Christmas

This post will be more of a photo dump with little commentary.

Our Christmas was amazing! We were lucky with Wes having Saturday and Sunday off!!! So we all got to be together and soaked it up. I woke up bright and early Sunday to start cooking Christmas breakfast. Once the little man woke up we enjoyed our nice meal together before opening gifts. (Check out Aiden's Christmas Eve pjs he got.--One of the traditions I started this year)

Which Aiden ran into the living room in amazement of all the gifts! Let me tell you this kid was awesome at removing wrapping paper, and of course he had to sit in my lap the whole time. I didn't mind one bit! :-)

We started by letting Murph get his stocking first and little man knew which one to pick. Go Aiden! Santa must have noticed how good Murph is with Aiden because he got TWO treats! One lucky dog!

Next was Aiden's turn. Let the wrapping paper in the air begin...This is one little blessed boy! To everyone who sent him a gift THANK YOU! You are so special and loved.

Aftermath. Aiden had to finish the rest of his breakfast (See Murph being all buddy buddy with him. Geez.)

As you can see he loved his gift from Santa. Biggest smiles and went wild outside.

Next was Wes' turn. I didn't get any pictures because I was busy opening the boxes for Aiden so he could play. But I managed to get a few surprises that he didn't know about. I rock! :-) He got a few things from Banana Republic, a new Braves hat and shirt, and my fav his "Lucky Penny" keychain. There are two pennies on it. One with our anniversary year with "A&W" and "Jul 28" and the other Aiden's birth year with "Aiden" and "Feb 5" on it. Now he carries that luck around with him all day (and he won't ever forget the important dates! haha)

Lastly it was my turn. Mine wasn't really I surprise because I knew what I was getting...but that doesn't mean I wasn't BEYOND excited! My gift to open was stackable rings. One with a pearl stone on it and the other with an Amethyst stone and "Aiden" stamped on it. My other gift is fun. Next month we are having a day date without Aiden so we can go pick me out new glasses!!! YAH! Then go see a movie and lunch together. Perfect!

Overwelmed with all the love. I hope everyone else had as GREAT of a Christmas as the Lamberts household had.

That afternoon I decided this was also something we will do in the Lambert household after Christmas. Declutter! Aiden already had tons of toys and now we just got even more. So after each Christmas we are going threw all the toys to pick out the ones that are not played with as much and donating them. I kept a few of his "baby" toys but I knew there were several he's never touched before. I basically was able to fill a huge box and trust me Aiden still has TONS. GEEZ. But why should we hold onto unloved toys when there are kids out there that don't even have toys to play with. Aiden might have not known what I was doing but eventually I hope he learns and appreciates that he even got a chance to play with those toys in the first place.

Safari

This is pretty random, but pretty awesome!

There is a Safari Park about 1.5 hours north of us!! I had a coworker go last summer and OMG her pictures. Aiden would die! They have over 400 animals representing 80 different species. You can feed, pet, and/or photograph any of the animals through the drive-thru part of the tour.

Road trip this summer.

Friends

I am proud to say we finally have discovered a new friend! I have been waiting for Aiden to get attached to a stuffed animal. So weird I know but it makes me happy. What is his friend?! Rexy like Caillou (really it's Rex from Toy Story).

He got it on Thursday and won't let go. He will run to make sure he has it during bedtime. He grabs it when I get him out of bed, but doesn't want it on his high chair because it might get dirty. Oh and if we go somewhere it's coming, but he will let us leave it in the car once we get somewhere. It's soooo precious!

We even brought it to see Santa, which well didn't go well as you can see from the picture. Is it bad that I laughed? lol Thankfully they had a fish tank there that distracted him after the torture. Maybe next year...

LAST YEAR

Passed out on the way home, but more like traumatized.

Christmas Eve Recap

Well, to start on Friday I received a bad letter in the mail. Seriously, who mails out a $2,500 bill two days before Christmas?!?! Oh St. Francis ER. We have to pay the ER visit because we haven't paid anything this year towards our $3,000 deductible. I wouldn't be so pissed off if I didn't feel like they were taking advantage of us. I was expecting oh 500-700 max since we had X-rays done. NOPE! So now all next week I get to deal with this. I'm getting an itemized detail of everything charged and going to the insurance company to see what they would pay.

For example, they charged us $160 for a breathing treatment. Just one. WHAT!!! When we bought the one for our home (well when our insurance bought it) they were only charged $60. A supply box of 30 treatments only cost (my insurance) $5. So tell me how on gods green earth one treatment is $160. I REFUSE TO PAY THAT!!

Another example, when Aiden was born and stayed 3 nights in the hospital and had his circumcision (SURGERY) his bill was only $3500....so tell me how 6 hours on a bed in the hall where all they did was give him steroids and Tylenol equals the same amount?!?!

So needless to say I had a mini meltdown. Bawling not because of the bill, but how bad they were abusing us. The system is so messed up. Just keep trying to do the right things and then things like that happen. So wrong! Needless to say I will have a GREAT week! Let's hope my temper doesn't flair too much....I can't promise anything.

If you couldn't tell still fuming...but the holiday season must progress...

I don't know about everyone else but our weather has been soo weird 30s to 70s it of course has started to bother the little man. So again we are back to multiple breathing treatments a day and an elevated bed. (As I'm hearing the little man cough his head off laying in bed....) I hate that so much and look forward to the day when he outgrows this.

Tonight we headed over to Wes' parents for Christmas, which was quite pleasant. I was a little worried because of some people attending. All the little kids loved the gifts we gave them and gave us big hugs. Love those kids! Dinner was great too after only eating a sandwich all day.

Here are the things Aiden received: (Which he had more fun running around in the huge pile of paper ripping it up even more. SILLY, but my heart melts when he laughs and smiles) Love the tag reader and can't wait for him to use it. Hopefully, this will help him start saying words faster. Beyond obsessed with his trike, because it can fold and easily store. And lastly from his cousins he got the starter kit train set, which is WOOD! Love even more! So now we can grow from this and make it even larger.

Here are the things I received: (Which I LOOOOVE! Can't wait to keep growing my charm bracelet. I got an L for Lambert and a little boy for Aiden. I also can't wait to use my new chip and dip bowl, which I didn't even know they made in my pattern!)

Wes' gifts were ummm awesome too haha (He loves them so that's all that matters)! He got a new video game (Regina knew I wouldn't buy it for him. haha), a nice pair of headphones, and from Steve an air compressor! YAH! Never have to pay to pump up our tires again!

Can't wait for Christmas tomorrow! Stockings all set, little man in his new pjs. A nice day with my family! Gitty!

Polar Express

PREVIOUS POST

The party was a success! Food delicious, amazing company, and lots of laughter. Granted we could only get through half of the movie before the little ones started to get stir crazy, but I consider that a success! They will get better as they get older.

We started the evening eating pizza and the moved into the living room to watch the movie. The sweets were for them during the movie. So we covered the rug with a large blanket, threw down some pillows and dimmed the lights. The boys however wanted to sit on the couch....with their popcorn containers. Next thing we know they dumped them out and were eating popcorn off the cushion! Oh goodness! So with a brief cleanup time we were back on track.

Can't wait for next year! The kids were so cute when I gave them their parting gift (a bell) because they were saying "Hey I can hear it!!! I believe!!!" So precious! (I didn't take any photos during the party, because I had my hands full with 4 kids, but I did take some of Aiden before in his pjs, so Enjoy! He was having a rough Friday, allergies started acting up and made one of his poor eyes swell!)

Other news, I finished Aiden's invitations for his birthday. It was very time consuming cutting all that out. But the end result was worth it. PRECIOUS!

ORIGINAL INVITE POST

I'm planning on taking Aiden to see Santa Thursday or Friday, but don't expect another post till after Christmas. I hope everyone has an AMAZING Christmas with their families. I know I will because Wes doesn't have to work Saturday nor Sunday!!!!!!!!!! So excited! We can all be together all day long. Guess all that hard work/long hours this week paid off. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

Shower Planning

This might be SEVERAL months in advance like 6.....but I have mentioned how dead it is around here right now, so me and Erica have been working hard planning. :-) And these next 6 months will fly by. Plus I love planning!

So I officially finished Brit's shower invite. The colors will change if it's a girl to purple...but I'm hoping it's a boy as you can see! :-) Mild obsession with owls. Card is still in the works (date, registry list) but overall the design is complete. I def think I will recycle this card a few times I love it that much!

The party theme is rustic woodland. Throw in some burlap figurines, and flowers and call it a day! Now that the theme is there budgeting and cutting cost comes into play.

I actually found the plates and napkins we will use yesterday on the clearance rack of Hobby Lobby. 20 plates for $1.50 and 35 napkins for $1.50! Score!! If we need more we will throw in some solid colors. They are perfect for our theme. Can't tell much from my cellphone quality pics but they are tan and the rim has yellow, pink, blue, purple in theme. Perfect for any gender!! Meant to be!

Now everyone knows burlap isn't cheap. Well this is where friends come into play. Someone we know is possibly using it for her wedding so once that is over it's all ours! If not then we will make several transactions with our handy dandy 50% off coupons. :-) Not like we need a lot but not something I want to pay full price for. Tableclothes we can get at the dollar store. Flowers will be purple/blue for boy or purple/pink for girl. But here is our idea for tables

I'm going to try this coloring jars idea for Aiden's birthday and if it works out then I'm going to re-use them for this party....so wish me luck!! :-) I think mason jars feel more rustic than normal clear jars to hold candles. I'm going to attempt to make the jars purple. (Click on picture for how-to)

Luckily food wise we are just sticking with finger foods. So that won't be alot. I'm going to attempt to make an owl cake pop! Bringing my pop making to the next level. I've made 2 batchs so far and everyone loves, so stepping up my game to shapes beyond circles...eeekk!

Also going to do some other ideas I found off Pinterest. Def making her a wreath to put on her door. But I will use it during the party for my door. Both are so cute, but I guess it's going to come down to how much time I have. Clearly one is more time consuming. :-)

I saw this idea on a blog and thought it was PRECIOUS! Take an old frame/window paint it the nusery colors. then take a small letter cover it in moss and hang in the center with twine. Designates an area for presents and is a cute take home for the parents. I hope I have the time to try, because it is beyond precious.

And lastly the other project we will attempt. A diaper cake. Thanks to my extra 10% added to my already awesome discount at Target we will stock up on this stuff now. Diapers please! What new mom doesn't want diapers! :-) plus they make nice useful centerpieces.

HOW TO

HOW TO # 2

That's it for now...but as you can see we are really excited for the parents-to-be!!!