{Harper's Playroom} The Reveal

Happy Friday, ladies! My intention was to share Harper's playroom reveal yesterday but after coming down with a bad headache Wednesday night I just didn't get around to snapping any photos. But as soon as I arrived home yesterday from work, I got right on it. So without further adieu, here's Harper's playroom! 

I am so proud of this little space. It's everything I could have ever imagined it would be... cute, cozy, and colorful! I just hope Harper loves it as much as we do (:

Happy Weekend Friends!

Our Ornament Tradition

One of the things I enjoy most about being a parent is being able to begin new traditions with my little family. Last year, not only was Harper born into our family, but so were a few new Christmas traditions. One of the traditions we began last year was the tradition of Kevin and I choosing a Christmas ornament for Harper each year. The purpose of this is so that when she gets older, she'll have a collection of ornaments all chosen with love and meaning for her own Christmas tree. I'd like to say I came up with this one myself but in reality, I read a blog post Jessica wrote over at The Newly about how her family does this and I thought it was such a great idea so we kind of adopted it as well. 

Last year, with it being Harper's first Christmas Kevin and I chose the following ornament from ETSY to reflect the occasion. I'm not one for traditional ornaments so I thought this served the purpose without being too cliche'. 

This year, Kevin and I knew pretty early in the year that Harper's Christmas ornament would be a monkey. We chose the idea of a monkey ornament for several reasons. The first reason being that the first real thing Harper seemed to show interest in this year were monkeys. She loved her monkey security blanket as well as her Curious George. Both of which you never find too far from her even now. The second reason being that throughout this year, Harper's little personality has really came out and to sum it up, she's become quite the little monkey. Our child has so much energy and she loves to laugh and play, climb all over the place, and have I ever mentioned her obsession with bananas? Yes, clearly her ornament for the year had to be a monkey. It summed up her personality and interests to a T. So over the weekend while at Target, I caught sight of this cute and colorful monkey and decided this was just the one I wanted to hang on Harper's tree. It looked just like her :P 

I also couldn't pass up on the elephant one as well. Only because that happens to be her mama's favorite animal :P (We'll just chalk that one up as a gift :P)

While at Target browsing the ornaments, Harper seemed very interested in them so I decided I'd let her pick out her own this year. As you all know, Target has hundreds of ornaments to choose from so I was curious as to what all Harper would pick up. The first thing she grabbed out of one of the boxes was a doll. Considering my daughter doesn't own a baby doll (I know I can't believe it either!) I was surprised. But next thing I knew she was tossing it back in the bin and grabbing up a turtle. Which again, I was surprised considering we don't have any books with turtles or any toys. I guess she was curious. She tossed it back in the bin though a short moment later and then took off to the other side of the display. And then she saw a reindeer that sort of looked like a dog. That's all she wanted. She kept saying "roo roo, roo roo". I tried telling her over and over again that it wasn't in fact a roo roo, but was in fact a deer. She had none of it. She kept saying roo roo matter of factly and took off to browse the rest of the store. I thought that was the ornament she was going to end up with but then my sister spotted an actual dog ornament. Once Harper saw it, she quickly handed up the other and took off running with the dog. After that, I knew she was sold. She happily hopped back in the buggy with her little dog ornament and kept hugging it to her little chest over and over. I'd say I have an animal lover on my hands ladies. 

What other traditions do you and your family do around the holidays?

Casville Christmas Lights

As mentioned in our weekend recap yesterday, Sunday night Kevin, Harper, and myself made our ways to Casville, NC with Kevin's brother, Bryan, and his girlfriend, Brooke, for our annual tradition of seeing their Christmas lights. Casville is a small community that's known for one thing and one thing only... the Paschals' Christmas Lights. Each year, the Paschal Family opens their land for a Christmas village which contains over 1,000,000 lights. It's cheesy but pretty spectacular just the same. The village contains small cabins with little knick knacks inside, a train display, a water wheel, lots of inflatables, and of course a chance to meet Santa. The best part... it's all free! I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking (: 

Check back tomorrow for another Holt Family Christmas tradition (: 

A Weekend of Traditions

Wow ladies, that weekend flew by fast! It seems as you get closer to the holidays time just seems to fly right by. Am I right or am I right?! Regardless of how fast this weekend went by, it was most definitely a good one. Despite the fact that Kevin had to spend his whole weekend working, we still had quite a bit of fun and got quite a bit accomplished. That's my kind of weekend friends. Over the weekend we got to participate in several of our Christmas traditions which truly made me smile. I'll share a bit about them today but I'll share the full review and rundown of each tradition tomorrow and Wednesday so be sure to check back then. But since you're here now, let's get this weekend recap started.

Friday

Friday after work, I met my dad at Lowes Hardware to pick up a few needed items for Harper's teepee. Instead of forking out $200+ for a teepee for Harper's playroom, I decided to get crafty and make my own. After leaving Lowes, I headed home to drop off the supplies then headed back out to get Harper from daycare. When Kevin arrived home from work, we changed into some more comfortable clothes and headed back out to meet my parents and siblings for dinner at a local cafe. By the time we left it was nearly 9pm and we were all ready to go home and call it a night.

Saturday

Saturday Kevin had to spend the day working so Harper and I joined my sister for some last minute Christmas shopping. While out I grabbed some more gift bags and picked up a few last minute gifts for friends and family. Misty and I also took Harper to Target and let her pick out her Christmas ornament this year. Each year, Kevin and I pick out Harp an ornament for the Christmas tree she'll have "one day". Since she's a bit bigger this year, we decided we'd attempt to let her pick out an ornament herself. To say it was a tough decision is an understatement. She had so many options to choose from and it was quite funny watching her pick up one ornament after another. I'll be sharing more of that adventure on Wednesday!

After our Target run, we took a break from shopping and grabbed some lunch at Rio Grande, a local Mexican restaurant, and stuffed ourselves silly on chips and salsa. We finished out our shopping adventures with a trip to Bath and Body Works where I stocked up on foaming soap in winter scents for just $2.50 a piece! I probably got a year's worth but with a deal that good I couldn't say no.

Harper and I got back home sometime after 4pm and spent the rest of the afternoon playing and wrapping presents. When Kevin got home from work, he took over occupying Harp while I prepared dinner. Around 6:30 my mother-in-law, brother-in-law and his girlfriend, and my brother all showed up to the house to chow down on some chicken alfredo and holiday cupcakes. Following dinner, everyone hung around the house and we watched the movie When the Game Stands Tall. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it! It was definitely one of the best movies I've seen all year.

After the movie ended, my mother in law headed on home while the guys decided they'd watch a little football on the tv. Since the guys were occupied, Brooke (my brother-in-law's girlfriend) and I decided to finish up a few projects for Harper's room. We put together Harper's Ikea Latt table that I hacked with a little hot pink paint then got to work on framing Harper's teepee. All I can say is thank goodness Brooke was there because there's no way I'd have been able to hold and tie Harper's teepee poles by myself.  After tackling those two large projects, Brooke and I plopped down on the couch talking until sometime after 11 when the guys decided it was time to hit the road, head home, and go to bed.

Sunday

Sunday morning Harper and I joined Kevin at work for a picnic breakfast in the car. Whenever he works Sundays, we always try to do breakfast with him. It's become sort of a tradition. After breakfast, we ran back home, changed clothes, then headed to church with my family. Of course, after church, we headed over to my parents' house for our usual Sunday lunch. We stuck around till sometime around 2:30 then made our way back home so Harper could take a nap.

While Harper napped I continued to work on Harper's playroom. I got the frames set up, her IKEA Latt table styled, and finished up her teepee (which I must say is cute as can be!). By the time I finished she was back up and at it and we spent the remainder of our time together playing.

Around 6, Harper and I loaded up the car and headed back to my parents' house where we met Kevin, Brooke, and Bryan. Since the temperatures were so nice and it wasn't too cold, we decided to head to Casville to see the Christmas lights and visit Santa. It's a tradition we started several years back and something we look forward to every year! But yet again, I'll share more about this tomorrow (;

After picking up a pizza and swinging back by Mom and Dad's we made it back home last night sometime after 9. And after going from one place to another all day, this girl was exhausted. By 9:30, I was curled up in bed in my jammies and passed out soundly asleep!

Hope your weekend was just as sweet friends! 

{Harper's Playroom} Sneak Peek

As was promised last week, here's a little sneak peek of Harper's playroom! If you haven't followed me along this little journey, you can catch up on my little Harper's Playroom series by clicking the link here. We've made quite a bit of progress to this room this week and it's turning out to be even cuter than I had hoped. All we have left is to tackle a few diy projects for the room. I've got to make her teepee, hack her IKEA latt table, and hang her gallery wall! All of which makes me super giddy for the weekend! Check back next Thursday for what I hope will be a full room reveal (:

Harper's Christmas List

With Christmas just around the corner, I thought it would be fun to share Harper's Christmas list. From the looks of it, you can guess Harp's been a very good girl this year. We're planning on sharing this list with Santa very soon but just in case he reads my blog, here's a heads up to the big guy. And don't worry Santa.. Kevin and I have got you covered already on a few of the bigger items so you don't have to sweat it (; 

Dodge Viper Battery-Powered Car- Harper absolutely loves her Cozy Coupe that she got for her birthday so when we saw this battery powered car at Target on clearance for just $50 we knew it was a must. It'll definitely save this mama's back as I spend countless hours a week pushing her little car up and down the driveway. I'm gonna love the fact that she can power this one on her own!

Learning Resources Smart Snacks Rainbow Color Cones, Counting Cookies, Number Pops, & Shape Sorting Cupcakes- Harper is in need of some toy food for her kitchen this Christmas and after seeing these sweet treats I couldn't help but think they needed to be on her list. I love that these sweet treats serve as not just toys but learning opportunities as well. 

Kidkraft Retro Kitchen- This little kitchen was intended to be a Christmas present for Harper but Kevin and I lucked up and found one brand new for half the cost on Craigslist over the summer. We had it sitting in the garage where it was supposed to stay until Christmas but after Harper caught sight of it, she got it a little early. Oops... 

RCA Tablet- Harper loves to play with my phone but I have to be very careful or she'll end up deleting valuable information or ordering music off of Itunes. Yes, it's happened before. Since she's becoming more and more interested in technology I'm pretty sure she'll love having her own personal tablet. Our first thought was to get her an IPAD mini but considering she might break it since she's still a toddler, we decided to hold off and go for a cheaper option that still has all the same bells and whistles. 

Toy Sports Ball Set- Harper loves to play with balls. Clearly she wants to be an athlete like her mommy and daddy (; She's constantly got a tennis ball in her hand throwing it to either Rimy or her daddy so when we saw this cute inflatable ball set, we knew she'd love it!

Little Mommy Doll- Harper doesn't own a baby doll. I'm not sure how that quite happened. I'm pretty sure most little girls should have their own doll by the time they are one. Mommy fail? Knowing that we're hoping to add another little baby to our home in the next year or so, I'm pretty certain a baby doll will be a good addition to Harper's toy collection. Let's just hope she likes it!

Fisher Price Servin' Surprises High Chair Set- Harper absolutely loves her space saver high chair. She is constantly going in the kitchen and wanting to climb up into it. When I saw this high chair for a baby doll, I thought it would be perfect for her to have. I can already see her sitting in her little high chair with this little chair right next to her! 

Little Tikes T-ball Set- For those of you who know my husband, this t-ball set needs no explanation. For those of you who don't know Kevin, he's held a ball and bat in his hand since he was just barely a toddler. Considering he still playing softball, he has high hopes for our little girl that she'll follow in his footsteps so this was his first pick for her Christmas list!

Fur Real Friends Get Up and Go Walking Dog- If you read my blog often, you might remember this little guy. A few weeks ago we were visiting Target and they had some of their toys out of the box on display for kids to play with. My mom thought it would be cute to let Harper play with this little stuffed dog. It was cute until we had to hand it back to the sales lady. Needless to say, we knew this was Harper's first pick pretty quickly. This girl loves her "roo roos". (her version of dogs!)

Hetty Little Helper Cleaning Trolley and Mop- My child definitely got a bit of her mama's ocd ways. She loves to help me pick up and clean the house. I'm pretty sure that she'll love her own cleaning supplies considering how much she loves mine!

Teepee- If you've been following Harper's playroom series, you'll know that I have intentions of putting a teepee in her playroom. Since these are super expensive, I decided to help Santa out a little and make one myself (; Let's hope it turns out as good as I think it will! Otherwise Santa... I may need your last minute help!

Pottery Barn Mini Backpack- Now that Harper is a bit bigger, we don't need her diaper bag as much as we once did. After seeing this cutie, I thought it would make a nice replacement. It's large enough to hold a few diapers, some snacks, and a sippy cup which seems to be all that Harp needs these days. 

Well that's it Santa. Hope we didn't make it too hard on ya this year! What's on your little one's list this year?