grandparent's house, we went to my Aunt and Uncle's for the meal and presents.
We do a draw with the adults that are out of college.  This speeds up the present portion of the night so we are no longer out until one in the morning.  Cora enjoyed hanging back with me and Ben and observing all of the craziness going on.
She was wiped by the end of the night.  She fell asleep walking from the party to the car (probably 50 ft) and slept great that night.

12.23.2013

Christmas Traditions : Potato Sausage

My family is pretty big on traditions around Christmas time.  We already had this years sock party about two weeks ago (we exchange socks in a white elephant fashion) and we had our Potato Sausage making party on Saturday.  My grandpa used to make the potato sausage for the family every Christmas and we took over probably 10-15 years ago.  We headed over to my aunt and uncle's house and spent the morning making potato sausage.

1. Cuddle with baby - This is my Godmother (aka the potato sausage boss)
2. cut up a bunch of potatoes and onions (blurriest picture ever)
3. grind all of the potatoes and onions

4. mix in meat + spices (it is not the most appetizing looking food)

6. stuff sausages... don't forget to poke holes so they don't burst

7. Relax while sausages are boiling (this is where we usually have lunch... Skyline!)

8. Go home and take lots of naps

12.19.2013

DIY Golden Wreath

I was inspired by this wreath (and loosely inspired by this wreath) to make a wreath out of golden leaves.  I already had all of the supplies so this project was free!  If I were to do this again, I would try and get leaves with a veiny texture.

Needed:
+cardboard (or some kind of foam wreath base)
+hot glue gun
+fake leaves (or real if you want a temporary wreath)
+gold spray paint - I used Rustoleum

The pictures are pretty self explanatory:







The wreath is so lightweight, I was able to hang it up with masking tape.  Will hopefully share better after pictures soon.

12.11.2013

Life With Cora :: 7 Months

Two weeks late...
I know I say this every month, but geez she is getting old!  This month, Cora has two teeth that started growing in, she's getting pretty good at 'crawling' around, and she spends a lot of time talking.
Her personality comes out more and more each day.  She is always happy and smiley.  In the morning she wakes up and 2 seconds later she is giving us giant smiles and trying to 'crawl' around and play.  It is so much fun to watch her exploring parts of our apartment and observing everything around her.

The lamb stuffed animal was a gift that my Boppa brought to Cora in the hospital, so it is pretty special to us.
I'm looking forward to the upcoming holidays and getting to see Cora observing all of the lights, snow, holiday decorations, family get togethers, etc.  I took some 7 month pictures that I originally intended for holiday cards, but I've come up with another idea for the cards...  So here are more pictures:




12.10.2013

Ten on Ten



1 snow/ 2 snow/ 3 & more snow


4 cubicle gallery wall/5 selfie/6 woods



 7 driving home/8 gazebo/9 baby naps/10 puppy begging

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