Decking our Halls

Our home is finally ready for Christmas! Better late than never right? It makes me so happy to sit by the glow of the tree in the evenings while we wrap presents and watch Hallmark movies. We completely re-did our living room this fall and have been slowly adding to it, finishing up just in time for the holidays! 

Back in August we painted and changed our walls from a dark brown to a bright white while Jacob was having a sleepover at his grandparents. A few weeks later we swapped our old olive couch for a new slate sectional and got a hand me down console that fit the new room much better. Just a few weeks before thanksgiving we finally got a rug and a coffee table and last week we finally got a shelf and some art up on the walls. Minted has the most amazing art selection (we hung their Pines print on our gallery wall) that it took me forever to choose. I finally picked the Lake View print to tie in the blush and navy tones in our gallery wall and rug. 

One of the first things I did once our shelf was hung was head out in search of fresh garland. It took a few stops but Tree Towne came through for me. Even better our garland is white pine from Michigan, which feels like a little piece of home hanging in our house for the holidays. I hung our stockings from the shelf as well, and then added some decorations on top - Jacobs nutcracker, a few bottle brush trees, a snow bird (it's our little Florida inside joke) and a chalkboard print. I wove twinkle lights throughout the garland which gives us a little extra sparkle for fun. 

This year is our first year having a flocked tree and we love it. Jacob loves rearranging the decorations on a daily basis so we made sure to only hang unbreakable ornaments. I used white lights, a jeweled garland, and added a Moravian star on top. 

Our couch has about 50 blankets folded on it, and just as many pillows. If you guessed we spend a lot of time here you'd be absolutely correct. We love curling up with each other to watch movies or even to take a nap! 

We do most of our wrapping down here so I filled a basket next to our console with all our wrapping paper to keep it at our fingertips. Jacob's Christmas truck and our peppermint woolie ball garland sit on top of the console and I even remembered to switch out the Thanksgiving art work on our gallery wall for a pretty print with lyrics from O Little Town of Bethlehem.

And that's it! Yup, this is pretty much the only room we've decorated besides a few touches in Jacob's room. (He loves his Santa sheets!) Next year, we'll have to work on a few other rooms now that this one is pretty much done. Next on our to-do list is our office/playroom area that is adjacent to the living room so I'm sure next year that room will get the holiday treatment too. Only three more sleeps friends! 

Barefoot & Cozy

This post is sponsored by Everywhere Agency on behalf of OshKosh B’gosh; however, all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own

It's the most wonderful time of the year. And seeing it through Jacob's eyes makes it the most magical time of the year. Every time we see a bearded man he shouts "Santa Claus!" whether the recipient is happy about it or not. He's so into EVERYTHING. Lights, presents, reindeer, carols, you name it, he loves it. He demands Christmas songs every time we get in the car, and lucky for us that's not a hard request to fill this time of year. He wants to be right in the middle of the action of whatever we are doing, and we wouldn't have it any other way. 

We've steadily been checking things off our bucket list, a few at a time each weekend since our weekdays are go, go, go, right up until the days before Christmas. There's nothing we love more than a day full of festive fun. Here are just a few of our favorite traditions, we'd love to hear some of yours! 

1. Hanging lights outside. While we don't get that magical look of sparkling lights on fresh fallen snow here in Florida, we hang our lights just the same. There's something so welcoming to arriving home under the soft glow of the bulbs. Nothing puts us in a more festive mood. We get ours up lining the roof as soon as the Halloween lights come down. 

2. Putting up the Christmas Tree. We've always done a fake tree with the heat and humidity, but this year we got a new flocked tree. We had to set it up outside, since it shed quite a bit in the fluffing process. I don't think Jacob was expecting the fake snow! Once we got it inside Jacob was all about helping with the lights and ornaments, the latter of which he hung all clustered on one branch. And I think we might just leave them that way. 

3. Movie Nights. We try to sneak in one of these every weekend. We curl up on the couch with one of our big, cozy blankets and turn off all the lights. Then we watch a Christmas movie by the glow of the tree. We pop popcorn and snuggle up all together. We try to cycle through all the classics, plus catch any new originals on Hallmark or Freeform. The Grinch is Jacob's favorite, Home Alone is mine. 

4. Light Tour. We try at least once every year to get out and see everyone else's lights. We take a walk around the neighborhood, pulling Jacob in the wagon, or we make a trip out to our local gardens where they cover the grounds in twinkling lights. We take a mug of hot cocoa or coffee and let Jacob run around while we take in all the lights. I love that it's something special that you can really only do this time of year. 

5. Gingerbread Houses and Cookies. We always bake a few batches of cookies and decorate a house each year. These are two of Jacob's favorite things to help with. He'll sit up on the counter in his Santa apron and pour in all the ingredients, mix it up, and then help me get the dough onto the baking sheet. Decorating with him is almost always a mess with icing, candies, and sprinkles everywhere, but he has a blast. 

6. Christmas Jammies. Every year we pick out a new pair of Christmas Jammies, and we give them to him on Christmas eve along with a new Christmas movie to watch, a mug, popcorn and hot cocoa. We call it our Christmas Eve Box and it's so fun to let Jacob open that one present on Christmas eve, to get him excited for the following day. This year I found so many cute pairs at OshKosh B'Gosh that I bought several and have already given him one pair. The other we'll put in his box. 

I get all the nostalgic feels buying OshKosh for Jacob because it's what my mom used to always buy for me. She LOVES when I send her photos of Jacob in his overalls, those were always her favorite to buy for me and my siblings. 

If you love OshKosh as much as we do you can save 20% on a purchase of $40 or more at your local store or online using the following coupon:

In-Store: 037264
Online: OKBG3418

The best part is, I'm giving away a $50 gift card to Oshkosh! Just click any of the links above to visit their website and leave me a comment with what you would buy! For an extra entry head on over to Instagram!

Halloween in Jacob's Room

Jacob's room is officially all decked out to celebrate his favorite holiday. Ever since Halloween decor started finding it's way into our red target cart and then into our living room, he's been asking for some "Halloween in my room." Once Daddy hung all our orange and purple lights and spider webs outside, he could hardly contain himself anymore. So this weekend I got to work and his room now reflects the Halloween obsessed kid that he is. 

Jacob loved his Christmas sheets and his Easter sheets last year so I started searching in early September for a Halloween version. After about a month of fruitless searching I found some fabric I loved and asked my mom to make him some. Grandma always delivers and he LOVES his Halloween dogs. 

And of course, his bookshelves always reflect the current season. We're about a month into the school year for his preschool so it was time to take down the back to school books and put up our favorite Halloween ones. 

Little Blue Truck's Halloween // Curious George Goes to a Costume Party 

Bonaparte Falls Apart // Room on the Broom // Five Black Cats // Where's My Mummy? 

I'm a Little Vampire // You Are My Pumpkin // Sheep Trick or Treat

Boo to You! // Spooky Pookie // Clifford's First Halloween // Haunted Clubhouse 

Llama Llama Trick or Treat // Biscuit Visits the Pumpkin Patch 

Every time I stop and think to myself that we have too many books, Jacob proves to me that it's not true. Little guy LOVES his books and loves to flip through and "read" every one of them! 

Bat Pillow // Woolie Ball Garland  // Ghost Garland // Halloween PJs 

Jacob is a Three-Rex {Dinosaur Birthday Party}

Our dinosaur-obsessed little boy turned three back in June and I can hardly believe how fast 3 years has flown by. Weren't we just bringing him home from the NICU and only sleeping for an hour or so at a time? It certainly feels that way. At some point after his Wild Things 2nd Birthday party I made a proclamation that I was going low-key next year. I was going to rent a room at one of those bounce places, get a cake, and call it a day. But a year later he was still intimidated by those big bounce places and I just couldn't imagine spending his birthday doing something he didn't love. 

So we started brainstorming what he DOES love. He loves dinosaurs. He loved hunting for eggs at Easter. He loves running around and playing with his friends. It seemed a no-brainer that we were going to be planning a dinosaur party. Thankfully our sweet friends let us throw the party in their home since our townhouse is much too small for all his little friends, and I was nervous about going the park pavilion route again since June weather is notoriously rainy. (Jacob was born on a rainy Tuesday and it's rained every June 10th since) 

While I wouldn't call the party low-key it was significantly scaled back from last year, which is really saying something since my party planning personality is decidedly "go big or go home." We didn't build any pineapple trees, so I'll call it a step in the right direction. Having the party at a private residence meant I was able to decorate the night before, and for the first time ever, we were actually ready when the party started. I had started my party planning with a few key details - a color scheme of navy, aqua, and coral; a dinosaur theme, two fun activities, and a simple menu.

The table was the focal point of the party. I covered it in wrapping paper that I stamped using dinosaur foot prints in the party colors. I then lined the middle with dinosaurs wearing party hats and mini dinosaur eggs. At each place setting was a paper plate (with a dinosaur bite taken out of it), napkin, fork, dinosaur party hat, and a plastic mason jar with each kids name and a dinosaur on it. 

On the wall behind the table was a large banner I had made. I purchased a T-Rex watercolor painting off Etsy and then had it blown up to 4ft x 6ft on Vista Print. (search for coupon codes, I found one for 50% off!!) We draped a balloon swag across the top and side to tie in the party colors. These are a brand new product from Twigs and Twirls and it was so easy to put together! It comes with big and small balloons as well as balloon tape. You just blow up the balloons and then pop the bottom through a hold in the tape, alternating colors and sizes until you like how it looks. Then you can use the tape to hang it too! In the corner on a small table I set up two of Jacob's stuffed dinosaurs, in party hats of course, as well as a book (Tyrannosaurus Drip) for his guests to sign. This is a tradition I started back at his first birthday party and I plan to do it every year! It's so fun for us to look back and remember who was there and read the sweet messages they wrote. I decorated the table with two confetti balloons and his big "3" balloon.  

On the opposite wall we set up the buffet with Jacob's cake and some cookie favors. The table also held some big dinosaur eggs, paper mache dinosaurs, confetti balloons, a three-rex banner, and our letter board. The large eggs on the buffet started out as paper mache eggs that I grabbed around Easter time. The small ones on the table were wooden eggs. I spray painted all of them white and then used a tooth brush to splatter on paint in our color scheme to make them look dinosaur-ish. 

The cake was a simple white cake with fresh strawberry filling from Publix. I added three aqua candles to the middle, then made a ring of small dinosaurs around the outside. We also had cupcakes on hand for the kids, each with a plastic dinosaur on top. The cookies were made for us by a local baker and I was so impressed with how well they matched our custom invitation from Spruce and Willow.

We planned a super simple menu:

plus provided stromboli, pasta salad, fruit salad, and mixed salad for the adults. Along with some pre-historic punch. (We used this recipe HERE) 

The first activity we planned was a dinosaur egg hunt. My mom made these amazing backpacks (from the pattern HERE) and each kid got one. The backpacks doubled as a favor (along with their personalized cups and the cookies) and also as a bag for collecting their dinosaur eggs. I used dinosaur eggs from Oriental Trading as well as regular easter eggs filled with candy spread out all over the yard. There were over 200 eggs for the 7 kids, so everyone got a good bag full. I also spread out dinosaur figurines for them to find, and each kid got to take home a couple. 

The second activity was a piñata I had made and stuffed with all kinds of goodies from Oriental Trading: mini puzzles, bath squirts, sunglasses, bubbles, tattoos, candy, finger puppets, etc. all dinosaur themed. I made the piñata using the cardboard method (see tutorial HERE) and used painters tape to secure it, since I didn't want it to be TOO sturdy. I then covered it in tissue paper fringe attached with a glue stick. The kids gave it their best go, but it ended up taking several adults to break it open! 

For the rest of the party, the kids did what they like to do best - play and eat cake! This was the first year that Jacob really "got it" that this party was for him. He loved when everyone sang to him, and blew out the candles as best he could. (he needed a little bit of help!) 

It was such a fun party and because we were able to do so much the night before i was able to relax and enjoy it, isn't that always the goal? Little buddy had so much fun playing and celebrating with his friends, and as predicted, cried when it was all over and time to go home for a nap. I couldn't have asked for a better party or better friends to celebrate with us! Thank you to all our friends and family for loving on our little boy and helping him celebrate THREE. Momma is all partied out and not thinking about his next party for at least 10 more months! 

Supplies

Invitation // c/o Willow & Spruce 

Kraft Wrapping Paper, Wooden Eggs, Paper Mache Dinos & Dino Foam Stamps // Target

Navy Paper Plates, Coral Napkins, Aqua Silverware // Target

Plastic Mason Jars // Target

Patterned straws, Balloons, & Confetti // c/o Twigs & Twirls 

Dinosaur Party Hats // Corrinerelly (Etsy)

Dinosaur Painting // Custom Prints Your Way (Etsy)

Cake Candles // Cranky Cakes Shop (Etsy)

Mini Dinosaur Figurines // Amazon

Tyrannosaurus Drip Book // Amazon

Pinata Filler & Egg Hunt Eggs // c/o Oriental Trading 

Backpack Pattern // Lark Crafts

Pinata Tutorial // The Sweetest Occasion

Cake & Cupcakes // Publix

Custom Cookies // Sweetly Done by Candi 

Plastic Dinosaurs & Paper Mache Eggs // Michaels 

Here's an image to pin!