{thankful}

We spent our Thanksgiving being thankful! Thankful for all of our blessings, too numerous to count! On the top of that list is our family and our health! Although I try to spend some time each day reflecting on our blessings, its nice to have a day dedicated to being THANKFUL! Don't you agree? Next comes advent! Can't wait for all the festivities planned in December! You can check out our family's 25 Days of Christmas post here.

A couple nights before Thanksgiving, we put up our Christmas tree. Super fun with a busy toddler! Seriously he was so fun!

We love our little Christmas elf! Clark, our Elf on The Shelf also came out that night. Better be good, Landon....

I also did my Christmas chalkboard that night. Wow! We were busy! This chalkboard is by the garage entrance at the bottom of the basement stairs. I make it festive for any occasion. 

I asked Mike "Does that look like a mistletoe" & he said "I'm not sure why a mistletoe looks like..." How sad - guess Ill have to get a real one and smooch him under it!

If you're a follower on Instagram or a friend on Facebook, you know Landon took a minor spill on Monday night which resulted in 6 stitches straight across his eyebrow. My poor baby. I'm happy to say he is doing better now and he doctor said it will scar, but should be small. We were in the process of putting up our tree when it happened {not the pictures above - it was the night before} so it looked like Christmas threw up in our living room when we got home from the hospital.  I would like to thank all reading this for their thoughts and prayers for us and him that night! We needed them, as it is never easy on parents when their little one is hurt or sick. 

Thanksgiving this year was so great. We have 4 Thanksgivings and 4 Christmases. Yes, 4. We love all the family time we get, but as you can guess we are SO exhausted by the end of the holidays!

Thanksgiving actually started for us last Sunday at my dads. Our 2nd Thanksgiving dinner was with Mike's dad on Wednesday night. A brown sugar glazed ham. So so good!

Thanksgiving Day started with some eating of breakfast and watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade! It's a tradition every year and Landon watched part of it laying on my belly! :)

Our 3rd Thanksgiving took place mid day at my mother/father in-laws. We have so much fun at this one, because Landon has 13 cousins and counting! He plays NON-STOP. A lot of the other cousins were napping. Not Landon....

Our 4th Thanksgiving took place at my moms. It's the first year that she has hosted our immediate family and she did such a beautiful job! Look at this spread! 

Mike said "It's almost too perfect to eat off of" & I had to agree! The epitome of a Thanksgiving table in my eyes. 

I just love this picture, because he still looks like a baby! 

The 4th Thanksgiving ended like this! Who sleeps that way??

I hope you all enjoyed your turkey/ham, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, stuffing, pecan/pumpkin pie, and some warm mulled wine! Yum! We are still polishing off the leftovers...in between Christmas shopping sprees, that is! 

{Christmas Animal Crackers}

Happy Turkey Day Eve!! Hope you all are planning on lots of family and food tomorrow, I know we are!

This recipe - if that's what you want to call it - is so easy! I was just messing around the other night and came up with this delicious recipe for a quick sweet Christmas treat!

We have a HUGE tub of animals crackers that my mom brought over, when I say huge I'm not kidding...

Therefore, I figured if the recipe was a flop, it wouldn't matter.  First what I did was pulverize {why do I love that word so much?} my candy canes.  I was planning on doing this anyway.  I put 5 candy canes into the blender.  And turned it on high and the blender did all the work.  Bye, bye candy canes! This is what it looks like once it's all said and done.

I have done this twice just this week and the latter is the easiest! The first time I laid a flat layer of animal crackers on a cookie sheet with wax paper. Then I melted some white chocolate/almond bark and poured it over the crackers.  I mixed it all together, kind of.  The second time, I poured a bunch of animal crackers in a bowl and poured the melted chocolate on top. I very carefully mixed it together so the animals heads wouldn't get chopped off. Then sprinkled the candy cane dust on top of it.  So good, and festive, and fun to make!

Christmas Peppermint Animal Crackers

However many animal crackers your heart desires

Enough almond bark/white chocolate to cover 

5 candy canes {you will have leftovers for your coffee or cupcakes or waffles :)}

Melt the white chocolate 

Gently mix together 

Quickly transfer to a wax papered cookie sheet

Sprinkle candy cane dust all over them - don't be frugal with the dust! A lot is best! 

Lick your fingers and pop the cookie tray in the fridge. They are ready to eat in 3 minutes! Enjoy!

Mr. Bozarth LOVED them and I think I have mentioned before, that he's not big on sweets. I was downstairs and him and Landon were upstairs when I caught him sneaking some more and heard him say to Landon, "Daddy's addicted to these cookies, bud..."

I brought them over to my moms on Friday for a sweet treat during the KU game and once again, they were gone when we left and I heard my husband say "These animal crackers are so damn good!" My wifey heart is pretty proud even if the are 3 ingredients that you can go wrong with!

{weekend recap}

Laying in our bed and typing this after a wonderful weekend! Take me back! At least this week is only a 3 day work week for me & for many!

Friday night, we went over to my mom's house to watch the KU game {basketball of course!}.  We ordered pizza and I brought over a delicious snack for us to munch on! It will have it's own post later this week! So so good! And, because I made it you know it's simple :)

We let Landon stay up until 10:30! Don't tell the parent police on us.  When we got home, Mike and I were chatting about JFK and Landon fell asleep on his shoulder.  How sweet is this baby? I mean....

Saturday, we of course watched cartoons and ate breakfast in bed.  Isn't that what weekends are for? Then we went to a birthday party.  Landon seriously needed a nap, so he got one and I went to my moms.  How festive do the wreaths look on her new kitchen table?? We made a trip back to World Market while Landon napped to get a rug for under the table. Can't wait for Thanksgiving at this table!

 I found the cutest CUTEST ornament at WM! How stinking adorable is this? I was thisclose to buying it, but held off, because it's not really our theme. Plus, when we move I'll probably be switching things up.

After Landon's nap, we got ready to go to Union Station to see the Christmas tree lights turn on! It was such a great night.  We parked at Crown Center and took the link over to Union Station & got there about 15 minutes before they turned on!

We then took the Link back over to Crown Center and ate at Fritz's Railroad! Landon loves this place, can't you see it on his face? Trains come and deliver your food and they were super busy that night, so he loved seeing the constant trains! 

I ordered a hash brown burger, which turns out is not that great... the fries on the other hand....

We went to see the awesome model train exhibit...

And then Landon got to ride the train! The mini train that is...I asked the 'conductor' "Are there seatbelts?" "No, lady it only goes 2 & 1/2 miles and hour..." 

First time around = liked it.

Second time around = not sure. 

Third time around = panic.

This photo was obviously taken the third time around...

I can definitely say, he was in choo choo heaven! We will be back! 

Saturday was such a great time! 

Sunday, we woke up and went to my dads/step moms for our first of FOUR Thanksgivings! First, we sadly watched the Chiefs lose in the last 30 seconds! Ugh!  

Then, it was a full on Thanksgiving meal complete with Turkey/ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes with marshmallows {a personal fav}, green bean casserole, stuffing, rolls, dumplings, pumpkin pie with tons of whipped cream and banana pudding! We were full and tired! 

Landon didn't take a nap but he was a total trooper and ended up going to sleep on the way home. When we got home, we watched an episode of Jake and he finally fell asleep at 7! Woah, No-Nap Landon! 

The tree was supposed to go up last night, but we just did not feel like putting up the tree without our baby. So tonight's the night that the tree goes up! We were totally planning on going to Reindeer Lane this year to get our first LIVE Cristmas tree, but with selling our house and trying to simplify, we are putting it off until next year. Although to do plan on getting some live wreaths! They smell so yummy!

Looking forward to this short work week and all the yummy food & family time to come on Thursday! And lots of Christmas shopping that will take place after that at the lake!

Happy Thanksgiving Week, everyone!

{favorites Friday}

1. Buffalo check everything - I just bought this shirt but adult sized {this one's actually girls size} and instead of lace it's sequins on the black part on the shoulders {with a store credit that I have literally had FOREVER}, and love it with a passion!! I have my eye on some buffalo check Christmas gifts for family  too.....What says winter more than tartan and red/black buffalo check? I mean besides sleet and snow.....

shirt {similar to the one I bought, but mini sized}

2. Biscoff spread - Have you tried this stuff?? If not, run, don't walk to the store....So so good.  It's like peanut butter, but it's made of Biscoff cookies! You know the one's on the airplanes that you ask for seconds of? Why does food taste so much better on an airplane? My mom one time liked the peanut mix so much on an airplane that she kept the package and ordered a super sized box of it. In her defense, it was pretty good..... I usually eat Biscoff on toast, or in place of peanut butter on my apples, or off of a spoon, kind of like my whipped cream addiction.  I may need a sweet intervention.

3. Fleece tights - I have had these since I worked at Von Maur & I still LOVE them.  I wear them all the time and they hold up beautifully! I found out that they are still available on the VM website! They are perfect for keeping your legs warm in winter while still looking cute with boots or flats and they don't feel bulky at all.  Genius!

tights

4. Next week is Thanksgiving {!} - Gobble Gobble! I love the week of Thanksgiving that's coming up.  First, it's a short work week! Who can complain about that?? For someone that loves food, Thanksgiving is a GREAT holiday.  I also love watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and the Plaza Lights and of course the family time is my favorite! Traditions, traditions! We are doing Thanksgiving with my dad/stepfamily on Sunday while watching the Chiefs, then will have 2 Thanksgivings on Thursday! Oh the anticipation of all the yumminess! My belly will be happy & I can't wait to watch Landon throw his mashed potatoes and stuffing everywhere #SaidNoMomEver

Happy Friday, everyone! Make it a great day :) I have a short work week for the next 2 weeks and my husband is basically off for the next 20 days! We are excited for some family time!! 

*A note on my posts * I've made an executive decision that going forward I'm going to do my favorites Friday list every 2 weeks, so the posts aren't on top of each other! Thank goodness for the new Blogger app with all the posting I've been doing lately, I get most of them done on my lunch break ;)

{The Christmas Eve Box}

As I mentioned in this post, I am planning on doing what I will dub as, "The Christmas Eve Box". The plan is to put all the ingredients for a very festive Christmas Eve in the confines of a box! I like it! I have put together a couple things for mom, dad, and baby that would be just PERFECT for a festive Christmas Eve!  This a a glimpse of what will be making an appearance in our boxes. It's like a mini Christmas on Christmas Eve! I plan to to put the snacks in mason jars with lids so we can just eat them right out of there while watching a movie/opening presents at my moms! {minus the grinch kabobs}

one  /  two  /  three  /  four  /  five

one  /  two  /  three  /  four  /  five  /  six {hot buttered rum}

one  /  two  /  three  /  four {for  Santa's milk, and ours :)}  /  five  /  six 

I loved doing this blogpost! It is so fun! I hope you have a fun and festive Christmas Eve in the works, too!

{weekend recap}

A fun, relaxing weekend! 

On Friday night, we went to dinner at Crackerbarrel. Can we talk about my love for Crackerbarrel? I love the down home, cozy feel of it. I pretty much love everything about it: the store, the huge fireplace, and their pancakes and hash brown casserole. Landon also loves their pancakes and hash brown casserole. The apple just doesn't fall far from the tree....he likes sweets too...weird....

Saturday, we slept in - until 7 - then cleaned, lounged around and napped. We have been fighting a little head cold at our house, all 3 of us. Yuck! 

It wasn't so bad that I couldn't have my hot chocolate though. I love having mine with a graham cracker. It's like a s'more! My cup of tea. Or hot chocolate :) 

We got out of the house only once on Saturday. To go out and get some PJs and milk. That's all. My very fallish outfit of the day, complete with a topknot! I had to post this outfit, too! Surely, you get sick of just seeing my baby and my food? No? Me neither. Basically it's so I can remember to put it together again 😉 I'm getting pretty good at these selfies....that's something to be proud of, right?

The topknot on Saturday was impeccable! I can never get them to work perfectly but this one did! 

Basically, all I did was put it in a high pony. Wrap the hair tie around twice. Seperate into two sections and literally "tie" a knot. Then I wrapped the two loose ends around and took the pony tail holder around the whole knot once more. It looked so cute and stayed all day long! 

Then we came back home and changed into our PJs, again, and invited our friends Courtney and Andrew over for a quiet couples night at home.  It ended with Court and I watching 'How to Lose A Guy In 10 Days' upstairs while the guys battled each other in a game of Madden in the mancave. I literally think those two could talk sports for a week straight and totally not get bored. 

Sunday  - after church my mom picked me up and we went to World Market to get her table setting complete with cornucopias and pretty burgundy napkins! It is going to be such a pretty Thanksgiving table! Can't wait to help her put it all together! If you have yet to go to World Market, I highly recommend it! I even got a shirt there today! They have everything! 

I got some festive goodies for next month there too! The advent calendar is for Landon, so excited to carry along this tradition with him along with the gingerbread kit! 

Oh and the candy canes? I plan on pulverizing them and putting them on anything and everything I can! Pretzels with white chocolate, sprinkled in my hot chocolate, in my ice cream with hot fudge, in some peppermint sundaes, on red velvet cupcakes. Mmmmm the possibilities are endless.....

After that was the Chiefs game, and my husband's lucky socks. They weren't that lucky this time around, unfortunately. He may never wear them again after the Chiefs loss. It was a sad day.

Landon played with a couple of friends when we went to a Chiefs party at a friends parents house. There were probably close to 50 people there. Landon is a social butterfly so this was totally his element. He played, clapped, bullied, smiled and stole the hearts of everyone there! 

I was told - not once but twice - that we should put him in baby modeling. Which made me laugh because he would be a total hot mess. He's overly smiley and cheesy sometimes, but what's wrong with that?? On the way home, he was tuckered OUT! If I'm being honest we all were!

Straight to bed he went and us too!

Hope you had a great weekend!

{favorites Friday}

Another Friday, some more favorites :) serving them right up!

1. The cooler weather - I don't mind the cold, it makes me feel all cozy. I don't really like to be out in it, I like to stay home, build a pallet on the floor with a good movie and maybe some chili or soup and watch the snow fall outside with no place to be :) Since the cold literally snuck up on us this week, all we had for our Landon was either his 6-12 month coat from last year, or a lightweight fall jacket.  We've been using the coat from last year.  Needless to say, he needs a winter coat. And if we are spending $40+ on a coat that he will outgrow it better be cute! I couldn't find a cute one anywhere, not even my favorite store BabyGap! What? I looked at Zara, H&M, Babies R Us, Target. I finally found it! Carter's online! It's a 3 in 1! How cute is this coat? Judging by the reviews lots of people love it! Can't wait to bundle my Landon in it! 

The cooler weather also means hat weather! Here's our family of hats from my instagram the other night :)

Who can resist winter hats, or babies in winter hats in the banana aisle? If you can picture this little elf saying "Nana Nana Nana NANA" very loudly. That's what happened.

2. My mommy - I just love my mom.  She's the greatest.  She stayed with us on Wednesday of this past week because she had a minor doctor's appointment and had to have someone with her for 24 hours afterward.  Wednesday, we had a taco night and lots of laughs and playing with the baby.  She wanted to put Landon to sleep and so she read him a book, changed his diaper, and he fell asleep on her shoulder.  We watched Dateline like we always do together and had a slumber party...on a Wednesday! Love my mommy, and our slumber parties!

3. Starbucks groupon - Did you get it?! $5 for $10. Enough said! This should have been on my favs last week because I actually bought it last week! 2 of them! I am one that ALWAYS makes my coffee at home. We have a Keurig but I normally just use the reusable K-Cup with my Folgers or Dunkin Donuts coffee and hazelnut creamer. It's nice to get a festive treat every now and then....I see lots of Christmas shopping mornings in our future with some yummy Peppermint Mochas or Gingerbread Lattes in hand! You know you can't Christmas shop without your Starbucks. Cheers! 

4. Ikea - Lately I have been swooning over Ikea furniture! When we end up moving, I can't wait to decorate with their furniture/accessories! And we get one here in the KC area next year......Here are some things that I am dreaming of for the next house:

Can't you just see it all come together beautifully? I can! 

6. My last but CERTAINLY not least favorite from this week is this: 

This. This is my wedding set from the hubs - obviously. Can you notice that little $99 ring below it though? That's my promise ring. The one that he gave me when we were sitting on the couch at his moms house when I was 15 and he was 17.  He had a camero and I couldn't even drive. 

Yes, HE remembered and I did not...unheard of!!

With our 12 year anniversary of him asking me out on November 13, I got to thinking. Both rings are a symbol of his love for me (and mine for him) so why not wear them on the same finger? The one that leads straight to your heart. I used to wear it on my right ring finger, but I just think its fits so beautifully on this one. So, on this one it shall stay :)