Pint Sized Holiday Fun

What a week so far!! Holiday fun is non stop over here, lots of school & church activities, visits with friends & now, Grandpa is in town! We have been moving a mile a minute, which has me almost looking forward to things slowing down in the new year. I sometimes can't even believe how exhausted I am by the end of the day, bath time is a full on circus & washing sippy cups seems to take every last ounce of my energy. My husband & I joke that 8pm is really midnight, pregnant time.
But for now, the festivities continue!

Last week we had a little Friday morning playdate & decided to use a little inspiration from our recent hot cocoa party to have a little hot chocolate bar of our own at home! Harper was a big fan of her chocolate milk with marshmallows & an even bigger fan of her reindeer cup, which she was concentrating so hard on not spilling!

Poinsetta headband from one of our favorite Etsy shops, Georgia & Jane!

The girls decorated some gingerbread men (in adorable homemade aprons made by my sweet friend, Seema), which Harper loved so much because she is all about pointing out body parts & facial features lately. She loved giving him eyes, a nose & a belly button, and of course eating a few chocolate chips along the way.

Harper has been having all sorts of fun with all the packages that have been arriving in the mail lately.  We do almost all of our shopping online (literally everything but a weekly Target run!) & have also had lots of Christmas gifts on our doorstep. We have been turning cardboard boxes into forts, choo-choo's, beds & now, coloring surfaces! ;) She loves bringing all of her dolls, snacks & stuffed animals into her boxes to color with her too. Who knew they could be this much fun?!

Velvet Hair Bow

And to top off the week, we also got to play Secret Santa recently with a bunch of our favorite blog friends!! We got the sweetest package from the lovely Julie & her adorable son Hudson, gem crayons?! Doesn't get much cuter! Along with some antler leggings, a matching headband & Harper's favorite, water color paints! Thank you so much for the sweet gifts, Harper loved it all & had a blast with her new art supplies already! We got to send gifts to one of our favorite new mamas, Erinn & her daughters, Ashlynn & Kenley, including our new favorite book Flora and the Flamingo and a few other goodies which you can see on her blog! Erinn, we loved shopping for you girls! :)

Thank you girls so much for including us in the gift exchange! Hope to do it again next year!! :) You can find all the rest of the participating mamas & gift ideas by visiting all of their blogs here:

Strawberry Swing and Other Things, The Girl in the Red Shoes, Hello Happiness, Schue Love, Ten June, Nat Your Average Girl, Hello Erin, Hello Newlywed Life, Veronika's Blushing, Dear Owen, Meet the Sullivans, Sunflower State of Mind, & Running from the Law.

Happy almost Friday friends!! The last weekend before Christmas is always sure to be full of hustle & bustle, hope you have a moment to stop & smell the candy canes!! 'Tis the season to be merry! XO

Stocking Stuffers & Handmade Gifts

Christmas is officially one week away! I am so excited I can hardly contain myself, my brain is like a snow globe this time of year. Cookies are baked, presents are wrapped & all of our Christmas movies have been watched. Several hundred times.
The only thing left to do is stuff stockings! Stocking stuffers are always hard to pick out but this year I went with some art supplies, a cute blanket & some girly accessories.
I put together a list of some things that I think would make perfect stocking stuffers (not pictured is the giant bottle of champagne that I would normally be asking for in mine), including gifts for mama, mini & the Mr.

 Christmas Tree Stacker \\ Copper Mug \\ Alphabet Stickers

Star Swaddle Blanket \\ Baggu Fox Print Bag

Hello Onesie \\ Pink Almond Candy Lip Balm

What is going in your little's stockings?!
You can also find our stocking stuffer ideas from last year here.

And of course, there is nothing better than handmade gifts, especially sweets! :) Every year, I bake dozens of cookies, all different kinds & stack them in quart size mason jars to give out as gifts. We give these to co-workers, neighbors & lots of other sweet people in our lives. Like the lovely coffee shop barista that is always so sweet to Harper & gives her special straws whenever we come.
This year, I made chocolate chip, peanut butter, sugar cookies (made ahead of time & frozen, recipe here), oatmeal brown sugar (pre-made dough, they just sounded so good at the store!), double chocolate fudge cookies with a white chocolate peppermint hershey's kiss on top (recipe here, I leave out the walnuts) & dipped pretzels.

Then we just stack them in the jars (make sure to get the wide-mouth quarts) & dress them up a little bit! A much easier, and just as delicious way to fill them would be with Christmas popcorn or ingredients to make S'mores. Oh the things you can fit in a mason jar! ;)
Hope you all are having the happiest holiday season so far!! I wish you all so much joy & happiness as Christmas quickly approaches! XO

Cold Hands, Warm Heart

Last week, I got to take part in the most festive outing here in North Atlanta, a hot chocolate bar at a local Christmas tree farm! The talented Mandy, from Waiting on Martha, organized & styled the event for Style Me Pretty Living & invited me to come do a little chalk art.
If you follow me on Instagram (@jlgarvin) you may have seen a little sneak peek of the shoot last week. Harper was mesmerized by the beautiful horses & had fun doing a little chalk art of her own on the back of the board.

Doesn't this make you want to throw together a festive hot cocoa bar of your own?! :) Such a beautiful winter day & fun outing! The Cold Hands, Warm Heart print is now available in my Etsy shop & you can find more pictures of this beautiful shoot here!

Photos: Rustic White Photography \\ Styling: Waiting on Martha
Location: Bottoms Tree Farm \\ Mugs, Marshmallows & Hot Chocolate Sticks: Ticket Chocolate
In Collaboration With: Gap, Old Navy, In Honor of Design, The Hunted Interior, Wonderfully Lost & Stila Cosmetics

Christmas Baking: Sugar Cookies

Every year I look forward to my grandma's signature sugar cookies when we travel home for the holidays. But, since we are staying home this year, I thought I would try my hand at the recipe so we can have them here on Christmas day. So, last week Harper & I got busy in the kitchen making dozens of cookies & a mess of mass proportions. And of course we packaged up a little box to send to grams! ;)

 The recipe itself is so easy, it just takes a few minutes to throw together. The rolling, cutting, baking & decorating could really take all day though. But 'tis the season to be baking!

Grandma's Sugar Cookies

 Cream together: 1 Cup Sugar, 2 Sticks Softened Butter.

Add: 2 Eggs, 4 Tablespoons Cream (Half & Half), a smidgeon of Vanilla.

Mix Together.

Then Add: 3 Cups Flour, 2 Tsp Baking Powder, 1 Tsp Baking Soda.

Mix well (I used my hands here).

Refrigerate dough at least two hours. 

Roll, cut & bake at 350 degrees for about 6-7 min.

This recipe makes approximately five thousand cookies.  

Kidding. But seriously it  makes a ton, depending on the size of your cookie cutters & how much of the scraps you roll back up to reuse.

My only additional tip here would be to add some additional flour to the cold dough before you roll it, as well as a ton of flour to the countertop, rolling pin, cookie cutters & your hands. Otherwise it will become a sticky mess & you will want to shove the whole wad of dough down the garbage disposal. Trust me, I was almost there.

For the frosting, I used a simple powdered sugar, milk, butter & vanilla recipe. But I totally didn't measure any of it, I just combined ingredients until I got the consistency & flavor that I liked. Then we frosted away!! 

Harper even did some of her own! ;)

Hope you love the recipe!! Happy holiday baking, friends!! XO

20 Weeks

20 weeks, we are halfway there!!! Like I said last week, I feel like I should be rounding out week 34 at least, it feels like I have been pregnant all year! Looking so forward to baby girl's arrival, I swear it is harder to be patient with pregnancy the second time around! ;)
Also, if you're wondering, since apparently my mom was & had to call me out on it (love you mom!) the reason that my chalkboards aren't as elaborate, colorful, etc. this time around is honestly just due to the lack of time. Between juggling Harper, work, the blog, and well, life in general, I have a hard time keeping up with these chalkboards. I knew I wanted to document my pregnancy the same way with this baby (eventually to make another baby book too!) but can barely keep track of how many weeks I am, let alone being able to spend all the time that I did before (kidless) making them as fun as I wanted to. There are never enough hours in the day!

GapFit Long Sleeve | Maternity Leggings

How far along: 20 weeks

Gender: Girl

Weight gain: 6 lbs.+ (weighing in from my 16 week appointment)

Maternity clothes: Maternity leggings & oversized sweatshirts for the win.

Stretch marks: No, still using Mustela Double Action Stretch Mark Cream, same as last time!

Belly button in or out: Debatable

Sleep: Sleeping great, despite battling a stuffy nose at night.

Best moment this week: Not necessarily pregnancy related, but we are just having a blast with Harper & all of the holiday fun this year. She is growing so much with her personality & vocabulary, her excitement for everything has me feeling so happy & blessed. I love her to pieces & can't wait to see what life will be like with TWO!

Worst moment this week: I have had major pregnancy brain lately! Put cinnamon in our taco seasoning instead of cumin, almost put half & half in Harper's sippy cup instead of milk & have been forgetful beyond belief. It's like I'm constantly April fools-ing myself.

Miss anything: I feel like singing "If I only had a brain..." much of the day. Or is it, "If I only had a beer..." :)

Movement: Kicks have finally become a lot stronger & more frequent this week. I can feel her moving around & Brandon can even feel it on the outside. This makes pregnancy a lot more fun!

Cravings: Fruit (grapes, apples, strawberries), cereal & Steak n' Shake cheeseburgers.

Queasy or sick: Feeling good!

Looking forward to: Christmas, of course!!

Festive Friday Giveaway

Happy Friday to you all! We are almost finished with Festive Fridays & I hope that you have enjoyed them as much as I have! A huge thank you to all of the brands & shop owners that have been so kind in offering up so many amazing products! Stay tuned for the grand finale! :)

Congratulations to last week's winner, Sara Propst, who will be decked out in $50 worth of swag from SaSea Boutique! :)

Get excited. 

This week we are giving away a TEEPEE!! We got Harper's Moozle Home teepee right around Christmas last year & it is one of our very favorite things! She plays in it every day, keeps all her dolls & toys in it for safe keeping, and of course, it is the cutest thing ever!!

One lucky kiddo is going to be a very happy camper! :)

Be sure to check out Kate's shop & all of her amazing goodies, she is one talented mama!

Enter below & as always, have a great weekend, friends!!! XO

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Love List

1. There is nothing better than filling your house with the scent of the holidays & I am obsessed with this little stove top concoction to do just so! In a large pot, combine 1 sliced orange, 1 sliced lemon, 4 cinnamon sticks, 4 bay leaves, 2 tbsp. whole cloves & 1/2 cup of cranberries with 4 cups of water and boil. Wondering if you could just could just bathe in this ;)

2. Christmas baking is under way & we are having a blast! I am the messiest cook/baker on the planet so Harper's messes blend right in. We whipped up my grandma's sugar cookie recipe, which makes approximately five thousand cookies. I will type the recipe up & share pictures soon!

3. Glittery, girly gifts!  This glitter tote bag (found on sale with free shipping!) is going to be under the tree for Harper, filled with a few girly headbands & bracelets. She loves her backpack & my diaper bag (pronounced bah-kack & mamas bah-kack) so I know she will love toting this around. It's so much fun shopping in the not-so-baby-section for gifts for her this year!

4. Find out how many times you can watch Christmas Vacation & How the Grinch Stole Christmas by checking out the ABC Family 25 Days of Christmas schedule. We have been watching Home Alone marathons for the last few nights & I just can't get enough!!

5. Christmas morning brunch has been on my mind & I can't wait for it to be in my belly! This is the first Christmas in over five years that we will be at our own house, since we are normally traveling, so I am excited to go all out with a festive brunch! Easy, fluffy Eggnog Cinnamon Rolls, coming right up! :)

6. These Milk Bottle Measuring Cups are officially at the top of my Christmas list & would also be a great last minute gift idea for anyone in your life who loves to bake. Or anyone in your life that is pregnant & just can't stop baking.

7. Realizing that Harper could still squeeze into her Christmas tights from last year. Excited to put them on baby girl #2 next year! :) And the cutest ever pom hair clip is from Bub & Bug Studio.

Hold onto your antlers, only 13 days until Christmas!!!!