Christmas Pajama Party

Christmas Eve Eve we started what I hope will be a new tradition with the Harrimans. We had a Christmas pajama/pizza/cookie decorating/spa/movie night! It was so much fun! We took Guido's over to Randy and Lindsay's. We ate pizza, and I let the kids decorate the rest of the snowman cookies. Then the boys played poker, and the girls got manis, pedis, and facials. We topped the night off with Christmas Vacation. It was the first time Granny had seen it, and I think she laughed the entire time!

Mary Ella actually watched the girls and tried to put sprinkles on her cookie.

Reese really got into the decorating.

Let the festivities begin!

Our Christmases began last night at Na Na's with Rita's family. We had soups and sandwiches and all kinds of dips and sweets. We all ate way too much, but aren't you supposed to? The kids had fun playing together, the guys enjoyed watching the basketball game, and the women spent the time gabbing, as usual. Oma passed out her little satchels with money...nice timing for our Sugar Bowl tickets!!! Just found out we are going! Yay!!! It was a nice evening, but it was clear that Opa was missing. He was always fun at Christmastime!

Silly, silly girls

Crazy boys

All the critters

She is all about riding the horsie (my leg) right now...wears me out!

There you go, ride Papa's horsie for a while! :)

Loving her pillow pet...thanks Na Na!

ME wasn't into unwrapping. She's going to have to step it up for the upcoming Christmas marathon! She did enjoy carrying around empty gift bags.

We had a very sleepy girl at the end of the night. Next up, a night of Christmas movies and more food!

Christmas Goodies

Yesterday I made some Christmas goodies for our upcoming get togethers. I made Kelly's cheeseball, chocolate chip cream cheese dip, red velvet cake balls, and snowman sugar cookies. I usually do my cooking with Mary Ella running around, in and out of the kitchen, and under my feet. But today I let her help with the sugar cookies! Well, it was a very controlled environment. We were in Gigi's kitchen afterall, but it was fun! We put on our aprons, and I let her stand in a chair so she could see what I was doing on the island. I mixed the dough, and she watched as I rolled it out and cut out the snowmen. We counted them as we put them on the cookie sheets, and I let her play around with the flour and left over dough. We made a few over 2 dozen, and then it was time for her nap. I decorated about half of them to take to Na Na's, but I saved the rest for the kids, including ME, to decorate. It should be interesting to see if she gets the idea or just goes straight for the snowman's head, like she did with the gingerbread cookie Gigi let her eat the other day.

Flour on the apron, proof of hard work in the kitchen

I got giddy just thinking about all the cooking we will do together! Hopefully this was just the beginning!

13504 Foxfield Lane

It's sold! Well, hopefully if nothing falls through, we have a contract after just 3 weeks on the market! We are so excited! I'm giving all the glory to God (and my good taste in decorating)! Ha! No, really. I asked for prayers one night in ladies' Bible class for our house to sell quickly, and we got an offer the very next day. We did some negotiating with those people, but it didn't work out. I had a bad feeling that we hadn't let God take care of us. The story of the guy in the flood on the roof popped in my head. He turns away a rescuer in a boat, a helicopter, etc. waiting on God to save him. He dies, and when he gets to Heaven he asks God why he wasn't saved. And God says, "I tried to save you!" So, when we got our second offer last week, we didn't let it pass us by. It gives us such peace of mind as we are moving out next week! It will feel great to go down and immediately start looking for a house and not feel stuck. We will only be in an apartment as long as it takes for us to close on our house and find one to buy. So, if you have been praying for us, thank you! Moving is stressful, and I hate the financial part of it. It's so hard to know if you're doing the right thing. I pray about it, but I feel like so much of our life is "excess" that I shouldn't even bother God about it. We're more than taken care of, so why should we get stressed about any of it? And I'm trying not to stress, but please keep the prayers coming! We still have a long way to go in the process. I took some pictures of the house, so we could remember it. While we are thrilled it has sold, but it will be sad to leave. I love this house! Mary Ella came home to this house as a newborn and has grown into a busy, bouncing toddler here. I feel like we could have lived in it forever and never tired of it. Thank you God for blessing us as we moved here, and as we leave!

Master bedroom

Master bath

Tub and shower

Half bath- we got to pick out the vanity and mirror, and I love it!

Living room

Living, dining, and entry way

Living room looking into kitchen

Entry way

Dining room

Dining looking into kitchen

Kitchen and breakfast nook

Kitchen and sitting area

We really enjoyed looking out these back windows. We had all kinds of wildlife come to our fountain.

Looking from sitting area at kitchen

Guest room downstairs- We had lots of visitors stay here. So many, that it became known as Hotel Harriman. :)

Guest bath

Entry to guest room

Bonus room upstairs

Living area

Office space

This space in the bonus room was going to be Mary Ella's playroom. I was planning on putting it together after Christmas. She's getting a kitchen and table and chairs...sure hope we have a playroom in the new house!

Awesome closet next to play area...this will be hard to replace!

Upstairs bedroom

Second upstairs bedroom

Upstairs bath

View coming down stairs

View of kitchen coming down stairs

View of sitting area coming down stairs

Back patio

Mary Ella's room

Mary Ella's room is my favorite! I think it was meant to be an office, but it was the perfect nursery. It's a great size and right next to our bedroom. A few steps away from the baby has been just perfect!

And we're sad to leave these behind...plantation shutters. They're beautiful! Her room is on the front of the house, and it has this big wall of windows, so they were perfect! Wish we could afford to have them on every window, but that would definitely be "excessive!" Love them though! Hope you enjoyed the tour of Hotel Harriman!