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12.25.2018

Merry Christmas!

From our family to yours....
 "For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
Isaiah 9:6

Merry Christmas from our family to yours....hope you had a wonderful day filled with family, friends, good food....and most importantly, celebrating the birth of Christ!

12.19.2018

What's Up Wednesday :: December 2018

Happy Wednesday! It's time for our What's Up Wednesday Link Up!

Link up with  me, Sheaffer & Shay the LAST Wednesday of each month so we can read about What's Up with YOU!

Here we go!
What We’re Eating this week..... 
Monday: Chicken Tortilla Casserole

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday

Wednesday: Tomato Soup & Caesar Salad

Thursday: Pizza Night (since this is like a Friday and we don't have school Friday!)

Friday: Dinner at our friends 40th Surprise Party

Treats I am making this week:
Over the weekend we made Christmas Sprinkle Sugar Cookies {HERE}


My friend has her annual Cookie Exchange tomorrow night. This year I am making my Frosted Sugar Cookie Bars:

Last year I made my Peanut Butter Ritzies:

The year before I made my Candy Cane Kisses:

What I'm Reminiscing about.....
Santa visits. This year, we went to visit our regular Santa where we have gone since Kate was born in 2007 and when we went last weekend, it was a different Santa...apparently our Santa might be sick? They were very vague, but my sister and I were so sad our regular Santa wasn't there.
So, I've been reminiscing & looking back at all our Santa photos....if you've read my blog for awhile, you know that crying kids with Santa (and the Easter Bunny) are my favorite. My kids gave me some epic crying photos when they were toddlers.
2008
Claire's 1st Christmas {3 months}, Kate {23 months}
2010
Kate {3.5 years old} & Claire {2 years old}

 One of the best ever. 2013....Luke & his cousin Jack. So good.
Now my kids happily smile & sit with Santa. 

 What I'm loving.....
12 Deals of Christmas!
I have 12 amazing Christmas deals that are all a part of a bulk order and I LOVE that you guys are taking advantage of these deals and that you get to save $$$.
These deals are good for customers or non customers.
 
Here are the 12 Deals:
This is the biggest set of deals I've ever had!

Ends this Friday, 12/21
Deal #1 - Redefine Regimen for $160
Deal #2 - Reverse Lightening Regimen for $150
Deal #3 - Reverse Brightening Regimen for $150
Deal #4 - Unblemish Regimen for $140
Deal #5 - Soothe Regimen for $135
Deal #6 - Buy any Regimen and get Lash Boost for HALF OFF!
Deal #7 - Get our AMP Roller & Intensive Renewing Serum for $175
Deal #8 - Buy Radiant Defense and get FREE make up removing wipes.
Deal #9 - Bright Eye Complex & Radiant Defense Gift Set with FREE mirror
Deal #10 - Lash Boost and Radiant Defense Gift Set and you get a Free Brush ($38 value)
Deal #11 - MicroDerm Paste & Active Hydration Body Replenish Gift Set and get a FREE Sunless Tanner ($25 value)
Deal #12 - Customer favorites at consultant pricing! Redefine Eye Cream for $48, Lash Boost for $115 or Active Hydration Serum for $85 

If you have been wanting to try Rodan + Fields, this is the perfect time to order!
If you have been wanting to try Rodan + Fields and get a big discount, be sure and check out the full post HERE
Email me to get one of these deals or email me with questions.
 I am here to help :)
melissa_larson17@yahoo.com

What We've been up to.....
December has been a fun month!
Kate & I ran a Christmas 5k
 We've had our court Christmas Party & White Elephant Exchange
Adventure Awaits Baby Shower for my sister

Ice Skating in San Francisco
3rd annual Christmas Sock Exchange with friends
Seeing Santa
Baking Cookies & Watching Christmas movies

What I'm Dreading.....
 Our semester ends tomorrow so I am dreading finishing up all the grading I have to get done.
Grade 140 quizzes, 140 projects and 140 Homework Packets.

What I'm Working On.....
See above. Grading, grading, grading.
Send coffee (and wine!!!)

What I'm Excited About.....
 The fact that we have 2.5 weeks off starting tomorrow afternoon!!!!!!!
This has been me the past couple days...
Specifically, Hallmark Christmas movies! Love them!
This pretty much sums up last weekend:

What I'm Watching.......
 All the Hallmark Christmas movies!
Please tell me you have the Hallmark Christmas movie app...it's amazing!!!
I am making really good progress :)


What I'm Reading.....
 Usually I read 4-5 books a month, but I've read ZERO.ZILCH.NADA because of my Hallmark Christmas movie addiction.
Why read when you can watch cheesy Christmas movies? ;)
Once December 26th hits I will stop watching Christmas movies & I have plans to read some of the books that have been collecting dust on my nightstand for the past month.
We are heading to Tahoe at the end of the month, so I know I will have lots of reading time once we are there.

What I'm Listening to.....
 Christmas music playing in our house & my car 24-7
These are 3 of my favorite Christmas albums:
Jessica Simpson (HERE)





Mariah Carey (HERE)


Michael Buble (HERE)

This year I added another album to the mix and it's becoming a favorite:
Kelly Clarkson Wrapped in Red


I also love the Today's Christmas Music Station on Pandora.

What I'm Wearing.....
We have had really mild weather this month. It's been in the 60s here in Northern California.
It's chilly in the morning, then it warms up and is really nice.
These are the booties I have been wearing....
These black ones
I also wear this jacket a lot...the olive green color is perfect!
This is my go-to jacket.


The color is perfect & neutral and goes with everything!
I got it HERE, but it's sold out so you can also get it HERE & save 40%

What I’m doing this weekend.....
We have a really fun weekend ahead.
Surprise 40th birthday party on Friday night
Larson Family Christmas all day Saturday
Surprising the girls and spending the day in San Francisco on Sunday

What I'm Looking Forward to next month.....
 Going to Lake Tahoe and skiing!
I LOVE Tahoe and I really love snow...so excited!
We got ski passes again this year & now I am just praying for snow.
The past 2 winters were so fun with all the snow we got, fingers crossed this winter is just as good!

What else is new.....
This appetizer recipe I posted last week.
New to the blog, but a holiday staple for us.
It's a dried cranberry, diced apple, pecan & warm brown sugar mixture poured over a wedge of Brie Cheese.
I'm making it for Christmas....so easy to make and good!
Recipe HERE

Question of the month is:
What are your last minute Christmas gift ideas?
Two Words:
GIFT CARDS!!!!!

I LOVE gift cards.
I love giving them and I love getting them.
Or anything from Amazon...here is our kids Christmas....everything from Amazon!!!!
Hello, free 2 day shipping. #thebest
What did we do before Amazon Prime?!?

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If you are new to my blog, thanks for stopping by!
Feel free to follow along! 
You can find me on Bloglovin, Facebook & Instagram

Can't wait to read about What's up with all of YOU!

12.18.2018

Adventure Awaits Baby Shower

Last weekend I threw a Baby Shower "Sprinkle" for my younger sister.
She is pregnant with her 3rd baby and due in January, so we had a small, low key party to celebrate her Baby Boy that is arriving next month.

Because the shower was in December, I wanted to make sure the theme went with my Christmas decorations but I didn't want it too Christmas-y of a shower.
I seriously thought about throwing a Lumberjack shower since I had literally just done that theme for Luke's 6th birthday, but I decided against because I wanted a theme that incorporated blue. 

I decided on the them Adventure Awaits, for several reasons.
First, because my sister is having her 3rd baby and that for sure is an adventure being outnumbered.
Secondly, this theme is outdoorsy with mountains/pine trees/arrows, etc so it goes well with all the Christmas decorations that are already up in my house.
Thirdly, the name they are using means "Great" and I thought it was fun to add into the theme and make the official theme "A Great Adventure Awaits"

I had the vision for the cake and planned that first and then planned all the other details.
I saw THIS cake topper and knew I wanted to put it on a bare/naked cake and put it on the wooden platter I used for Luke's birthday which I got HERE and then I added some mini bottle brush trees for an extra touch.
 
Once I had that, then I added the rest of the shower details.
Again, I kept this really simple & low key since my house was decorated for Christmas.
The drink set up:
The food menu was BRUNCH!
I made 2 breakfast casseroles...You can see the recipes HERE.
One with Bacon, Sun Dried Tomatoes & Artichoke hearts
The other was Ham & Cheese:
Fruit Salad:
 
Mixed Green Salad with pecans, mandarin oranges & dried cranberries:
 I made my banana muffins. This recipe (but I left out chocolate chips)
 And my pumpkin muffins. This recipe (but I left out chocolate chips)
All the food:
 
 This menu worked out perfectly because I was able to make most of the food the night before.
And, who doesn't love brunch foods? :)
  Loved how simple it was.
 My plate...YUM!
  And my favorite....the dessert table! 
It's a boy sign that I printed on brown cardstock:
 I did brown cardstock to make it go with the "natural/woodsy/mountain" theme:
I kept the dessert table pretty simple also.
 
For desserts, I had my usual (and my sister's favorite!) Sugar Cookie Fruit Puffs:
 
I also made my Salted Caramel Brownies:
And, of course...the cake!
 I was SO happy with how the cake turned out!
 I didn't do that many desserts since there were under 20 ladies at the shower.
 The guest of honor ready to eat some cake!
I didn't even want to cut into the cake because it turned out so cute!
Don't worry, we enjoyed the cake...it was lemon with a cream cheese frosting. So good! 
Baby Presents under the Christmas tree:
 It was a simple shower/sprinkle and we didn't even do games, but we did have an activity :)
 I set out these diapers with this sign & had people write notes/funny sayings on the diapers. There were some funny ones!
 As you know, I ALWAYS do cookie favors at my parties/showers.
 I got the cookies from the bakery in our town.
 I kept it really simple & just had her make the cookies in the shape of a onesie.
 It was a lovely afternoon celebrating my sister and her new baby boy.
My mom & sisters:
I can't wait to meet my new nephew...Kate is hoping the baby is 3 days early and arrives on her birthday!

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And, a reminder....the 12 Deals of Christmas has been extended until this Friday December 21st, so it's not too late to place your order and save big time!
Check out the post HERE with all the details & savings.
These deals are available to everyone!