A Family Christmas

 Per the usual we had to get a real Christmas Tree (Frasier Fir) and we found a bargain at Home Depot at less than $50 for a 10-foot tree! Camden was so excited to water and decorate it!

 Per our tradition, we also had Brad and Cam put the star on the tree. We had to borrow a large-tree stand that would be sturdy enough to hold a 10' tree.

 As you can see the tree was gorgeous and that includes the random hanger Camden thought would fit well on the tree. Confession: I was too sentimental about the silly hanger and left it through Christmas. ;)

 LOVE

We ended up seeing Santa at his school on their holiday party night. They got to make cookies and see Santa.

 This year he was a little more hesitant to sit on Santa's lap. He did, but after I talked with him a little. Last year it was all I could do to hold him back from being in everyone else's picture. Hah.

We also had a mommy's play date Holiday Party getting all of the kids together. We really miss our Friday play dates and I can't wait until school is done in another 5 months.

 Christmas morning was a BLAST! He loved ripping off the wrapping paper. He had to get every last piece off and tore it off every square inch at a time. It was slow and he is at the age where he wants to open every single toy as he sees it.

Funny how many high-tech and expensive toys he received, but his favorites were a puffy jacket and a $3 cell phone from the dollar section at Target.

Of course Papaw Jones got him a Big Wheel. I mean where do we store all of this?

A family member made a fantastic idea for future presents. Because he gets so many different toys from all four sets of grandparents he has and then even more from us, it was suggested to start a college fund and allow people to donate. Starting on his 3rd birthday and all following holidays, we will be starting a college fund and allowing family to donate and asking for monetary donations with minimal toys. This way we are being responsible and frugal. We can also keep Camden modest in gifts and what he receives.

 

But really, how easy is it to say no to that adorable, perfect little face?!

Not easy. At all.

Indiana Blizzard

 

Our street.

 The past 48 hours has been a crazy whirlwind of heavy snow and desperate ploys to keep my toddler entertained. With a snow emergency comes beautiful and amazing scenery.

 

Back yard.

 

 

Front of the house.

 

Buried mailbox.

 

Gorgeous snow!

Fun in the snow? PLUS: snow ice cream recipe

We have had some crazy weather these past few days and thought I'd share some amazing and fun photos I got of the Indiana blizzard. Starting 2014 off right, I guess. State of emergency. Quarantined to the house. Any travel made illegal. 

 

 

Then, temperatures with windchill in the negative 30's and 40's. It was so cold that there was frost on the inside of Brad's truck. 

If anyone wants to know, ice scrapers do not work on the inside of windows.

 

 

 

 

Some of these pictures show just how wet the snow was. My jacket was soaked! It was so wet we used an umbrella to keep the snow off of the camera.

Snow Ice Cream

Later that night I saw a friend who posted that she made ice cream from snow. Who even know that was possible!?

 

Just take a bucket of [clean] snow (around 1 gallon) inside.

Add about 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tsp vanilla extract, and 1/2-1 cup of milk. (Add the milk in small increments until the consistency you want.)

 

Add sprinkles or other toppings.

 

This was such a fun thing to do with the kiddo. 

Indiana State Fair

The Indiana State Fair has long been an annual must-do activity for my family. Brad, Camden, and I went this year and it was fun!

 

Side note: I wish the Fishers Train had a better schedule with closer times as we barely made one lap around the fairgrounds and had to run to catch the train (or stay another 2 hours when it was Cam's bed time).

 

We will most likely drive next year to avoid that and be able to come and go whenever we want. This was the year of Popcorn, which was a little disappointing that I didn't see more popcorn-themed food or displays. I couldn't find the giant ball of popcorn everyone posted pictures of and I only saw two popcorn stands. The Kettle Corn was still pretty amazing!

 

What I enjoyed most was the fact that Cam was so into everything and could even ride the kiddie rides! He loved the giant slide and the rides so much I can't wait to take him to an amusement park.

 

We haven't had much time to do any kind of vacation so this was a nice break from studying and work to be able to enjoy some time together. It was a perfect day (and $2 Tuesday) so we really enjoyed the weather! 

 

Brad and Cam waiting to board the train!

 

Camden was pretty excited to ride the choo choo train, as you can clearly see.

 

Riding the fair Shetlands!

 

Picking up some seeds in the kids area.

 

Enjoying his hot dog and fries. :)

 

He LOVED this slide! LOVED!

 

The yearly DNR photo. Man, he's getting too big! ;)

 

Saying bye-bye to the train.

 

All in all we had a good time and it was pretty inexpensive since it was $2 Tuesday. $2 entry and $2 food. Win-win.



Christmas Cheer

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday! We celebrated Christmas at home, just the three of us and it was so peaceful and wonderful. It's almost 2013 so I've got to catch up on updates since I know there won't be too much free time I will have in the next few years.

 

Camden is keeping us on our toes and is constantly impressing us with his smarts, good looks, and quirky noises. :) I'll have a special end of the year post (that'll make it to the blog I'm sure some time early January) to update everyone on Cam's personality, things he's doing lately, etc. I can't wait to update! He's so smart (and yes, I'm biased.)

 

 

 Camden had several Christmas' that he celebrated. His auntie Rachael and grandma Sharon came up the weekend before Christmas, we celebrated with grandma Laura the next day and then Christmas Eve we celebrated with grandpa Ivan. This past weekend he got yet another Christmas with his other grandpa Jones! He's the first grandchild for all but my dad so of course he gets every single toy at the toy store. (Talk about spoiled!)

 

 

Santa. Usually Santa is the scariest part of Christmas for a toddler. Not my son! I don't know how we did it, but he loves Santa! He is totally infatuated with him and probably set some kind of record for the only 18-month-old to not cry on his lap. Hah! I totally love that he likes Santa. It comes and goes because last year he cried. This year I couldn't keep him away. I just hope he still loves him next year! 

 

 

Santa came to our house and Camden had TONS of presents! He even got a neat little table which I think will come in handy for drawings and crafts in the future.

 

 

Camden received tons of toys, both small and large (a couple basketball goals, car, etc.) as well as lots of clothes. I made sure he got lots of things he needed: socks, pants, and shirts. The only thing I need to stock up on is next year's winter coat and snow suit once they go on clearance. 0:)

 

 

My mom had a gorgeous tree this year so I took lots of pictures by it. I am not sure they are going to keep it since the white stuff kept falling off and I'm sure it was a pain to clean up. Either way, it made for some amazing pictures! 

 

 

 

We didn't have a white Christmas, but we did have a white week-after-Christmas. We received about 5-7 inches of snow the day after Christmas and then a few days after that, we got another 6 inches. It was very snowy and luckily I had the entire week off for vacation I wanted to use before starting school again.

 

 

Camden didn't like the snow at first and didn't enjoy when his hands got cold (understandably), but once he saw Brad and the dog playing and having fun, he warmed up.

 

 

 

Of course the dog had tons of fun in the snow! He is such a princess when it comes to rain and won't go outside, but when it comes to snow he turns into what I like to call a snow bunny.

 

 

 

I hope you and yours had a wonderful holiday and ring in the new year with good health and happy hearts.