12 Days of Christmas Vacation!

Since our trip to see family was 12 days long I 

decided it would be fun to recap with my very own 

"Twelve Days of Christmas Vacation". 

ONE long car ride with ONE good boy! He was a trooper!

TWO friends with matching shirts.

THREE snuggly blankets. A little bit of home in each new house.

FOUR cousins playing! They had so much fun together!

And FOUR cousins matching! Go Browns!

FIVE Andersen girlies. Much Love!

SIX homemade scarves.

SEVEN minutes of playing outside! Warmer weather- yea!

EIGHT Ritz crackers, he seemed to eat non-stop.

NINE dollar movies...ouch.

TEN Whites at a Christmas movie!

A train every ELEVEN minutes...or so it seems.

TWELVE people loving! ;-)

Merry Christmas Eve!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! 

We want to wish everyone a great Christmas with your family and friends!! I hope you have lots of special moments just being together and loving each other.

I have been so excited to share these photos that I did of Aiden a couple weeks ago because I love them!! They are probably some of my favorites. I gave him his first candy cane ever and he loved it of course! I feel like these pictures are totally him; with both his concentration and his goofy faces. 

Our Family Christmas!

Because we are leaving bright and early tomorrow morning for our Christmas vacation we celebrated our family Christmas tonight! It is so much fun to give gifts to those you love, especially when you get to watch the delight of your child.

His face when he saw his next present...

A basketball hoop!!

 He really liked it and we are excited for all the time that will be spent playing with it.

Well I better get to sleep because 5:30 will be here real quick. I will not be blogging on my regular schedule but be sure to check in on Christmas Eve!!! 

Foto Friday :: Tomato-Basil Parmesan Soup

There are some things about cooking that make me really happy. One is color, I love it when it looks so pretty. One color combination I love is onion, carrots and celery. It just looks so good together. 

Another thing I love about cooking is using the crock pot or oven. I like being able to prepare it hours before and then it's just ready when we are ready to eat. It's AWESOME!

This recipe is one I found on...dum-de-dum....PINTEREST! Of course, where else. :) And it had both these things that I love so I wanted to share. It was good, sort of like a grown up tomato soup. Serve with bread or a grilled cheese (with garlic) and it's delicious. 

Here is the recipe...

2 (14 oz) cans diced tomatoes, with juice

1 cup finely diced celery

1 cup finely diced carrots

1 cup finely diced onions

1 tsp dried oregano or 1 T fresh oregano

1 T dried basil or 1/4 cup fresh basil

4 cups chicken broth

½ bay leaf

½ cup flour

1 cup Parmesan cheese

½ cup butter

2 cups half and half, warmed

1 tsp salt

¼ tsp black pepper

Add tomatoes, celery, carrots, chicken broth, onions, oregano, basil (if using fresh oregano and basil, if using dried oregano and basil add it in the last hour of cook time), and bay leaf to a large slow cooker. Cover and cook on LOW for 5-7 hours, until flavors are blended and vegetables are soft. About an hour before serving prepare a roux. Melt butter over low heat in a skillet and add flour. Stir constantly with a whisk for 5-7 minutes. Slowly stir in 1 cup hot soup. Add another 3 cups and stir until smooth. Add all back into the slow cooker. Stir and add the Parmesan cheese, warmed half and half, salt and pepper. Cover and cook on LOW for another hour until ready to serve.

 I missed the "Add another 3 cups and stir until smooth" part, so mine wasn't very creamy, but I think if I would have followed the directions it would have been. lol.

ENJOY!

Mommy Monday :: Growing Up

This past week I began to change Aiden's room from a baby room to a toddler room. I got rid of his changing table and rocker. We decided to move them out now due to a certain Christmas present he will be getting (which will not be revealed until the appropriate time). Also, it gave him more room to be able to play in his room, which he has done a lot of since it's been changed.

I must say that I did get sentimental when I was moving those things out, remembering all the hours spent in the rocker and how many times a day he was on the changing table. I just can't believe how fast it's gone.

Here are some photos of his new room. But first a couple of disclaimers: 

1. I am wanting to make him a reading corner and just don't have the stuff yet.

2. It looks like there is absolutely nothing on the walls, but in fact there are cute things that I love on every wall, they are just up higher and so are not in the photos. 

Foto Friday :: Play Time

Here are some shots I took of Aiden just playing away one day. I like these because they are simply Aiden.

*First Snow*

In honor of our first official snow here in the Southern Tier we would like to say...

*Welcome To Winter* 

Mommy Monday :: Stress

This post is something I would call a don't-have-it-all-figured-out-work-in-progress-post. It's interesting because when these special times come around like Christmas, birthdays, vacation...etc we look forward to them so much! But they are also filled with so much preparation and busyness that it can suck the fun out of it if we aren't careful. Then all of a sudden it's over and you're left thinking "what even happened and I wish I could do it over". 

I have a list of things I want to get done before we leave for Christmas vacation in 11 days. Really, it's not too much and I am more than capable of getting it done. So why the stress? I think for me it is the anticipation of doing everything and sometimes I feel like I am going nonstop. 

Like I said earlier, I don't have the answer of what I need to do to be unstressed, but I do have some thoughts. 

1. Talking to God about it- giving it to Him over and over again if that is what it takes. 

2. Taking time in my day to rest and do nothing. 

3. Trying to remember what is really important- people.

Sometimes these things are easier said than done. But, here we go....I am going to end this post and play with my son who is begging for attention :)

Speaking of Christmas, here's our tree!!

Foto Friday :: Watching Daddy

Multiple time throughout the day there are these moments that I experience with Aiden that I just love. Moments that make me so thankful for our lives. This was one of those and I was lucky to capture it. 

Aiden is watching his Daddy shave. He stood there for a long time just fascinated by it all (which is how I had time to grab my camera and get it). So cute!