Christmas Time is here!
We also put up the rest of the decorations too which was so fun to do for the first time in our new home! My parents decided to get a new tree this year and were so nice to give us their old 9 foot (GORGEOUS) tree! Of course when they offered it to me.. I calmly accepted it with appreciation but inside I was literally jumping for joy! It looks so beautiful in our bonus room! Thank you Mom & Dad!
** Yes I realize we have no decorations on it... I don't need the stress of penny pulling off all the decorations all day everyday.. so maybe next year!
We did a few Christmas lights outside.. also courtesy of my parents (seriously what we would we do without their hand-me-downs!)
In November we also made Christmas Chocolates. A tradition that Brian's Grandma Reed taught me and I think I will continue to carry on her tradition. I simply adore Grandma Reed. She feels just like my Grandma to me, I am so lucky to have her. This year, we decided to let the boys get in on the action of Christmas Chocolates. These take so much time and effort but are absolutely amazing and make it all worth it! First we had to break off the giant chocolate bar into pieces to melt.
(Don't mind the pictures. No makeup, and taken with Brian's phone... not ideal but it was real life)
Then we dipped them.
I had made the fondant a couple nights earlier. We made only three flavours. Orange, Coconut and Peppermint. In total we made 205 chocolates, which seemed like plenty.. until we gave them all away and now I wish I had more.
It really was so fun to do with my boys this year. No wonder Grandma Reed did it with her kids every year as they grew.
Our Christmas Cards are sent and these three little chickens of ours are welcoming December with open arms .. and open advent calendars of course! We are trying our best to really embrace the true meaning of Christmas and Carter and Bentley are soon cute when they tell me that we have Christmas because its "Jesus's Birthday!!". He truly was the very first gift and as much as its now politically correct to say "Happy Holidays", we still will say "MERRY CHRISTMAS!!" with a giant smile of course! We will keep Christ in Christmas!
And I must not forget to post about this little Penny girl!!
She is now 14 months old (WHAT!?) and is just as active as her big brother! Constantly climbing on the table, pushing the chairs around to get onto the counter, dumping the salt and flour all over the floor and has recently learned to say "uh-oh" which isn't surprising considering I say it a millions times a day at all of her mischievous behaviour.
She had her 1 year vaccinations last week (a little late but thats ok) and now weighs 22 pounds 3 ounces and is in the 75th percentile for weight, and 45th percentile for height. She has a sweet little sensitive soul and screamed from the moment the nurse tried to weigh her until the moment her needles were done. So happy she is smiling again.
Excited for the rest of this wonderful Christmas season and a fun week ahead!