More Christmas

A few days after Christmas, Grandad came to visit. We had a great time playing in the basement and spending time with him. He brought us a fun popcorn machine, which we use a lot! Colby is constantly asking for popcorn. Of course, we don't give it to him everyday, but it sure is fun to use and tastes just like movie theater popcorn!

Christmas Celebrations

We celebrated Christmas at home this year. It was really nice to not travel anywhere. Everyone was wonderful to come celebrate at our house this year. With our newly finished basement and Logan's 1st Christmas, we really wanted to enjoy the holidays at home this year. So, we really appreciate everyone in our family coming to visit with us!

Christmas Eve

We celebrated Christmas Eve with our annual tradition of dinner at the Severn Inn. It's a beautiful restaurant on the Severn River. Then, we drove through the Lights on the Bay display. We've done this the past 4 years in a row and really enjoyed it. We had an early dinner this year (4pm!) as we were a little late making reservations, but it actually worked out great since Colby was too excited to nap, and this way he got in bed early. Oddly enough, as we were almost finished eating dinner, the couple we sat next to last year was seated at the table next to us. They have a little girl a little younger than Colby. It was really great to catch up with them.

After dinner and the light show, we came home to open 1 present (Christmas pjs), set out Milk, Cookies, Carrots for the reindeer, and cheese for Santa Mouse, and then we read The Night Before Christmas and our Santa Mouse books. Then, it was off to bed to wait for Santa!

Christmas Train

Colby was beyond excited when Jason pulled out the train to put around the tree this year. He couldn't wait for his daddy to get it out so he could drive it. He drives it around the tree everyday. Thanksfully, he's really careful and gentle with it. He knows not to drive it too fast. He still treats it like his little cars though by taking the cars on and off the track to try out different arrangements.

Cars lined up

Colby loves to make lines with his cars & trains. This day, he decided to make a line around his little brother. Luckily, Logan didn't seem to mind.

Holiday Pro Photos

I took Colby and Logan to get some Holiday photos taken. Here are a few of my favorites:



I love Colby's expression in the bottom left one! It's so great they were able to catch that on camera since he does that all the time!

Spiderman Party

We had a small birthday party with our family to celebrate Colby's birthday. I made a Spiderman cake, and we had fun playing with all the cousins.

Birthday Fun

Colby turned 3 this week! Where is time going?!? Seriously, where? It seems like these past 3 years have flown by. I'm sure I'll be the saying the same thing in 3 more years and 10 and 15 too! :) On his actual birthday, we started off the day with some homemade cinnamon rolls (Thanks to Nadine for the yummy recipe!)


Then, we celebrated by going to a fun bounce-house place with some friends from his school. It was nice because most other kids were at school, so we had lots of room to run and play.

Tractors and Leaves

We started off Thanksgiving week at Pa's house. Colby and Jacob had a sleepover the first night. They had a ball driving Pa's tractors around the cul-de-sac! They were even good about trading and taking turns.

Logan's turn

The boys decided to play bumper tractors, which they thought was very funny!

Fun in the leaves!

Thanks for the fun toys Pa!

Choosing the perfect card

Anyone who reads our blog knows I love taking photos of my children, family, and friends. When I heard Shutterfly was giving away holiday cards, I was so excited because their photo cards are beautful and so easy to personalize. Getting the perfect shot of my toddler and infant who aren't always in the mood is another story!

I always have a hard time choosing my Christmas cards to send to friends and family. Whether it be because I have too many pictures or because I only have 1 good one. The past couple of years though, I have been using Shutterfly's cards. They're really easy to put together, and many come with various photo openings. So, you can find the best one for your family.

I still haven't decided on our holiday card, since we haven't taken our family photos yet, but here are a few of my favorites from this year's collection.


I love the idea of using one great picture as the focus of the card with the colorful words overtop.



Ho Ho Ho! I think this one with Santa's belt is really cute! Like most of Shutterfly's cards, you can choose different layouts. This one comes with the option to put in 1 picture or 4. You can also put more pictures or text in a variety of layouts on the inside.



Another great one.


I like this idea for Logan's birthday next summer. I wanted something like this for Colby's 1st birthday, but I wasn't able to find one then. Now, here it is! I'll have to make sure I take pictures every month (haha! that's not too hard!)


**Check out Shutterfly.com today to create your own holiday photo cards, calendars, and other keepsake gifts. You won't be disappointed. If you have your own blog, try
Shutterfly's giveaway for yourself. You can get 50 free holiday cards.