HOLIDAY FUN AND WHAT'S BEEN KEEPING US BUSY!

Things have been pretty busy around the Lacey house.  I might have mentioned this a few times right? Ha! Outside of the holidays we have been super busy because WE SOLD OUR HOUSE!!!!  If all goes well (fingers crossed) we close on January 4.  We love our little house so much but Kenny and I are thrilled to close this chapter of our lives and literally move on with a fresh start.

So, despite not having any more showings, thank goodness, we have been consumed with inspections, appraisals, surveyors and lots of other things.  Crazy me has decided not to start packing until after Christmas.  So things are bound to get even more hectic.  I am getting sweaty just sitting here typing this.

In the meantime here is a little of what we have been up to.

Elle and I had to have an impromptu lunch date after music class on day because 

the inspection of the house ran a lot longer than expected.  We had fun.

Story time on a day where Daddy managed to pop in.  Any time he comes she is 

so excited he is there and sits in his lap the entire time.

Elle's PDO program had a Christmas program last week and oh my gosh was it cute.  We had been getting notes home from the teachers that they had been rehearsing and practicing every day and those little babies did not disappoint.  I know I am biased but Elle did a great job.  She rang her bell extra hard and sang her heart out.  She also did not freak out when she noticed us sitting in the front row which I was super worried about.  What was most amusing was the absolute zoo that happened with the parents.  Flash photography and a little bit of a crowd pushing forward for everyone to see and get good pictures.  I left photography up to my sister and he iphone and for some reasons the pics are really grainy.  But I just have to include them for my blog book purposes!

Note: Yes that is Elle is blue! She was wearing all of her Christmas outfits to PDO the weeks before and then I got the one I had been saving for the Christmas program and it was waaaaay to big.  So cute little blue romper it was.  Oh well.  It was kind of nice because you can pick her out easily. 

And finally our family took a little road trip to Columbia, Missouri to visit some friends who live there now and do some other things.  The first night we were there we took Elle to see this amazing tree that is covering in thousands of lights.  It is called the Magic Tree.  Of course iPhone pictures don't it justice (as always) but it was so neat! Definitely a must see if you are ever in that little college town during Christmas.

Daddy daughter moment of wonder.

ELLE'S WISH LIST FOR SANTA

Here are just a few of the things that might be under the tree for Elle this Christmas.  She has been a very good girl so Santa is bringing her lots of art themed presents.  Along with the easel she is getting a fun little smock, paints and paintbrushes.  She loves to color and draw so I think Santa's gifts will be a hit.

Little People will also be present as we love everything Little People along with some new Disney movies, doll accessories, a small train track and maybe a few surprises.  Christmas morning should be lots of fun with a two year old.  I cannot wait.

ELLE'S WISH LIST by mallory-cornell on Polyvore

Melissa Doug Deluxe Wooden Standing Art Easel Set
$78 - overstock.com

Crayola 52 ct. Sidewalk Chalk Box
diapers.com

Baby Gund 'my First Purse' Play Set
nordstrom.com

Fisher-Price Little People Animal Sounds Farm Fisher-Price
toysrus.com

Melissa & Doug 'figure 8' Train Set
nordstrom.com

Brave (Collector's Edition) (3 Discs) (Blu-ray/DVD) (Widescreen)
target.com

ON THE LIST

Here are just a few of the things on my Christmas list this year.  I am so thankful that I received a Sephora gift card and the perfume from Kenny's parents this past weekend. I can't wait to go get some new makeup.  

Perfume is one of my favorite Christmas gifts to receive.  I am not a signature scent kind of girl.  I am a mood girl.  I pick my perfumes depending on where I am going, how I am feeling, what I am wearing.  I have over a dozen bottles and love getting samples too.  Yay for smelling good!

The other items are just on my wish list.  We will see if Santa thinks I have been a good girl. 

All I Want For Christmas by mallory-cornell featuring cross body handbags

Frye flat knee high boots
neimanmarcus.com

Stella Dot cross body handbag
stelladot.com

MICHAEL Michael Kors michael kor
michaelkors.com

Viktor rolf
sephora.com

All-Clad d5 Stainless-Steel Stock Pots
williams-sonoma.com

BIRTHDAY PARTY FOR ELLE

I mentioned yesterday we had Elle's two year old birthday party on Sunday.  It was a little early but there is a whole lot going on at the Lacey household that I haven't mentioned on here just yet.  It all started with this cute little invite I had my Susan at JPress Designs do for me.  

            

Early on I found a fun table scape inspiration picture that I wanted to do so that was kind of the idea I was running with on how the invitations looked. No theme really.  More of a color scheme I guess.

We had the party at a place called Special Kids that had lots of fun things to do for Elle and her friends age. They had so much fun.

Elle had no idea the party was for her but she was so happy to see all of her friends and family in one place. Here are just a few of the pics we took.  I actually used my camera thinking our pics would be better but honestly most of them were pretty blurry. Granted, Elle never stopped moving.

Our little tablescape.  The lighting is terrible in this picture but it all looked really cute. 

Swinging with Daddy.

Some of Elle's besties playing at the train table.

Baby Mack came too! He probably won't remember much because he never woke up.

One of our best play date friends, Alice, and Elle playing in the ball pit.

Blowing out our unlit birthday cupcake, shoeless from jumping on the trampoline. Oh we are so two!!

CHRISTMAS HUSTLE AND BUSTLE

Oh my lord was this weekend B-U-S-Y! My mom arrived in town Thursday night to go see Jersey Boys with my sister.  The rest of the weekend we stayed busy running errands and then Kenny's parents came into town on Saturday afternoon to celebrate Christmas with us and because we threw Elle a birthday party on Sunday. It was important for all of her people (that is what we say about our little family) to be there for her in one place to celebrate with her! More on the birthday party tomorrow.  Here is what we were up to before the big party day!

Saturday morning we took Elle to see Santa at Vineyard Vines.  We love this little event.  Santa is always so nice, they have donuts form our favorite donut shop, peppermint hot cocoa and of course Kenny loves it because he always walks out with some sort of new clothing.  

All the girls waiting in line so Elle could talk to Santa Claus.

We were hoping this meeting would go a little bit better.

Kenny and I decided maybe it would be better if we just stood and talked to Santa. That did seem to help a little.  I mean here she is giving Santa a fist bump.  So that is definitely some progress.

Then I decided to back away and see if we could get a cute picture.  

No such luck. She started crying. Oh well.

Enjoying a yummy whale donut for all that Santa trouble.

Saturday night, we celebrated Christmas with Kenny's parents.  They were so excited and happy to give Elle the gifts they had picked out for her. She was a lucky girl and they gave her a precious set of little play golf clubs, some blocks and a huge Elmo book set which she was crazy about because if you know us at all we are Elmo crazy right now in this house! Kenny and I are also very thankful for the fun gifts his parents gave us too. 

Sitting on a present while playing with a present. 

And please ignore all the things on my table.  All stuff for the birthday party.

Helping Daddy open one of his gifts.

Playing with her new toys.  Lucky little girl.

GOOD GOLLY AGAIN!

When Elle was born we found Molly Kennedy with Good Golly Photography to take her newborn pictures.  We have used her ever since and we have never been disappointed. 

It had been far too long since we had some professional pictures of Elle taken so I was still thrilled to have Molly meet us at Rhodes College to get some updated pictures of her and of us as a family for our Christmas card. It was freezing but the leaves were falling and the campus was a gorgeous backdrop for the morning.  

Below are just a few of my favorites! Enjoy!

This one was a true candid. Elle fell down and needed some 

comforting from her Daddy.  Of course Kenny loves to save the day.

TRIMMING THE TREE

The day after Thanksgiving is always the day I like to take down my Christmas tree and decorations and get the house feeling Christmas-y.  This year was no different.  It was extra fun having my mom and sister as an audience and Elle has our little helper.  My mom would hand her ornaments as she unwrapped them and then she would bring them to hang on the tree. Annie played photographer.

So far she has done okay with not touching the tree and the ornaments too much.  We placed any breakable ones at the top and we remind her frequently that she should just look at the tree and exclaim how pretty it is but we shouldn't touch it.  Every morning after I get her out of her crib she shouts tree and we go and flip the switch to turn it on and she gets so excited. 

Christmas is so much more fun with a child involved.  The smallest things are such a big deal and you really see the magic in it all.

Unpacking the box.  Getting excited after it was assembled.  Time for ornaments.  Time for admiring.

Time for wonder.

And here is our Christmas tree as of Sunday.  I have been trying to stay on top of the wrapping.  

As the presents arrive from the UPS man (who is wearing jingle bells and I think that is so sweet) 

I wait until I have a few and then get to wrapping.  I only have a few more to arrive and 

then we are completely done with shopping and wrapping.  Leaving us lots of 

time to find fun holiday activities to do as a family.