Friday, December 9, 2016

meeting santa.

Like last year, we visited Santa at Waco Wonderland.
Its free. There are almost no lines. He is the most legit Santa I have ever seen.
Last year did not go well but she knows Santa and knew we were going to see him.
We weren't sure how she would react but she didn't cry so ... WINNER!
 
She got close enough to talk and give high fives.

 

 
 We went with her bestie and it was ADORABLE!
They held hands and ran all around.
 Danced to Christmas music at the BIG tree.
 
petted the animals (mostly the back ends. lol )

and posed for silly pictures together.

it was windy and cold but they didn't seem to mind.
We love our Waco Wonderland. We'll be back next year!

Monday, December 5, 2016

5th Street Tradition.

Christmas on 5th street is easily one of my favorite Christmas traditions.
Baylor hosts this free event every year. Last year we spent too much time in line to see Santa and didn't get to do much else.
This year, we saw it all!

We got there very early and had no lines for the live nativity, petting zoo, pony rides, or tree farm.
We had a special guest take Papa's place this year.

 
We did have to wait in line for the carriage rides but it was a good time.
as you can see, she was really interested in the horses!

This girl loves her animals. She had almost no issue being put in a pen with 50 people and 30 animals. even when they were jumping up to get her food. She just kept on petting and feeding and hugging!

 
 We got to see some sleighs.
Look how she loves Grandma!
 
This was one of many decorated trees at the tree farm.
She loves her Baylor Bears!
 


All around it was a good time. She was a trooper and said, "this is the best day ever!"




 

Friday, December 2, 2016

Thanksgiving.

This year we were excited to host Thanksgiving in our new home with family.
We had a house filled with 7 adults, 6 kids, 2 dogs, 20 pounds of turkey, 16 pounds of ham, and a bowl of lemons of Uncle Daniel's tree.
Oh, when I mean I "hosted" what I really mean is I opened my door and let people in.
 They did all the rest. They went grocery shopping, stocked the fridge, cleaned out the fridge, made room in the fridge, cooked 75% of the food and helped make sure I didn't mess up the other 25%.

 

 

The weather was perfect for some park adventures and our home was filled with love and laughter.
This is exactly what we envisioned when we bought the B&B ;)




Thursday, December 1, 2016

Dining Room Makeover.

With Thanksgiving on the horizon, we (by we, I mean I) set a goal of completing the dining room just in time for Thanksgiving. And boy did we go down to the last minute. The table and chairs were delivered two days before Thanksgiving!
We started the project about a month ago by painting the walls.
Where it went from this.


to this;
 
It really lightened up the space and make it look bigger. Because of the length and color, I had to make the curtains but I'm glad I did! I love them and they only cost $22
(lots of coupon stacking happened).
 
The most obvious issue - besides the mess, was the red chairs.
The color was off. But more than that, the table only allowed for 4 people. We have had up to 11 people at staying at the house at one time so we knew we needed more.
I shopped around for new sofas (another story for another day) and the table and chairs at one time.
They are in the same space so they really needed to match.
 
We ended up with this table from Home Zone
I really, really love the chairs too! BUT we have a 2 year old!
I went back and forth on these. Ultimately I decided that since these are the chairs we would use EVERYDAY, they probably would not stay white very long. So... we passed on those.
And got these.
They are a bronze color and very durable. It looks like something off of Fixer Upper, huh?
We put them together and voila!
 
Here is a close-up of the colors.

 The most recent addition is the butcher paper roll.
I just put a piece of twine through the roll and hung it on a nail (for now). I think it would look cute on an interesting hook or knob.
I've always like the idea because it satisfies my need for seasonal change ;)
 

I love my new space!
Neil loves that its done, I'm sure.
Lots of new posts coming soon!