Holly Dayz

Well I-10 is beginning to clear out for the holidays, so I'm thinking I'm going to do the same. I may not have any vacation days at work, but I do at this side gig so...

HAPPY HOLIDAYS & MERRY CHRISTMAS! 

HO HO HO

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Daddy's Girl

Paige seems to fit perfectly in the crook of her daddy's arms.

Special <3 p="">

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Decorating the Tree

Claire is old enough this year that she can participate in various Christmas festivities. I'm pretty sure nothing tops cookies and baking, but putting ornaments on the tree was fun also.

Yep, we're working on our "smile for the camera"...

Candid shots are just my favorite!

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Coloring with GIgi

We think Claire is a little Lefty, but we're not sure. She seems to favor her left hand, but just went you think it's confirmed she'll go and change it up on  you.

Thank goodness for Ultra-washable Crayolas!

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4 Dozen cookies

I made 4 dozen Christmas sugar cookies tonight and I'm exhausted! Claire "helped" me for about half of them. She wanted to roll them, pat them, and mark them with a P (for Paige), so the cookies kept turning out mis-shaped.
"Claire stop eating the dough"
"Claire please don't press your fingers through the cookies"
"Claire why did you pull the star off the cookie?"
"Claire please stop eating the dough" (Over and Over and Over)

You know her response when I ask her not to eat the dough because it has raw egg in it? "I'm not eating it, I'm licking it Mom" She got me there. Claire kept saying "You so happy Mom?", "I love you Mom", "Need 'nother taste test Mom"

The cookies may not look stellar this year, but luckily that doesn't affect the taste!

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Paige at 5 Months

Paige Renae is 5 months old!

Paige is starting to show quite the personality.

Paige is such a happy baby... until she get Hangry. Feed this baby!

Nothing makes Paige more happy than watching big sister's antics. And there's a lot of them.

Love her.

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Christmas Shopping Hints

What's on your Christmas list?? I am trying to make sure the elves are working on all the right presents for the right people, but it's hard work!

When I'm drawing a blank on what to get someone I automatically head to Sephora.com for the ladies and Cabelas.com for the Ross types. However, Uncommon Goods is a great site for both M/F and helps spark some gift creativity. Oftentimes I find something on Uncommon Goods and then look the item up on Amazon. Another trick I use is to always check Retailmenot.com before ordering anything online! 80% of the time there is a coupon/discount code available for any given store on this website. Try it out!

This year I have ordered 100% of my gifts online, which is a first. Hope everything arrives before Christmas!

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Little Turkeys

We spent Thanksgiving at my parents house. I'm not sure Claire really grasped the concept of Thanksgiving, but she sure loved wearing her turkey shirt and saying "gobble, gobble." She wholeheartedly approves of the pie and ice cream holiday tradition and had to "taste test" each type of pie. So much like her mommy :)

Here's a Thanksgiving Day picture--

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Baptism

The girls got baptized together a couple weeks ago and it was such a special day. Granna, Gigi, Pop Pop, & Uncle Jeff were present.  My heart is/was so full!

Into the mic Claire says "He putting water on my head!" :)

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Little owls

Paige was sporting her owl cap to the game because it was so chilly. The Rice fans were eating it up and making lots of comments about how cute she was. Funny thing is, Mommy just grabbed a warm hat with no regard for school mascots and it worked out perfect. 

Yep, we planned it. 

Here's a rare moment of stillness out in front of the stadium.

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Go Rice!

We've really been enjoying living so close to Rice. We can catch a football game with the girls on a pretty day and be home before nap time. Claire has taken an interest in finding each of the mascots walking around the stadium. So far, the gator has been her favorite.

Anyway Gigi and Pop Pop met us at a game a couple weekends ago. Claire and Pop Pop disappeared for a bit and when I found them Claire had on a new owl hat. Pop Pop has not learned how to say no to this little cutie yet. "But the sun was in her eyes..."

Go Rice!

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Halloween

Only a month late, that's not so bad right?? :)

We walked around our cul de sac to trick treat with our neighbor buddies. Our little elf/gnome goes to bed at 6:30 so were definitely the first people knocking on doors...

Cutest ballerina.

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Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving Y'all! See you next week!

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Book Club

I love reading. So does Ross. We both appreciate a good book, but approach them in a completely different manner. I devour books and cannot put them down till i'm done- late nights, elliptical whatever it takes. Rationale takes a back seat and I usually need a break from books after finishing one. :) Ross on the other hand uses books to wind down and will read a little everyday for a long period of time.

Either way way we get there, we both appreciate a good book. We were discussing our favorites and talked about how the enjoyment of a book can be very dependent on what you have going on in your life at that time: age, circumstance, stress, weather, life experiences etc. Maybe that's why I don't reread many books, I like to preserve the memory of them?

In no particular order here is my book list. Suggestions? Please let me know!

Elizabeth Favorites:
Wrinkle in Time
Art of Running in the Rain
Where the Red Fern Grows
Mist of Avalon
Gone with the Wind
Agony and the Ecstasy
Big little Lies
The Lies we Wish Were True
Looking for Alaska
All the Light we Cannot See
The Fault in our Stars
The Book Thief
The Giver
Kite Runner
The Little Princess
Anne of Green Gables
Ender's Game
Water for Elephants
Infidel
Pride & Prejudice
The Once and Future King
The Help
The Chronicles of Narnia
Little Women

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new iphone

I got a new phone this week, curtesy of the Apple Care protection plan. Wooo! I even got a small upgrade from the iphone 6 to the iphone 6s because they ran out of a part. This never happens with Apple products, so it was my lucky day. Anyway my memory was wiped clean and I choose not to replace everything so I've been trying to redownload apps, etc and I've had particular difficulty with my blog... sorry! Hope to return to daily posts next week!

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Fall Days

This weather feels amazing! It makes up for some of the craziness the last few days!?

I wish I had some awesome photography to share with you all, but life has been keeping me busy. Baby girl wakes up at 5:30... even on weekends, eeee. We're going to have to try and work on this; Huebel nap gene?

Happy Monday Y'all!

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Election 2016

I'm going to bed way before this election plays out. There are too many similarities to a sporting event this year. Since when did choosing a president feel like a football game? Go Team Go!

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4 wheeler

We took a short drive to the McDaniel Family ranch a couple weeks ago. Claire had a great time, but the highlight was the 4-wheeler ride. #NeedforSpeed She also liked the cows because they would always poop when we'd drive by them. 

R&S's old/new ranch house!

We had such pretty weather which made the whole trip more enjoyable. Claire stopped at Bucee's for the first time on this trip also.

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Go Rice!

It sounds like my Dad (aka Pop Pop) had a great football weekend with his brothers. They met up in Nashville then took a roadtrip to watch an Auburn game. I'm only surprised I didn't get more pictures like this from their weekend...

Not to be outdone... Claire attended her very first football game. Go Rice!!

Claire pretty much ran around the entire game. Surprising how many other little rugrats were doing the same thing :) 

All was good until the "scary alligators" approached (Rice played Florida Atlantic U). She wanted to get a picture with them, then very quickly she didn't. Of course after they've walked away we "need go find them"

The serious Ross face

Beautiful weather and a great way to get outside!

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