Busy Bees

What a week!  We have been in major Christmas mode.  As I type, I am in the midst of packing 3 tots and 2 adults, finishing up some crafty Christmas gifts, doing laundry, and a partridge in a pear tree.  We are heading out on our Southern expedition in just a few hours and I can't WAIT!  It will be great to be back in the land of Southern hospitality!  Also, I'm so thrilled to see many of my friends who I haven't seen in well over a year!  Anyhow, I HAD to post a few photos from a big event- Harper's FIRST HAIRCUT!  Yep, she's 3 and has never had her curls touched.  Let's be honest, I felt scared about the curls.  How do you cut curly hair?  Would it look cute short?  Would she look like the top of a microphone?  AH!?  Thankfully, Chad is a hair visionary.  He took Harper yesterday and these are the results!

Looking at her magazine while she waits- SUCH a grown-up

Brushing out the curls- ouch!

Not really sure about this situation

Pensive

CLASSIC face

"Seriously, please stop taking my picture."

Ooooh!  Diffuser!

Trying not to smile!

Couldn't hold it in!

LOVING her new short do!

OK- enough typing.  See you in Memphis!

A Few of My Favorite Things 4.0

I guess it's that time again friends!  A few of you mentioned that you tried the coffee creamer or downloaded the christmas CD from my last post.  Awww, you guys really read this?  That makes my day!  Anyhow, hopefully my new faves will inspire you as well.  Let's get this party started!

Keeping in the holiday music spirit, this album is another great listen.  Drew is actually a friend from high school and I can't say enough great things about this album.  I promise I would not lead you astray.  Download it on itunes (and get their new EP while you're at it!), plug in the ipod, sip some hot chocolate, and enjoy.  That's what I do.

These cute little numbers are another holiday must have.  Every southern little girl (even if my southern girls are actually going to be midwestern girls) needs a monogrammed dress!  Nan snatched these up (with help from Liz and Etsy) for all of the Green/Cameron girls.  Won't they look so cute when they sit on Santa's lap for their annual picture?

In completely unrelated news, I am in LOVE with my new hair straightener.  Thanks to some family connections, it was free!  I am not kidding when I say it has changed my life.  Literally. . . well maybe my hair's life at least.  Along with the chi, I now use Living Proof's "No Frizz" product.  It. Is. Miraculous.  Thanks goes to Chad's mom for bringing this jewel into my life.  So, enough about hair.

As I previously mentioned, we are keeping warm with our heated mattress pad.  Now, add the softest sheets in the WORLD to that equation, and you have a heavenly bed.  I'm speaking of Pure Beech jersey knit sheets.  I don't even have words to describe these sheets.  They are unlike ANY jersey sheets I have ever felt in my lifetime.  Bed, Bath, and Beyond should hire me to speak on behalf of these sheets.  You've NEVER felt softer sheets- I'm not kidding here, people!  Buy these sheets as a Christmas gift to yourself.

And finally, my favorite thing about this summer (although it seems far away right now) is that we will be spending a month of our summer looking at all of this!  One of the MAJOR blessings of Chad's job is that we get to go on assignment at some of the most spectacular properties in the country.  We just found out that we will be spending part of June/July at Crooked Creek Ranch in Winter Park.  I LOVE this camp and know it has seen major changes since my sister and I worked there in the summer of 2000 (um, that's 10 years ago- yikes!).  We can't wait for our kids to experience a month of YL camp too.  We'll send you a postcard.

So, enjoy my current faves, and I hope your holiday season is full of your favorite things as well.

If You Lived in Manhattan . . .

. . . and you were on our Young Life committee, or you were Orville and Irma who live next door to us, or you were our friends The Richards, YOU would be getting a little of this for Christmas!

Can you believe it?  My domestic skills really decided to show up last night.  We just wanted to put together some delicious treats for our friends here, and this is what we came up with.  I made Oreo truffles, chocolate dipped pretzels, Ranch style crackers, and classic puppy chow (Rachael Garner- this brought back memories of you!).  Now, don't go thinking that I'm a Susie Homemaker or anything.  My kitchen was a DISASTER after this (beware of shaking puppy chow in off-brand zip lock bags!) and I was up until 1:45 a.m. making it all happen.  We can't ALL be Martha Stewart.

In other news, I (finally) decided to let Cash try some rice cereal.  He enjoyed it, I guess as much as you can enjoy flavorless mush.  Here he is during the big event.

Looking a bit perplexed

Mmmmmm.  Spoooooon!

Kind of a messy eater, but happy nonetheless!

One last thing. . .here's a little Christmas Card Preview to whet your appetite!  Happy Holidays!

Everything is Prettier in the Snow!

Even our tiny little rental house looks cuter with a blanket of snow on it!  I couldn't be happier about the LOVELY 10 inches (or so) of powdery white goodness that we received on Monday/Tuesday.  It really made things so festive and my kids finally saw REAL snow for the first time.  You better believe that the photo opportunity was seized!  I do have one little disclaimer- we were NOT prepared for such snow.  I let the girls go out to play in the morning in rain galoshes and cowboy boots.  I sent Chad to Home Depot for a shovel and a doormat.  Thankfully, he made a Target run for snow boots and bibs for the girls as well.  What a GREAT dad!  Here is everyone enjoying all of the wonders of snow.

This is the view from our driveway

Reese was unsure

Harper LOVED every minute of it

Notice the footwear- not conducive to snow

Ahhh!  It's cold!

Reese was kind of like the younger brother in "A Christmas Story"

Better equipped for the elements

"You ready to do this, kid?"

It snowed ALL day long on Tuesday

Snow Angel

SO happy to be SO cold

Notice the little snow baby down there.  Love this shot!

Reese was offering Chad a bite of snow

She was pretty content to stand in one spot and eat the snow

Our home

Our street- before the snow plows came through at 5:00 am on Wednesday!

Harper loved to throw the snow AND have it thrown at her

Happy Girls

Cash DID venture out in the snow for a bit, but this was the only shot I got of him in his snow garb.  You can still see a few flakes on his hood.

Those rosy cheeks are the aftermath of taking face-plants into the snow

The dogs are still not so sure about all of this.

So, we definitely LOVED our first real snow in Manhattan.  Now, come March when there is STILL snow on the ground, it may be a different story.  Brrrrrrrrr!

We've Decked our Halls

As I have mentioned before, we LOVE Christmas and all of the decorations that come along with it.  We opened 14 boxes of Christmas decorations on Saturday!  No, unfortunately it won't all fit in our current house.  I did manage to get a tree in (almost) every room though!  We made a fun night of it with hot chocolate, Christmas music, holiday jommies, and lots of "No Reese, don't touch that!"  I have loved having it all up and then looking outside to see the snow.  It just seems more Christmas-ish than humidity and 70 degrees!  Brace yourself, LOTS of pictures are coming.  This is really a post for my sister- I know she appreciates it!

We started the night with hot chocolate- a first for our girls.

Reese was not sure what to think

Harper was practically licking the mug clean

Chad read a book- it somehow related a Christmas tree to the birth of Jesus

The girls were SO anxious to get into the boxes

Here, they are listening to Chad's specific instructions on decorating

Reesey needed some help

Harper was a pro

(notice the tip-toe stance!)

The finished product!

(after redistributing all of the ornaments from the bottom of the tree)

Tree #2- this is in the girls' room

Tree #3- This is in Cash's room

Tree #4- This is in our room. . .

. . .and it has one of these for each year Chad and I have been married/engaged.

(Chad's parents and the Laughlins do this too and they have enough to fill an entire tree- I can't WAIT for that!)

Some other favorite areas of decorations include. . .

This is by our front door (pardon the dog bed).  I LOVE mercury glass and it is perfect with some simple greenery and lights.

Here's an up-close look

Since we didn't have room for our other large tree, I used some of its ornaments to fill this mercury glass urn.

No fireplace for the stockings?  No problem!  This was Chad's clever idea.

Some ribbon and different colored candles gave my everyday pewter candlesticks a holiday update!

Nativity or Nativi-TV?

My hodgepodge of holiday dishes

Well, that's the complete holiday home tour.  I hope you enjoyed the peek inside our little happy home.  Sending warmest holiday wishes from our home to yours!