Our Christmas

I swear, the holidays just go by faster and faster every year. This year was by far the most magical since having children. Jackson really is starting to just get it, and while he may not be sure how he feels about Santa Claus, he was pretty excited that the big guy brought him some presents. Lincoln is just as cute as a bug and follows Jackson around, trying so hard to be just like him. So truly, watching those two brothers enjoy the magic of Christmas was one of the sweetest experiences I have had so far as a mother.
This year was the first year we really did our ELF tradition. A fun history; we had three elves in our house when I was a kid, and they magically moved and got into all sorts of mischief every night. We are talking two decades before the Elf on the Shelf trend, and I am forever a bit salty that my parents didn't jump on that idea and create a money making franchise like some other person did ;-) So, instead of having the Elf you see in most homes, I was able to find the exact elf that my parents had, and love pointing out the my boys that our Elf is just like the one at Grandma and Grandpa's. I feel like it will make it so much more special as they grow older! Our Elf was a relatively lazy guy, but he did get into some trouble a few times. My favorite was when he created a zipline across our kitchen!

We wore matching family pajamas, a Christmas miracle in and of itself. Mike is not the festive pajama type, but he got on board and Jackson thought it was the best!

I dressed Lincoln up a la Cousin Eddie from Christmas Vacation, and probably got my favorite photos of him of all time. 

Merry Christmas, shitters full! ;-)

We had lots of fun drinking coffee (or milk for Jackson) out of these adorable Santa mugs. I just love all of the festive little things that make Christmas so much fun.

We spent Christmas Eve with my in-laws, and I captured zero pictures. I am the worst at getting out the camera when we are in the midst of gift openings and family dinners. But trust me when I saw the boys had a blast!

On Christmas morning, I also captured ZERO pictures. But Santa surprised the boys with a play kitchen, and they have been living in it ever since! Lincoln takes it so seriously, placing items in a pot, and stirring it, placing it in the microwave..he takes it SO seriously, it is too cute to handle. We had breakfast and home and the boys spent the rest of the morning playing with all of their toys.

After naps, we headed over to my parents for Christmas dinner. Below is the one piece of evidence that my children actually received presents this year. I was so excited that Mike and I got a new camera-after permanently borrowing my sisters camera (seriously) for the past year, I think both she and I were pretty thrilled I finally had a DSLR of my own!

 The boys got a photo by the tree with grandma and grandpa, and as usual, this is about as good as it was going to get. Boys will be boys.

 Lincoln was so sweet looking at the candles in the front windows. I just love the magic in the eyes of children during the holidays.

 I mean, this picture just about does me in. I want to bottle him up and keep him like this forever.

Another family photo, but no one is crying so I call it a win. 

And one last shot with my love, because holidays are the one time that I can force him to take a picture with me ;-)

I had the rest of the week off with the boys, but it was literally below zero every single day and FREEZING so we did a lot of laying low and playing at home. It was a great recharge week and I think that, while we were sad to see our mini break come to an end, returning to a schedule wasn't the worst thing.

We rang in the new year with dinner at my parents and everyone being in bed by 9pm, because #adulting. We are ready to take on 2018!

I hope you all had a blessed Christmas, I truly love and appreciate every single person who continues to follow along our little corner of the world here at Stang&Co!

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Friday Favorites

Well, it has been a bit! We have been trapped in a revolving door of sickness in our home over the past month. Hand foot and mouth one week, the stomach bug the next, rounded up with terrible respiratory infections for the boys. I have my fingers crossed that it is all finally out of our systems and we are good to go for the holidays! Needless to say, we have been pretty preoccupied with tending to sick kiddos lately, but with Christmas just a few days away (what?!) I couldn't help but stopping by to share a few of the things I have been loving most this season!

1. Babes and Bokeh

In the past year, I feel like I have really figured out how to use the camera. It has allowed us to do our own family portraits (with the help of my mom who I have taught to use the camera, too!), to capturing bright, quality photos of special family events, to just capturing those sweet, every day moments of our boys. One of my favorite items I have invested in is my 50mm lens. I know all people have their own preferences for photos, but I always have adored blurred backgrounds with sharp focus points. And that lens is also what gives you the cool bokeh effect with lights! Nothing in life has been more magical than watching my children explore and experience holidays. This is my fourth Christmas as a mama, and I can say with absolute certainly that every year has been better than the last. My boys just soak up every last bit of magic, from our moving elf, to the musical ornaments on our Christmas tree, to Jackson finally understanding the whole 'Santa' thing. My sweet boy will also tell everyone that it is baby Jesus' birthday, and naturally, he also thinks this means there will be cake ;-) But back to my main point, this lens and the bokeh effect with the lights on our Christmas tree is one of my absolute favorite things!

 

2. Santa Mugs

These are hardly new or a breakthrough finding, but I finally caved and picked up a few Santa mugs for us to drink out of. And it has been one of the best purchases ever. Jackson LOVES his mug so much, he has been drinking his milk and water out of it with fun paper straws, and it is just so much fun to watch him find so much joy in something so simple. They are ceramic, so of course I am absolutely paranoid he will try to carry it into the living room and break it, so he has learned quickly he can only have it at the kitchen table ;-) To this day he still isn't so sure about hot chocolate, but these mugs are perfect for the classic milk and cookies, too!

3. Latte Bowls

After having my eye on them forever, I finally pulled the trigger on these latte bowls from Anthropolie. They were 25% off and free shipping, so I just couldn't say no. I grabbed them in mint and white, but they have so many different colors, making them perfect to mix and match. They are so pretty that they make great decorative pieces, too! I already am planning to grab the pink ones for Valentine's Day. As a boy mom, you better believe I do whatever I can to take advantage of holidays that allow me to do all of the pink things!

4. Aria Diffuser

I decided to splurge and get myself an Aria diffuser a few months ago, and it may be one of my favorite purchases of all time. It is so pretty on our mantle, and I have been having so much fun diffusing different blends, especially with the holidays happening right now. Our favorite single oil to diffuse is without question Christmas Spirit, but I also love mixing pine and lemon to smell just like a Christmas tree farm! For those of you that use oils (or have thought about using them), this diffuser is truly worth the splurge!

5. The Perfect OTS Sweater

If you love soft, cozy sweaters, this one is absolute perfect. It is thick and super warm, and the foldover top truly stays off the shoulder without a struggle! It is so cozy, and pairs perfectly with leggings, because we all know none of us are planning to eat healthy over the next week. Express has been running such good sales lately, this ruffle sweater is so pretty, and I am obsessed with the vibrant pink color of this one!

I am still in disbelief that Christmas is only three days away. We have family functions going on every day this weekend, and I cannot wait! I don't think I have been this excited for a Christmas morning than the last year that Santa was real to me. Sometimes I just cannot help but be overwhelmed by the wonder and magic that having children has brought back into my life. Merry Christmas, my friends!

Five on Friday // Friday Favorites // Friday Favorites // High Five For Friday

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Holiday Cards and Keepsake Pieces

*This post is written in collaboration with Minted. All thoughts and opinions are solely my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that support Stang&Co!



Well, it is here! After the most glorious Thanksgiving weekend spent with family, the Christmas season is officially upon us. It seems that the time flies by faster and faster every year. Despite the long and crazy days of life when you are young parents of toddlers, I know how fleeting these moments are. Everyone tells me I am going to blink and my boys are going to be teenagers, and I get so overwhelmed with emotions, because I already know it is true. The days of my boys being babies already feels like a lifetime ago; what I wouldn't give to cradle my newborns and smell that new baby smell one more time. But that is how time works, you are in the throes of sleepness nights and stressing out over your little one meeting milestones, and then without you even realizing it, they are walking, talking, and independent.

Despite the stress that often goes with it, I make it a priority to capture photos of my boys as much as possible. I love using my Canon T5i (okay, actually it is my sister's and I have permanently borrowed it) with a 50mm lens. I have been able to capture beautiful memories of my children right in our own backyard thanks to this camera. As a newly converted believer, I would recommend investing in and learning how to use a quality camera a million times over.

Anyway, getting back on track! We had my mom come and help us grab some family photos in our yard last month, and of course it was a late October day where it was 70 degrees at 5pm. Not one bit common for that time of year in Minnesota! The boys didn't comply one bit, and Lincoln did not look for one single photo. I was bummed for a bit afterwards, but I eventually had an AHA! moment and realized; this is our life right now. My boys are young, carefree, and innocent. They care about having fun, exploring their big beautiful yard, and posing for pictures just isn't high on their list of priorities. That is what we captured this year, and that is what is real to us right now. And I ended up falling in love with how our Christmas Cards turned out.

While I love sending out Christmas cards every year, addressing and organizing them is a different matter. So when I was able to work with Minted and have all of our addresses digitally uploaded, with return addresses printed on them as well, I was through the roof! They even allow you to order matching stamps directly on their website. They took every last bit of work that goes into getting Christmas cards in the mail out of the equation. Once I opened our package and spent a minute (or 100) admiring the beautiful cards, I simple had to place them in the envelopes, stick on the stamps, and drop them in the mail. It was so easy I could have cried. If you don't have your addresses organized into a spreadsheet currently, Minted even allows you to send them your addresses in their current written form and they will do it for you! They have seriously thought of everything and take all of the stress and time out of getting your cards out in the mail. Of course, I had go to with one of their glitter foil pressed options, they are just too pretty to pass up!

When I was browsing their site, I also stumbled across the most precious and sentimental art design that allows you to upload a photo of your home and have it turned into what looks like an antique painting. For those of you that follow along, we built our home a year ago, and the amount of heart, soul, and tears that went into the process was worth it a million times over. While our home is complete, our yard is a constant work in progress, changing every year. But I saw this and thought, how absolutely magical to have a portrait of our home, in its 'original state', to look back at. I was able to list our address and the month and year that the photo was taken in the lower corner. I anticipate this portrait being a part of our family, and maybe even hanging in our children or grandchildren's homes one day. There are so many custom photo art options on the website, allowing you to do amazing things with your photos you truly would never have even thought of.

Are you a fan of Christmas cards? Do you plan them in advance and send them out right away, or are you the person dropping them in the mail on December 23rd? Either way, Minted is a perfect option for you, even in a time crunch they take the work out of it for you! And if you are searching for the perfect personalized gifts, the options are endless. Now is the perfect time to shop, happy Cyber Monday friends!

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