New Year's Eve: In Holland

We were so lucky to be invited to an annual New Years Eve party that our new friends host every year. This year the country they chose for the theme was Holland.

In traditional Holland fashion, it was also a costume party! I pulled out our costume boxes and we whipped up these costumes for the entire crew.

Via the photo booth.
Chinese girl, Olympian, Frenchman, Prom Queen, Supergirl, & Mexican

Snowman contest: Boyd and Andrew

The winning team!

Boyd and Andrew were good sports, and had many fan club members by the end of the night. 

Nice hat/ears on this snowman.

A worthy adversary in the snowman contest.

"Midnight" balloon release! 

Hearing all about the traditions of Holland.

Pure joy to find the treats left behind in her shoe.

Trying to nurse an orange.

Lucy congratulating Clara, who won 2nd place in the kids costume contest. The Dragon won first.

The Adult costume contest participants. I won, and Boyd was runner up. 

Lucy's prize for participating in the costume contest. 

Finishing off the night right with fireworks! 

It was great to have a fun family activity to go to on New Years Eve.  I hope we get invited again next year!




What fun traditions do you do for New Years Eve? I'm always looking for new ideas!

Christmas Parties

Our church Christmas party was so great! The people who organized it did an amazing job with decorations,  dinner, musical numbers, and the nativity program. I really enjoyed the retelling of the Christmas story and wasn't sad a bit that Santa didn't make an appearance . Love!

I still need the recipe for the creamed corn that was served as one of the pot luck sides. Yum! Who even knew such deliciousness existed until I moved to Texas.

So, so lovely.

At Zach's work Christmas party they had a great waiting area with all kinds of activities while we anticipated the arrival of the guest of honor.

Lucy's favorite feature of any party: The bounce house

Um, cute!

Lovin' up on Dad while they can!

Nice little peach fuzz hair coming in. Very nice, very nice.

He rolled up to the gate in style.

Santa is hardcore in Texas.

That's one classy Santa Claus.

Lucy posing with Dad in front of the "shooters"

I don't know how you beat that kind of entrance. Space shuttle? Teleporter?

Halloween 2013: A French Affair

Lucy decided to be Madeline for Halloween this year and her Grandma Gayle made this awesome dress for her. We love it! It turned out amazing, and several people told Lucy that it was their favorite costume of the night.

I decided to stick with the French theme from Madeline so Clara went as Pierrot (a French clown), and Zach and I were a French couple. We found the hat for Lucy at a thrift store and I rustled up the rest of our costumes and accessories from what we had on hand, and picked up the rest from a few stores around town. I tried to gather as much as I could for the costumes before we moved, but realized after we got to San Antonio that I had forgotten a few things: black beret, red lipstick, Zach's shirt, etc. Luckily we found what we needed locally and had a great time together at the church's Trunk-or-treat!

Oh, my sweet bright eyes. 

Mes amours.

Happy Halloween!

Benefit Lash Bash: Ladies Night

Oh my goodness party-time. My friend Natalie won a contest to host a Benefit Lash Bash makeup party through her Ipsy subscription. We were so excited to help her and attend!

We took a ton of photos in an attempt to help her win the next section of the contest, and she did! She won a gift card for Benefit makeup.

As a Lash Bash hostess, Benefit makeup sent her an amazing prize package filled with giveaway goodies for all her guests and a few full-sized makeup products for everyone to try out and for her to keep!

Hostess prizes

Full size products to sample and for the hostess to keep!

We also enjoyed some delicious mocktails (nonalcoholic mixed drinks). My favorite was sprite, grenadine, pineapple juice, and vanilla syrup mixed with ice and served with a pineapple slice and cherry!

Natalie made a delicious Caprese Dip. So yummy, and so easy! (Recipe to come!)

Having a fun time with the ladies!

So cute!

Having a little too much fun with the ladies!

My ladies!

All the free makeup!

So, so fun.




Okay, let's finish it off with some makeup.

Um, cutie!

Thanks so much for inviting me Natalie! I had a blast with all these fabulous ladies!

Besties for life.