Calling all last minutes shoppers

This post is sponsored by InComm.  All opinions are my own. 

Are any of you last minute shoppers like me? It's the 21st and I'm STILL trying to finish up.  Of course I didn't even start until about the 15th of December.  

It's who I am.

Now I know a lot of people think it's impersonal to give gift cards but I happen to think it's one of the best gifts you can give.  Who doesn't like to get the gift of shopping? or eating? Or entertainment? 

Personally, gift cards are one of my favorite things I get.   It means I get to splurge on something I want.  Or go out to eat for free.  Or get coffee or diet coke for free! I'm always THRILLED to get gift cards.  

I also LOVE when I don't have to shop a thousand places.  I"m at Walmart pretty much every day so if I can pick up a gift there - it makes my life so easy.  That's why I love these huge gift cards stands.  

They have all kinds of options.  From Starbucks to restaurants to movies.  

I had a last minute gift to buy and Hollis helped me pick it out.  

Who doesn't love the movies? Our family LOVES to go to the movies.  We thought a fun gift would be this $50 fandango gift card.  We combined it with movie size candy (that Hollis picked out) and my very favorite popcorn in all the world (have you had - it's delicious!) 

I had this cute popcorn container left over from a party a few years ago so we put in a little tissue and made a gift of it.  It was SO easy.  

You have 4 days left.  If you need a last minute gift - Walmart can hook you up and your friends/famiily/teachers will thank you!!!

Cards, Chips and Christmas

I wish I could mail all of you a card but since I can't - pretend you just opened this in your mailbox! 

I've had a ton of DM's asking me where I got the girls' dresses.  I have to share this story.  I love cute kid clothes but I am a bargain hunter.  I try to buy most clothes when there are sales and I love to shop second hand.  Last year I went to a second hand store and they had these two dresses brand new with tags.  They just happened to be their sizes and were $8 each.  I may have done a praise dance somewhere in the store.  It makes me love the dresses more to know what a find they were! And we have gotten two years worth out of them.  

Monday my friends took me to a birthday lunch.  My birthday is Friday but when you are a Christmas baby - you celebrate early and often. I picked a cheap mexican place because it's just my favorite.  What is better than laughing with friends and chips and salsa? To me - there is nothing better.  We stayed for two hours and probably could have stayed another two hours if we all didn't have kids to pick up.  What a blessing these girls are to me.  

Monday night we met a few friends to ice skate.  Scott kept Will Holden at home and the girls got to skate with friends.  

Laurie and I decided to just be spectators and photographers.  

Tuesday night Scott took me for a birthday date to my favorite restaurant.  Then we went to Walmart to buy stocking stuffers.  We have this same date every year and it makes me happy.  One of the happy things about having a birthday this time of year is enjoying the lights and fun! 

We are less than a week away from Christmas!!!

Cookies and Communion

My girls have been asking for FOREVER if we could bake cookies together and take them to people. So I decided we should have our first annual cookie day! I hope this is something we can keep doing every year.  Sometimes I like to visualize me and the girls when they are teens or adults and us together (and Will Holden - but he may not always be into the baking.  Or maybe he will).  

And of course we stayed in our pj's but we broke out the aprons! 

We baked all day.  To be completely truthful - the girls dropped out after a couple of hours.  But they came back from time to time. ha! 

We made sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter blossoms, chocolate covered pretzels and red velvet cake balls.  

And Will Holden thinks he helped.  

When we finally got it all done, we packed it up.  We made boxes for the people on our street and for their teachers and for a few close friends.  

I got these darling boxes at Hobby Lobby!!! Aren't they cute? 

We have a fire station in our neighborhood.  The girls have been asking FOREVER if we could make cookies and take them there.  So we finally made them a special box and took them over.  They were so nice.  They invited us in and gave us a tour.  This little boy LOVES fire trucks (Santa may be bringing him one) so he was in HEAVEN!!! They let him get in and I thought we would never get him out.  

My girls were beside themselves with excitement too.  

Harper went over to eat and spend some time with Sarah Kate Saturday night.  When I went to get here she was holding their huge cat.  It's not Kristen.  Kristen would never let her hold her.  

This morning we had church.  After church the GA's went caroling.  My girls were so excited.  

Today was one of those days where we just lived at church.  I picked the girls up from caroling and we came home and changed clothes and basically went right back.  We had a Lord's Supper service and we are in charge of getting it set up.  

These kids are such troopers.  We were at the church for another four hours tonight and they just played and had so much fun.  I"m thankful for their good attitudes and love for church.  

When Harper was a baby - I had Scott take a picture of just me and her in front of the Christmas tree. I have done it every year since and I'm SO glad.  I love watching them grow.  

This is just the last four years.  The first I was pregnant with Will Holden.  He's killing me in his bow tie this year.  And Harper is almost as tall as me.  It really is true about not blinking.  

And this picture just screams Joy.  

What a season full of joy this has been.  

Santa Claus is coming to town

We have had a fun week of more Christmas celebrating.  

Tuesday was our Women's Ministry Christmas lunch.  We had a big turnout and it was so nice! 

I thought the hot chocolate bar was so cute! 

My friend Jennifer spoke.  She was amazing! 

My friend Rhyanne and I were cleaning up when it was over.  Our boys had to play while we worked.  I get so tickled at Will Holden when he finally gets to play with boys.  He's always surrounded by girls - at home, church and school.  He just comes alive when he has boys to be rowdy with.  They had so much fun.  Of course, soon after this - the three year old knocked out a tooth on the Chapel Organ.  So there's that.  

Tuesday night we had a Tangible Truth board meeting/Christmas party.  The only picture I took was of the cute cake I got at the Bentonville Baking Company.  

Will Holden had pajama day at school on Wednesday.  How sweet is he? 

We had to take a picture in Santa's sleigh while Harper was at piano lessons.  

We headed to see Santa on Thursday night.  I had to pull up all of our last pictures.  I love these.  

And this year could not have gone more perfect.  Will Holden is a BIG fan of Santa.  I almost died when he hopped right up and actually smiled and posed.  If you knew how hard it was to take his picture, you would understand what a miracle this is.  It normally takes us jumping around like idiots to get him to look at all.  I just love this picture! Even if we no longer have a crying picture. 

No matter how much I don't love it, these kids just keep growing.  Will Holden looks drunk last year. ha! 

This weekend the girls and I have planned our first ever Stamps girls baking day! They can't wait to pass out cookies to lots of friends and neighbors.  

Till He Appeared and the soul felt its worth

Birthdays are a time of reflection.

My birthday is coming up in a week or so and I always think about my years in the past and where I have been and marvel at how old I am!! ha! Especially the older I get.  And I wonder what my life will be like in a few years.

When my children have birthdays, I always spend time right before their big day looking back at old pictures and videos of them.  I love remembering them as babies and toddlers.  I love telling old stories about them and laughing and thinking about how much they have changed and how much they have grown.  It's a time to really focus on them and what their lives mean to me and all the special things about them.  I love to reminisce about all my special moments with them over the years.

Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus.  And I can't help but sing Christmas carols and look at nativities and read the story of His birth in the Gospels and think about what His life means.  When I think about what Jesus has done for me I don't think about material things.  I think about how He came to live as a man and feel all the things we do.  I think about how He died a very painful death on the cross to take on our sin and take our place.

I am thankful for how He has blessed me with a sweet family and a home and health.  But I also think about how He was with me when times were not easy.  I think of when I was single and lonely or when it took years to have a baby or when Harper was so sick in the hospital or how He gave me peace when I had anxiety or other personal trials and how those were the times that He drew me the closest to Him and when I felt Him the most.

His birthday means more to me than all my birthdays or my kids' birthdays combined.  His birthday was a gift to all of us. His birth was supernatural and miraculous.  It was predicted thousands of years before He came.  It was humble and quiet.  It was the beginning of a shift in sacrifice.  His birth meant our eternity was changed just by our faith and belief rooted in grace and mercy too magnificent to understand.

So as I think about Christmas coming in less than two weeks - I'm trying to not only have fun with my family and enjoy the lights and the fun and the presents and the joy of the season - but I'm reflecting on what Jesus and His life and His birth and His death mean.  And I don't want to miss the magnitude of it all.  Or the wonder.

His birth reminds me that this earth is not my home.  And while I love this life I have, there is something so much greater waiting for me.  And my prayer is that I will celebrate Christmas in Heaven with you one day.

Long lay the world in sin and error pining

Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth

A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices

For yonder breaks a new glorious morn

T. O. Y. O.

I know the whole YOLO thing but I'm going by a new motto this season ......."They're Only Young Once".  I have so many things I need to be doing right now but there are just so many fun things to do during December and my kids just soak it all up.  So we are making time as often as we can to do all the Christmas things possible with them.  And it doesn't have to be big.  They get equally excited to just drink hot chocolate at night as anything! 

Last week they had Cookies with Santa at their school.  This was more of a Hipster Santa but we still went for it.  

Will Holden had Grinch day at school on Friday.  He LOVES the movie so I knew he would love it.  I had to buy this sweater when I saw it at Target.  

Friday night after dinner at home, we made everyone hot chocolate to go and went to see a Live Nativity.  It was SO neat and pointed us back to the real reason we celebrate Christmas.  

Although in true discretion (less you think everything is picture perfect) - although the girls loved it, Will Holden spent the whole 45 minutes we were there screaming "WHERE IS BABY JESUS. I WAN TO SEE BABY JESUS" over and over and over.  And also "I WANT TO GO TO MY HOUSE AND WATCH TV".  So there's that. ha! 

One of our favorite traditions is working in our Christmas store at our church.  We did that Saturday morning.  It's so much more fun now that the girls are older because they love helping.  They both really enjoyed getting to work.  

Saturday afternoon we took the kids ice skating.  Our town has a neat little outdoor ice skating rink.  It's a splash pad in the summer and a rink in the winter.  The girls have been begging to go but it's tricky when you have a little brother.  I lost my mind temporarily and decided to let him skate.  I pushed him with this walker.  He liked it for half a lap and then he was done.  

The girls LOVED it.  I'm going to have to find time to take just them.  

We left there and ate downtown where we could see the lights.  

Our square is so pretty at Christmas.  

We ate at The Station where we could eat burgers and see the lights.  Santa and Mrs. Claus were even on the square.  

We had such a good time.  

And when it's freezing outside - what's better than ice cream? There is a cute soda shoppe on the square.  They all love Spark flavor which is blue and yellow (it's actually the Walmart special ice cream).  

Sunday we went to church and then Hollis went home with her friend Joseph for a few hours to play. Then we headed to Fayetteville and ate at U S Pizza.  They have my very favorite salad anywhere and the kids love the pizza.  

I love the Fayetteville square at Christmas.  It's always been one of my favorite places.  We took the kids on a carriage ride.  It was so fun! 

These two sweet peas make me so happy.  

Hollis looks sad in half these pictures - she was so happy! 

Then we headed to the Stewart Family Christmas Lights.  This is a family property with an insane amount of lights.  This was our first time to visit.  

Apparently they were on some TV show last week. 

Will Holden's face says it all - they were all full of joy! 

They even had fake snow! 

We had the best time and all three kids fell asleep on the way home.  

It's the BEST time of the year!