Christmas 2014

Christmas this year was an experience, to say the least! It was filled with family, food, and fun. It was also filled with sickness and an angry baby, but we will get to that...

The week started off with Mike being off of work, lucky guy. I worked Monday and half of Tuesday, and finally we both were on our nice long weekend. We baked some cookies, played with our adorable little man, and prepped the good stuff for the following day (read: lots of gift wrapping and some food making).

On Christmas Eve, we headed over to Mike's parents, where we enjoyed some appetizers and played games. And opened presents, obviously. I am really blessed with some great in-laws, and it is always great to spend time with them.

could he be more handsome!?

grandma snuggles

matching hats for the boys.

daddy and me posing (daddy loves to rock the hat mom made him, by the way!)

the boys.

intriguing conversations with uncle jeffy!

 As the night carried on, our little man decided he was over the noise and commotion. I have been to Christmas Eve service every year of my life, but we decided our little guy (and us and our 8pm bedtime) just wouldn't make the 10pm service this year. Good call, because sure enough, around 8:00 Jackson was done. Pack 'er up, time to go. It really is amazing, the way a baby can dictate every second of your day!

Christmas morning we were up at the crack of dawn; actually before, the short days combined with Jackson's 5am parties means a good chunk of the mornings are spent in the dark.

Merry Christmas..I think?

 

 Santa came with a few gifts, but we postponed opening a bit because someone crashed for a nap pretty early. 7:30am naps are normal, right? Of course, I might pass out right there in my jumparoo after all of that bouncing, too.

Once prince charming woke up we opened our gifts/stockings, I whipped up some muffins for breakfast, and we just relaxed. And then..it hit me *cue Jaws music* a stuffy nose/sore throat/fever. I had a fever, and I NEVER get fevers. (ok, it was like 99.8, but this girl is a reliable 98.7, 99% of the time). So I chugged some Dayquil, disguised my red nose with some makeup, and we headed over to my parents.

casually posing under the tree.

 gift time with mama

classic face.

me and my ninja turtle gear.

 

side parts for everyone!

grandma and her favorite person

Gift opening. Food. Hot buttered rum. Good day.

I got my dad some moose mugs like those on Christmas Vacation. I think I nailed it.

Sissy enthusiastically asking me if I made this. Not going to lie, I wanted to keep the scarf I made her.

Andddd all the kids chipped in and got mom her KitchenAid mixer she has been talking about getting for a year. win.

We finished the night off with our annual seafood dinner, doing it for the first time on Christmas night. It is one of my favorite traditions!

On Saturday, we went to Mike's other side's Christmas, where Jackson once again decided he wasn't down for the party. We were in and out in about two hours, at which point we brought our cranky baby home, where he instantly smiled as if he knew what he had done. Our child, indeed. Couldn't love him more.

The rest of the weekend, I was nice and sick. My little man was there to provide lots of snuggles and share some naps with me, until he inevitably came down with the same funk on Sunday in combination with teething. Poor baby boy.

chilling in my new ride from grandma and grandpa

sleepy boy

anddd more naps..

sick cuddles

just sleeping the day away!

Overall, Christmas was busy, hectic, stressful, and wonderful. I am always sad to see it end, but am also already giddy thinking about how next year we will have a little boy who is excited by the holiday and will open his own presents. In the words of my husband (and Gloria Estefan), we want to see Christmas through your eyes, Smiley!

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Day after Christmas Shopping

I am so excited to finally be enjoying the day after Christmas with a day off of work. Nothing makes the end of Christmas easier than knowing you still have a long weekend ahead of you. Of course, today is the Black Friday of Christmas, with shopping and sales galore. I scoped out some of the best deals and am here to share.

1. Bath and Body Works
Semi annual sale! 2.50 wallflowers, 3.00 on holiday lotions and body creams, and half off select candles. Also be sure to track down the 10 off of 40 coupon!

2. Old Navy
Up to 75% off the entire store. I usually walk out of their sales feeling like I stole..

3. Express
3. 50% off of everything. DONE.

4. Carters.
Up to 70% off everything. Because the little ones need some style in their lives too!

5. Hanna Andersson
Up to 60% off the cutest little baby clothes ya ever saw.

6. JcPenney
Major door busters. And look online or in the papers for a 10 off 25 coupon code!

Happy shopping for everything Santa forgot people, and don't forget to load up on some majorly marked down Christmas decor for next year!

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One year.

First of all, happy Friday! I am enjoying a lovely half-day at work today before a dress fitting and manis with my sissy. In the mean time, my dear husband ended up getting off work from now until the Monday after Christmas. *insert grumpy face here*

Aside from the magic of it simply being Friday, I am feeling particularly sappy and emotional today. Exactly one year ago, I pulled out a little test, waited all but 2 seconds for it to show up positive, and ran into the bedroom and tackled a still sleeping Mike while I sobbed. So much for my plan of giving him an adorable football onesie as an early Christmas present and watching him figure it out.

The 'huge' onesie that my little linebacker definitely doesn't it in anymore.

 

Of course, despite a positive test, Mike wasn't convinced. I went and bought two more that day, and both of them agreed with test number one and screamed YO, you're pregnant!! at me.

Not convincing at all.

 

I have officially known about my little squishy's existence for a year. So it's kind of like his one year anniversary of existence. So maybe I should buy a cake? Probably not.

But in all seriousness, it has been a YEAR. It honestly feels like yesterday. Pregnancy drags on and on, but then you look back and it was all over and done with before it even began. In a year, I have gone from a newlywed to mama of a precious 4 month old. Obviously time tables are off, because Jackson was so excited to meet me he broke protocol and showed up early. Really though, can you blame him? ;-)

This weekend we have the Stang family Christmas, and I am so excited to show off my adorable little monkey man, rather than dodge questions and avoid eye contact like I did last year. Did you know that within a week of getting married, people start asking you if you're pregnant? True story. Last year I had every other person at the party ask me when we were having kids, and Mike's cousin flat out asked me if I was pregnant yet. I put on my best poker face, and told a 100% lie and said 'Nope'. Hopefully no one asks me this year if I am expecting #2, but if they do, I won't have to lie, so one less thing to worry about. My squishy will be an only child, for now.

Anyone else have exciting holiday plans this weekend? 6 days until Christmas, when did that happen!

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Weekend Happenings

First off, let me start out by saying that this was the most depressing weekend I can ever remember happening. Not due to being sad, or having bad things happen. My mood was just fine. But holy weather. Never in my life have I seen 48 hours of straight fog with no breaks. I kept waiting for the skies to clear Sunday, and it never happened. Needless to say, this was a weekend of laziness in epic proportions.

Friday I was able to get out of work a little bit early, so of I course took advantage of my little bit of extra free time and snuck in a session at the gym. It is not easy to get there when you work 40 hours a week. Not because I don't have the time, but because when the options are to sweat it out on the treadmill or snuggle a baby boy, I think we know which option wins. Anyway, after that my sister and I drove up to Little Falls to do a dress fitting. We have been lucky enough to fall into doing the fashion shows for Central Minnesota Brides and the Wedding Expo, and get to participate again in January. It is fun to still get to slip into wedding dresses and play dress up even though my big day has come and gone. Through multiple fashion shows, though, I would still pick my dress, hands down! I suppose that means I made the right choice in my selection?

Saturday we slept in (until 6am: mommy life) and then I snuck off to the gym again. I am always so happy when I do, hopefully with a month off of classes I can start getting there more often. After that, me and my little guy went into town to beat the crowds and do a bit of Christmas shopping. It is funny when you get to the mall at 9am and are able to watch the crazy slowly build. By 11am I am more than ready to get out of there and on my way home. The remainder of our day was spent with me making Christmas cookies, and finalizing/editing a 35 page group paper for Organizational Behavior. FUN.

Helping mama do homework by holding her lap hostage.

Someone got to taste an apple. I think he was impressed.

Casual mama/baby selfie.

My baby, busy being a big boy :-(



Sunday I woke up to realize my baby was still sleeping. He had gone down around 7:30 the night before, so this was surprising. However, my body was insistent that a baby needed food, so I got to wake up at 4:45 to hang out with my pump (again: mommy probz). I realized the beauty of being awake and alone for the first time in a long time, so I turned on some Christmas music and did some more paper editing. Just a casual 5am Sunday morning. Once the rest of my house woke up (note: baby slept 10 hours straight), mommy baked more cookies, did more homework, and daddy watched the Vikings lose (does anyone actually still have hope that the Vikings will one day not disappoint?) All of this was broken up with passing off a CRABBY baby between the two of us. He is either teething or having some growing pains. I measured him yesterday and he has grown over an INCH in a WEEK. I suppose I would be grumpy too. The rough day was made a bit easier by baby once again sleeping through the night. That is our first two night in a row stretch ever. And now for merely typing that last sentence he will most likely wake up every hour tonight. Meh, I'm used to it. At least the guy is cute.

Did anyone have any exciting weekend or get a lot of things accomplished?! I can't believe it is the last full work week of the year!

Linking up with Monday Morning Gossip 



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Caramel Apple Pie

Anyone who knows me knows of my love for baking. No day is complete without a little something sweet. I may or may not have stopped at Mickey Ds on the way home from night class and be enjoying a chocolate shake while watching the VS fashion show. Makes sense, right?

Due to my love of baking, my husband has tasted many, many different concoctions that I have tried out. Most he likes, some he doesn't, and some I get the thumbs up and a 'definitely make that again'. For Thanksgiving this year I decided to make a caramel apple pie. Of course, I hit up my go-to recipe book, pinterest, made a few slight tweaks, and ended up with the following recipe. It looked and smelled good enough, but I did not expect the response I got from Mike, which was:
"This is hands down the best dessert you have ever made. EVER."

I debated adding more apples, cutting back the amount of topping, or just making little tweaks. I was forbidden. "Don't. Change. One. Thing. It is PERFECT." Ok that makes it easy. So, from the mouth of my man, here is the recipe to the best apple pie. EVER.

Ingredients:
-premade pie crust (of course you can try out making your own, but this girl aint got time for that)
-8 sliced granny smith apples, peeled and cored
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons corn starch
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Topping
3/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup oats
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 cup coconut oil

Caramel
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
6 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
OK so to start get out your pie crust. Poke some holes in that crust with a fork so you don't get any bubbles while baking.
Combine your apples, brown sugar, corn starch, and cinnamon, and pour the mixture onto your pie crust.

Combine all of the topping ingredients in a large bowl and mix by hand until crumbly. *make sure you get all of those coconut oil bits broken down and mixed well.
Pour the dry mix over the top of the apple mix and pie crust.
Bake for 45 minutes. Depending on your oven, the pie will get brown, watch it towards the end to make sure it doesn't burn.

While the pie is baking, make the caramel sauce.
Combine sugar and corn syrup in a saucepan on the stove.
Cook and stir often, until the mixture turns a deep, golden color.
Remove the mix from heat and add the butter first, then the cream, then the vanilla (one at a time).

Allow the pie and the caramel sauce to cool completely.
Pour that delicious caramel over the top of that delicious pie (use as much as you want, I really don't think you can have TOO much caramel).

Enjoy!
Do any of you have any favorite recipes or desserts you always get requests for!?

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Friday Favorites-Beauty Products

Okay, I am no pro when it comes to beauty products. I am up, made up, and out the door in 30 minutes each morning, and that includes loading a baby into the car with me. But, that is not to say that I don't have my go-to products that keep me from looking like a walking zombie. One of these days, I think I will be pressuring my sister into joining me for a blog post, I am pretty sure her beauty collection could fund an all expense paid trip to Jamaica. The girl knows her products, and also knows where to find a steal of a deal and where it is worth the splurge. AND girly just got a job at a fantastic salon, which means this sista gets some pretty nice Aveda discounts. I will be keeping you posted on that.

SO, now that I have talked up my sister who will probably scoff at my beauty regimen, here are some of my favorite products.

1. Biore Ice Cleanser

This stuff is magic. I always had the greatest skin, and one day when I was 22 my skin decided to take a turn for the worst. No real acne or anything, just way more breakouts than I had ever experienced. I have tried MANY products, cheap, expensive, and in between, and this really is the best. It keeps breakouts away, but doesn't dry out my skin like so many of the other 'strong' facewashes do. I ran out of it last week and went about 3 days using backup products, and seriously in those 3 days my skin went downhill. This stuff is great, and cheap!

2. Bath and Body Works Sugar Aromatheraphy Sugar Scrub

Essential oils and sugar. YUM. This is my favorite treat to use when I take a shower (when a hungyr baby isn't screaming for me and I actually have time to take a full length shower).

3. Say Yes to Grapefruit CC Cream

This is one of my 'big splurges' (again, cheap) ringing in around $13. This stuff is great because while it goes on thick and moisturizes well (Minnesota winter killing anyone else's skin?), it does not clog my pores or make my skin feel oily at all. As someone who has gone many years without even wearing moisturizer due to fear of it causing breakouts, thsi stuff has been my best find. Love it, and it smells great. Win.

4. Naked Eye Palette

When it comes to makeup, I am CHEAP. But I got this for Christmas last year and literally use it every. single. day. I use ELF eye primer, and you get away with using way less of the shadow. I know Maybelline has a new palette that is similar, and I am dying to try it out.

5. L'Oreal Paris Valuminous Mascara



This find is thanks to my sister. I have used many mascaras, and this one goes on the thickest and best. And, again, cheap. Love cheap.

My beauty regimen really is pretty low maintenance and nothing special, but even so it is nice to find those few products that, after many many other product fails, really are worth the money and keep you coming back for more.

What are all of your favorite products that you have stumbled upon over the years!?

Linking up with Amanda and High Five for Fridays today!



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Four Months.

I remember last winter, thinking about how I would have a chubby little dark haired baby for Christmas this year. The only wrench in my plan is that the chunkster is 4 months old instead of 3. Otherwise, all of my dark haired, chubby dreams have come true, and I love the little guy more and more with every passing second. Maybe his early arrival was planned so that he had time to master his fine motor skills and learn how to grab toys in time for Christmas!? This is the most perfect and innocent and sweet that he will ever be, so I hope Santa got the memo and is planning to spoil my baby rotten!

Age: 4 months.
Height: 26 inches. 85th percentile. So far every month he has gone higher on the charts for height. It's not like tall genes run in the family or anything..

Weight: 17 pounds. 80th percentile. Which means I have stronger arms from throwing my baby in the air than 80% of all other mamas to 4 month old babes, right?

Milestones: he practices 'walking', and he loves it. We hold him upright and he puts one little chubby leg in front of the other, and thinks he is pretty cool. It is so cute! I never realized before how amazing it is to watch a baby figure out the world. We take for granted that children will learn to walk, talk, and reason. But watching it happen where one day it isn't part of their world and the next day it is the normal is crazy!
He also loves to coo and imitate every noise we make, which usually results in mom and dad acting like complete fools.

Sleep: still getting 6-8 hour stretches most nights. Can't complain, but not exactly doing a happy dance either. We are sooo close to making it all night (he has made it through the night twice so far). Strange to think that two months ago a 6 hour stretch warranted a major happy dance, and a 6 hour stretch now...*insert groans and complaining here*

Best Moment: his new favorite thing is getting his arms pulled out of his onesies. When the time comes to get naked and the arms get pulled through the sleeves, he chuckles like it is the funniest thing ever. Heart melted.
We also celebrated our first family holiday with him for Thanksgiving. It was fun showing him off to everyone and letting all of our relatives see how he has grown.
Worst Moment: this weekend there was a night when he woke up twice and never really went back to sleep. Funny how a 'bad night' now was a 'good night' two months ago! :-) 
On another note, this mama has been heavily debating cutting out her shopping and eating out habits and just staying home with baby this week. Ok not really. But this week has been rough, not on baby - who loves and adores getting snuggled and loved up on by grandma- but on me, and every day I love my baby more, which makes leaving him every day that much harder.

Health: just awesome. He is a super healthy guy, to date we are illness free (knock on wood!), he keeps food down almost all of the time, and he is growing like a weed.

Eating: obviously one of his greatest talents. His doctor's appointment is this Friday, and I'm really hoping we can start rice cereal after that!Will that be our golden ticket to finally pass the 8 hour sleep stretch and make it through the night!?...

Teeth: None. He has been extra fussy the last few days and super tired, and HOLY DROOL, so we will see how long his toothless mouth lasts..

We may not have gotten any smiles for our picture this month, but we are blessed with one happy, snuggly, giggly little man. I am so excited to see what he is doing next monthYEAR. That's right, next month we will be into 2015. I see big changes coming for our little guy in the next few months, I hate to see my tiny baby go, but I love to watch him grow.

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