Cars Table.

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

A couple week ago we were over at my mother-in-law's house for dinner and I casually mentioned how we went to Costco that day and saw this amazing Cars table but it was too expensive and probably too big for our little townhouse when I was quickly followed up by this conversation...

Emma (my niece) : We bought that for Mason.
Erin (my sister-in-law, her mom) : No, we didn't.
Emma : Yeah we did mom! We got it at Costco today.
Erin : No, we didn't.
Emma : Yes mom! I had to ride home with my knees up on top of the box!

Haha. Gotta love kids. I love my niece to death but she can't keep a secret to save her life these days. Although, if you are going to tell a secret, at least it's a good one! So, I've been excited about this present for weeks and finally a couple days before Christmas, we brought it home. The box was too huge to wrap and the table needed to be put together, so Seth's mom had up bring it home early to set up. For those of you who follow me on Instagram [ @lizbir ], you may have already seen a couple of these pictures, but for those of you who don't, you're in for a treat! This thing is AMAZING. Mason is one lucky boy!

After three hours (and no alcohol surprisingly!), it was built...






The thing is huge and takes up a little of room in our place, but it's so worth it! Right now Mason doesn't fully understand the concept of what he is supposed to do, so he mainly puts the cars in his mouth and wrecks the track 10 times a day, but he is having fun! 



 And this was on a good day lol.
Normally there are pieces all over the room!

When I zoom the cars around the track, he laughs and laughs and gets excited so I know he understands what to do, but he is just not old enough to do it. Which is also the beauty of the gift... since it is meant for ages 3+, he can grow into the gift and use it for years!

OH, I should mention... this is exciting! I'm sure you noticed my new look. I decided to give the blog a little face lift and contacted the fabulous Kathy at Nudge Media Design (see her etsy shop here) for one of her pre-made designs. I hope you like it!

Happy New Year's Eve!

25 days of Christmas books

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Christmas has come and gone. Mason got more presents than we know what to do with. We started some traditions that we want to carry on for years to come. One of the most exciting one... 25 days of Christmas books! I wrapped 25 different books and put them under Mason's mini Christmas tree. I had originally wanted to put it in his room but instead I kept it downstairs so we could all enjoy it all the time. Each night Mason (with help) got to pick out 1 book to open and Seth or I would read it to him that night. Some of the books are age appropriate right now and some are for the future. If it was too long of a book for him to sit through, we simply read one of his favorite age appropriate ones again and Mason was none the wiser :) Overall, it was a super fun tradition that I intend on continuing next year!


one (we got it at Costco) // two // three
four // five
six // seven // eight


nine // ten // eleven from dollar bin at Target









What are your favorite Christmas books?
Anything we need to add to our collection for next year?


Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Fun.

Friday, December 27, 2013

Merry Christmas friends! Hope everyone had a great Christmas and Christmas Eve! I know we did. I have so much I want to share, but I will break it down into a couple posts so it's not one ridiculously long one.

I am always so excited for holidays with Mason. To see his little face light up when he explores new things is really all the present I need. And Christmas was no different. I took approximately 98762836 pictures between Christmas Eve and Day so while it may seem like I have a ton, just remember, I have toned it down to spare you the minute by minute playbook of the two days :)

The fun started off on the night of Christmas Eve Eve when I made some goodies to take to dinner both nights. I was making this grasshopper mint chocolate bark right before Mason's bed time when I decided that I needed a little taste tester to tell me if the chocolate was good or not. Someone LOVED it and started bouncing off the walls right before bed. 
Oops.

 

Christmas Eve we were lucky enough to both be able to have off. Seth took Mason to an appointment in the morning while I rested since I seemed to have come down with a cold (perfect timing!). They got home and we decided that since it was such a nice day, we should go to the park for a bit before Mason's nap.

We came home, Mason napped, and I wrapped some last minute gifts. After Mason woke up, we headed over to Grandma Judy and Grandpa George's house (my brother-in-law's parents but we call them Grandpa and Grandma since our families are close). We had dinner, opened presents, and were even visited by Santa! We were there for a couple of hours and then came home to go to bed and wait for Santa to come to our house. It was a perfect night... made even more perfect by one of my sister-in-law's announcing that there would be a new addition to the family next summer! We are beyond excited!





We set out Santa's cookies and the reindeer's carrots and headed off to bed...


And when we woke up, we found that Santa had come!

We cleaned up the plates and then headed over to Nanny's house for Christmas morning with the fam. It was beyond perfect and I loved spending the whole morning opening presents and eating breakfast with these three. Mason has started with this cheesy smile and almost all of Christmas morning pictures have him smiling like this. 
Too stinkin' cute.




It was an American Girl Christmas for the girls and Seth, Mason, and I got them the American Girl trundle bed for their dolls. They were SO excited when they opened the box and immediately set up the bed and put their dolls to sleep.

We headed home after presents and breakfast for Mason to take a nap and to get ready for dinner. We headed back over for dinner with the extended family and had a great time.

It was a perfect Christmas! I'm already excited for next year!
Merry Christmas!






Cookies and Carrots.

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

We've got the cookies out for Santa and the carrots out for the reindeer. 




We're ready for you, Santa!
Merry Christmas Eve!

Our Christmas Card 2013

Monday, December 23, 2013



Merry Christmas Eve Eve from our family to yours!

Weekends are for... boat parades and Santa!

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Saturday : Every year at Christmas time, Newport Beach puts on a boat parade. We've gone a couple times and have always had a great time. A couple years ago we were able to get a great spot on someone's dock and were able to see all the boats up close. Last year we got there a little late so we ended up seeing the end of the parade but still had a pretty good view off a little beach on the harbor. This year I planned in advance and wanted to get there early so we could get a good spot. And sadly to say, I was kind of disappointed. It didn't live up the the way I envisioned it. We got there early and found a nice couple that let us share their table. We hit up the pizza place that was next to the table and the service was...awful. They were so unprepared for the mass amounts of people that come to the parade. I'm not quite sure how that happened since this is the 105th boat parade so I'm sure they knew it would be busy. The pizza was good, but we had to wait almost an hour to get 2 slices each. Also, there weren't very many boats. Overall, we did have fun but I think we will be trying to the Dana Point boat parade next year.




Sunday : We had a much better Sunday and had planned to go see Santa. This was the first year that all the brother and sisters had kids so we wanted to take a cousin picture. The ages ranged from 2 months to 6 years so I was a little worried about how it would all go down but everyone did well and we got a super cute picture! We had gotten there a little earlier than the others so we walked around an enjoyed the pretty decorated trees and decorations around the mall.










We are enjoying the holiday season so much and I can't believe Christmas is already on Wednesday!


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