Christmas Smell

Some people love the smell of their real Christmas Tree.

Tried it last year.

Never again.

It died before Christmas.

We were still picking needles out of our carpet in July.

We are a Fake-Tree-Family.

Some people light their Holiday Candles.

Which, I admit, I love my Cranberry Chutney Yankee candle.

My favorite way to fill my house with the smell of the Holidays.

Christmas smell!

I know this is some how a family recipe, I just don't remember how.

I remember the smell filling our house from Thanksgiving to New Years when I was little.

When DJ and I were on our Honeymoon, two years ago exactly, the smell filled the condo.

I think that is why we love it so much, now.

It reminds us of our Honeymoon.

Ingredients:

1 Orange Cut Up

(I use 1/2 am orange and save the rest for another batch)

1 Lemon Cut Up

 (I use 1/2 am lemon and save the rest for another batch)

2 Cinnamon Sticks

(I have used ground cinnamon if I don't have cinnamon sticks)

1/4 Cup Whole Cloves

(I have never used 1/4 cup, maybe a tablespoon or 2. Didn't realize until just now that I was supposed to used whole cloves...I have used the same tiny jar of ground cloves for 2 years now...)

2 Bay Leaves

(I have actually always stuck to the 2 bay leaves.)

 

 Put it in a sauce pan and cover it with water.

 Put the pan on low, and let the smell of the holidays fill your house!

**Disclaimer: DO NOT let the water run out.  It will burn, and ruin your pan.  Not that I know or anything...  Also, it will look this pretty for about an hour.  Then it all turns black.  I change mine every week or so.


*Please ignore my teflon pan.  Didn't know how bad they were when we got them.  Now that I know...well...I'm working on it.  Along with about 1,000 other things. :-)

Fredrick Meijer Gardens

I have been saying for years that I want to go to the Meijer Gardens for their Christmas Tree Display.

The whole building is full of Christmas Trees, decorated from different countries.

I loved reading about each country.

Learning about what traditions each country participates in, and why.

Karson loved it!

Old ladies would walk by and comment on how cute his is.

His turkey-ness always came out, full swing every time someone made eye contact with him.

We spent way too much time apart this weekend.

Although I spend every day with him as a SAHM, 

today was a much needed Mommy-Karson day!

Enjoy the pictures of my little Turkey in front of the different trees....

 Some Auntie Leesha love time!

He is clapping...

 ...YAAY for the Christmas Tree.

Oh, how I love him!

The reason Karson's stroller is merely pushed in front of every tree for a picture...

...This was the result of trying to get a picture in front of a tree.

After trying to destroy a poinsettia, he kept walking to me, instead of smiling.

Back in the stroller he went.

 

 And, in case you didn't believe me that my kid is a Turkey...

 ...total Turkey!

Apparently, he needed a Mommy day just as much as I needed a Karson day!

Mommy loved having her Munchkin back all day today!

Auntie Leesh & Auntie Katie

I grew up without sisters.

I have awesome sister-in-laws.

I love them dearly.

But never had sisters living in my house.

I have three brothers.

Honestly, I love being the only girl.

Never had to share a room.

Never had to share clothes.

Girl Time meant my Mom and I.

Not having sisters has made me appreciate my girlfriends even more.

It has taught me that you do not have to be related to be family.

 Meet Auntie Leesh and Auntie Katie.

I have talked about them before.

Auntie Leesh took these pictures and these.

Auntie Katie is a Wedding Planner.

Visit her blog.

She has some really cool ideas.

Still working on getting Auntie Leesh to start one.

I have a hard time referring to them as merely friends.

They are so much more!

  

They were there on my wedding day.
Ran errand for me the day before.
Helped calm my nerves the day of.
Danced into the middle of the night at my reception.

They celebrated with us, when we found out Karson was on his way.

When we thought we were losing him, Auntie Leesha took me to an ultrasound.
She was there when I found out we would be having a boy.
Texting DJ the whole time, so although he wasn't able to be there, he felt included.
 They stayed at the hospital all day when I was in labor with Karson.
They made me laugh.
Helped calm me down.
Encouraged me.
Anxiously awaited his birth with me!

They were in the waiting room when he was born.  

They held him, loved him, and snuggled when he was minutes old.

Auntie Leesha was at our house hours after we brought Karson home.

Karson was 3 weeks early.
I wasn't totally prepared.
She picked up a few of the essentials for me.

Auntie Katie came over numerous times, and snuggled my munchkin so I could take a much needed nap.

 They had balloons at our house waiting for him, when we got home from his surgery.

They have been silly with him.

 Rocked him to sleep. 

 They have loved my baby as their own.

Karson will always know them as his Aunties

Because they deserve the title.

They are truly Aunties to him.

Both Auntie Katie and Auntie Leesh are GRADUATING from College today.

Auntie Leesha with a degree in Psychology/Special Education

Auntie Katie with a degree in Event Planning.

They have spent hours upon hours waiting for this day.

Auntie Leesha & Auntie Katie,

Congratulations!  THANK YOU for all you do for us.  Thank you for making time to love on our Munchkin.  Thank you for being Aunties to him. We love you both!

Love,

DJ, Kelly, &  Karson

P.S. Their Husband & *soon to be* Husband are awesome too.

  They too have made time to love on our sweet boy!

And please know, I have a huge problem with the fact that I had to DIG for pictures.  Even stole some from facebook.  Meaning, now that you are college graduates, we need to get together more!

Meeting Santa

I have always said I would never take my baby to the mall to see Santa.

Not because we don't do Santa, because we do.

We do Santa big.

We will raise our children to believe in both the Magic and Miracle of Christmas.

Our children will sing Happy Birthday to Jesus on Christmas Morning.

They will believe that Santa's reindeer will land on our roof.

 They will understand the true meaning of Christmas.

While anxiously awaiting Santa's arrival.

The reason we will not go to see the mall Santa,

{I will eat those words some day} 

is because of the germs.

Gross.

Hundreds of kids sitting on one Creepy-Rent-a-Santa's lap.

 I, of course, felt like a bad Mom, but I wouldn't...couldn't do it.

I was ecstatic when Ecobuns announced that Santa would be visiting their store.

Thrilled!

I could be a good Mommy and take Karson to see Santa

You see, I am one of those sappy Moms.

I love all of Karson's firsts!

I love making a huge deal out of the little things.

I was anxiously awaiting DJ getting home from work all day.

I love making memories as a family.

We got Karson dressed up in his Christmas outfit, and headed to meet Santa.

There was a family in line before us, and Karson was flirting.

We were thinking, sweet, our kid is going to love this.

This was his first reaction...

...ok well...he did the same thing when GrandmaNana bought him a talking Elmo.

Then he loved it.

Didn't get any better.

So we switched to Mommy.

That would work right...

Maybe not.

He was TERRIFIED!

"Daddy, please stop hiding behind that camera and come save me from this scary guy!"

We realized if there was any hope of getting a non screaming picture of Karson with Santa, Mommy was going to have to sit on Santa's lap too.

So here is Karson's first Santa picture.

With Mommy, but he isn't crying.

He is about to, and did right after the picture was taken.

Hopefully, next  year will be better.

Kacy

Kacy was our dog growing up.

She was one of those dogs that never listened.

Never.

Not once.

If you looked away for even 2 seconds, she would steal your food.

She ran out the door every chance she got.

She barked, and barked, and barked, and barked.

You couldn't walk her.

She was extremely territorial.

But she had eyes that could melt anyone.

Her absolute favorite thing, ever?

Christmas time.

Not kidding.

The second the Christmas Tree came upstairs, she lit up.

She turned into the little kid at Christmas time.

She sat in front of the tree from the day we put it up, until the day we took it down.

As soon as presents went under the tree, she wouldn't let anyone near them.

We have pictures of her sleeping in front of the tree before we went to bed.

Pictures of her in the EXACT same spot when we woke up.

There were years she was the first to wake up on Christmas Morning.

She would run through the house so excited, jumping on every one's beds until we were all awake.

Reminding you right now that she is the black and white springer in the picture above.

Why was she so excited about Christmas?

Every year she got a new bone.

She HAD to be the first one to open her present on Christmas morning.

She wouldn't let anyone near the presents until she got to open hers.

Not kidding.

We even left hers on top of the TV, so we could get to it.

Every year we would wrap the bone, and leave it in the plastic.

She would figure out a way to get the bone out.

She pranced around with her new bone for days.

We lost Kacy a few years ago.

She was old.  Really old.

The first Christmas without Kacy was hard.

It was hard to wake up on Christmas morning without her jumping on us.

It was hard to be able to actually get to the presents under the tree.

Kacy's picture sits under neath my parents tree each year.

The first year Kacy was gone, St. Nick brought my brothers and I a picture frame of Kacy sitting in front of our Christmas Tree.

Kacy now hangs on our tree each year.

She is one of our first ornaments we put up.

As soon as the tree goes up at my parent's house, we put Kacy's picture under neath it.

We have never, not once, put up the tree, or woken up on Christmas morning without remembering Kacy.

How much our dog LOVED Christmas!

*Let it Snow*

If you know us well,

you know we like snow.

You have probably heard my husband saying "Its going to snow!"

...in July...

Taking Karson in the snow for the first time, was like taking him to Lake Michigan for the first time.

Or to see the Mackinac Bridge.

We were so excited when the snow started to fall last week.

We were so bummed when the same day the snow fell, Karson woke up sick.

 He missed the first snow, but we made it out a few days later.

 

 

 

He wasn't, and still isn't feeling great, so it was a quick trip out to the snow.

Can you guess...

Can you guess...

 ...what Karson is doing?

 If you guessed walking across my living room last week.

 The day BEFORE he turned 9 months old.

When he was technically still 8 months old.

 You would be....

 ...CORRECT!