Handmade Holiday Party

Tami and her "It's A Ten" specialty creations. She cleaned up by selling her very popular reusable snack bags, coasters, crayon roll-ups, belts and more!

I love this combo!

Aubrey's handmade tutu's. "Skip to my Lou Tutu"

Me and Lucy....and my stuff.

Aubrey and Aviana (modeling the babylegs)

I had my nursing covers, Just Liv dresses, Lovies, hairclips and "babylegs" Here is my "Just Liv" table

Above and below are "Chinny and Poom" by Susie J. She makes vintage onesies, blankets, burp cloths, pillows, salt scrubs and more.

On Friday, Aubrey hosted a party for those of us who make handmade items. There was Susie, Aubrey, Tami and myself displaying our goodies. We invited friends and neighbors to enjoy appetizers and wine and do some Christmas shopping in the comfort of Aubrey's beautiful home. It was a success and it was really nice to just be with friends and meet new ones.

Luna Moms Club/ Stroller Strides Party

This is my friend, Laura's table. Her etsy site is lkddesigns.etsy.com

This is my friend, Shauna and her 6 day old baby, Ethan.

This table is half of my stuff and half of Isabel's candle stuff.

Liv and her "babies." Last year in stroller strides, Olivia was always the oldest and she was in charge of keeping the babies happy by singing to them and playing with them. Now we have a new batch of baby's coming up!

Leaving for the party.

Baby Leg Warmers

I used the tutorial on Tami's blog and made some "babylegs" for Liv. They were so cute I made some for the Stroller Strides craft party, too.

Horseplay

This morning, while I slept in (woo hoo!) Daddy and Olivia played all sorts of fun games. They took these pictures of what they did for me to blog. Apparently, Olivia was playing horsey with a swiffer mop, so Daddy decided to make her a real stick horse. I think it came out great! He used a Christmas stocking that I had gotten at the dollar store last year, stuffed it and decorated it with all sorts of things. Olivia has been "riding" it all day!

Creating the Gingerbread Chalet

Last night, Daddy and Liv made our traditional gingerbread chalet. We got this same one last year at Trader Joes. This year I found it up here at Cost Plus. This year, Olivia could do most of it by herself!

Gingerbread Chalet

Olivia proudly showing off her house.

Culvers and Anthem

After my ultrasound, we ate lunch at Culver's to celebrate that I have my gestational diabetes under control. I had an eggnog concrete mixer...don't tell Dr. Perrin! Afterwards, we took a walk around Anthem outlets before heading back to the snow. Above is the Christmas tree at Anthem that fell over and broke off in last weeks storm. They are trying to "fix" it with a large Santa hat.
We love Culver's!!!

Hugging the Culver's nutcracker

Baby Girl Lanssens

On Friday, we went down to Phoenix for an ultrasound to check the baby's growth. She is perfect at approx 4 lbs 12oz (give or take 15%) Everything looked great. Her size, her movement, my amniotic fluid levels. The doctor there was very pleased with everything he saw. They tried to get some 3D/4D images but the baby was tucked down tight and didn't want to move. Her hands were up next to her face and the cord was blocking her mouth. We did get some pictures, but there are a lot of artifacts...I don't want to post too many and freak anyone out. I think she looks similar to Olivia, maybe a little more like me??? We'll see in less than 6 weeks.

Soaps

A few of my friends have invited me to bring some items to sell at two "craft open houses"

Today, I did these. I think they came out pretty. I need to sew some washcloths to go with them now.

Hairclip Flowers

I've been playing with making flower clips. I think they are so cute on Olivia and attached to hats for the new baby. Here are the first ones I made yesterday. I love the big peony best.

Orange Party Punch Recipe

Tami and Arcelia served this at my shower. It was so delicious!!

1/2 can orange juice
1/2 can lemonade
1/2 can pineapple juice
1 sm. (3 oz.) pkg. strawberry Jello
1 bottle ginger ale
2 qt. orange sherbet
Dissolve Jello and sugar into 2 cups boiling water. Stir in 2 cups cold water and the juices. Chill until ready to serve. Spoon sherbet into punch bowl; pour Jello mixture and ginger ale over sherbet. Serve immediately

Snow, Snow and More Snow!!!!!

Helping Daddy

First snow angel of the season.
Olivia swinging away in her new snow boots. They are her Christmas present from Auntie Nae Nae (Renee) and Rhonda. We got permission to open them early because of the storm! They are great boots and kept her very warm.

Daddy coming home from work in the Paseo. He had to shovel the drive to get it in!

What do you do when you're snowed in all day and you're 8 months pregnant? Nest. Wash baby clothes in Dreft, clean drawers and get your kid to vacuum corners for you. She helped me all day.

Not sure what's up with the glasses but she wanted to wear them.

We made cranberry bread with fresh cranberries this morning.

Olivia wanted to mix it herself and take a picture. (I know, it looks gross!)

My Baby Shower

The delicious brunch and cake (minus a great egg, cheese and sausage casserole)

On Saturday, my friends Arcelia and Tami threw me a wonderful baby shower. It was just perfect! They thought of everything including a diaper cake, games, favors, balloons, punch, cake, it was very special. This is a picture of all of us there. I'm so lucky to have such great friends! Thank You everyone for making this special party to welcome our new baby girl!

Yikes!
Arcelia & I

Kristen & I

I was "showered" with such great gifts. Diapers and more diapers, wipes, soothies, clothes, Burts Bees lotion, soap and diaper cream, aquaphor, a swaddler, book, ornament, blankets, a handmade tutu (so cute), a handmade blanket and vintage onsies, a knit hat, baby legs, booties and more, I'm sure! This baby is just as spoiled as Liv!

Olivia and I took all of the gifts and set them up for this picture.

A few of my friends sent home gifts for Olivia. That was so sweet and she loved it.

These little "pacifiers" were so cute and tasty.

The yummiest punch I've ever had!!!
I'll post the recipe later (will take it from Arcelia's blog...shhhh)

Keeping the pink and orange theme...

Arcelia made me this beautiful diaper cake! It has the cutest little socks tucked in and adorable winter booties on top. Our January baby will sure use those!

These are the favors Tami made. They were spiced nuts from a very special family recipe she has. It was so special of her to make these in honor of our new little girl.