Elf on a shelf:: Polar Express ride

If you know Zane then you know he is completely 100% obsessed with 

the Polar Express.

He can recite the entire movie 

and does multiple times a day to anyone who will listen.
And wants to watch it every.single.day...
multiple times a day!

So when I was thinking of things to do for the Elf on the Shelf 

this idea popped into my head and I got super excited.
{for both him and myself}

He got the Polar Express train from Pottery Barn Kids for Christmas last year from his GiGi

{it actually comes with the little boy and the bum sitting on top of the train and a bell}

So I went on a hunt...

a hunt to find::
a miniature cookie 

an itty bitty mug

and
a tiny bell with red ribbon.

Because if you have seen the movie or even been on the train ride yourself

they give each person::

a cookie

a steaming hot mug of cocoa

and
each kid a bell with red ribbon

{on the ride each kid gets a bell but in the movie just the main character gets a one}

I also borrowed a Santa from my mom
because what's a trip on the Polar Express 

without meeting Santa?!

I worked hard on trying to get it perfect for him

because I knew if it wasn't perfect that he'd notice since he's so obsessed.

And this is the result of all my efforts::

He was so excited this morning.
Unfortunately the camera was dead so I didn't get any pictures of him seeing it.

We will also be going on the Polar Express train ride on Sunday night on Mt. Hood Railroad

and we always buy the most expensive tickets so we can get the special mug

and best seats for him.
We will be bringing our copy of the Polar Express book
this year since they do a reading
and I want him to be able to follow along this year.

Well this year I also found the most perfect pjs of all time for him to wear on the ride
and for Lilah something coordinating of course::

Polar Express by libbyuglesich on Polyvore
Both are from Hannah Andersson

I really don't think they could be anymore perfect
and when he saw them he flipped out because he was so excited.

He's already told me on more than one occasion that this is going to be the best Christmas ever
and/or
his favorite Christmas of all time...
because he's had so many ;)

Because I know everyone would love to know what I'll be wearing,
I put together my outfit for it.

polar express train ride by libbyuglesich featuring a patagonia vest

christmas tree cutting outfit

We cut our tree down every year the day after Thanksgiving.

It's our tradition that my husband and I started this our first year married.

We haven't missed a year...

we went when I was pregnant and super sick with Zane in 2009

and with Lilah only being a couple weeks old last year.

It's one of my favorite parts of Christmastime.

We always go to the same tree farm near our house.

christmas tree cutting by libbyuglesich featuring old navy t shirts

I always like to wear something with a little Christmas spirit.
And I am super obsessed with my polka dot jeans so I will definitely be wearing those.
And it has been freezing here the past couple weeks so a hat, gloves + boots are completely necessary.
Oh and I must always have a peppermint mocha when we go get the tree.
I am so excited that Christmas is officially starting on Friday!
It is by far my most favorite time of year.

Lilah's Birthday Party - Decorations

We had a princess themed birthday party for Lilah as you may have noticed

from my preview pictures if you follow my Instagram 

or my Twitter or even my Facebook page.

I will share her party details over the next week or so.

There are so many pictures that it'd be the longest post in the entire world if I did it all in one post.

I will put all the details of where things are from at the bottom.

 

 

 

Birth stats:: Paper Ramma
Birthday invitation:: Shutterfly
Princess balloon:: Dollar Tree
Princess crown:: Little Blue Olive
High chair banner:: Birthday Express
Cupcake flags:: Dollar Tree
Garland:: Graphique Bazaar
Princess plates + cups:: Toys R Us
Princess confetti:: Party City
Pearl necklace:: Charming Charlie
Mini princess balloon:: Dollar Tree
Smash cupcake:: Bliss Cupcakes
Princess pinata:: Toys R Us

Boys gift bag::

Funny glasses:: Target

Bubbles:: Dollar Tree

Silly String:: Dollar Tree

{the boys got a cookie too, it's just not pictured}

Girls gift bag::

Crown:: Target

Maraca:: Dollar Tree

Bubbles:: Dollar Tree

Cookie:: Cookies by Design

Gift tags:: Welcome to my Store

Here is a sneak peek of the cake eating::

thanksgiving dinner traditions

my family is extremely traditional when it comes to our Thanksgiving dinner

we like our turkey roasted with the stuffing inside the bird

{we all feel it gives it way more flavor that way}
but we always make so much that we have to do a separate dish of it also
my mom loves cranberries so we always have those
I like to have rolls so we've started making some for dinner in the last few years
you have to have mashed potatoes and gravy at Thanksgiving
it is a definite must
of course we always have green bean casserole
I want to make pumpkin or butternut squash soup and tartlets for appetizers this year
and you have to have pumpkin pie and whipped cream for dessert!

thanksgiving

I thought I'd share with you what I will be wearing to enjoy our turkey day this year.

I cannot wait because it is definitely my favorite Holiday!

I am just thankful that we get to have yummy food on this family day. 

turkey eating by libbyuglesich featuring flat high boots

I will be eating a ton of food this day so I knew I'd need something comfy
and something that can compensate for all the yummy food.
I hope you all have a fabulous Thanksgiving with your families and friends.
Happy Thanksgiving!

New years eve wear 2013

So I thought I'd show you my outfit{s} for New Years Eve... 

In my dreams::

In my reality::

So the first outfit is the outfit I'd love to be wearing out on the town with my honey
and the second outfit is what I will actually be wearing {well something similar} to a friends house with my honey and the kiddos.

I actually love both outfits.
But the first one would be so much fun with all the sparkles.
I will have some sparkle on my wrist tonight but that will be as far as I go with it.
I will tell you this I will enjoy every.single.second of my night spent with friends & my little family!

Happy Valentine's Day

source

2012 Goals

Resolutions... 

Well I don't do resolutions anymore because I never follow through with them!

So I'm going to call them goals for 2012.

This makes it sound much more doable to me and not like if I don't accomplish them I am failing.

I only have a few goals for 2012 

and they are pretty big ones so I'll just get right down to it 

and tell you what they are:

1. Spend more time with the Lord in one on one time doing devotionals.

2. Try go to church every Sunday, when James' schedule changes next month. 

3. Get pregnant and have a baby by the end of 2012!! 
4. Blog more and take more pictures of Zane to remember this fun age.

5. Turn 30 with a bang and enjoy every second of my Birthday this year. 

I told you they pretty big...

#3 is my favorite and if it happens will make me the happiest momma in the world!

Merry Christmas from my family to yours...

a day later unfortunately!

Christmas Traditions

First of all I just have to tell you that both my husband and I LOVE Christmastime! We will start watching Christmas movies before Thanksgiving because we love it so much. But we wait to turn the Christmas music on until after Thanksgiving. But here is a list of Christmas Traditions that we have in our family.

1. National Lampoons Christmas Vacation: We watch Christmas Vacation after Thanksgiving dinner every.single.year without fail. It is my dad & brother's favorite Christmas movie and one of James's favorites so the boys always want to watch it together.

2. Christmas Tree Adventure: We go and cut our own tree down every year at the same Christmas Tree farm every year. We love the adventure of going out and picking out the perfect tree and then cutting it down ourselves, {well James does that} I just watch. ;) That is one of the perks of living here in Oregon because we grow Christmas trees like crazy out here. 

3. Decorating: We decorate {actually I decorate} the day after Thanksgiving every year. I like to have the decorations up as long as I possibly can because of how much we love Christmas. I decorate using mainly white, red & silver just because I like the traditional'ness' {I know I just made up a word} of it. I only use white lights both on the inside and outside of my house. I grew up in a house of just white lights and I love the simplicity of it. We did add some red lights this year around the banister on our deck in the front but that's all. We have also decided that each of our children will be designated with a certain Christmas "character" if you will, like Santa, Snowman, Elf, Reindeer, Angel, etc. Depending on how many children we have. Their stocking will be their character {Zane is Santa} and then his grammy will be buying him a new santa every year so that he will have a collection of them when he gets older and has his own wife, family, house etc. 


4. The Family Stone: I will watch The Family Stone about 100 times from the beginning of November to the end of December because it is my all time favorite Christmas movie. I love it more than any other movie. I dream of having a big family just like in the movie with a beautiful house in the country with snow and all my children and their families coming to visit us when they are grown and out of the house. It just is such a great movie and has such a great story to go with the wonderfulness that is the family in the movie. 

5. Books & Movies: James and I started this tradition on our very first Christmas together 5 Christmases ago. We buy a new Christmas book every year and write our names, the year and if anything big happened that year in it. {Like last year was Zane's first Christmas} We also buy a Christmas movie every year, whether it be a new one or one of the Classics. We want to own all the Christmas movies we can. Because we try to watch one almost every night during December. It's something we love to do with each other during this time of year.

6. Christmas "Morton Family Strata": {from the Family Stone} This is something I make on Christmas eve and put in the fridge for Christmas morning breakfast. We just started this last year but we decided that it was so good that we wanted to do it every year from then on. You can get the recipe either from the DVD special features or you can go here for the recipe.

7. A Christmas Story: This is James's favorite Christmas movie ever. He could watch it a million times and still love it. So on Christmas day the 24 hours of A Christmas Story on TBS is one of his favorite things. It is pretty much on all day and if it's not on on the TV we will watch it on DVD because most of the time he doesn't have Christmas off. {Police officers don't get holiday's off, that's one of the downfalls to his job.}

8. Twas the Night Before Christmas: James reads Twas the Night Before Christmas every Christmas eve to us right before we go to bed and put out the milk and cookies for Santa.

9. Christmas Music: We love Christmas music but our favorites are Jessica Simpson {both of her CDs}, Michael Buble, Lady Antebellum, She & Him, Rascal Flatts, SheDAISY, and any of the classics. It's the only thing I will listen to starting the day after Thanksgiving until New Year's day. Love love love Christmas music.

10. Visiting Santa Clause: Now that we have Zane we have been going to see Santa at the mall the last two years and we don't plan on stopping anytime soon, especially since we are going to be having more kids in the near future {as in we are going to start trying in March}! ;) It's so much fun to take him to see him and see his reaction to being put on a strange old man's lap. We had success both this year and last year! No crying at all. Hopefully that will continue with him and with our other future children. 

11. A few little fun extras: So there are a few things that we have done in the past or want to do but haven't had time yet for. The Christmas tree lighting downtown Portland in Pioneer Courthouse Square each year on the day after Thanksgiving. We wanted to go this year but decided against it because of the stupid Occupy Portland thing that is going on {they had just moved to the square a couple days before and we didn't want to take Zane down into that}. Zoo Lights of course we want to take Zane to Zoo Lights because he loves Christmas lights and would love to see all the lights at the zoo plus you get to ride on the train and he loves trains. So this is something we are hoping to do this weekend. The Polar Express on The Mount Hood Railroad it's a fun little trip for the kids {and adults too!} where the kids wear their pajama's and they give you hot cocoa and you meet Santa Clause at the end of the ride.

I find it funny how quite a few of our traditions involve movies. We are big into movies I guess. Oh well it's part of what's so great about Christmas are the movies.

Christmas in my house

looks like this...

My grandma painted the tree picture for us

James' stocking & all our Christmas movies

Zane's & my stocking and Christmas card holder

Part of my snowman collection & the new picture of Zane for his 18 months

Our tree

There are many more decorations around the house but these are just some of the favorites.
I am hoping our tree next year will not be so sparse with lights and ornaments!
We had to adjust because of Zane this year.

P.S. Happy Birthday to the best dad & poppa there is!
Today is his birthday & we are going to celebrate tonight with some pizza & playing.