christmas and happy new year!

just wanted to share our christmas morning pictures, before the new year is here!

i hope you all had a christmas that made you smile :)

and to wish you all a happy new year, i wanted to share this video that ALWAYS makes me smile.

i had first seen it a while back and loved it then, but a friend sent me the link this past week... with perfect timing of course, and it immediately put a smile on my face :) (thank you Lesley!!)

if you haven't already seen it... enjoy.
if you have seen it... let yourself enjoy it again :)

may your 2009 be filled with music and dancing and smiles. may you and yours be happy and healthy and loved.

love, jen

sweet treats and Merry Christmas!!!

Well, it's almost here. It's the eve of the eve.
I think it comes a little quicker each year.

And though this has been one of our most difficult holiday seasons, it has also been one of our best... thanks to many people, who we feel so blessed to have in our lives :)

Here are some sweet treats that we've been able to make and enjoy... even being able to get the ingredients to create these treats was a bi-product of people pouring their love on us!

yummy.

sugar cookies.

betty crocker style.

i like her style ;)

the sugar cookie taste-testers.

toffee.... mmmm.

who doesn't love butter and sugar covered in chocolate?

i used meijer butter. don' tell the land o'lakes police.

(thanks for this recipe erin!)

Merry Christmas everyone!!
Enjoy your time, and may you be surrounded with all that makes you smile :)

xoxo

lights and skates :)

ok, so i said i was taking a blogging break.
i am... kind of.

i'm stitching out some gifts and i have these cute pics to share, so i thought i'd use my time wisely :)

we went out to the zoolights sunday night.


the lights are cool-
but the BEST part...
they have a little ice rink out there.
free skating with your zoo admission and your own skates.
just our type of deal:)

so here is cohen's first time out on the ice!!
(thanks to grandma and grandpa H for the adorable little skates!)

lilly enjoyed herself too :)


...and just to prove that i was there :)

enjoy your week :)

the most wonderful time of the year.

This may be my largest blog post ever :)

Thanks for all the GREAT comments on my last post!! I need to jot down all the music suggestions :) It was so fun to read your Christmas favorites!!

Last weekend we celebrated Dave's bday with a little surprise party at his favorite pizza place.

My sister ordered Dave this delicious cake :)


Here's the little table I set up so that it looked like we were having a party :)

Here is Dave looking at his 'sport card' album.

Some of you know about this, and even contributed!

I emailed everyone I could think of who knew dave (and everyone I could find on dave's emails) and asked them to make a tiny card to add to the book as a birthday surprise. We got several cards, and it was so fun to look through them all as they came in the mail!! A BIG thank you to all who sent in a card/cards. Dave loves his book!!

Perhaps Dave's best birthday gift (actually a gift for the whole family!) was starting a new job! He was laid off the end of October due to downsizing of the firm where he used to work. Those 5 weeks in between jobs were hard... financially and even more so mentally. I am SO proud of all the hard work he put into finding a new job so quickly in this struggling economy. I am SO thankful for all the people who stood behind us and helped us through. There are so many amazing people in our lives :) THANK YOU!!

And now... more Christmas at our house :)

Dave put up some old school lights this year.

Our doormat :)
I'm in love with doormats :)

Our stockings... made by my Grandma :)

Our Christmas CD collection.

May look like a lot. But when you go through about 10 a day, you want more ;)

Our tree.

Looks pretty plain here, but it is pretty at night lit up.

We have mostly Hallmark ornaments. Probably about 80%.

I worked at Hallmark in college and stocked up.

Glad I did :)

Here are some of our favorite ornaments....

Lilly's favorites (her favorites when i took these pictures at least...)

The Strawberry Shortcake one smells like Strawberries :)

Brady's favorites. (Brady is my other child :)

He likes to pose like these hockey ornaments.

The Grinch... he dangles from the presents that open!!

The other Grinch has a holographic heart that grows :)

I got the display Nemo at Kohl's when he was no where else to be found!

LOVE this one. I got it half off the day after Christmas when I worked at Hallmark. (It's not Hallmark, but we sold them there...) I was making sure that it didn't sell so I could by it for $15 instead of $30. It's one of those glass ones that is painted on the inside.

This one reminds me of my friend Vicki that I worked with :)

She loves birds :)

Just a fun one!

Dave and I have 2 of these between the 2 of us.

I had/have at home and his parents gave him his.

Just about forgot this one!
It's a spring ornament. so cute :)

My mini Hallmark ornament tree :)

Lots of cute little ones on here.

Here's our wall of cards as of today... not too many yet, but we usually fill the wall!

Here's what I use to hang the cards.

They sell little card hanging kits with string and mini clip things.

Not sure if they are hard to find or not, I think I found my last set at a garage sale :)

And lastly... because everyone who is getting a copy in the mail probably already has theirs... our Christmas card :)

Montana (as in Hannah Montana) is our new last name to protect our true identity :)

I am planning on taking a break from blogging as the holidays are quickly approaching. So much to do, and I am trying to make things as less stressful as possible. Blogging isn't stressful, but wanting time to blog is what gets me.

This is supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year ;)

I'm trying to make it that way :)

Merry Christmas everyone!