This past weekend we did all things Christmas!
Friday night Jimmy and I left the kiddos with my parents and went to the John Deere Christmas party. Des Moines is the only John Deere branch, that we know of, that still does a holiday party for all the employees at the large level, instead of just leaving it up to the departments. And it was a lot of fun! We dressed up, enjoyed some drinks and an appetizer dinner, and were entertained by a dueling pianos act. We even hit up a local bar with several others for a night cap. We hadn't enjoyed a night out alone since Preston was born so it was long overdue and really nice!
Then Saturday our kitchen was full of sugar, butter, frosting, sprinkles, little hands and lots of help for our Christmas baking. I invited my brother and his family down for the day as well and I love a house full! We made rolo pretzels, dipped pretzels, dipped peppermint oreos, oreo truffles, sugar cookies, peanut blossoms, and caramel popcorn - so yummy! I definitely ate too much and had a stomach ache that night - not use to all those sweets!
The kiddos helped with the sugar cookies and put M&Ms on the pretzels as well as decorated ice cream cones - aka christmas trees - and had lots of fun doing it! I think they all had a little bit of a sugar high by the end of the day.
We ended the night with pizza and a movie where the cousins all cuddled up and fell asleep - sweet memories.
Sunday after everyone left I finished wrapping presents and made sure we have everyone covered - only 1 more gift to buy and we have to get it back "home" so we are good to go. I can't wait to celebrate Christmas here with our kids and then head back and spend a good bit of time with our families as well. And it sounds like we should have a white Christmas after all as snow is in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow! Now we all know I don't love cold weather but I do love how pretty the snow looks and really love a white Christmas - it just makes it feel more festive!
The last thing on our Christmas to do list is to bring the kiddos to see Santa and we are doing that tonight at the local Bass Pro with my sister and her little one - I'll post those pictures tomorrow!
I hope you are enjoying this sweet Christmas time, enjoying traditions at your home, enjoying buying and/or making gifts for your loved ones, and most importantly have time to reflect on the incredible reason for the season - Jesus' birthday and what that means to us!
Mr Preston turned 3 months this past week and once again time is simply passing too quickly!
Our little man is such a happy happy baby. He continues to be a laid back happy little guy that loves you to just look at him and smiles, smiles, smiles. He is cooing and laughing and brings us such joy.
He is growing like a weed - I don't have a weight or length for his month but I know he is continuing to grow. He is now in 3-6M and 6M clothes. He eats every 3 hours or so and gets about half breast milk and half formula. He continues to be quite gassy and spits up after almost every feeding. He hasn't lost much, if any of his hair, but still has more on the sides than on the top:) We chuckle at his hair because it kind of makes him look like a little old man - a cute little old man at that!
Other new things this month - he sucks his hands, he holds on to blankets and is starting to reach for toys. He recognizes voices and people from across the room now and it melts my heart when he hears it and just smiles.
James Preston -
You bring much joy to our family little man. It's so hard to imagine our lives without you already. Your little smile and coo's make my day and I enjoy spending all my days with you and your big sister. May you always always know how much you are loved and cherished by us.
We love you!
And as you can see he's already getting hard to get a picture of sitting still!
I cannot believe Christmas is right around the corner. I absolutely love this time of year and am finding that with little kiddos it's even better! Lily is more active and understands way more this year than she did last year and it's so much fun. I am also quickly realizing how important it is to set and stick to a Christmas budget as I've found buying presents for Lily to be way too much fun - I'm just so excited for her :)
This last week we have been decorating for Christmas, getting my shopping list sorted out for what and who we still need to buy gifts for, yesterday we put up the Christmas tree, and I am hopeful that today we will get up the outside lights - even though it's snowing and cold outside and we should have done it weeks back when it was nice out!
We don't have any big Christmas plans this year other than spending plenty of time with our families. John Deere gets a nice week and a half break so we don't have to feel rushed with getting back "home" yet getting some things done around here as well. We are incredibly lucky to have our families live close enough together that we can feasibly do both during the holidays without too much travel.
We also have a few Christmas parties we are looking forward to in the coming weeks. Des Moines John Deere has a party that should be lots of fun with many old and new co-workers for both Jimmy and I. My parents are planning to come down and the watch the kiddos while we enjoy the night out for that one. And then the builders that built our house and majority of the homes in our neighborhood have an upcoming Christmas party as well.
We plan to do our Christmas baking next weekend too - a few of our favorites are frosted sugar cookies (of course!), rolo pretzels, dipped pretzels, and peanut blossoms. We may have to look on pinterest for some inspiration on a few more.
So that's what we've been up to lately - aside from the ongoing house list on what it takes to get settled. I am anxiously awaiting Christmas with my little family of 4 as well as our families back "home"!
By the way I am writing this post this morning as I sit in our living room with a cup of coffee listening to my littlest baby coo and smile at me as snow is falling outside - love it - how blessed we are!
