Christmas with Dad

Okay, I PROMISE this is my last Christmas post.  I'm SO late getting these out because when I should have been posting on our Christmas events I was busy updating our kitchen cabinets :o) 
We had my dad and brother and bff (aka Aunt Nancy) over for a Christmas lunch this year.  We all had a ton of fun opening gifts and enjoying one anothers company.  The girls got more of the stuffed animals that sing...they LOVE these things.  And I think we can tolerate them just for this one season since they make them so happy!  And ofcourse they got more dolls, books, puzzles, and coloring stuff.  All of which they are thoroughly enjoying.  I got a few pics I will post below through out the day.  This was the day we noticed the Princess was not feeling well.  Turned out to be the flu :(  But we made it through.

Cupcake in her new chair compliments of Mimi, Mommy, and Daddy (bday).  Doll from Gigi. 

 Best pic I got of my dad.  I MUST do a better job of this! Papaw and Princess:

 Daddy and my bff Aunt Nancy:

 Cupcake putting all her toys in her chair for fun!

 Me and the bff (I look like I forgot my makeup...oops!)

 Uncle Josh or "dosh" as Cupcake calls him...with the Princess:

So that about sums it up.  We had a great time!  Even if we were in the middle of the kitchen remodel!  I got a ham from a local specialty shop as a gift from work and everyone brought a little something.  So that meant I cooked very little and we just used paper plates to get through ;o)

I had alot of questions on my kitchen cabinets and I plan to write a post to answer more of those.  And tomorrow I am going to show you the options I have found so far for the kitchen counters.  You will have to come back to tell me what you think!

Santa 2010

Santa came to town before we left for Connecticut.  The girls got joint gifts:

 Cupcake got some individual gifts (I think the Aristocat was her fav):

 Princess got her gifts (she's played with almost all of them!):

 We left Santa some Strawberry Milk and made from scratch Peanut butter cookies (thanks Aunt Nancy for the recipe!)

The girls opened gifts from each other:

 And played with the many gifts from Santa:

And I didn't tell them this year but they also donated many of their other toys to charity.  ;-) 

Ct 2010

This post will be mostly pictures for/of our family.  We had a wonderful trip to Connecticut.  I have three brothers in law who all have wonderful girlfriends.  And I really like all of them!  I have been BLESSED with a fantastic mother in law and I am forever grateful for that.  My grand mother in law and father in law made every effort to spend valuable time with my family.  My mother in law graciously hosted us and the ex and his mother.  It went off flawlessly and again I'm forever grateful.  We made wonderful memories and below are the pictures I have capturing some of the details of our fun!  One of the days we took LOTS of group shots of the family so I've tried to pick out the ones where the majority of us were looking =)

 First in the line up includes all four boys, my girls, myself, and my mother in law and father in law.

 Next up the boys, my girls, and the FIL:

Next up same as above but add in Nana:

Next, just boys.  What can I say?  Hanlon boys!

Two of the my BIL and their beautiful girlfriends stopped by on their way out for NYE.

My girls were MAJORLY SPOILED!  If they weren't getting new stickers or princess crowns (not to mention the loads and loads of Christmas gifts)....they had an uncle or girlfriend upstairs bouncing on the air mattress!

My FIL looked like this a lot!  Happy =)

 Cupcake and Nana sang duets

AND of all these great photos there are still a few that I missed.  My MIL was such a blessing and help all week and I do not have nearly the pictures of her in this trip that I would have liked.  AND one of my BIL's girlfriends was not in any pics!  I could die!  But we were all there and I believe each of us walked away from this trip with some fabulous memories!

Christmas With Mom

Yes, I'm still posting pics of Christmas!  Our family had many places to go so I might post a few times to get in all the pics!  The weekend before we headed out to my mom's house to celebrate with my brother, mom, and step dad.  We tried to have a healthy Christmas meal so my step dad was grilling away when we got there:

Hubby headed outside to keep my step dad company while he was grilling.  And boy did he make the best salmon!  Never fails, that man can grill a fish sure enough!

 My mom was in the kitchen finishing up a few of her tasty dishes and Cupcake would not leave her alone.  She wanted her attention and from the pic below, she got it!  LOL!

My brother was doing his best to help me keep the girls occupied until we opened presents or ate:

 Wow, can you tell who my little cupcake looks like! 

He kept Princess smiling as usual!

Daddy snuck in for some kisses:

 And Princess was completely excited when we brought out the presents!

The girls got all kinds of stuff!  Easy bake oven, Princess dress up shoes, hello kitty rain boots (which we have already worn the heck out of!), and baby dolls!  Cupcake's little doll looks just like her!  The girls are so blessed to have so many loving family members!  We thoroughly enjoyed the day!

In the Meadow We can Build a Snowman!

We went to Connecticut during the holidays and we had a BEAUTIFUL white Christmas!  =)  I wanted to post some pictures of the girls and the hubs making a snowman.  Oh and momma was taking all the pics!  So here is our beautiful snowgirl!  She is complete with mommy's new scarf, tree branch arms, and tissue paper for hair, eyes, and nose (LOL)!!!!

The girls were pretty excited getting ready to go outside to make their very own Frosty!  But as soon as we got out Cupcake had this look:

Which very quickly turned to this look:

However, once we started frosty, she AND the princess were hugging on "her" before she was complete:

 Princess on the other hand was ALL ABOUT this venture:

Look at these beautiful eyes!  (I can say that, I'm her momma!):

And there was daddy....loving every minute of it!

 In between snowgirl making!

And sitting on the world biggest snowball daddy made!

So in Connecticut we had a beautiful and large snowfall!  And we loved every minute we got to play.  =)  It just prepared us for the Alabama snow to come!  ;-)

So what about you?  Do you like the snow?  Does your family enjoy it?  Is it a regular where you live?

Surprise!!!

We arrived in Connecticut a day early.  It was Christmas day.  We were surprising my MIL at a family Christmas gathering =) 

Very big thank you's go out to my BIL,  Uncle Kev and my MIL's sister, Aunt Peggy!  I think we did it!!!

**Side note:  Used my POS camera so pics aren't the best quality.  The Nikon was lost in luggage at the time.  At any rate, the most important thing for this occasion was to have captured the memory **

M-i-c-k-e-y

As I was trying to clean up the room I've been using to craft in, I noticed I have a few of the clear ornaments left over.  I've been thinking of what to do with them to make them cute!  I think I will save a few for next year, but the little square ornaments?  They were calling to me.  They were saying M-i-c-k-e-y M-o-u-s-e....

 And from the side because I loved the pink Minnie ribbon with it!

What do you think?  The pictures do not give it justice.  I made one for each of my girls and one for a gift.  Used some ribbon I had on hand and black vinyl with my silhouette.  I just downloaded some font with mickey's head and letters inside!  I might try to find some white glitter or some fake snow and add in.  That might help the mickey to pop more.  For now we are stuck inside.  Princess has the flu :(  It's pitaful!  But we are trying to have fun in between the yucky symptoms.  Today I'm making her a chalkboard to write on.  She loves those!  ;-)     I will be linking this up to any applicable parties on my side bar!  Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas Parade

So last weekend was supposed to be our annual Christmas parade.  The company I work for is celebrating 50 years in the community and had requested for some employee volunteers to participate in local parades.  I was planning to participate in the parade in my city.  I got the girls all decked out:

It was FREEZING that day!  So underneath each of their little outfits were additional shirts and tights and socks...lol! 

The weather was 'iffy' and the parade ended up getting cancelled.  It had already been postponed the day before.  Since we were all dressed we ended up getting out for dinner that afternoon at Applebea's.  The girls were decently behaved.  Well, Cupcake was acting like a two year old all night, but hey, she is almost two.  At any rate, we enjoyed a family dinner out.

On another note, the girls made the following ornaments at school and brought them home last week.  Each of them made snowmen.  Princess's ornament had two pieces on the bottom...a dress.  So she's a snow girl actually.  Ha, ha!   

The girls also made rudolph's using their hands and fingerpaint as the antlers.  They were adorable kiddy crafts 2!  Did your kids make any cute crafts to bring home from school?