Hi! Remember Me?

Ummm hi. It's been almost 2 weeks since I've blogged. Sigh. And I really have no extraordinary excuse. Mainly it's because I rarely sit down at the computer anymore and also, 'tis the season to be busy. But I have a ton to share with you all! Here's what we've been up to:

1. Group  Children's Christmas Party

All of the flying squadrons at the Academy are in the same "group" so the group threw a huge children's Christmas party. And we were told that if the weather was alright, that Santa and his elves would jump out of an airplane. 

Luckily, the weather was perfect and the performance did not disappoint. The elves have green parachutes.

And then we saw the red and knew Santa, he was a comin'.

"SANTA!!!!"

"NOOO! Not Santa! I don't wanna see Santa!"

Naturally his elves helped him with his parachute.

Brady and not Layla waiting to see Santa. Layla, she was inside the building, far, far away.

Brady and our friend's daughter with Santa. Almost could pass for Layla, haha!

Inside we played games,

and ate snacks (to Layla's delight).

And then it was time to see the big man and tell him exactly what he wants (a Thomas King of the Railway set).

One of the cheesiest cheese faces but oh well, at least he has no problem with the big man! Layla, took 1 look, said "No, no, no nooo" And ran out the room.  So Brady, being the brave big brother, grabbed the books from them. And told Santa that she wants princesses.

He looks a little TOO happy to be in a cop car!

 2. Base Chapel Tree Lighting

We met Brian after work one night to go watch the tree lighting. We thought that's all there was but oh, no.

There was lighted hayrides. I swear this girl is excited for Christmas. 

There was also crafts, a church service, free dinner and cookies.

And the tree and menorah lighting. The menorah almost blew up and sadly, I did not get a picture of it.

Brady talked to Santa. And I planned horribly with him wearing an orange shirt and these iPhone pictures. I thought it was just a tree lighting!

And Layla stayed as far away as possible while still getting a candy cane. 

 3. doTERRA!  I've been really busy teaching classes and doing craft fairs.

This was one of the most unique craft fairs we did. Buddy the Elf was there! 

4. Christmas Shopping

This is the first year we've had to ship a lot of gifts so I've been hurriedly trying to get all of my shopping done. I just love the Castle Rock Outlet Mall and the kids actually behaved and I was able to almost finish it all.

 5. Christmas Cards

So I just love this time of year and absolutely love getting Christmas cards in the mail everyday. I had our cards done before Thanksgiving but sadly didn't realize what I ordered until they came the day after Thanksgiving.

Wishing You A MARRIED Christmas. WHAT?!?! I thought it was a typo, but no that was the template I chose and didn't read closely enough. Brian didn't catch it either. But VistaPrint is amazing, changed it for us no problem, and sent us 100 new ones for FREE. Definitely would use them again! And if you want to get wished a married Christmas, I have 99 of them (one we sent out as a joke, and they didn't even realize that's what it said).

6. Breakfast with Santa

The base (they've been awesome for Christmas events this year!) hosted Breakfast with Santa this past Saturday and it was completely free.

There were balloon animals (and my awesome photography skills)

Ummm lady, I asked for a teddy bear, and that is certainly not a teddy bear.

There were reindeer we got to see.

That pretty much pooped the entire time we were there.

A sleigh we got to ride in

Tons of crafts (including a birdhouse from Home Depot) that I didn't picture

And a 45 minute line to see Santa in which Layla screamed louder than any of the babies around when it was our turn. Think we would get the hint, huh? I think we're a little desperate for a sibling Santa picture. Brady's getting really good at this whole Santa thing. And probably knows for sure he's getting the Thomas set since he's told Santa 4 times now. Oooh maybe we can go to Bass Pro Shop for Santa #5?!

And to close out this loooong blog post, my beautiful photography skills from breakfast. I'm available if anyone needs pictures taken. 

Friday Fun

TGIF!  It's been a busy, busy week full of preschool, playdates,  soccer, gymnastics, Christmas events, and Christmas shopping!  But for today, I have something really neat to share with you, a great addition to your Christmas list or a great gift for that music lover: The AwoX Striim Light.

AwoX is a pioneering connected smart home company that specializes in "dual use" bulbs! It is a WiFi or Bluetooth enabled light bulb that allows you to play music through a mobile phone or tablet playlist.  Now, by just turning on the lamp, you can dance to your favorite tunes.  In addition, you can synchronize your sound zones around the house with several StriimLIGHT WiFi speakers.

I'll be honest, when I was contacted about this product, I had absolutely no clue as to how this would work...a speaker...in a lightbulb?? But I was curious and it quickly was sent to my home. My husband is all about electronics so he was a little giddy when it arrived and instantly tried it in several places in our home. 

Our favorite place is in our bedroom. We have a jacuzzi tub that the kids regularly bathe in which is adjacent to our room and the kids have loved having music during bath time.  "Mommy, we want the lighbulb music!" They crack me up.

So how does it work? All Brian had to do was sync our phones to the lightbulb and we can use our playlists and play them from our phone while adjusting the light too. Super easy!

My only complaint is that the lightbulb itself is a little big so it can make our lamp look a little awkward with the lampshade on it. Other than that though, it's been an awesome addition to our home! We've been having a lot of fun playing around with it so check it out!

I have a couple other products I'm going to share in the next few days as well, so stay tuned! Have a great weekend!

**I was sent this product in return for an review. My review is completely my own thoughts and honest feelings about the product.**

Blessed Holiday

I'm a little behind on the Thanksgiving recap but figured I'd share anyway!

 This was the first year in 5 years that the kids and I didn't go home for Thanksgiving. It felt a little weird and was harder than I expected it to be. I think I wasn't super pumped for Thanksgiving for that main reason. It's hard for it to feel like Thanksgiving when you're not with your family. But we vowed to make the best of it anyway.

Thursday morning it was such a beautiful day. We didn't have to be bundled up! Our neighborhood had a football game that morning. That's my handsome hubby punting the ball. Brady was out there too. He was VERY serious about the game, haha!

We had fun cheering the "north side" on. Brady had to take a goldfish, water, and selfie break. 

That's Brady in the white next to Brian in the white. Fun morning and fun tradition!

And what am I most thankful for this Thanksgiving? That next year I will no longer have a 2 year old. Just joking. Well, mostly. This girl cried for a good 40 minutes about the shirt I put her in. 

For Thanksgiving we went to our dear friend's house. They just had a sweet little girl and they're our absolute best friends here. Brian and Shane went to the Academy together, they were in each other's wedding, and we're so blessed to be stationed here together. And our kids adore each other too.

The kids table!

And our family. Brian was gone last Thanksgiving so I feel so incredibly blessed to have him home. Holidays take on a new meaning for me and I know just how special it is to be together. 

And you better believe I got in a bunch of snuggling time with this little one. I swear she only cried for a second too, the second Brian snapped the picture!

Thursday night and Friday morning I got my shop on. I didn't get all of my shopping done but I got a good dent in it!

Brian and Brady went to the Air Force football game Friday afternoon. It was Brady's first college game and he LOVED it! He even caught a t-shirt from the cheerleaders so he thought that was pretty awesome. I'm so glad the boys got to have some bonding time together.

The rest of the weekend we shopped, watched football, went to a tree lighting, and spent time as a family. We are so blessed to be healthy, live in a beautiful state, have a steady income, have wonderful family and friends, and a loving home.