Merry Christmas from my Family to Yours.

our 2013 family Christmas card.

.....and she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger. Luke 2:7

.... Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth to those whom his favor rests. Luke 2:14

Merry Christmas friends! 

Today we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the reason we celebrate this wonderful season.

I hope you all are enjoying a day with family and friends. Have a blessed day!

Christmas Sleepover with Party Details from WeR Memory Keepers

We're headed to Iowa for Christmas vacation with the family soon. I'm so excited, this will be the first time we'll be home for Christmas in a couple years. I'm excited for Ava to spent Christmas with her cousins and extended family. 

Christmas is a amazing season to spend with family and friends. A time to share love and laughter and make memories. As my children get older and more into what Christmas is all about it becomes more and more fun sharing this season with them. 

I've been a brand ambassador for Lifestyle Crafts for a while now, and I will now be apart of their Lifestyle Studios teams specializing in the party decor portion. So, I'm excited to be sharing different projects every month using some of their awesome tools and accessories. 

Today I'm teaming up with my friend Destiny from the blog A Place for Us and sharing with you this adorable Christmas sleepover you can easily put together for your little ones. Perfect for sharing with little cousins or play date friends. 

Grab your blankets, books and pillows and set the scene under this adorable handmade tent. I made this tent for my family pictures a few weeks back, we also use it and have it set up in our home. Ava loves to read books in there and play. If you would like to purchase one, you can here.
With some simple supplies from around the house you can set up your own Christmas Sleepover too! Plus I'm going to show you some products from We R that you can use to create some special details. 

I used the food tray die to make these little trays to hold sugar cookies in. I simply used the die and cut the shapes and then folded on the lines and used the Sticky Thumb Adhesive to keep it glued together. 

Fun tip, add some syrup to the rim of your bottle and dip it in sprinkles or sugar for a fun and festive garnish. 

I also used the snowflake die to make these snowflake wraps and put them around the glass bottles. These glass bottles are just empty Starbucks Frap bottles that I've cleaned and saved to re use. They have come in really handy. Destiny made these adorable drink flags to go with. Check them out here. 

Destiny also made these really cute snack trays. Visit her blog here to get the scoop on the projects she made for the Christmas Sleepover including this snack caddy shown above.

With a few little elements you can create a magical setting for your little ones. Snuggle up and grab a few books while enjoying your snacks under the tent. 

These girls, they are sooo cute! I just love watching them together. 

Find all the products I used linked below. If you're interested in creating some of these crafts and having your own Christmas Sleepover be sure to check them out and use code WORLEYHOUSE for 20% off your purchase. Shop here. Visit the We R Memory Keepers website here for their full line of craft supplies. They also have other fun items like photo albums, washi tape and scrapbook supplies.

Products I used:

Sticky Thumb Adhesive

Food Tray

Snowflake Punches

Use code WORLEYHOUSE for 20% off your purchase from WeR Memory Keepers. 

To find out more about WeR visit them on Facebook & Follow them on Twitter.

One of My Favorite Christmas Traditions {Recordable Story Books}

We moved to Arizona in August, and we did not go anywhere for Christmas that year. We stayed here in Arizona and it was kinda hard. But, due to lack of vacation time we stayed here. The following year we had Ava it was her first Christmas, she turned 9 months old on Christmas Eve. Again we did not go anywhere to see family for Christmas, we stayed here in Arizona and had our first Christmas as a new family. 

My parents sent along a gift package for our family and inside was the most precious gift, this recordable story book The Night Before Christmas.

As I turned each page a familiar voice read each word, then another voice read the next page, and so on till it was finished. I sat there in my living room with my baby girl and heard the voices of each of our family members. Crying like a fool cause I missed them so, and so thankful they took the time to do this. 



Now, each year they record a story book and give it to my children. We're getting quite the collection and I love this Christmas tradition. 

If you live far away from family this is the perfect tradition to start with them. Sometimes I open the books when I just want to hear their voices. 

What are some of your favorite family traditions around the holidays?

Our Christmas Traditions

So, I wasn't going to do it.

I wasn't going to put up the tree or any of the decorations before Thanksgiving. 

But, you see we're going to be in Iowa for over two weeks in December and I wanted to truly enjoy our tree, and our home decorated for Christmas. 

So we pulled out the boxes of decorations and it happened. 

Our tree has been up for over a week now and I kinda love it. 

I thought I'd talk a little bit about our Christmas traditions and share some of family traditions. 

We pray for every family that sends us a Christmas card, read more about that here.

Each of our children gets 4 gifts, read more about why and what here.

This year we're doing our first advent calendar, see it here. 

Every year we take a picture in front of the tree and put it in a frame ornament to place on the tree next year, we've been doing this since we first got married so it's been fun to see the pictures through the last six years, see them here. 

We also bake my Great Grandmas sugar cookies, and I love sharing those memories with my kiddos now.

Another new tradition my sister and I are doing for our kiddos is a Night Before Christmas box. I saw this idea online a couple months ago and I immediately thought of it for this year since all the cousins will be together. My sister and I bought all the kids matching Christmas jammies. We'll put them in a box for them to open on Christmas Eve, together with a Christmas movie, popcorn, hot cocoa and some other goodies. I plan on putting them in the same box every year to pass it down year to year have these Christmas eve goodies inside every year.

What are some of your favorite Christmas traditions?

Festive Holiday Jammies For Her

Yay oh yay! It's the beginning of December, the countdown to Christmas is officially on in our house! Have you put up your tree yet?! I love this time of year and I love making everything so special, we're adding some new family traditions this year, I can't wait to tell you about them.

Today, I'm sharing some Festive Christmas jammies! I love getting a new pair of jammies for my kids to wear on Christmas why not find some for yourself as well! Last year I got a new pair with matching slippers, this year here's some of my new favorites!

I've got my eye on these red polka dot ones from Old Navy!

How cute is that Bah Hum Bug sweatshirt? Perfect for cold Christmas days. Also those red & blue tanks are from Old Navy and for under $9 they are a steal with cute saying's like "sleepy head" and "need coffee." So fun! Check out my other favorites from this collection by clicking on the images. 

What about you, do you buy festive jammies for your kids and yourself too? I've been trying to talk the Hubby into matching family jammies for years, but he's just not going for it!

Holiday Cards with Minted

You know I love holiday cards, and it's never to early to start thinking about your holiday cards right?! This year I've been so impressed with Minted, I recently ordered business cards from them and I was really impressed with their customer service and fast shipping. 

My favorite card that I got from friends last Christmas was from Minted, so I wanted to check them out this year for my own holiday cards. Let me tell you, they do not disapoint! They have some new foil pressed cards this year that are just gorgeous, and perfect for a glitter loving gal like myself! 

What! You don't have your pictures taken yet for your holiday cards?! Me neither, but Minted has a solution for that too! You can choose your cards now, pay for them and upload a picture later and have them printed! How genius is that! Seriously it is! 

Plus, it's the perfect way to take advantage of their Early Bird Sale and get 15% off your order.

Use code: EARLY2013 

at check out till 10/14

Here's a few holiday cards that I'm loving from their holiday card collection, I kinda like this one since we live out of state and many people we'll be sending cards to do not live where we live. It's fun & whimsical. 

Remember me telling you about their new foil pressed cards? Below is one of my faves from that collection. It's simple, but I like simple too.

If you love the chalkboard look they have some options for that too.

And I really love that you can personalize your cards with different shapes like the one below. You can also do a different background on the back option of the card as well. You can also import your addresses in and they will address them for FREE. Minted makes it easy for you.

Shop Minted's Holiday cards here and take advantage of their 15% off till Monday.

for all my Phoenix locals info about my holiday mini sessions can be found here.

*contains affiliate link.

Christmas 2012 Re-Cap

Christmas has come and gone. I absolutely love this time of year, this year went by way to fast. I feel like since we had a baby 9 days before Christmas that it really has been all a blur. Thank goodness for pictures to help me remember it all. :)

Here's a little run down re-cap of our Christmas holiday in pictures. We were so blessed to have my Mom come into town on the 13th and stay till the end of the month with us. She was a big help to have here, my step Dad came a couple days before Christmas and spent the week with us as well. So blessed to have my parents here for the holidays with us.

Halls were decked.

Cookies were made.

A family picture was attempted. Trying to get a good family pic of the 4 of us with one squirmy toddler and a fresh newborn was interesting.

Is there nothing cuter than siblings in matchy Christmas shirts? I think not.

Merry Christmas! Hope you all had a blessed Christmas as well. 

Stocking Stuffers for Him

Happy Monday! There's just a few more days till Christmas morning! I'm back today sharing with you my picks for stocking stuffers for the men in your life. For my husband there's a few things I always like to include in his stocking, one simple thing is his favorite candy. I usually buy a few of his fave candy bars and slip them inside. Guys love food, and this is really simple and easy to get your hands on. If your guy isn't a sweets person think maybe his fave gum or soft drink and slip that inside.

Stocking Stuffers for Him by worleyhouse featuring a beat dr dre

I love to include things like small electronics such as travel chargers or head phones. Cologne in his favorite scent is also a great stocking stuffer. Small clothing items such as a new pair of winter gloves, or socks are also good ideas.

What are you stuffing your Husband's stocking with this year? What are your fave items to give to the brothers, Dads and other men in your life? Tell me in the comments below.