Gingerbread House competition

We had our annual gingerbread house competition Saturday night.  Patrick and I had a dinner for his work so we were late.  Everyone was pretty much done so I just decorated John's house.  It was not our best work.

This is the winner!  Created by my brother-in-law Clay.  A little backstory, when my little brother put a contract on his house we stopped by one Saturday afternoon.  The house is laid out a lot like ours.  After touring it my mom comes into the kitchen and says, "Well Maggie this house is just like yours but BETTER!".  So that became the joke all fall how John & Hope's house was just like ours but better.  So you can't read the little tags on Clay's creation the big nice one says John's house and the little shack says Maggie's house.  Pretty clever.

This is the one that John built and I decorated.

My older brother likes to use the gingerbread house competition as a political platform each year.

It was fun.  Barrett was tired and fussy so we didn't stay long.

I've been sentimental this week for sure.  Barrett will turn one on Christmas day and I can't believe it's already been a year.  All the Christmas things I did last year I was huge and had no idea how close I was to meeting my baby.  We didn't get to go to the Slovensky family party this week because Barrett didn't feel good and we didn't want to spread anything.  I was so sad we didn't get to go.  I remember being there last year.  Again, I was huge.  No one thought I'd make it to the new year much less my due date.  I remember thinking that this year when we went we'd have an almost one year old.  

And continuing our 25 days of Christmas outfits.

Day 19

Day 20

Day 21

Day 22

Day 23

2013 Christmas card

I wanted to finally share our Christmas card for this year.  We actually had two different cards.  I ordered the bulk of our cards from Vistaprint, I've used them for several years for a lot of different things and been pleased.  This year however, I was so disappointed.  I chose a darker design and it was like they couldn't print it properly.  All the white and red text didn't show up well and the picture was too dark.

This is the front (top) and back (bottom) of that card.  I ended up having to send it to most people because I had so many of them.

I was contacted by Tiny Prints to check out their line Christmas cards and I loved them.  They are more expensive but the quality is so much better.  They sent me a set of new cards to send to close family and friends and I love how they turned out.

Front

Back

I love the fun shapes you can have them cut and the glitter.

It's just so much cuter than the other one, I wish I could have sent it to everyone.  

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas. 

I'll probably be back a couple more times before Christmas.  We're having our annual Gingerbread House competition.  For the first time I'm coming in with zero ideas or materials.  Should be fun. 

Barrett's Winter ONEderland Party {Part 2}

These are mostly of Barrett eating cake.  In fact I've probably included way to many but they were all so dang cute!

All these people are here to see me!?!

Love my little family!

Singing Happy Birthday, he's not to sure about the attention.

It didn't take him long to dig in.

I love these pictures!

You can kind of tell just how much of the cake he ate.

These are my favorite pictures of the day.

I think he would have eaten the entire smash cake if we'd let him!

He had to have a bath in the sink.

He was eating the cake off the side of the sink.

Oh my goodness I love those chubby cheeks!

My sister kept the hot chocolate filled and I'm so thankful for her.  

I had to include these awesome runway-esque shots!

A close up of the sign at the sign in table.

He wasn't very interested in opening gifts.  Since we've unpacked them at home he's been way more into them.

My parents got him these cute chairs with an elephant on the back.

He was partied out by this point! ha!

My sweet friends.  (You can also see the huge pictures of Barrett in the background.)

I'm so sad the party is over.  I had so much fun planning and working on all the little details!  I loved watching him dig into that cake.  He kept looking up at me and smiling, it was such a sweet moment that I kind of want to give him a cupcake everyday just to watch him eat it.  I loved having so many of our family and friends there to celebrate with us.  I really thought I'd be more emotional than I was.   I loved celebrating our little guy so much.  Now we're enjoying our last few days with our baby before he turns a year old.