We're getting Holly & Jolly!

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas in the Stickles house! WE LOVE CHRISTMAS!! We put the tree up the day after Thanksgiving and I've been busy decorating ever since. We gave in this year and bought and aritificial tree. We've had real trees for several years and love them. This year though, we came to the conclusion that our house is way too small for a real one and between Huck and Gray, vaccuming up all those pine needles was going to be horrendous! SO.. thanks to Target, we got a gorgeous 71/2ft Virgina Pine. I LOVE it! It was 20x's easier to decorate.

I dont have pictures of the rest of the decorations or the outside of the house, but here's our tree and some of the cutest kiddos you'll ever see! :)

Mr. Claus himself atop the tree!

I just love all the mesh and toppings!

Gray wanted in on the action too! He was amazed by all the lights and colors on the tree!

These two are the best little elves ever! They did a wonderful job on the tree!

My OH My.. my heart melts for those sweet little faces.

And, what tree isn't complete without ELVIS???!!

AND.. Colonel REB??! :)

I'll try to get some more pictures of the rest of the decor this weekend! :)

And here's a few randoms that were on my camera.. ENJOY!

Gman is LOVING his Johnny Jumper and Curious George! (he thinks his sister is pretty awesome too!)

Look at THAT FACE!!! I could just eat it up! (He's starting to look more and more like LK to me! I think it's the cheeks!)

Ok.. now.. this... I really have no words. When we were getting all the tubs down with Christmas stuff and putting away all the Halloween/Thanksgiving stuff, Ethan found one of LK's old Halloween costumes. Now, he is a superhero fanatic. So, when he saw this he immediately wanted to put it on.. not caring one bit that it was for a girl! BUT.. i am SO proud of him for thinking of Wonderwoman as just as cool a superhero as the guys! That's my boy! :)

Too funny!!

Giving Thanks

This year we had a very low key Thanksgiving. Since we have Gray this year, we decided to take it easy and not travel all over town like we normally do. We stayed home that morning and made Star Wars pancakes and watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. It was nice to just relax! We headed to Grams around lunch time for turkey and dressing! It was delish! It was my job to make the casseroles this year, so Chris and I ended up making Pioneer Woman's Mac and Cheese (DELISH!!) and Green Bean Casserole. I also decided to make Southern Living's Blackberry Cobler. I ended up making two.. one to take to Grandma and Bompa's house and another one for Chris. It's his fave!

Little Man had a great 1st Thanksgiving!! His outfit was precious!

Gray Davis and on of his namesakes.. Uncle David. My grandfather, David, was the youngest of 3 - a girl and then two boys. His son, David, was also the youngest of 3 - one girl and then two boys. My Gray Davis (named after those two Davids) is now the youngest of 3 - one girl and then two boys. And all 3 of them are wild as wild can be!! :)

After lunch at Grams, we headed to Rosemark to visit my Dad and family. We took along the cobbler (which my grandfather ate up! success!), and got to sit and chat with my grandparents and sweet Great Grandma Mae. It was a nice little get together.

I opted out of Black Friday shopping this year. We've been for the past few years and last year even did the Target at midnight thing. I just never really got anything that made it worth my while. I guess my sleep is more important that a few dollars in savings! ;) I consider myself a savvy online shopper anyway, so I usually get just as good deals by researching a little and getting stuff online. I did get out and went to Target mid-day, but just to get some more Christmas tree accessories and hooks for ornaments. I actually ended up getting a few gifts online on Thursday and some more things on Cyber Monday. I am happy to say that besides a few Christmas cards.. I.AM.DONE!!! YAY for getting to relax and enjoy the holiday season!! Now.. just to wrap! We spent the rest of the weekend doing some shopping and relaxing!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Dear Santa..

Well, I thought that I had already gotten my Christmas gift this year.. a KitchenAid Architect Stand Mixer (yes.. Chris Stickles is AWESOME!)... but he's decided to be extra giving and let me get another happy that I wont know about! :) So, I've been trying to come up with some good, not so expensive, ideas to give him. This is what I've come up with...

West Elm Favorite Throw in Sky

we desperately need a new throw for the couch and i LOVE this one!! {and Santa.. it's on sale for $19 right now!!} :)

Kate Spade iPad cover 

we're getting an ipad and i think this cover is a MUST! I also need a sleeve to put it in when we take it on the go with us!

Michael Kors Gold Watch

i need a little arm candy for when i'm wearing my gold jewelry! Mr. Anniversary surprised me with the Kate Spade idiom bangles this year, so this watch would be a lovely compliment! :)

Hunter Rainboot in Blackberry 

hey.. why not?? ;)

LLBean Hearthside Slipers in Green Tea

our little family tradition is to give each other pajamas on Christmas Eve.. i am desperately needing some new slippers to accompany those pjs this year!

Santa - all of the above are saved in my favorites!! Just a little FYI! ;)

And some cute etsy finds:

Camera Buddy

I think G-man would definitley smile at Mommy's camera with this fun little guy hanging on the lens!

Camera strap

i'm in the mood for a new one

And some simple gold jewelry:

19in

19in

16in

Santa, the etsy finds are saved in my etsy favorites! :)

So.. that's what I'm wishing for this year! But truth be known.. I'd be happy with a cup of Starbucks Iced White Mocha and the latest issue of Southern Living... and 20 minutes of kid-free quiet! :)

A New Toy

So.. we have a new toy in our house...

Yep, a violin! LK's school offers lessons to select children and she was picked to participate! (Lucky us!!! - ha! just kidding - kinda) 

She goes 2 days a week during school and has lessons. She is loving it! She's picked it up pretty quickly too! I was a little impressed!

Chris wanted her to show him what she's learning and then decided to try it out for himself.

She didn't think he was very good... at all! ha!

haha! I think we'll leave the violin playing up to LK! :)

Ole Miss/LSU

A few Saturdays ago, Chris and I attended the Ole Miss/LSU game with my Uncle Michael! He's a true Ole Miss Alum and their biggest fan! We always have a great time when we go down to Oxford with him. He flew in from Virginia that morning, then we all headed down. We made it to Oxford just in time to do a little "Groving" and mingle with friends. (my favorite part!)

Hanging out in the Grove before the game!

Uncle Michael has the best seats in the house! Row 15, 50 yd line!

Now, I'm sure by now, you've all seen the score of this game. Yes... it was a massacare! But, we expected that! We're getting a entire new althetic staff next year and I've heard that Archie Manning is in charge of finding the new coach. We have high hopes for a quick turn around!

The one thing that I most definitely learned from this game... Make sure to remove ALL the tiny little bottles of Jack Daniels that you snuck into the game from your purse BEFORE taking your children to school on Monday! A 4yr old can make you look like a ragging alcoholic REAL quick!! ;) Just food for thought! (embarrasing doesn't even begin to describe it!) ;)

Last game of the season

The weekend before cheer off, we had our last football game of the season. It was playoffs! The Colts boys did so good this year and we had a great time watching their games! Those little 2nd and 3rd graders are tough!!

Everyone came to watch!

We won the game!!

We can't wait for next season!! I'll have a cheerleader AND a flag football player! :)