Festive & Functional for the Holidays

'Tis the season for holiday parties, traveling & a house full of guests!! It is exciting & exhausting all at once. With lots of friends & family staying at our house over the next few weeks, I really wanted to make sure our guest bathroom was not only extra festive, but full of anything our guests may need. I am a habitual toothpaste-and-ponytail-holder-forgetter when I travel, so I like to make sure we have plenty of this type of stuff on hand for anyone who visits us.

I would have hung Christmas lights in the shower had my husband let me get away with it, but instead I went the easy route with some festive accessories & peppermint candles! We also always make sure to move the ipod dock to the guest bath to encourage a little singing in the shower... 

FA LA LA LA LA!!

Yes To! sent us some of their mini sized all-natural beauty products, which are perfect for stocking the guest bathroom for the holidays. I have been using Yes To Carrots lip balm for years (chapstick addict over here) & I have always loved it! Even Mr. Garvin likes to steal it from me from time to time. I was so excited to try out some of the other products in their line & was even more excited to see it all in Christmas colors. Cucumber soothing facial towelettes for an exhausted pregnant gal who is always too tired to wash her face before bed? Yes please!

Their products work great, smell even better & have amazing packaging... a total win in my book!! ;)

 

This holiday season, Yes To! is hosting a 10,000 travel sized product giveaway! Talk about great odds! Aside from using these for your holiday guests, these mini sized goodies are great to stash in your purse for yourself when traveling & also make perfect stocking stuffers!
You can enter the giveaway here & let Yes To! save the holidays & your skin! :)

This post was in partnership with Yes To, but my love for their products is all my own! 

Thanksgiving Planning & Prep

With Thanksgiving just a little over a week away, it's time to get into planning mode! I've mentioned before, we will be hosting lots of family & a big dinner at our house this year. I couldn't be more excited!! The thought of all the food, fun & commotion of a house full of guests is the only thing keeping me from rockin' around the Christmas tree at this point. 

I plan to bring all of our Thanksgiving decor from around the house all into the dining room & front room where we will have dinner. Not only will this make that room more festive for the occasion, but then it will be easy to transition right into Christmas the next day! ;)

I am going to use all of our white & gold craft pumpkins, along with the blue/green pumpkin that survived as our centerpiece. I picked up a bunch of gold chargers from the new holiday section at Target (for only $2 each!) to add a little more flair to the table. I plan to make some placecards using small kraft paper bags, that I will also put the silverware & napkins in. I also just ordered this pitcher on clearance (love how the handle matches the green pumpkin!) & will add a cake stand (with one of my mama's pretty homemade pies) to complete the table scape.

Since we will eat dinner around 12:30-1, so Harper can join us before her nap, I want to make a lighter breakfast. I am thinking possibly pumpkin cinnamon rolls & fruit, may have to try my hand at the fruit turkey! We will serve breakfast buffet style, so everyone can take their paper plates & go picnic style on blankets in the living room in front of the fire to watch the Macy's parade!

For dinner, our menu will look a little something like this:

Cheesy Potatoes

Mashed Potatoes & Gravy

Green Bean Casserole

Turkey

Stuffing

Rolls & Cinnamon Butter

Apple Pie & Pumpkin Pie

The recipe for cheesy potatoes & cinnamon butter can be found here. They are a holiday staple for us, so delicious. My husband will fry the turkey outside in his beloved turkey fryer, which not only tastes amazing but is also great because it frees up oven space. Harper can vouch, best turkey legs of all time! ;)

 

For stuffing, I have made it both homemade (recipe here) & from a box. And to be honest? I like the box best. I use the StoveTop brand turkey stuffing, mix according to directions, but then I bake them in muffin tins. They taste so good baked this way & make the perfect little portions.

The day after Thanksgiving, after some mad Black Friday shopping, we host a little gathering we like to call Turkey & Touchdowns. Along with our family that will be in town, some of our friends will be coming over as well for leftovers, beer & football. This is also when we do our annual pumpkin smash (or as my husband calls it, the Drunken Pumpkin) where we take all of our pumpkins from Halloween that we've kept & destroy them in the backyard. 

It's a mess, but a TON of fun. Kinda like a toddler.

We will make turkey sandwiches from leftovers, sweet potato fries (made in the turkey fryer) with marshmallow dip & an assortment of desserts that everyone was too full to eat the day before.

In terms of having tons of guests at your house & lots of meals to prepare, something we do often is mix homemade & store bought. It's totally okay not to make everything homemade, I hit up our local bakery for fresh bread/rolls, Publix bakery has the best almost homemade buttercream frosting to add to any desserts that I make & even our favorite donut shop is taking preorders for cinnamon rolls during the holidays. An easy way to still have great food without all the hassle & dirty dishes! ;)

Hope this was helpful to all of you hosting Thanksgiving this year! Please share any tips/tricks you have along with any must-have recipes! You can also find more recipes & Thanksgiving ideas on my Pinterest board here.

Happy planning!!

Fifteen Fridays of Festive

Happy Friday, everyone!! 

Thanks to everyone who entered last week's Festive Friday giveaway!! Congratulations to Ellie Reed, the winner of the Bump Nest Pregnancy Pillow! Cheers to a great night's sleep for you & your bump!!

This week's giveaway is so very festive! We are so excited to bring you a giveaway from The Flair Exchange, a beautiful Tassel Garland just in time for the holidays!! You all know I love, love, love these garlands, I would have one in every room of the house if I could! ;)

There are tons of color combinations, but this gold & silver has been a long time favorite.

Have the perfect place for one or just want to add it to your holiday decor? Just enter below. And as always, have a fun weekend!!! :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

16 Weeks

Jeans | Grey Vest

How far along: 16 weeks

Gender: Girl

Weight gain: 6 lbs. (the exact same as my last pregnancy at 16 weeks)

Maternity clothes: Still not yet, pulling out the hair tie trick on my regular jeans but mostly living in my maternity leggings & pajama pants around the house. Pregnancy gives a whole new meaning to letting yourself go ;)

Stretch marks: No

Belly button in or out: In, but starting to look flat as a pancake

Sleep: Sleeping great.

Best moment this week: Another appointment confirming that everything is looking good & baby is doing well, heartbeat is at 157.

Worst moment this week: Just feeling a little overwhelmed these days. So much going on with work, trying to keep up in toddler town & my holiday to-do list is growing rapidly. I'm not sure any of that has anything to do with pregnancy, but it certainly feels like I have less energy & patience to handle everything. Is it bedtime yet?

Miss anything: Sleeping through the night without waking up to pee!

Movement: More & more each day, finally felt the first kicks this week! Can't wait for Brandon & Harper to be able to feel movement!

Cravings: Popsicles & queso. Not necessarily together but I'm also not opposed.

Queasy or sick: Starting to not like meat all that much, mostly red meat, same as last time.

Looking forward to: The weekend... does that count? Ready to take it easy, get a little Christmas shopping done & enjoy the last weekend before Thanksgiving madness begins!!

25 Days of Christmas Bucket List

We are getting into the holiday spirit quite fast over here. While I promised not to put up decorations until after Thanksgiving, that hasn't stopped us from having some good old fashioned Christmas fun!
The other day cranked up some festive tunes & made one of my favorite holiday treats, dipped pretzels! Harper had so much fun "helping," which mostly consisted of her eating pretzels & marshmallows, throwing stuff on the floor & getting almond bark in her hair.

For our pretzels we used traditional white almond bark, topped with sprinkles, crushed peppermint & Andes mints.

It got me thinking about all the other fun stuff I want to do this year so I've put together our 25 Days of Christmas Bucket List! Who is going to join me in checking all this fun stuff off the list? 

25. Make grandma's famous sugar cookies.

24. Buy a real Christmas tree & stash vases of fresh trimmings all around the house.

23. Send Christmas cards & find a way to display all the ones we receive.

22. Buy a new red nailpolish.

21. Hang a string of colored lights somewhere unexpected in the house. Around your chalkboard, in the bathroom or even in your closet.

20. Watch Elf & make paper snowflakes (or snack necklaces if your kids are older!)

19. Donate toys & clothes to local charities.

18. Make cinnamon ornaments or popcorn strings for the tree.

17. Put reindeer antlers on my car & have my husband be embarrassed to drive anywhere with me. ;)

16. Make fireplace s'mores & listen to Christmas music.

15. Pay for someone's coffee in line behind me in a coffee shop or drive through.

14. Play the Christmas Vacation drinking game & drink out of Moose Mugs.

13. Decorate our own wrapping paper & wrap presents.

12. Have a date night, drink cocktails & watch Love Actually. Minus the cocktails for me, waah.

11. Make treats for neighbors, co-workers & friends.

10. Drink hot chocolate & drive around looking at Christmas lights.

9. Have a white elephant gift exchange or send a secret Santa gift.

8. Take Harper to go see Santa.

7. Make a gingerbread house (which will really just be a gingerbread mess if Harper has anything to say about it).

6. Host a Christmas party or open house for friends complete with Eggnog & board games.

5. Go Christmas shopping downtown & enjoy the hustle & bustle!

4. Have a festive breakfast or brunch.

3. Hang & stuff stockings.

2. Watch Home Alone & Home Alone 2 back to back. Merry Christmas, ya filthy animal.

1. Make cookies for Santa & wear new Christmas pajamas Christmas Eve.

We are also doing our first advent calendar this year. It is a tradition in my husband's family but I have never had one before, so we thought it would be fun to do it for Harper. I plan to write out some of these activities & mix in a few little gifts (stickers, bows, treats, etc.) to stuff the stockings.

So, what is on your Christmas Bucket List?! What are your favorite Christmas traditions?

Love List

First, a huge thank you to all of you who entered the giveaway for an Oh What Fun Christmas canvas! All of your festive comments had me smiling non stop!! Congratulations to the winner, drawn at random, Julie Gannon Psurny!! :)
Remember, you can use the coupon code COUSINEDDIE for 30% off canvases & digital prints until Thanksgiving! While prints are formatted to fit an 8x10 frame, you can always order them in larger sizes! I've printed as big as 16x20 with great resolution, so you can go bigger than that if you'd like! Again, I can't thank you all enough for supporting my small business, I love you all!!! :)

Now, let's love list it!

1. Tell me you have all seen the kids aprons in the Target dollar section! BEYOND cute for your little sous chef mess maker who will surely be assisting with some Christmas baking very soon! I got Harper a cute polka dot one the other day & I know she is just going to love wearing it. I mentioned that I have been on the hunt for one as well, I have been eyeing this metallic & velvet apron, might just have to pull the trigger on this gem!! :)
 

2. Pretty paper! I love giving stuff like this as Christmas gifts, but also can't help but pick some up for myself. Every year I buy a planner (this one is from Target), thinking that it is going to help keep me organized. It doesn't. But I love it anyway. And I couldn't resist this Dear Santa Notepad, so festive!! Time for Harper to start making her list & checking it twice!

3. I am in love with this Mistletoe One Piece, I think it is the most perfect outfit for the Christmas season for both boys & girls!
 

4. Fresh evergreen! Tree farms are popping up all over the place here, and while I am making myself wait until Thanksgiving to get a tree, I can't help but want to go get some trimmings so I can put them in vases around the house. Totally wintery & acceptable decor for Thanksgiving, right? :) I also love them used to make this super easy, inexpensive garland. So festive!
 

5. Christmas books have hit the shelves. Our playroom book shelves, that is! I couldn't resist adding a few this week as I decorated the playroom for Christmas. We are excited to start reading these to Harper before bedtime, she is going to be obsessed with Olive since she loves puppies so much! You can find our list of top 25 Christmas Books here! :)

6. Halloween costumes... for next year! Ladies, places like Target & Pottery Barn have costumes on clearance for just a few dollars. Time to scoop them up & save yourself the headache next year. I am all over witches hats, striped tights & broomsticks for the best Sanderson Sisters costume of all time. Also on clearance, Halloween candy.

7. 'Tis the season to make dipped pretzels! This is my absolute favorite sweet/salty snack, plus I love that you can really add just about anything to them. Sprinkles, nuts, PEPPERMINT. Also another great gift that can fill a  mason jar!
I know what we are doing after Harper wakes up from her nap! :)

Thanksgiving Mini Style

With Thanksgiving just a little over two weeks away, it's time to get our planning started! I've mentioned already that we will be hosting our first ever big family Thanksgiving dinner at our house this year, fourteen (and a half) of us! Harper was around 9 months old (I first typed 11 months, guess I need to freshen up on my math...) last year at this time, so Thanksgiving day was her first "all real food meal". I just know she is going to dig in & love every second of it this year!

Things I am most excited for include cinnamon butter, the Macy's parade, so much Christmas music, more cinnamon butter, having our house be a total zoo, our annual white elephant gift exchange on Thanksgiving night & watching Christmas Vacation for the first time this year.

And of course, there are festive outfits to pick out! :) Here are my favorite baby/toddler styles for Thanksgiving day!

One | Two | Three | Four | Five

Six | Seven | Eight | Nine

All of those outfits would go so cute with one of these feather headbands & any gorgeous color of these moccasins, they are so perfect for Thanksgiving style! I plan on rocking something with a very expandable waistline & a pretty apron for a long day of cooking (and eating). Have I mentioned how much I love being pregnant for Thanksgiving?! :)

 Chambray Romper | Felt Hair Clip

Are you as excited for Thanksgiving as we are?!