Dear 2014

Dear 2014,
During your reign, I experienced one of the best days of my life along with one of the hardest. Aiden was born in 2014 so you will always be a memorable and truly amazing year, but you are also the year that we lost Drew's dad to his battle with cancer. We miss him every single day.

This year has been full of changes. We are brand new parents and both Drew and I got brand new jobs! We are so thankful for jobs we love despite the process of getting them being absolutely crazy! We also started going to a new church and found an amazing small group.

It was hard for me to find time and energy to do many projects or cook a lot of new recipes, but I was able to document my pregnancy with weekly bump pictures and letters to Aiden. I was also a bridesmaid in one of my best friends weddings as well as my sister in law's. My greatest accomplishment and the thing I am most proud of in 2014 is being a mom!

Here's a look at some of my favorite projects, events, recipes and discoveries of 2014...

Honeycomb shelves

Festive Paper Lantern

Log side table

Closet dividers

Pom Pom Garland

Aiden's nursery

Telling Drew he was going to be a Dad

Announcing our baby news

Our Gender Reveal Western BabyQ

Telling our families (Mine & Drew's)

Baby Showers 1, 2 and 3

Joining A Small Group
Bekah's wedding

Carly & Josh's wedding

Aiden's birth

Reunion with my college BFFs

Celebrating 5 years of marriage 

Blueberry Maple French Toast

Freezer Meals for New Moms

Apple Fritter Cake

Shepherd's Pie

Pad Thai

PW Chipotle Chicken Chili

Lemon, Parsley and Parmesan Pasta

PW Raspberry Crisp

PW Pancetta Pasta with Leeks

Bread Pudding

Harry Potter!
Serial

Onesie making parties

Cream N Cocoa photography

My Snoogle and these pregnancy essentials

Dear 2013

Dear 2012

Dear 2011

Baby's 1st Christmas

This Christmas was a whirlwind. Does anyone else feel like the day just flew by at lightning speed? I feel like I blinked and the day was half over! Despite that it went wayyyy too fast, Aiden had a very sweet first Christmas.

He attended his first candlelit Christmas eve service, watched Mickey's Christmas with Drew and I as we ate our traditional Christmas breakfast and slept through the night Christmas eve. Merry Christmas Mom and Dad! Even though he slept through the opening of his stocking and most of his presents he was such a little trooper and even endured us making him wear suspenders and a bow tie for a few pictures. Here is our day in pictures starting with a few Christmas eve pictures because they were too cute not to share...

We started off Christmas day with what I hope becomes a yearly Christmas morning tradition...Drew reading the story of Jesus birth to us aloud in bed. My Aunt and Uncle gave us this book for Aiden and wrote a sweet message inside. It's the little things...

Then there were still presents to be wrapped and food to prepare so in the Ergo went Aiden and Drew and I got a few things done before we enjoyed my favorite breakfast of the year. After a few hours at home with our family of 3 we headed to my parent's house for more festivities.

My favorite Christmas present from Annabee Jewelry. A necklace with Aiden's name on it!

Next stop, my Aunt and Uncle's farm for a late Christmas lunch and a pretty/ugly ornament exchange. My Aunt and Uncle own a horsemanship school so it's only fitting their gift to Aiden was an authentic rocking horse.

Last stop, Drew's parent's house where we ate Lasagna, opened gifts and played games. We always get Christmas jammies on Christmas Eve so they always make for fun photos. Even Aiden got jammies this year.

And no holiday is complete without a Pioneer Woman recipe. I made her Christmas tortilla roll ups and they were delicious and so easy!

I absolutely loved our first Christmas as a family of 3
and despite Aiden's face in this picture, I think he enjoyed it too.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

Merry Christmas to YOU!

Here is my virtual Christmas card to all of you. I wish I could send a card out to each one of you personally, but this adorable picture of Aiden will have to do. Thanks for reading, commenting and encouraging me this year! Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a blessed new year! Praying you know and relish in the true meaning of this season.

"INFINITE and an infant. Eternal, and yet born of a woman. Almighty, and yet hanging on a woman's breast. Supporting a universe, and yet needing to be carried in a mother's arms. King of Angels, and yet the reputed son of Joseph. Heir of all things, and yet the carpenter's despised son. Oh, the wonder of Christmas." -Charles Spurgeon

"And they shall call his name Immanuel, which means God with us."

-Matthew 1:23 ESV

Christmas Past vs. Christmas Present {A few of my favorite holiday posts}

This holiday season has been different than any other for Drew and I. Having a newborn around definitely changes some things, but in the best way possible! We love our little guy so much!

2013 vs. 2014

Instead of planning and having our annual Tacky Sweater party, I bought a sweater for Aiden and we got pictures taken with Santa.

Instead of coming up with cute holiday crafts, I am planning to get my baby's footprint in a mold and call that an ornament.

Instead of putting up lights on our house, we drove around and looked at other peoples.

Instead of putting up our big artificial tree, I decorated a ladder. 

Instead of Drew and I going out on a festive holiday date, we spent an evening snuggling on the couch with Aiden watching Elf and eating Peppermint ice cream.

Would I change any of it? Not for the world. I am seeing Christmas in a whole new light this year. I am so thankful to have Aiden around and to see things through his eyes. The twinkling lights, the sound of bells, the love and joy of family.

All these changes have meant that my blog hasn't been very festive this holiday season. I haven't shared many holiday parties, festive crafts or recipes and I miss that. So I decided to share some of my favorite festive posts from Christmases past...

Tips for throwing an awesome tacky sweater party

Christmas card photo book

The perfect Christmas breakfast

Anthropologie Inspired Snow Globes

Ornament Party cups

What festive things have you been creating and doing this holiday season?

Ladder Shelf {Christmas style!}

Last Spring my husband helped me complete yet another project I saw and fell for on Pinterest...a ladder turned into a shelf. It is still one of my favorite projects we have done together. The ladder shelf is in the corner of our dining room and we usually take it down and put up our Christmas tree there, but this year I decided to change things up. I decided to make my ladder a Christmas ladder.

We wrapped the ladder in lights and I put a star on top to make it resemble a Christmas tree. The bottom shelf I covered in a festive fabric and added some of our Christmas decor to. The middle shelf is a hot chocolate bar complete with festive hot chocolates, mugs and straws. And the top shelf is for a few cards that don't fit on my card holder. I haven't had time to do too much this year with a newborn on my hip, but I'm proud of this little bit of festive fun now in the corner of my dining room.

If you want to see a little more of my home at Christmas time you can check out my holiday house tour from last year here!

Linking up with Anne for her holiday Pin to present!

Aiden Paul {1 month}

My little guy is now one month (and a few weeks) old and I just can't believe how fast he is growing and changing. Here are a few things about Aiden at one month that I don't want to forget....

He is so alert! We get comments on how alert he is for his age all.the.time. He loves to look around and soaks everything in. He only cat naps during the day and the pediatrician said she thought it was because he didn't want to miss out on anything. My Mother in law said my husband was the exact same way as a baby.

Aiden is a big eater and has developed rolls on his arms and thighs and has quite the tummy, which is the cutest thing ever. We call it his toad belly.

He is starting to smile more and more and my favorite sound in the world is his giggle. 

It melts my heart.

A few stats about Aiden at one month:

Weight: 9 pounds and 5 ounces

Height: 21 inches long

Size clothes: Still in newborn clothes and newborn diapers, but they are getting snug around his middle section. Haha.

Sleeping: He wakes up every 3-4 hours at night to eat, but has given us a few nights where he has slept 5 hours straight! Boy doesn't nap during the day, but I'll take a few straight hours of sleep at night over a somewhat productive day.

Random stuff only parents want to know:

Nicknames: Little Buddy, Bubba, Pumpkin head

Likes: Aiden still loves getting his hair shampooed and is enjoying bath time a lot more! He is still obsessed with the ceiling fan in his nursery and if he's fussy and we can't figure out why we just go in and visit his friend the fan and he calms down. So funny.  He likes milk, his pacifier and the sound of bells.

Dislikes: He doesn't love being swaddled, but it instantly calms him down if he is fussy. He hates tummy time, cold hands and waiting more than 2 and a half hours to be fed.

We love our little buddy so much and can't wait to see what month 2 brings!

Aiden's Nursery {room tour}

I'm so excited to finally be sharing Aiden's nursery with you! This room was a team effort by my husband and I and we had so much fun dreaming of having our baby boy grow up in this room. We wanted to incorporate some of the old treasures from our house like the little red lantern, the rocking horse I had as a little girl and the telescope that Drew's Dad used as a kid, but we also wanted to add some modern touches as well. We didn't want anything to be too themed so we used patterns and textures and kept it simple with neutral wall colors.

Since Drew and I love the outdoors and hope Aiden will too we decided to add some woodland creatures to the room as well to add some pops of color. All the art work was done by my very talented sister in law!

The dresser and changing table belonged to Drew's Dad. Drew stripped the paint and stained them and we added new handles. I love how they turned out and am proud of my husband for persevering when I was ready to kick these pieces to the curb. This room was definitely a labor of love and we are thrilled with how it turned out!

Here is a little tour of Aiden's nursery...

Crib // IKEA
Kid's Table // IKEA 
Kid's Chairs // IKEA
Dresser // Old, Refinished
Changing Table // Old, Refinished
Fox and Raccoon Stuffed Animals // The Happy Groundhog
Book Shelves // IKEA Spice Racks (stained)
Toy Basket // HomeGoods
Rug // PotteryBarn Outlet
Changing Table Cover // Modfox
Curtains // Target
Closet Dividers // DIY
Crib sheets // Target
Wooden Measuring Stick // DIY
Log Side Table // DIY
Mobile // DIY {Tutorial coming soon}
Woodland Animal Wall Art // Hand Painted by my sister in law
Recliner // Costco
Fox Clock // Modern Moose
Canvas Baskets in closet // Walmart
Chalkboard Tags // Michael's dollar bin

When we have more time I also plan to have my husband make me some more Honeycomb shelves to add to the wall above the recliner. If you want an awesome tutorial for how to make some yourself, click here.