Pig Tails

Yesterday after taking pictures of Ivy and noticing her crazy mop head... I decided I would give pig tails a whirl! Here she is after a full day and they are still in tact. What do you know?

And yes, she is enjoying another Christmas cookie! Thus, the big grin :)

Baking Christmas Cookies

Yesterday we really got into the Christmas spirit at the Smorstad house. Now that Greg and I are both officially on Christmas break~ it was time to do some baking. Those of you that know me well-- are saying- "baking-really???" I really am not much of a cook. But I must say I have gotten a lot better since starting to work part time. I have found some easy, cheap, low stress recipes and we enjoy those meals often! But this Christmas I really wanted to start the Christmas cookie tradition with Ivy and Greg. Baking is one of the fondest memories of my childhood- I wish I would have picked up even a bit of my mom's talent in the kitchen! So therefore- this was our first annual batch of Smorstad Christmas cookies!

Ivy putting green sprinkles on her first cookie.

Daddy helping Ivy with some more sprinkles :)


Getting a taste.... YUMMY!


Ivy decides she needs to taste every cookie she dazzled.
Therefore, she got her decorating talents limited to two cookies.


Posing (and crying) with most of our cookies.
The girl LOVES her sweets- just like everyone else in our family!

Apple Bottom jeans and them CROCS with the fur....

She had that whole club looking at her....

Haha! Ivy and I got matching crocs today and I have been singing that song all day.

I am a little embarrassed to let my inner ghetto girl peek out to the blogging world!

Great Weekend Re-Cap

We have had a great weekend!

On Friday night, I enjoyed an excellent date with my hubs watching 4 Christmases (Vince Vaughn is so funny) at the Movie Tavern. If you have never been there I highly recommend it! I think whoever thought of having a restaurant at the movies should get an award... seriously. Greg and I got to sleep in... until 8:00 when we went to pick Ivy up at Nana and Pops house~ we don't really know where our old sleeping capabilities have run off too? Maybe we just miss our little missy too much to sleep much later!

On Saturday, we did some major cleaning! I have been saving EVERY THING of Ivy's because I just can't part. Greg told me we can't possibly save it all because we are already out of room. So we went through and created several boxes to donate to Helping through Him and still have all of our favorites for a future little girl. Going through all of the little bitty things made me miss this:

We definitely saved this little outfit... it is one of my favorites!

Then today was very exciting! Some friends of ours got married at church during the 11:30 service. Southland did a series called "A Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and this weekend they actually had a wedding in each service! How Cool! :)

Here we are about to leave for church! This might be the best Mommy and Ivy picture ever taken :) YAY

Jordan and Shellain got married! Here they are having their first dance. Congrats to them!


Tonight we decided to take Ivy to look at the Christmas lights at the fire station. When we drive down the road she loves to say "WOW" when we pass houses that are lit up. We thought for sure she would enjoy it. If you have never been there... you set your radio station and the lights correspond with the music. It is VERY COOL! I am sure that they work very hard to provide some entertainment for us.


Here is Ivy watching in amazement. There were no "WOW's" tonight. I think it was a bit too much for her eyes to focus on. After a minute she said "Bye bye" to the lights!

We were off to visit Grandma and Grandpa. Ivy had fun seeing them... she missed them while they were gone to Japan. She always loves playing with the animals and being silly with Grandpa. Grandma always has lots of goodies for Ivy... even this close to Christmas!! Ivy is excited about her new Elmo puppet book.

Overall, we had a great weekend! I am so excited for a long break over Christmas and for Greg to only have ONE MORE semester~ YAY!

Thankful Thursday

This Thursday I am thankful for.......

My husband~ I don't know if I give him enough credit for what an amazing father and husband he is. I got to go to a school Christmas party at one of his professor's homes this week. I was so proud to be on his arm! He is such a hard worker and is so eager to graduate and really provide for our family. I fall deeper in love with him each day and especially in the moments I see him with Ivy. And I can't even tell you what it does to me.... when I look in the eyes of Ivy and see Daddy's little clone. (I mean seriously- did you see the hat pictures?)
LOVE HIM!


Medicine~ I am thankful that we can go to a doctor and receive medicine super fast when our little one's are sick. Ivy went today and has an EAR INFECTION!! (Can you believe it?) I thought we were out of the woods after the tubes. Oh well! Thank goodness for doctors and good meds.


My Nativity Scene~ I love this nativity that my mom got me when I was pregnant. It is perfect for Ivy's little hands. She is so gentle with baby Jesus. She absolutely LOVES the pillow that she takes out of the manger and lays her head on. So sweet! I am thankful for this non-breakable Christmas item.

Ivy's Daddy Wears Many Hats

Daddy loves him a toboggan.... always has and always will! Ivy has taken quite the liking to the hats and on first instinct calls out "DADDY!" to any man wearing one. Today we played dress up with some of Daddy's hats :)

Story Time and Lunch Dates

It is funny how babies bring people together! Lindsey and I danced together on Pep Club way back when and hadn't seen each other in a long time. We ran into each other at the gym and realized that we had kiddos the same age. Ivy and Rantz have so much fun together. They play at the gym nursery and we have started going to story time on Mondays. We follow that with a lunch date- today was Zaxby's and last week was McDonald's. It is great to catch up and chat with someone going through all the same mommy milestones as I am- and Rantz and Ivy are building a friendship too! (Aren't they cute holding hands?)