Friday Favorites

It's Friday and that means we are one week closer to Christmas. How is December flying by that fast? I feel like we just had Thanksgiving. We don't have a lot planned this weekend and I am ok with that.

ONE. I know this is a bit heavy to start a post with this, but I have been following the Tate family for quite awhile now. One of their triplets was diagnosed with brain cancer almost a year ago (January 2015). Sadly, on December 4th, he passed away. Hayes was a fighter. If you want to donate to research for childhood cancer and his foundation, please visit here.

TWO. I have been making my way through so many Hallmark Christmas movies. My husband rolls his eyes everytime a new one pops up. But I don't care. I love them. They may be cheesy and everyone has the same premise, but they are the best. My two favorites so far are, Christmas Under Wraps and Christmas in Homestead.

 Christmas in Homestead

THREE. We had our day for bringing in food for the Month of Fabulous Food and the dessert like dish that my husband found and I made was a huge hit. I had a lot of people ask for the recipe (in real life), so I thought I would share it here too in case you want some amazing goodness.

Chocolate Lasagna

The only difference I did was less chocolate chips on top which I think was a good choice since this is already a sweeter dessert. But it is HEAVENLY. 

We also made chorizo and eggs with all the fixing for breakfast burritos.

FOUR.We finally finalized our plans for our next trip to Mexico. Yes, we are going back to Puerto Vallarta. How can we not? We pay for our flights using points (plus some money for taxes), have a condo to stay in for free (courtesy of family) and we only pay for food and fun. It's a total win. We are going for 9 days in March! I can't wait!!!

FIVE. One of my best friends is coming into town today and I couldn't be more excited. I haven't seen her since June and I can't wait to hang out with her next week. We have a lunch and dinner planned. I can't wait to catch up!

SIX. I finally got going on planning a small brunch for my girls. We don't want anything huge, but still wanted to celebrate our two little blessings. We are hosting a small brunch on New Year's Eve complete with quiche, waffles, fruit, yogurt, bacon and other yummy stuff that the girls love.

I just can't believe my girls will be 2 in 13 days!

I am linking up with April, A Little Bit of Everything, Karli, Meet @ the Barre and Cup of Tea.

Christmas Bucket List Update, Bits of Cheer and Christmas Pajama Party

I am taking another week of from Confessions, to participate in Bits of Cheer and the Christmas Pajama Party link-ups.

Ever since we thought about having children, I was always excited at the thought of Christmas with our future children. Now that we have the girls, I am even more excited about Christmas with them.

We have been checking things off our bucket list and I can't wait to share even more of our traditions with them.

Here is our update to our Christmas Bucket List:

1. Decorate the Tree and Our House

We decorated our house and tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

2. Santa Train or the Polar Express Train

3. Go Tree Hunting and Find the Perfect Christmas Tree

We went tree cutting the day after Thanksgiving and found the most perfectly imperfect tree.

4. Go Christmas Light Looking

5. Send Out Christmas Cards

6. Get Santa Photos Taken

7. Elf on the Shelf

This is a sort of one. We have moved the Elf around, but the girls are not that interested in him. Maybe next year.

8. New PJs on Christmas Eve

9. Watch as Many Christmas Movies as I Can

I have been watching a ton of them. The girls and I watched a Charlie Brown Christmas and they have been enjoying the Hallmark movies with me. Ok, maybe not enjoying them, but they cuddle me while I watch them. We plan to watch the Grinch this weekend and maybe Elf.

10. New Christmas Ornaments

11. Christmas Eve Party

12. Advent Calendar

I have been moving the snowflake everyday this month, well maybe a few times I missed it and Rory did it. We also have a Santa countdown that we change the number of days left until Santa comes every morning.

13. Homemade Cinnamon Rolls for Christmas Morning

14. Host Christmas Dinner

So far we are 7 1/2 out of 14. I am happy we have done that much. I figured we would only get half done.

The girls have been wearing a lot of wintery pjs and even their Christmasy ones a few times.

 Avery was none to pleased to take a photo for me

Sutton loved posing for me

I tried to get more photos of them last night and this is all they would give me.

Sutton

Avery

Christmas Gifts for Her

I feel like I am a hard person to shop for. I either buy what I want (within reason) or I just don't really need anything. Sure I can dream of all the big priced items that we could never afford, but that just makes us all depressed. Unless I win the lottery. But that is a whole other post in and of itself.

I thought about things that I would want for Christmas and put together a list of Christmas Gifts for Her.

One | Two | Three | Four
Five | Six | Seven | Eight
Nine | Ten | Eleven | Twelve

One. These Tahoe necklaces don't really apply to most of you since you probably don't live near Tahoe, but I have had my eye on them FOREVER. But something similar like a state necklace with the heart where your city is would be a perfect gift as well.

Two. I need a new gym badly. My zipper is pulling from the seams and it is just worn out. This gym bag gets amazing reviews and is meant for sports and sweat. 

Three. I am always looking for new comfy pjs/lounge pants. When you chase toddlers around the house, you want to be comfy and not restricted in jeans. I love slipping on lounge pants after work and on the weekends and these seem to fit the comfy bill according to reviews.

Four. I have bought several friends these Butter socks and there is a reason they call them Butter socks...they are soft as butter on your feet. Seriously heaven.

Five. Several bloggers have mentioned this masque and I need a new one. It gets amazing reviews and really cleans out your pores.

Six. This cream is a life saver for me during the winter months. I always need more, especially right now. It keeps my hands soft, my skin hydrated and heals the cracks from washing my hands endlessly. It is perfect for a stocking stuffer.

Seven. Uggs makes an amazing slipper and mine could be replaced. I have had a similar pair for a long time and they held up nicely. But it is time for a new pair and these are not only pretty but they have a sole on the bottom where you can wear them outside to take out the trash or anything else you need.

Eight. Hunter boots are always a win in my book. It may not rain that much here, but you can still wear them in the snow. I got a pair last year for Christmas and I LOVE them. Enough said.

Nine. This sweater looks comfy, soft and perfect for Tahoe weather.

Ten. Last week I talked about my love for Glassybabies. You can buy them as a candle holder or a drinking glass. I have yet to buy a drinking glass, but would love to receive one as a gift.

Eleven. We all know my love for Kate Spade and her earrings are no exception. These glitter earrings are perfect for the stocking and they sell out fast.

Twelve. This year for Rory's birthday I made him a Sugar Fina custom candy box and I received a free small cube of a candy of my choice. I, of course, went with the champagne gummies. They are amazing. I could eat them everyday and that is why I want a big cube in my stocking please.

What is on your Christmas list?

Santa Photos!

So a few weeks ago, the girls visited Santa. They came into the store, played and were very happy. We talked Santa up all week in hopes of a good picture. As you remember, last year's photo was the cutest and we hoped to get another one like it.

Nope. The girls were not having it. They were soooo scared of Santa and he was the nicest. Sutton tried to run from him and Avery screamed her head off. There were lots of tears and laughs (by Rory and I).

After taking a few shots with Santa, they had us sit with the girls just in case she couldn't get a good photo.

Side note: it turns out the photographer worked in the NICU while the girls were there and she remembers them. She said she could never forget the twins, Sutton and Avery.

And now, the girls' 2016 photo with Santa...

Haha, seriously the best. This is a framer for sure. Maybe next year they will like Santa more.

Weekending

Another weekend in the books and another weekend closer to Christmas. I can't believe we are less than two weeks out. We have been buying, wrapping and getting everything ready.

This weekend was a pretty relaxed one. Though the girls were a bit feisty.

Friday after work, we went to lunch since the girls were still napping and we had to wait to go get them. We had some salads and then went around to a few shops in the area to see if we wanted to buy anything.

After we picked up the girls, we headed home. The girls played and I had to play nurse and help Rory clean his leg. He got some sort of infection and when he went to the doctor, they told him he could do a warm compress and try to extract some of the pus out of it. He waited a few days to do this, but needed help. It was gross, but at least he got some relief. He is on antibiotics for it. I will spare the photos of his wound.

My in-laws came over at 4:30 so we could run a few errands. Our bench for our mudroom finally came in (only 2 months late) and we needed to pick it up. This location is pretty neat and not really good for kids, so we needed a babysitter for them. We went to a few other stores and bought a few gifts. Then we browsed West Elm for a few other items to use our gift cards on. We picked up our bench and headed to a kids store for some stocking stuffers and then across the street to the wine store. Priorities.

After we got a few bottles of wine, we headed home to drop everything off. But we dropped it off in the garage to not disturb the girls. We then headed out to a sports bar for Rory's friends 40th birthday party. We ate, drank and had a good time catching up with friends.

Saturday morning the girls slept in until 8:15 am. This is unheard of for the girls and us parents throughly enjoyed it. We grabbed some coffee and breakfast burritos to share and cuddled down for the day. We had A LOT of rain all day long. We did manage to get out to the mall to finish up our Christmas shopping and to Costco for a few necessities.

Once we were finished, we headed home for naps and watched a bunch of football. The girls took late naps due to waking up late, so once they got up and were awake fully, we headed out to go look at Christmas lights. We went to our favorite house, Lights of Tanea, and the girls were mesmerized.

 I have a great video on IG of the light show (@daniellekira)

After some Christmas light looking, we headed to In N Out for a quick dinner. Then we were off to look at more Christmas lights. And we checked this off our Christmas bucket list.

Once we got home, we got our fire started again, put the girls to bed and relaxed by the fire.

Sunday morning we headed out to breakfast. After breakfast we played around the house. I also vacuumed, cleaned out our hall closet and put together our mudroom bench. The girls played in the top of the box the bench came in and were in heaven. Once I was finished putting the bench together, the girls wanted to get on it for pictures.

Then I fed the girls their lunch and they were holding hands most of the time. It was very sweet of them considering how feisty they were all weekend.

Walter is always on food watch

After cleaning up, I put the girls down for their nap. Once Rory finished cutting back our grape vines, I headed out to the grocery store. 

After the girls got up from their naps, we headed out on a walk. It wasn't too cold outside, but we bundled the girls up and put them in their wagon instead of stroller, at their request. We took an hour long walk and enjoyed the Christmas decorations and the major flooding that occurred from the day before.

This is a little creek that sometimes has water and it expanded very widely. This was the day after the floods.

Once we got back, we built a fire and relaxed for a bit before making the girls dinner and getting everything ready for the next day. Then we gave the girls baths and played while watching football and Christmas movies. 

Once we put the girls to bed, I made us dinner, our favorite go to, Spicy Tomato Cream Pasta (recipe coming soon). We had dinner, cleaned up, watched football by the fire and wrapped a bunch of presents before finally heading to bed. 

How was your weekend?

I am linking up with Biana.

Friday Favorites

It's almost the weekend and this week seemed to drag on. Maybe that is because we have had so many short weeks lately that a full week seems so long.

For once we don't have a packed weekend. I am not even sure what that means anymore, but I will take it. I really hope to go snowboarding this weekend if we can get some more snow. I have got to get my days in. Other than that, I hope to bake some cookies in our new oven with my sweet toddlers.

ONE. As you all probably know by now, I cut my hair (about 6 inches off) and I am really having fun with it. Though I was having a hard time figuring out how to style my hair. When you have the same-ish hairstyle for 10 years, you do the same thing over and over.

So I took to Pinterest for a little help and I have been using this guide to help me style my lob and it has helped me so much. #hairstyleproblems

What also has helped is my new wand that I am finally getting used to. Some of you asked which one I got and this is the one. I got it in the 1 to 1 1/2 inch as I wanted the looser beach waves and it works like a charm. It comes with a glove so you won't burn your fingers (total life saver for me).

Curling Wand

TWO. During the month of December, my work does the Fabulous Month of Food. You don't have to participate, but if you do, you sign up for a day and bring in food. Some people go all out and others take the easy way out (I am looking at you $5 chips and salsa). Most of the time it is breakfast style foods, but it can be others too. So this is where you all come in. What should I make? Do you have amazing breakfast recipes that can travel to work and I can make ahead?

THREE. I drink A LOT of coffee and I wouldn't have it any other way. Except maybe for the fact that my teeth could be a little more white. Ok, a lot more white. I am looking into whitening my teeth. Do you all have a favorite whitening kit? Do you even whiten your teeth?

FOUR. I have talked about these before, but Glassybabies make the best gifts. I have gotten them as gifts and have given them as gift. I loved when I would visit NYC and go to their shop to hand pick them for my friends, but sadly they closed that store and are in the Seattle area.

They offered their traditional ones which hold candles and now drinkers. I don't have any of the drinkers, but (I have about 10 of the candle holders. And I am in love.

I wanted to share these with you (I wasn't paid for this. I just LOVE them) as the perfect stocking stuffer or gift for a loved one.

Here are some of my favorites:

CANDLES

 Home Glassybaby

 Jolly Glassybaby

Triumph Glassybaby

DRINKERS

 Bellini Drinker

Nightcap Drinker

FIVE. Have any of you done the genetic testing? There is a research company that has paired up with our local hospital (one of them) and they are doing free genetic testing. It tests for diseases, genetic disorders, your origins and some other stuff. I signed up for their wait list awhile ago and was contacted this week about participating. 

My worry is that I want to get life insurance and I don't want anything hindering that. From the results that I see from the test (my friend did it), I most likely wouldn't be excluded from insurance, but it is a risk. 

Have any of you done one similar? Thoughts?

SIX. Yesterday my co-worker gave me a Peppermint Oreo and it was seriously the best Oreo. Game changer and bad for my thighs because I need a package or three.

I am linking up withApril, A Little Bit of Everything, Karli, Meet @ the Barre and Cup of Tea.

Thoughts on Thursday

I don't really have any confessions today, mostly just thoughts, random thoughts. So if you have any confessions or Thursday thoughts, link up below.

- My girls daycare bill goes down this month because we pay a month in advance. Since the girls turn two this month, it means their tuition goes down and that just makes me so happy. It isn't a ton of money, but definitely the most tuition reduction we have seen so far.

- I wish my work would heat this beotch up. It is seriously so cold in my office. Everyone complains. Everyone wears jackets or blankets and the administration still won't raise the temperature. Maybe I should get a heated blanket. I wonder if those are allowed since space heaters are not.

- I made vegetable fried rice using my wok burner (it is removable) and it made it soooo much easier to use a wok. I didn't constantly worry about my wok falling off the range. Such a good take out fake out.

- Do any of you have kids who are clumsy and fall a lot? Sutton is constantly running around and she falls down but bounces right back up. I picked her up from daycare a few days ago and she had a rug burn on her chin from you guessed it, falling down on the carpet. Every time we see or hear that one of our girls fell, we know it is Sutton. Ha.

- The girls and I watched A Charlie Brown Christmas last weekend and I want to keep introducing them to Christmas movies. Which should the next one be? The girls didn't want the whole Charlie Brown Christmas, but they did watch a good portion of it.

- I am having a facial and massage tonight and I am extremely happy about it. It is a package I get every so often and my esthetician has been out of commission for a long time. He was run over while riding his bike and had surgery from it. He is finally back and taking clients again. I can't wait!!

- I finally downloaded Snapchat this week, but mainly for the filters. I had a lot of fun taking selfies with my girls Tuesday night. We were trying all of the filters and even got Rory in on it. I can see how addicting it can be, but don't expect any snapchats from me.

- Has the gym kicked anyone else's butt this week? Nope? Ok, just mine.

Have a great Thursday all!